Mana
Gardening

My grandmother, a.k.a. Nanny, shared with me today that she used a mana gardening technique of replacing memories. She didn’t put it like that of course, but as she told the story, I realized that’s exactly what she did.

Nanny lives in a place with many other elders. The elders get together and share their stories of the past quite frequently. Instead of telling her story of her traumatic upbringing along with divorces and illnesses etc., she shared that she had a very loving, caring mother and father and had a very fun and loving childhood. She also shared that she had a wonderful husband who died young and they had a loving daughter who was very well cared for and nurtured.

In mana gardening, there’s a technique where you replace a non-empowering story with an empowering story—one that makes you feel good instead of one that makes you feel traumatized.

So without knowing it, Nanny gave herself the gift of feeling good instead of putting yourself through the memories of her tragic childhood and marriage! She shared with me that the purpose was so that she wouldn’t have to go through those emotions again. Some may consider that being untruthful,  however, I see it as a gift to herself and her wellbeing. Had she told the dramatic stories, she would’ve felt the negative emotion again and likely would have had to share many more details that would enhance the negative emotions. She just did not want to put herself through that again.

Every time we re-tell the story of a traumatic event, we inadvertently live it again. We experience all the emotions as if it just happened (like right now) as opposed to many years ago. That is how your mind sees it and that is how your body reacts.  Neurologically speaking, she created a new neurological pathway that, if she re-tells the new empowering story a few times or perhaps many times, has the opportunity to become part of her memories and enhance her well-being by leaving her feeling fulfilled with her life, rather than like a victim of a crazy life.

Such techniques, shared in the book Mana Gardening, Empower Yourself and Live a Better Life, have the power to help you replace memories that are potentially harmful to your wellbeing, with memories that benefit you and keep you happier. These are also excellent topics for the fields of Mana Psychology™ and Mana Sciences™.

And as you know, being happy is paramount to healthy vibrant living!

Get your copy of the book and to learn Mana Gardening happiness techniques.

Namaste,

Michelle

Today as I was pulling out of the chiropractor’s office, an older lady, walking rather quickly on the sidewalk, caught my eye. She was clearly talking to me but I didn’t really hear what she was saying. It was something about the bus. As I waved her over, she asked me for a ride because she had just missed her bus, it would be an hour before the next one came, and she was too tired to wait.

I noticed a bit of an old automatic reaction starting — a feeling of being bothered by the request. I decided NOT to choose that autopilot reaction. Shifting quickly out of that and into a feeling of compassion and service, I said, “Sure hop in!” I had no idea where this woman needed to go but she said it was pretty close. Here she was in my car, a kind woman in need of a lift so she could get a nap at her friend’s apartment before having to go back downtown to get in line for the next meal. It turned out she only needed to go about a mile. We wished each other a Happy Valentine’s Day and she was off. It felt really good to have helped a sister out!

Asheville, NC by Maleah Stein 2016

What I find so interesting is the automatic nature of negative responses, or responses filled with ‘what about me’ energy. It seems we actually have to consciously CHOOSE the positive over the negative.Another interesting point concerns that moment of choice. If we are aware, we can notice and then choose to follow either a negative-feeling energy or a positive-feeling energy. Both options are available in any moment and the fact that a negative one showed up first is not ‘bad’ and I’m not ‘bad’ for having that thought. The positive-feeling energy was right there for the choosing as well. It’s simply a matter of choice.It’s about BEING the change you wish to see in the world. So consistently decide to practice BEING positive: keep choosing positive-feeling responses, keep choosing service, and keep helping a brother or sister out!Much Love to You,Michelle