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How many of us have been at a decision making crossroad in our lives
and found ourselves saying something like: "If I just had a sign!"How
many of us have been in desperate need of guidance over a
heavy life issue - and pleaded in the midnight hour: "grant me a sign!"
to whom or whatever would listen.Most hands are raised and waving at this point. We've all done
it. We've all wanted confirmation at some point. All of us have
thought:
- "Am I on the right path?"
- "Am I making the right
decision?" - "What should I do next?"
It's healthy to have these questions. It's natural to
want
guidance and direction in our lives. We always get the answers. The
trouble starts when we don't recognize the answers we so urgently
seek.That's where symbolism enters the stage. Symbolism
serves as a trigger so that we can recognize answers to our
questions.Simply put: When we ask questions, we are
given answers in form of signs and symbols. Always. This is because symbolism is hard-wired into the
human mind.
When we see an image it's immediately reduced to a snap-shot. The mind
then takes the snap-shot and reduces it to a symbolic impression. This
process is called symbolic association.It's
healthy to have these questions. It's natural to want
guidance and direction in our lives. We always get the answers. The
trouble starts when we don't recognize the answers we so urgently
seek.That's where symbolism enters the stage. Symbolism
serves as a trigger so that we can recognize answers to our
questions.Simply put: When we ask questions, we are
given answers in form of signs and symbols. Always.
How it works:
From the dawn of time, humanity has used visual/pictorial signs and
symbols to capture an expanse of data. Think about it: from cave
drawings, to hieroglyphs, to architecture, even the written language -
they all originate and incorporate the use of symbols.
This is because symbolism is hard-wired into the human mind.
When we see an image it's immediately reduced to a snap-shot. The mind
then takes the snap-shot and reduces it to a symbolic impression. This
process is called symbolic association.
Symbolic Association:
It's called symbolic association because the mind associates meaning to
an image/event thus making it symbolic. Symbolic association is our
innate ability to gain a deeper understanding of things and events.
This also involves our ability to make intellectual or philosophical
connection between these things and events. We practice the art of
symbolic association every moment of every day; we just might not be
paying attention to our associations.
For example, my friend
Jessica came to me in a panic about two
job offers she received. Both seemed to be equally beneficial to her
growth. Both offered the same pay and benefits. "What do I do?" she
asked me.
"What kind of signs or symbols are you getting?" I
asked her.After some thought she admitted (a little
sheepishly at first)
that she'd been inundated by apples lately. Yes, apples. "They're
everywhere!" Jessica said. "I see them on billboards, on the TV;
they've been popping up all over the place for me. In fact, the day I
was offered both positions a barrel of apples spilled over right in
front of me as I was shopping at the market!" I began asking her what apples represented
to her. I asked her to hold an image of an apple in
her mind. I could
see her focus until her mind retrieved just the right image. I asked
her to continue to focus on this apple and begin to tell me what she
was associating (thinking & feeling) with it. Here is what she
revealed:
- It's red & juicy
- It reminds me of Autumn
- I'm
hungry - My grandmother made the best pies from apples like this
- I miss my grandmother, she had the best wisdom to share
- One
Autumn she told me a story while she was making an apple pie - This
story had a moral lesson about honesty
Bingo! Honesty (and we could intuit a direct message to
Jessica from her grandmother - but that's another post altogether :-) .
I encouraged Jessica to do a couple things.
- Make sure she was being honest with herself and confirm that
she really wanted to leave her current employer for a new one. - Check
over both job offers again - make sure she has all the honest facts
about what each position was offering her. - Do more research & check the background of each company.
"By the time you phrase the
question correctly, you will have answered it." Instead of, "Why is she
always mean to me?" the question becomes, "Why do I choose to become
upset over my interpretation of the motivations behind her actions? Why
do I care?" Like that........
FROM>>>https://www.whats-your-sign.com/march-meaning-and-symbolism.html