Janet Bray Attwood shares how to see every moment as a gift in this behind the scenes video of Janet recording My Wake UP Call to Passion mp3 messages
“Ok, let’s talk about our challenges that we’ve got going. I’m going to share with you some of my challenges. When I was a little girl, my mom and I were so close. We were such good friends. And I am talking little, when I was 4 years old or 5 years old. My mom used to actually not tell the truth and write a note saying that Janet has to go to the doctor. She used to take me out of school just so we could play together. And I remember us sitting in the bed and we would eat fishes in the dishes and sing together and have such a magical time together. And we were so connected. And then when I was about 8 years old, my mother started drinking. Her doctor said that when she got cramps that maybe she should have a little whiskey that that would make her cramps go away. My mother is part Indian and I am not sure if I buy into the concept that that’s why. But what did happen was she became an alcoholic. And my whole world cracked. And then when I was 17, I was physically abused. When I was 18 I was strung out on drugs and I also found myself living with the President of the Oakland Hell’s Angels.
When you hear about how John Assaraf started out as a gang member, or how Neal Donald Walsh lived in the streets for some time, or how the great director David Lynch discovered his passion by seeing how his friend’s father was able to make a living by being an artist, or how Mark Victor Hansen survived bankruptcy. It makes you believe that if they can do it, that I can do it, too, doesn’t it? It’s all a concept. If you have these limiting beliefs that I can’t do it because, then you will be right. And that’s what you are going to get.
Now here’s what I’d love you to do today. Make a list of all of the horrible, terrible dark moments in your life. Now this is just one of those lists that you will turn around so you can see that every moment is a gift. No exceptions. Because as I did this little exercise, and I wrote, “Mother was an alcoholic.” And I looked for the evidence of how did it serve me. “Mother was an alcoholic. How did it serve me?” Well, one of the ways it served me was that when mother was at alcoholic homes, I would go there and I got a whole club of women to write letters to the women who were in this home. I learned how to give. How else did it serve me that mother was an alcoholic? When I meet other alcoholics, I have so much compassion because I saw that that is a really a tough way to try to live and be on this planet.
When I was strung out on drugs, how did it serve me? Well, it serves me in a really great way because I know that I love being clear. So I don’t even go there. How else does it serve me? When I meet people who have the challenge of being strung out on drugs, I actually know what to say to them, I know what they need. I know how to be with them.
So with you, in your day today, take a little bit of time and make your list of the awful terrible things that have happened to you and then find how they have really served you. So that you can start to see that every single moment is a gift. And as my great friend, Dr. Sue Morter says, “No exceptions. “
