Illuminer

Illuminer (Fr.)/ Illuminate (Eng.): to brighten with light. To make uderstandable. To clarify. To expose or reveal by radiation. To enlighten intellectually or spiritually.

Most people think that perception works a lot like a flashlight in the dark, illuminating whatever it's aimed at. However, the truth is that instead of revealing what's there, it creates it.

Recently I was questioning how someone can knowingly change their perception. I was advised that it was simple-- just change your thoughts. Um, yeah. How does someone do that exactly? Here is the exercise I was given as a two week experiment:

1. Put two jars side by side.
2. Every time you have a disempowering, bummer thought, such as "the French government is trying to kill me with bureaucracy", "I'll never speak French fluently", "I no longer have any bicep definition", etc. I am to put one euro in the first jar.
3. As soon as that euro clinks in that jar, I am to write an empowering thought on a piece of paper, such as "I speak French 10 times better than I did this time last year", "I have the intellect and tenacity to handle the French government", "My calves look ah-mazing!" etc. Then fold that piece of paper and drop it in the second jar.
4. Whenever I need a little light to shine on my here and now, I grab that second jar, pluck out the pieces of paper, and Viola! My here and now is illuminated.
5. At the end of the two weeks, I am to take that first jar's contents and give it to charity, whatever charity looks like to me.