Extract That Lamprey From My Head

During my coaching session, my coach asked what went well that week. I told her that I was invited to give a talk to a physician group in the form of a recorded video. I was excited that someone acknowledged what I do, and that I was given the opportunity to help fellow physicians. I was scared to do it, but I said yes anyway.

When asked what I was scared of, I gave several reasons. I had never done this before. What if I did a bad job. I didn’t know if the audience would like it. I was not sure if I would be helpful to the community.

My coach asked, “What is a bad job? What does that even mean?”

I replied, “Say, if I stuttered…or if no one enjoyed the talk.”

She then said, “We cannot control what other people think. A bad job may be you ducked down and not show up to do what you said you would do.”

I was thinking, yes, that would be an extremely bad job – a job not done and a broken promise.

“What if you don’t have that thought of possibly doing a bad job. What if that particular thought is a lamprey in your head and I searched, fished and extracted it. What will you think?”

That was interesting. What if I got to choose what thoughts to retain and discard from my brain?

Before I could go further, I had to find out what a lamprey was. Quick search on the internet revealed to me that lampreys are these jawless fish which shaped like eels. They have rows of sharp teeth and a sucker as their mouth. Some species use their sucker mouths to attach to their prey so that they can suck the prey’s blood.

I saw pictures of lampreys. Those suckers (literally) were horrifying. It was almost difficult for me to think about anything else but the gross images of those ancient fish and how they could suck the life out of another living creature.

The draining and negative thoughts are like lampreys in my head. They are lurking around in my brain. Once I see them, I am stuck at the imagery, almost too paralyzed to move on, too blinded to focus on other more constructive and helpful thoughts. Lampreys were draining the life out of me.

What if that lamprey was out of my head?

Without that thought of possibly doing a bad job, I would focus on using my best effort to serve my community. I would do my best in the way I knew. I would focus on providing value. I would have more gratitude for the lives that crossed my path.

Are there any lampreys in your head? Do you recognize what they are and where they are hiding? Find them and extract them before they suck the life out of you. That way, you will be open to a sea of thoughts which serve you better. You get to decide what thoughts to keep. You will feel better, feel more empowered and live life with gratitude and lead with a servant’s heart.