What's In Or On Your Bedside Table? Objects As Storytelling Content

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EVERY OBJECT WE UTILIZE IN LIFE HAS A STORY TO TELL ABOUT US, OR REFLECTS WHO WE ARE or what we value—past, present and future. (As Sherlock Holmes says, “It’s elementary.”) Some stories we want to hear, and some, perhaps not.

A REVIEW OF SOME OF THE EVERYDAY ITEMS THAT WE RARELY CONSIDER as we rush about our lives can also inspire a valuable journey to self-discovery. It’s a way to get in touch with ourselves, our relationships, our environment and structures we have created.

JOIN ME IN SURVEYING SOME OF THE SIMPLE OBJECTS most of us take for granted that can serve as storytelling and other content creation resources. I will take a close look at one of them.

THE OBJECT WILL TELL IT'S OWN STORY ABOUT WHY I HAVE IT or how it impacts my life. I’ll let the item do the talking to keep me honest about our relationship. I invite you to try this creative exercise as well.

1. A BOX OF TISSUES

I am almost empty. Val has had sinus problems for a long time. The worst is when she develops sinusitis. This happens because she ingests things into her body that weakens her immune system: dairy products, sugar, some caffeine, and products with monosodium glutamate. Today, her sinuses are revolting and pain is their way of communicating to her, of saying: “Change your habits!”

Her respiratory system has had huge challenges with two pneumonia bouts. The last one occurred in Cusco, Peru. It’s a miracle she’s alive. She had severe pulmonary edema with her lungs full of water and the liquid seeping into her brain. The clinic director said: “If your friend hadn’t called this morning when she did, you’d be dead. In another 30 minutes you would have died.” Actually, she did die.

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Sometime in the evening, Val was in the crossing over tunnel. Her mother (who died in 1979), her maternal grandmother, and an extremely bright Being whose face she could not see, were at the end. She was so happy to see her mother and grandmother again and ready to join them. Without moving their mouths--speaking consciousness to consciousness--they told her she had to return. The Being put an incredible amount of light into her body. When she opened her eyes, her friend was in her room telling Val she was calling for help immediately.

The clinic director rushed over to the hotel in which she was staying and drove her to the clinic. The doctors put her in a hyperbaric chamber because her oxygen level had dropped to the low thirties. A normal level is in the 90s. Val has anemia. Cusco is 13,000 feet above sea level and her blood couldn’t make enough oxygen.

Although she is reaching for me tonight, I must say she has made changes so she doesn’t need to use me very often. She’s sworn off two drains on her immune system: alcohol and cigarettes. Plus, she almost only uses Yacon honey & syrup (a low-calorie, low-blood sugar sweetener for diabetics and weight-watchers she discovered in Peru), uses Almond beverage and goat’s milk, and minimizes caffeine intake. 

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Her greatest enemy is her love for sugar-producing carbohydrates (the “bad” carbs) she eats for comfort food, or just because it’s a hard pattern to break. Also, she loves sour cream mixed with Lipton Onion Soup to make a dip that complements her favorite potato chips, Lays Classic. The soup mix has monosodium glutamate. Also, she’s prone to binges of putting cheddar cheese in her morning grits and making grill cheese sandwiches.

Sinus problems are a symptom of deeper issues—emotional ones. She was abused as a child, and it left an imprint on her. It says: “You’re not worthy. You’re not good enough. You aren’t a person to value.” Sometimes these feelings rear up—even though she’s worked hard against them, knowing they are not true. 

The more she eradicates the harmful programming she received as a child, the less she’ll need to eat things that feed the sinus problems. She’s doing more work on the inside to affect her outside choices.

She uses me to wipe her tears too; although lately, she wipes her tears with her fingers and rubs them into her skin where her heart resides.

See what I mean about how one ordinary object can be used as a storytelling resource, and has the capacity to impact a life? Here are the rest of the items:

2. The book, “The Secret.”
3. The book, “Messages from Your Angels.”
4. A hand-painted, black lacquer jewelry box my dad brought home to my mother after serving in the military in Okinawa.
5. A digital microcassette recorder.
6. A remote for my DVD/VHS player.
7. A small, white box with pearl earrings inside.
8. My Zrii notebook.
9. A maroon cloth napkin with a pattern of tiny white roses.

NOW IT'S YOUR TURN. What’s on YOUR bedside table?

Note: The “What’s In or On Your Bedside Table” is an idea inspired by a dream I had in February 2009. I was a guest in the audience of the game show, “Let’s Make a Deal.” Audience members were offered a deal if we could find the requested object in our pocketbooks. I don’t recall what object was requested, but I found it. Monty Hall, the host, picked out a piece of paper from a bag with the prize written on it. I won $37,000.75. I awakened.

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