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HEALTH & WELLNESS
Take Megyn. She called me for an emergency coaching session, fuming— enraged after receiving a text from her older sister. The text read:“ You’ re so sweet to take care of Mom while I’ m gone.”
Instead of feeling appreciated, Megyn felt furious. She had already fired off a sarcastic reply:“ Yeah right. I’ m always the sweet one.”
She couldn’ t explain why the comment made her blood boil. She knew it wasn’ t completely rational— but she was willing to explore it.
As I guided her into the energy field of her body, she felt a knot of tension in her heart, extending up into her throat. As she stayed with the feeling, a memory slowly surfaced: She was seven years old, standing beside her mother at a social gathering. Her mom placed a hand on Megyn’ s shoulder and said,“ This is my sweet daughter.” Then, stepping behind Megyn’ s older sister, she placed both hands on her shoulders and professed,“ And this is my interesting daughter.”
Even as a child, Megyn had registered what she perceived as the unspoken message:“ sweet” meant kind but boring;“ interesting” meant something more desirable. That subtle hierarchy had imprinted itself in her nervous system.
Her older sister’ s well-meaning message had unconsciously re-enacted that old wound. And Megyn— like so many of us— had responded with one of what I call the Three Outs.
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