The Power of Proverbs — or: how we were all programmed without being asked

“Trust, but verify.”

 “Boys don’t cry.”

 “Don’t be so sensitive.”

We didn’t choose these sentences.

They were breathed into us.

Inherited like grandma’s porcelain teacups

—just without flowers, but with trauma instead.

And then they moved in, made themselves comfortable on the couch,

and started managing our entire reality.

Which saying programmed you?

Maybe one of these:

“Business before pleasure.”

 “No pain, no gain.”

 “Life’s tough, deal with it.”

 “What will people think?”

 “What goes around comes around.”

 “Revenge is sweet.” (…really? asks my Higher Self.)

When you read one of these —notice your body.

Does something tighten?

Does your chest contract?

Or do you just think:

“Shit… that thing is still installed in my operating system.”

We didn’t consciously accept these beliefs. We were children. Open. Soft. Programmable. Soul-mashed-potatoes.

Words are programs

And programs direct energy.

If we don’t consciously examine them, they run the show — instead of us.

Every proverb is actually just one thing:

an offer.

We can decline it.

We can say:

“Thanks, but no. I’m canceling my subscription to the ‘hard reality’ mindset.”

My personal final boss-proverb

My mom’s favorite saying was:

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

I hated it. And then one day... I started to like it. I felt like a mythological warrior princess with a coffee cup and a to-do list.

I learned to survive instead of to feel.

I confused hardness with strength.

I believed softness = weakness.

Now I know softness = receptivity and so superpower.

And I was so empathic that I felt other people’s emotions before I even sensed my own.

I wasn’t numb — I was flooded.

At some point, the body calls for revolution

In my early thirties, I moved to Crete.

I left behind my old life.

I even left behind my

“I am strong and nothing touches me” identity.

For the first time, space appeared:

Silence.

Me.

Truth.

And then — of course — the body went:

“Alright sweetheart, time for the Level-Up.”

Suddenly: swollen fingers.

Then: 21 inflamed joints.

Diagnosis: rheumatoid arthritis.

Psychologically, arthritis often stands for:

• suppressed flexibility

• carrying too much responsibility

• emotions stuck in the body

• zero willingness to change — but still performing on the outside

  
  

My body basically said:

“You’ve become too hard. Enough.”

I did not accept the diagnosis

I never picked up the medication.

Instead, I decided:

• I listen to my body.

• I allow myself to feel.

• I become — and stay — soft. No matter who gets confused by it.

  
  

I chose:

“I’m not here to become hard. I’m here to be alive.”

The pain disappeared. It ever came back.

Crying is my new favorite tool (after dancing)

I never thought I’d say:

“I love crying.”

Not for drama. But because it cleans.

Emotions want to be felt.

If we don’t feel them, they store themselves in the body —sometimes in joints, sometimes in hearts.

Feeling liberates.

Sometimes I even breathe heavy emotions into a crystal, and if it’s very intense, I wash it in saltwater or bury it in Mama Gaia.

(Yes. Totally cosmic. Also extremely effective.)

Words create worlds

If proverbs can limit us, new proverbs can free us.

Like:

“In stillness, we find strength.”

 “You are enough.”

 “When you let go, your hands are free.”

 “Softness is strength.”

I replaced my childhood program

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

with

“True strength is softness, integrity, and presence.”

And suddenly I wasn’t harder —I was freer.

You get to choose again

If a saying keeps you small, rewrite it.

You create your reality.

Not through force. Through awareness.

And if you want, we can dance through your reprogramming together —at the Luminous School of Creation.

I’m ready. Your cosmic team is ready.

Marieke ✨