Discover your Personal Myth * Find Yourself in the Bigger Story
Report on Sept. 18-20 '09 Lecture and Workshop
by Brita Adkinson

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On September 18, Bellingham Institute of Noetic Sciences held an evening on the theme of Personal Mythology and Dream Study . Our speaker was Stanley Krippner, Ph.D., of San Francisco . Stanley , with a lifetime's professional experience, has been described as a living legend in mythology and shamanism. His presentation exceeded all our expectations.

With his humor, gentleness and keen awareness, Stanley invited us, an audience that filled the hall, to examine our own beliefs, that is, our mythologies. Generally, we live in a world that we ourselves define. We believe that "this is how it is" – whatever we believe. Some of our beliefs may be limiting. We may not even recognize that they are there. Our beliefs and worldviews consciously or unconsciously influence our decisions and give meaning to our lives. "Some personal myths are helpful and some are harmful" Stanley said. To undo old beliefs and adopt new ones may take skillful guidance. Stanley did just that. He guided our audience through a process of discovering what kind of beliefs we live by and helped us engage with them.

Examples of limiting beliefs:

"My family is, and will always be, a bunch of losers."

"I will never be able to overcome my anxieties."

"In this lifetime, I will never encounter real love. I have to live alone."

"It is too late to reverse the environmental disaster processes and build healthy communities. "

Whatever our beliefs are, they influence our daily lives and choices. Stanley guided us through processes where we faced our own beliefs. He helped us recognize some of our own useful beliefs and limiting beliefs, and choose which beliefs we wanted to allow and nurture. The processes were led in a gentle manner where no one or nothing was to blame. We saw some of our mythologies with compassion for ourselves. We saw that it is possible to shift the most deep-seated beliefs.

I was fortunate to attend the weekend workshop that followed, a workshop where we were coached through finding the themes that weave our life story, unraveling the repeating patterns in our lives, and creating new personal myths for ourselves.

We at BIONS are thankful to Susan Burns, former IONS representative, Seattle, The Association for Humanistic Phychology (AHP) and Wise Awakening Center for teaming up to make this event happen.

Stanley Krippner will lead a workshop on Personal Myth and Dreams in Olympia , WA , January 10, 2010. See www.mythevolve.com for details.