The two handed practice

Whenever you are feeling self critical or helpless or small or stuck, here’s a way to quickly shift your perception about yourself or your situation using your hands.

Step 1
Put your hands out in front of you as if you are holding a weight in each hand.
Now imagine that in one hand you are holding whatever you are currently feeling about yourself or your reality
and in the other hand hold a larger view of who you really are (part of the Divine mystery).

Then say to yourself:
On the one hand I feel ….
on the other hand I am ….. (the opposite of what you feel or something far more expansive.)

Always use “I feel…” for limited thoughts about yourself (as feelings are momentary) and “I am.…” for the expansive version.

In other words, instead of saying “I am sad”
try on
” On the one hand I feel sad ” …
Some examples:

Instead of I am broken
use

On the one hand I feel broken
on the other hand I know that I am unbreakable.

On the one hand I feel helpless
on the other hand I know that I am powerful beyond measure.

On the one hand I feel needy
on the other hand I know I am source

On the one hand I feel lonely
on the other hand I know I am able to reach out and give others whatever I think I lack.

On the one hand I feel less than ordinary
On the other hand I know that I am extraordinary

On the one hand I feel stupid
on the other hand I know I am connected to infinite wisdom

One the one hand I feel stuck and overwhelmed
On the other hand I know that at my very core, I am pure spaciousness, an infinite well and limitless receiver of divine inspiration.

On the one hand I feel like this is the end
On the other hand I know that I am “walking forever”….

Note: Be careful how you use “I am…” Only use it to call in the greater version of you, rather than use it to describe the temporarily limited feeling state, as “I am” is always a very powerful statement.

Feeling states are the clouds, coming and going. I am the sky.

Step 2
As my larger self I can hold and fully feel my temporary feeling state,
allowing feelings to arise freely in me without judgement or interpretation.
Why do this?
All feelings are creative fuel, and if you feel them fully for what they are, momentary, the feeling dissolves into free energy that you can then re-purpose instead of staying frozen.

What does this have to do with hand analysis?
So many people write to me asking why their lives are bad. Or are bad things going to happen because they have a certain marker.
Many keep looking at the palms of their hands searching for confirmation of pitfalls or problems
and because this is the wrong focus of your creative intention, it becomes a self fulfilling prophesy.

Instead of asking self limiting questions, each time you look at your hands,
tune into what you feel and then do the two handed practice.

On the one hand I feel ….. ( some version of small and needy)
on the other hand I am …… (limitless source).

Step 3
Then look closer your hands and see what jumps out from the shape or lines in your hands as creative inspiration.
Ask yourself: “What gifts or strengths do I have that can move me from the temporary limited feeling to the larger truth of who I really am?”

“How can I allow the Divine to express through me; and through my unique gifts and strengths?”

Our lives are defined by the questions we ask, and our spirit is constantly re-fuelled by the willingness to fully feel whatever is arising now.

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Acknowledgements
1. I first learnt a slightly different “two handed practice” in David Richo’s wonderful book “The Five Things We Cannot Change: And the Happiness We Find by Embracing Them” I think Richo uses a situation you find oneself in, on the one hand, and what one can do about it on the other hand. (Positive action.) “I can…” Worth checking out.
2. “Walking forever” is a phrase used by spiritual teacher Thomas Huebl.