I have experienced the power of faith and inner images first-hand. In 2000, I was kidnapped with my parents, Renate Wallert and Werner Wallert, from a diving vacation by the Abu Sayyaf terrorist group and taken to the Philippine island of Jolo. I was held hostage in the jungle for 140 days. There I learned which so-called „resilience strategies“ help to strengthen inner resilience. Faith and positive images proved to be particularly powerful. Here is an excerpt from my book „Strong through crises“...
The positive power of images
Top athletes swear by the power of inner images. Even before they start running, they rewind a movie in their minds of how they will cross the finish line first or beat their high jump record. Motivational coaches also repeatedly emphasize the importance of clear visions for success, with statements such as „The key to success is to focus on the things we want - not the things we fear“ (Brian Tracy). When you can feel your longing with all your senses, the strength to find and walk the path to your goal grows. On Jolo, I learned that positive images not only help to make dreams come true. They also give you the strength to get through nightmares.
The fear of dying accompanied us constantly during our abduction. But apart from a few exceptions, I never lost confidence that it would all turn out well in the end. „Everything will be fine“ was my mantra. I felt this particularly well when I imagined the time after my release. They were beautiful thoughts whose calm images gave me the comforting hope of freedom and normality. I imagined myself going to a café in Luxembourg, ordering a cappuccino, leafing through the newspaper and listening to the background music. And then a good friend joins me and I tell him about my crazy experiences back then on Jolo.
This idea was the epitome of freedom for me. Just do what I want. Completely unagitated. A second longing was to see my brother Dirk again, give him a big hug and then drink a cold beer with him. Both images, which gave me strength and enabled me to have a positive outlook, were to become reality after my release.
The other hostages also imagined what they would do when they were free. In the face of death, most of us wrote a »bucket list« in our diaries, i.e. a list of things we absolutely wanted to do before we died. Jolo was also a YOLO experience for us, according to the modern internet acronym for »you only live once«. Jolo reminded us of the finite nature of life and our life's dreams. My father was a geography teacher with heart and soul. His secret dream, however, was to be a travel journalist. He was already dreaming on Jolo about how he would later publish his diary and report on his experiences.
Callie and Monique from South Africa decided to fulfill their wish to have children after their release. They also made drawings of how they wanted to redesign their garden. The other hostages„ visions for the future ranged from long-distance travel to career changes and restaurant visits. These ideas of how life would go on gave us strength. My list still included “Strumming as a bar pianist in a pub„ and “Falling in love properly and starting a family".
Faith helps
Alongside worldly aspirations, faith played an important role as a source of strength in difficult moments. Those who understand their fate as God's will or as part of an overarching plan find it easier to accept it. Especially in times of need, trust in God gives confidence: in the end everything will be all right, God holds his protective hand over me. Faith has given strength to many hostages.
My father has always been a devout Christian. In the first hours of the abduction, as we were sailing towards an unknown destination, my father saw three shooting stars in the night sky. He interpreted them as a kind of divine sign of a happy ending. He was certain that the three of us would survive.
I myself am neither Bible-based nor faithful to the church, but I have enjoyed a Christian upbringing and consider myself to be a spiritual person. I believe in the power of prayer. This is also how I categorized my wish for a hint of fate, which had resonated somewhere in the universe and brought me this dubious adventure. Just the belief that I myself could have influenced my fate turned me from a victim into a creator. This belief helped me to accept my fate.
I am convinced that prayers for other people can also have an effect. When my parents and I learned that numerous people in Germany were praying for our release in prayer circles and church services, we were not only grateful for this gesture, but also firmly believed in the power of spiritual support.
And another thing: in many emails that we received printed out and delivered to the Geisellager via various channels, strangers wished us lots of strength to get through the hard times. »Hang in there!«, we read in countless variations. We felt it was our duty to make it through the hostage situation alive. I remember that in conversations with my parents, we came to the unanimous conclusion that we could not disappoint these many supporters. For their sake alone, we had to stay positive and get through the imprisonment to a good end.
A cross-denominational prayer group also formed among us hostages under the leadership of Callie, a practicing Christian. He invited us to take part in his »sunset prayer« every evening. Depending on our mood, we followed him. We spent most of our time in forest hideouts with our captors. Their constant presence and their constantly blaring transistor radio became a psychological burden in the long run. However, as time went on and our trust grew, the kidnappers allowed us to move a few meters away from the camp. We then went to pray together in a quieter place, for example in an open field or around a campfire.
I had expected pleading prayers, in the sense of „Dear God, please get us out of here very quickly!“ But Callie mainly found words of thanks, like „Thank you, dear Lord, that we are all still alive“ or „Thank you, for the food that we received today“. And then he invited each of us to say a prayer of thanks as well. It was amazing what we could be thankful for in our predicament: »Thank you that so many people are praying for us«, »Thank you that they are negotiating for our release«, »Thank you that there was no military attack today.« This practice made us aware of all the positive aspects that were usually overlooked due to the stress and fear. At the end, we held hands once more, then broke up the circle again and returned to our everyday lives as hostages, full of hope. In addition to its psychological value, this ritual also had a team-building benefit.
Some of our fellow Muslims joined in the hijackers' prayers, lined up in the direction of Mecca. Although there were only a few practising Muslims among the kidnappers, we were often greeted before sunrise by the cry of „Allahu Akbar“ awakened.