Who I Am With You (Imagination #10) - Staci Stallings Page 0,158

determines our beliefs and therefore our thoughts and feelings. At all times, we are processing ‘life.’ To determine what things mean to us, they are processed through our internal working model. Basically, this helps us to recognize patterns of danger without having to go through a checklist logically. Our brain takes in the experience and zips it through our Internal Working Model to make sure it’s not dangerous to us before it ever gets to the logical mind. In fact, if our IWM recognizes danger, we will probably have reacted before our logical mind even has the chance to think about what we should or shouldn’t do.

“Our internal working model, can be processing through the Law of Internals, or I am valuable because I am, or the Law of Externals which says I am valuable only if… pick your measurement… I have money, I have the right job, I have the right house or spouse or car. Basically, when you live on the Law of Externals, you believe it’s what’s outside yourself that matters most. And if you don’t have what you think will give you worth, value, and acceptance, your whole life will be about gaining that, attaining that, envying those that have it, obsessing because you don’t, and, once you do attain it, obsessing about not losing it.

“If you haven’t figured it out yet, this is called ‘Anxiety,’ and right now, in our society, we have a lot of people living on the Law of Externals. Look, for example, at the number of people on antidepressants and other drugs. Why? Because I’m not in control of my value, everything out there is, and that is a dangerous, scary place to be. As we mature, we should be aware of our own ability to choose how and what our internal working model is filtering and which law we are living on. Unfortunately, too many of us leave all of this to the whims and winds of life. We do not create and set this consciously. Thus, we become pawns in the game of life rather than players.”

Taylor nodded and wrote that down. She was definitely going to be paying rapt attention to this talk.

“Didn’t you apply?” Barry asked when the clock was winding up to four o’clock. The whole day had been run-and-wait, run-and-wait.

“Yeah, but I knew I wasn’t going to get it,” Greg said.

“Why not? Viv and Izzy love you.”

“They love me?” Greg asked, raising his eyebrows skeptically.

“You know what I mean. They would totally give you recommendations if you asked.”

Leaning on the cabinet, Greg shrugged. “I don’t know. It was a long shot.”

“Well, if I was you, I’d keep shooting. At this point, what would it hurt? This ain’t getting us anywhere fast.”

Dr. Saithe had gone down the hall to join a panel of speakers. Taylor wished she could go, but she was stuck in Room 302 for the foreseeable future.

“I’d like to introduce Dr. Kyle Brasher,” Taylor said of the gentleman who was roughly 35. He looked really young to be a doctor of anything. “Dr. Brasher will speak today on the Be-Do Stretch. Welcome, Dr. Brasher.”

She applauded with the others before striding to the back. Her accounting duties were most important, so she did that first. But when that was done and everyone seemed to be settled in, she went back to her notebook. Dr. Brasher had already gone through several PowerPoint slides, and she wished she could ask him to slow down or start over.

Her gaze slipped to the packets he had provided for those attending. Technically, that wasn’t her, but there were several left, so she slowly retrieved one and flipped through it.

“The problem begins when what we are doing stretches us away from who we are. When that happens, our thoughts and feelings must stretch between the two trying to keep us together,” Dr. Brasher said. “The farther what we are doing gets away from our being, the farther our thoughts and feelings have to stretch to keep us together. Some psychologists try to remedy this situation by working on the thoughts involved. You’ve heard, ‘Just be more positive. Think happy thoughts. Do some affirmations. Fake it ‘til you make it.’ The problem is, this stretch in our feelings and our thoughts is designed to tell us that what we are doing is not in alignment with our being, and that is a problem.

“The farther these get apart, the more we experience pain. If they stretch too far, that’s when people have