I get to teach a class in criminality there, one which all clients must attend. I decided that with the holidays looming, the curriculum wasn’t strength-based enough, so I decided to work on a two week long project, having each person there complete a ten minute “intention protocol” consisting of attunement statements, affirmations, appreciation, short and long term goals, and a “listening” section for what they receive in guidance after each session using their intention protocol. It’s something that I used to heal from breast cancer. The idea is to create a six page booklet to read to oneself for ten minutes, once in the morning upon waking and once before going to sleep. Many of them saw the video “The Secret” over Thanksgiving so they are familiar with the Law of Attraction this project is based on that.
Some of the men are puzzled by the exercise, especially the young ones, and they wonder what this has to do with criminality. Others of them are taking it to heart and doing their assignments faithfully in class. The truly brave ones share what they have written and it’s extremely wonderful stuff. I’m also giving them “a chakra a day” and again, many are really enjoying the exercise, learning about power centers in the body and how to spiritually increase their power through meditation. And of course, others are not getting it at all. But it has been an interesting exercise. I only spend about five minutes a day on the chakra information, but at the end of it, I’ll do a Qi gong exercise with them.
The intention protocol that I used last year and continue to use even now has evolved. Right now it looks like this:
Attunement:
I attune myself with my highest power, with God.
I attune myself with my high-self committee.
I ask for your love, your guidance, and your protection.
I attune myself with my own inner wisdom and my ability to receive divine guidance.
I attune myself with the wealth and abundance of the universe, with prosperity, friends, love, learning, health compassion, sharing, meaningful work, opportunity and balance.
I attune myself with all the prayers, love, and healing energy sent my way.
I walk with a loving God.
Winds blow, typhoons roar, worlds collide, yet I remain undisturbed.
As I walk into infinity with wisdom I follow the right path.
I am amply provided for on my journey.
Affirmations:
I am wealthy.
I appreciate my wealth and abundance.
I deserve my wealth and abundance.
I have many friends and family members who love and support me.
Money flows to me as I need it in abundant quantities.
I find meaningful and interesting and fun work for which I am well compensated and well appreciated with excellent benefits.
I am beautiful and funny and charming, disarmingly so.
I am healthy, completely free of cancer, and will live a long, happy, and prosperous life.
I have great clarity, coherence, and power.
I take excellent care of myself.
I have a wonderful job that I love, a permanent position with full benefits, a job that found me at just the right time, with wonderful people with which to work for supervisors and colleagues, and great clients.
My mind works perfectly well, my memory is excellent and I can retrieve any information I need. I am creative. I express myself artistically and verbally with great skill and insight.
Short Term Goals:
(These are too quirky and personal to list here)
Long Term Goals:
(These are too quirky and personal to list here)
Appreciation:
I am grateful for:
My two wonderful husbands who take excellent care of me.
My two wonderful sons, who are kind, intelligent, sane, and talented.
I’m grateful to Andrine for the kindnesses that she showed me and the massages she gave me that were so helpful in my in my darkest days of treatment.
I am grateful for my beautiful home and the delightful people who live in it.
I am grateful for my work situation at UCLA when I had cancer, good benefits, medical leave, hospital bills paid for, disability insurance, a job I loved with great people to work with.
I am grateful for the support of my friends and family and Havurah Shalom.
I am grateful for my excellent surgeons, Dr. Pommier and Dr. Hansen.
I am grateful that the cancer was caught early, that I survived chemo and neutropenia, that I’m cancer-free now, healthy and thriving.
I’m grateful that I done with chemo and with surgery!
I’m grateful from my support group, the Mind and Body group, and the Eat to Beat group at Project Quest.
I’m grateful for my own room, for my computer, my camera, and my blog.
I’m grateful for my education, my MSW degree, and my CADC I.
I’m grateful for my intelligence and my courage and my perseverance.
I’m grateful that I had such wonderful parents who gave me great love and guidance.
I’m grateful to Lysanji, Barbara MacDonald, Lori, Andrine, Lusijah, Jo, Carla, Wendy, Andrine, Louise, Susan Hedlund, Paddy, and Kathleen for their help in healing from cancer.
I’m grateful for the return of my energy and my ability to think and write.
I’m grateful for the Write Around Portland workshop and the opportunity to write in community.
I’m so very grateful for my new job and the wonderful people there.
I’m grateful to be able to ride my bicycle.
I’m grateful to be able to do yoga and other forms of exercise.
I’m grateful for a regular meditation practice.
Listening:
I have survived this “healing opportunity.”
I have healed, I am continuing to heal, and I will live a long and happy life.
My job is not about saving the world “out there.”
It’s about saving the world inside, building my core, becoming strong in a new way, in a way I’ve never tried before, in a way I’m learning to imagine. It’s a journey to be
experienced one day at a time, a journey with great rewards and discoveries.
I am strong again, energetic and calm.
I have learned balance, how to attend to my needs for nurturance, how to be aware of my needs, how to ask for help, and how to share to load.
I am calm and energetic.
I radiate competence, love and compassion for myself and others.
I am infused with love and gratitude. I express love and gratitude every day.
I leave behind old patterns that do not serve me. I remember to use my new tools and resources every day.
I exercise every day.
I sing and/or play music every day.
I eat foods that nourish me.
I meditate every day, morning and night.
I take frequent breaks to recharge emotionally, physically, and spiritually,
I give from ever renewing resources that I tap into easily.
I tap into the universal fountain of love and compassion.
I tap into the boundless source of energy.
Prayers:
May I be at peace.
May my heart remain open.
May I know my true nature.
May I be healed.
May I be a source of healing for others.
May I dwell in the breath of God.
-St. Theresa of Avila
Because I am at peace, my heart is open.
Because my heart is open, my true nature is revealed.
Because I know my true nature, I am healing.
Because I am healing, I am a source of healing for others.
And as ever and always, I dwell in the breath of God.
Thank you for bringing me to peace.
Thank you for opening my heart.
Thank you for revealing to me my true nature.
Thank you for healing me.
Thank you for allowing me to be a source of healing for others.
For as ever and always, I dwell in the breath of God.
God has no body on earth but ours
No hands but ours, no feet but ours.
Ours are the eyes with which he is to look out with compassion to the world.
Ours are the feet with which he is to go about doing good.
Ours are the hands with which he is to bless our fellow beings now.
-St. Theresa of Avila
I added the prayer section at the end for myself. It's a bit odd that St. Theresa's prayers are the ones that carried me through the hardest times, because I'm Jewish. It's not like the Jewish liturgy is lacking in powerful prayers. But it was the first prayer listed here that really spoke to me and I used it for meditation purposes and altered as I showed above.
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