SPEECH: Visualize Forgiveness

Sometimes I am so terrible with visualization exercises.

Despite several happy and successful past experiences at conferences and seminars, I am sometimes the girl that gets lost and falls off the visualization exercise trail.

(Prop 1)

I would be there... in my head... concentrating on the exercise... going through the landscapes in my mind... exploring how I might rub against my subconscious mind and then viola....

I'd miss a turn.

(Take off prop 1)

What was that word he said? Did he say stage or page?

It's not like you can interrupt and ask them to repeat themselves. Mind you, this is not a 2 minute skip through a garden type of exercise. It's more like a 20 minute hike across the grand canyon of focus.

And so, I would find myself off track because I missed a direction. I would be bumbling about in my head, trying to find that quiet place. But then find myself distracted and amused that a few individuals really got comfy in their quiet place and have started snoring.

Good evening Toastmasters and Honored Guests, tonight I will share what happened on a particular day when I didn't get lost during a visualization exercise. My name is JNET, and I present to you project number six from the competent communicator manual, titled "Visualize Forgiveness."

I was at the Wiltern Theater on a Sunday morning. It was a full house... so full that they didn't know where to seat me except at the front VIP section.

There I stood, eyes closed while I travelled through the ravines of my mind. The speaker asked that I bring upon the "stage" the various people that I had come to know. I don't know how long I dug in my memory. It was long enough to give me a sense that I was having a spree going through my mind. My thoughts were spinning. It felt torrential yet peaceful at the same time.

I grew my stage. Every family member, friend from childhood to the present time, crush, love, failed friendship, kind neighbor, teacher, mentor found a space on the stage.

And I was awed at the collage of people that made a mark upon my life... People that have given me joy, people that have disappointed me, people that made me laugh, people that made me cry.

I was no longer in the Wiltern. I was in this space called memory where I was directed to ask the question of those on stage if they stood for my personal evolution and personal journey. I had to ask each person and every person on that stage.

(Prop 2)

JNET: "Do you stand for my personal evolution and personal journey?"

ABC: "Yes."

JNET: "Do you stand for my personal evolution and personal journey?"

XYZ: "Yes."

JNET: "Do you stand for my personal evolution and personal journey?"

123: "Yes."

With each "yes" I became present to the power and delicateness of being human. Each "yes" excused the person from the stage and gradually I emptied that stage and became present to love.

But the best part had not yet come.

I was then asked to bring everyone back onstage and see the web that connected us. I saw them and the party of string that circuited between all of us. The collage of people floated like a dream.

I was then coached to sever the strings and set everyone free to move on to their own journey. And quickly I emptied that stage and all that remained was the litter of strings. I stood before a scene that I can only describe as devastating.

(Pull away Prop 2) I don't know how long I stood in the center of that quiet chaos. Slowly, pieces of the disarray faded away. To the right, the silly string blurs and fades into a black. This repeats to the left, above me, below me.. Blurring and a fading away to a darkness that is celestial.

In that final celestial darkness, a feather floated down and surprised me. One solitary, bright, white feather.

(Prop 3)

And I got what is was to visualize forgiveness.

Visualize forgiveness.

Thank you Fellow Toastmasters and Honored Guests.

JNET