In this short video I explain and demonstrate the Zip-UP Technique, mentioned in Chapter 4 of Energy Makeover. It is something we can do every day to strengthen our shield for dealing with difficult people, crowds and energy drains.
Archive for November, 2011
Betsy Demonstrates a Great Tip for the Holidays (video too)
Wednesday, November 30th, 2011Minding the Emotional Intensity of Life
Tuesday, November 29th, 2011As I prepare to lead a new book club call this week on the topic of Creating a Journal, I am reminded that journals are a place where we must reveal, pour out and examine our emotions with a sense of curiosity. So many people come to me seeking guidance on life purpose these days and my belief is that emotions are the answer. Emotions play a critical role in helping each soul navigate the big life lessons that bring true purpose to our unique mission as a human being.
Many coaches don’t delve into emotions as much as I do, preferring to leave that to licensed therapists. I must step up and say that coaches, especially someone like me who has specialized training in Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) or other energy self-care processes are a most appropriate resource for a healthy clients seeking to honor their emotions as part of a balanced self-awareness plan. EFT is an incredible tool for restoring balance of energy flow and creating a sense of well-being. What I love most about it is that it becomes a powerful self-care tool that helps you deal with emotions as they come up with a new sense of confidence.
Much of my coaching practice is about empowering clients to recognize and balance their energy by working with emotions for guidance. More often than not, the energy drains and blocks my clients report can be traced to emotions that have been repeatedly stuffed away for days, weeks, months and even years. You can’t heal what you don’t recognize. Stress and physical symptoms only compound as emotions get stuffed away. Having intense emotions does not mean that you are sick, mentally ill or depressed. Emotions mean you are human!
It is time to realize that each moment of extreme emotional intensity, whether it is a high blissful state or one of agony, teach us about who we are, what we value and what kind of path we are on.
Honoring Emotional Intensity in Your Journal
Consider beginning a process to document your emotional peaks and valleys each day. I suggest the following each morning as you reflect on the previous day:
1. List 3-5 of your peak “Intensity Moments” each day and identify what the emotion you felt was. Rate the intensity on a scale of 0-10. Intensity moments can be scenes of pure joy, gratitude, fear, worry, rage or anger just to name a few. They are the highest peaks and the lowest valleys. Some days you will have more of one extreme than another. If you don’t have much intensity some days, that is fine too. (I find this usually happens when I am on vacation and totally relaxed, which is interesting indeed!) Pay attention to the most intense things, be honest about what you feel, give them a name and a number rating.
2. Comment about how you dealt with the feeling. If you used a healing technique like EFT to process a painful or unpleasant emotion, jot down a note about what you did and how you felt after your self-care treatment. If you medicated your intense emotion with food, alcohol, cigarettes, surfing the internet or shopping, you might also want to admit this in your journal. Also jot down a note if you celebrated an emotional high through expressing gratitude or by sharing your joy with someone else.
3. Is this feeling or scene revealing your unique part of a bigger picture? Consider what this intensity is telling you about who you are. When your core values are disrupted or challenged, you will be agitated. When your values are served, you will feel calm and wonderful. Allow these intense feelings to reveal your mission, purpose and inner longings. As you use emotions to know yourself better, you will recognize how your unique nature fits into and helps you serve the world around you. It may take a few weeks to begin getting a sense of this, so instead of hurrying the process, simply witness and reflect on it.
You are here to be uniquely you, emotions and all. Pay attention and you will awaken a new way of understanding your deepest truth.
Want to learn more about Emotional Freedom Techniques, energy self-care and using a journal to as part of your personal energy makeover? The basic EFT sequence and several treatment scripts can be found in my book, Energy Makeover – A Conscious Way to Stay Young, Have Fun and Get More Done!. Join my mailing list at www.theindigoconnection.com to learn more about group EFT events or call 440-238-4731 to schedule a private EFT coaching consultation by phone.
Disclaimer: The information contained herein is educational in nature, is provided only as general self-care guidance and is not medical advice. The information presented is not intended to be diagnostic or substitute for obtaining medical advice or psychological care. Please consult with your physician or licensed practitioner.
Going Deep Into Gratitude
Friday, November 18th, 2011It’s that time of year when being thankful, grateful and appreciative is at “top of mind” as the Thanksgiving Holiday approaches. We all know that we should be grateful and have probably heard far too many people (including me) urge you to keep gratitude journal so that you might keep gratitude at the top of your awareness. It really works, and if you are not fully immersing yourself in at least being curious about gratitude, you may well be missing one of the easiest ways to lift your emotional state and make a solid soul connection with another human ever known to mankind.
Today I want to remind you of a very powerful tool that combines gratitude with connection. This tool requires taking time to sit down and write a thank you note, by hand, to someone you appreciate. This is one of the Practice Time exercises I recommend in my book Energy Makeover on page 70. It may seem like a small thing, but I know that doing this offers the potential to deeply enrich a relationship.
I remember writing such a note to my father shortly after I attended a speech given by my friend Lisa Ryan earlier this year. I was pretty sure Dad already knew how much I loved and respected him, but when that letter arrived, my Dad called me to tell me that the letter brought tears to his eyes. I never imagined that!
After readers started making their way through the first few chapters of my book, I received a beautiful hand written letter from my dear friend and loyal retreat participant Judy. Judy wrote to me because of page 70. I felt tears well up too!
Yesterday I received this lovely email from Susan Mitchell, a reader and friend from my Jazzercise class.
“I was reading the chapter where you say to write a note “do it now” to anymore that means a great deal to you. So I quickly wrote a card to a nurse here at CCF that is very intuitive (she actually called me that very morning to reach out and connect because she could feel I needed someone to talk to which she never did in the past) She called me down to her area grabbed my hands and prayed over me. The next day she received my card in the mail and CRIED. What a connection we have. So I have been blessed with angels around me.”
Those tears that the recipient experiences are a sign that the heart has been touched. You have connected in a very special way on the soul level through a gesture of deep appreciation. The bond will be permanent and profound. Trust me on this.
I urge everyone reading this to bare their soul and tell someone how significant they are and how much you appreciate them. Even if you think they already know what you will write, write it anyway. You risk nothing and may just gain a profound soul connection.
Insulating Your Energy for the Up-Coming Holidays
Tuesday, November 15th, 2011Do you know what the top 3 energy drains are?
If you knew, would you make different choices?
As we head into the upcoming holiday season and our dark, winter here in NE Ohio, we think about shielding ourselves from the cold, energy inefficiency and drafts. We insulate our homes, change our filters, order furnace maintenance and begin shopping and housekeeping for the busy season ahead. Are you scheduling self-care into this agenda to make sure that YOU are shielded and energetically insulated for this very busy time of the year? If you care about sustainable human energy, consider the following.
• Limit time with people who drain you. Think about how you can say no or limit your exposure to them.
• Ask for help, even before you need it. Could someone help you clean, shop, cook, rake or entertain guests? It’s more fun when you don’t go it alone.
• Shift your attention to things that are positive. Remember what Thanksgiving is all about. Say “thanks” often. Little things are always going well in your life. Make a point to notice a kind gesture, that your car starts, the heat works, you have warm place to sleep and food in your pantry. You have comfort!
• Offer your talents to the world. Could you help someone who is having a rough time? Is there a way you could bring a smile to someone else and do it with EASE? Speak up and act. You are the gift someone is waiting for!
In my book the top 3 energy drains are:
1. Energy Vampires
2. Trying to Control incontrollable things
3. Isolation/Disconnection
Learn more about what I mean and also 3 ways you can most rapidly recover your energy by listening to this short audio of From Sensitive to Reliably Resilient – an Energy Makeover Overview
Remembering Who You Are – A Tribute to 11/11/11
Friday, November 11th, 2011Today my friend “Angel Kim” sent me a link to an exquisite meditation exercise posted on Adam Bernstein’s blog (http://www.adambetweentheworlds.com/psychic-blog/111111/). In spite of being very busy, something moved me to go there and read the post. There I found Adam’s suggestion for a meditation and I chose to stop everything, put my feet on the ground, close my eyes and give it a try.
As part of this exercise, you are instructed to climb a spiral staircase which eventually leads to a portal into an enormous ashram or meeting room. Inside the room I found myself welcomed to a bright place by many very loving beings. I was eventually guided to an older woman who was seated very comfortably by a roaring fireplace. She told me her name was Helena. She had a cat sleeping on her lap and a large dog resting at her feet. She appeared to be Native American, dressed elegantly in a layered long velvet garment of dark purples and turquoise tones. Her hair was dark with touches of gray. She looked to be about 60 years old. There was a very comfortable stuffed chair next to her that I was offered.
She told me that my job now is to lift the veil of amnesia so that every person remembers who they really are and their true nature as eternal, limitless beings. She said I have the ability to actually design some sort of intervention that could facilitate this as I speak to groups and work with individuals and that it is time to integrate this into all that I do from this point forward. She was very straightforward, confident and peaceful as she shared this. Her eyes blazed with excitement. I was and remain humbled just thinking about it. I thanked her for this information and we embraced. Almost immediately I was pulled back through the portal and found myself back in my office chair wishing I could have a bit more time with Helena. I suppose her work was done and mine now must begin.
There is a stirring in my soul that is growing clearer. The insight from this 11/11/11 meditation brings me closer to remembering why I chose to be here on earth now. Consider me ready to assume this mission. I might not yet have the remedy, but I do have an inner clarity that will allow my piece of this puzzle to emerge.
Today is Veteran’s Day, 11/11/11 and a day I am deeply mindful of human suffering, hope for healing and the capacity for every human to change for the better. I encourage everyone to watch the outstanding film Operation: Emotional Freedom. (Many showings are taking place today throughout the US. If you are local, you may ask to borrow my copy).
