What Jacob Marley Knew

     What if what Jacob Marley knew could help you with your Inner Bonding Process? What if just the visual of Jacob Marley could be a reminder that our false beliefs and unloving actions become like chains, padlocks, and cashboxes weighing us down?

            Jacob Marley is a character of Charles Dickens' 1843 Novella, "A Christmas Carol." This is a story of transformation of Ebenezer Scrooge from miserly and miserable to a charitable and joyous man through the help of the spirits of his partner Jacob Marley, the ghosts of Christmases Past, Present and Future.  Jacob appears to Scrooge with his message to change or forever be bound by the chains he had created in life, as Jacob shows Scrooge his chains as an example of his future fate.

            What are the chains of your life? Are they your beliefs? I am not enough. I cannot be loved. I am destined to be alone. Our beliefs either support us in our life or they can weigh us down like heavy chains, leaving us feeling listless, exhausted and often not even aware of the heavy chains we have forged through the meanings we created after events that took place in our lives. Often as children, we could not process the core existential feelings of loneliness, heartache, heartbreak and grief, little bodies with an immature nervous system would be overtaxed. As a result, we created meanings about events that would take away the feeling for a moment, unaware that these meanings, or beliefs would stay with us as chains as we grew older and become a part of our way of seeing the world.

            Scrooge was visited by three spirits to help him transform, a form of guidance as we have in our own lives. Our forms of guidance come in physical, emotional and spiritual form. Our physical body carries information that can help us discern our beliefs. Our body will give us information that helps us know when we are telling the truth or telling a lie within our belief system. In my body if I am telling myself a lie I often get the feeling of tightness in my shoulders and chest, accompanied by a faster heartbeat. This is letting me know that the belief is most likely false. How does information appear in your body?

            I move to my next form of guidance, emotional, I ask what the physical information means, and I've identified it as anxiety. This lets me know I'm in fear. In the place of fear, without real and present danger I am aware that I am likely carrying a false belief. I can move onto my third form of guidance and ask "what can I learn about this belief? what is the truth? is there some other belief that is closer to the truth?" This form of guidance is related to the individual whether it be a religious figure, a deceased person, deceased pet or an imagined older wiser self. This last form of guidance is where we ask in the wake of the other discoveries "what would be loving to me right now?"

            As Scrooge was trying to discern Marley's visit, he tried to explain away this vision as if it was indigestion. How often have you tried to explain away any of your forms of guidance? What part of you is unwilling to embrace the guidance you've been given? Do you have a certain belief about how your guidance works? Do you believe you cannot connect? What is it that you need to believe to be open to learn? I believe some of this comes in the form of asking questions that tap into your curiosity. What are you truly curious about? Could you look at your beliefs as a treasure to unlock? Could you embrace all feelings as a key to unlock the core feelings of love, peace and joy and break the heavy chains of your false beliefs and wounded feelings?

            Choosing curiosity over attempting to control an outcome creates a new path. Choosing curiosity is choosing the intention to learn over the intention to protect. On this path you can learn response-ability, if you can choose curiosity over judgment you create a gap between awareness and your response. In that gap you can choose a loving action. Each loving action creates feedback from your Inner Child (your feeling sense) allowing trust to build, love to grow, and experience peace. Think about Jacob Marley's lesson to Scrooge in that gap, when you feel and uncomfortable or difficult feeling....or feel spaced out and disconnected...visualize the chains of Marley and ask "what am I saying or doing in this moment that could be creating another link in the chain of my own creation?" Get curious. Allow Jacob's chain to be a reminder that each of our actions have a consequence to how we feel. It isn't something that happens outside of us, but our own choices, actions and beliefs.

            You too can wake up, be in awareness of your guidance, not just in one night...but each and every new day. In this space you can remove the chains you have created in the past...to freedom...and from freedom you can connect to your guidance to move toward creating a compelling future...a creative life. The energy you once used to build the chains can now be focused on creating....instead of building chains you'll be sprouting wings...as you ask with curiosity..."What would you like to create today?"