Symbols and Stories: The Vehicles of Power

Often times as we go through mortality we’ll have experiences that test our mettle. Sheri Dew said that in the last days that “people we love will disappoint us-and we will disappoint them…. We’ll almost certainly struggle with some kind of physical appetite, and perhaps several.” (Dew, God Wants A Powerful People, 14) These experiences will hurt. It’s not a matter of if, but when will they happen.

Symbolic story alert! Stories in the scriptures may be deeper than they appear.

It’s been said that feelings buried alive never die, that those feelings lie underneath the surface of our awareness until times of great emotional upheaval, and then they all come spilling out, burning like acid anything they touch.  Not only are they emotionally taxing but studies are showing that they can cause physical pain, and even sickness if left untreated.

Most people that I work with all ready know that those old emotions can be healed by the power of God. People typically aren’t unfamiliar with that concept! The scriptures are full of examples of Christ, Jehovah, or his representatives healing the sick, or raising the dead. Jeremiah 32:27, the rock scripture of my life, says, “Behold, I am the LORD, the god of all flesh, is there anything too hard for me?”

Many people might have practice at accessing the Spirit of Christ for revelation, but in our busy american culture most people are out of practice at learning how to access the Spirit of Christ for healing.

How weird would it be to looking at a serpent on a stick to heal? 

I’ve already mentioned the power of meditation multiple times (for mental health, and in a crisis), but i haven’t as yet made any mention of the power of stories and symbols in healing. Here’s a video i recorded earlier explaining some of the power using story and symbol as a tool for healing. We call this tool “Therapeutic Guided Imagery Facilitation” or TGIF for short. :-)

A certified TGIF will help you take time to still the mind, relax the body, and calm the spirit to prepare you for healing. Most people find that just having help doing all those things is amazing, but that’s not even the tip of the iceberg! That’s the tip of the iceberg off in the distance! A certified TGIF will use guided imagery to help you get to the heart of difficult experiences in a calm and gentle fashion. They put you in a state where you get to work out your own problems using the stories provided by the facilitator, and the symbols provided by the deep parts of your mind.

Many of my friends and clients reported having repeated insights weeks or months after one session! Why, you might ask? Because just as symbols and stories create a powerful learning environment in the temple, symbols and story can create a powerful space where mental and emotional healing can take place.

So what’s the difference between traditional guided meditations and TGIF? TGIF allows you to really get to the heart of an issue by making your guided imagery “journey” interactive. Your deep mind will provide symbols (in the form of images or information, "just knowing,") to represent powerful experiences and emotions. Where a recording cannot interact with those, a person can. And even more powerful, a person can listen to the Holy Spirit and the Light of Christ and customize options for you as the spirit dictates. It’s like moving from the missionary discussions to the lessons of Preach My Gospel.

Do you know why there are 4 stars instead of 3? Or why light is coming from a cloud?

If you aren’t familiar with how different they are it’s like comparing a train (pre-recorded guided meditations) to a jet (interactive TGIF). Both are powerful and useful, but one is far faster, and more powerful. Now… if you’d like to experience TGIF then i highly recommend contacting a trained professional and setting up an appointment. I do TGIF appointments, and they’re $40 per person. You can contact me at (i'm typing this so robots don't take my email address) ryan at beehivehealingarts.org. Other facilitators will (hopefully) post their info below so you can contact them and sign up for an appointment!

If you think that guided imagery may be right for you but you’re not sure, check out the video below for a progressive relaxation recording and snippet of the power of guided imagery. (This video/journey is the basis for almost all the journeys. Please enjoy it as my gift to you! Your facilitator will thank you.)

“To be fluent in the language of the Spirit, one must be fluent in the language of symbolism.” Joseph Fielding McConkie, Gospel Symbolism 1985

Emotional Crisis Kit

Have any of you ever felt like somebody threw a live grenade in your hand and said "Oh hey! By the way, deal with this?"

Recently i had one of those moments. I won't go into the details here, but i was given a very complicated situation, and told to fix it! In that moment i felt lots of things, nausea, tired, stressed, anxious, scared, and like i wanted to curl up in a ball in my bed and pretend the grenade didn't exist.

However, my yoga training kicked in and i pulled out my trusty meditation pillow and plopped my rear down, and started meditating. 

I definitely wasn't in the mood for a nice, calm, deep meditation. I needed something to turn the intensity down in my chest, and give me some clarity of mind and heart. Intuitively i knew that i needed to do some alternate nostril breathing. 

After a few minutes of that, i felt enough clarity to realize that i was hungry and couldn't solve the problem on an empty stomach. After eating some food i made a few phone calls and found a solution that was simpler than i expected.

Because i love this meditation so much, i wanted to share it with you. Enjoy and share!

Oh say what is truth?

The story has often been told of several men who are wise, but blind, trying to decipher what an elephant is merely by their experience with it.

The thing with truth is, it can't be completely comprehended by one experience alone. We're told in the scriptures that we will be given light "line upon line" until we can comprehend "all things." It is in that place of comprehending all things that we have "truth." Everything up until that point is just a piece of truth. It's value is in it's ability to lead one to more truth, however it is worthless by itself.

A less well known story is that of a man who sees the devil and how he treats the rest of mankind. The man having the vision sees another man (we'll call him Bob) walking along and finds a piece of truth on the ground. Bob stoops down to pick it up, and walks along his way. The man having the vision is baffled that the devil didn't do anything to Bob.

"Why didn't you stop him?" the man cried. "Isn't it bad for you if he has truth?" "No," the devil smoothly replies. "I'm going to let him keep that piece of truth, and let him believe that what he has is all there is."

The devil is suave

If any of you have ever had an experience with truth, I encourage you to keep it! However, as you proceed with life, please hearken to those who claim to have had experiences with truth you haven't quite collected yet. There is great danger in saying, "A bible a bible, i have already got a bible, and need no more bible!" Or in modern terms, "A testimony, a testimony! I've already gotten a testimony and need no more testimony!" For those who say they have enough, it shall be taken from them, even that which they have. (Alma 12:9-11)