Sunday, April 29, 2007

Finding Help and Motivation to Release Emotional Baggage

Hello, Friends of THE LAST ADVENTURE OF LIFE. I'm learning these days very personally how challenging it can be to really change, I mean shift old habits into new, more positive and joyful patterns. I seem to be unpacking layers and layers of old stuff ("junk") to let go of -- old heart aches, hurt, and judgments of the self, too. People and events that I thought I'd long ago let go of seem to be still "hanging around" and need a kind of "house cleaning."

I've found at least four ways I can help motivate myself to let go of the old "garbage" in my life. In case you might be struggling with some shifts in your life, too, I offer these suggestions as ideas you might play with (note the word "play" -- I feel it's important to get away from heaviness and seriousness these days as much as possible!):
  1. Work with a trusted teacher and/or healer who can help you bring up and release things that need releasing. Matrix Energetics is a new healing modality that's helping me tremendously!
  2. Check out the book or website Radical Forgiveness. This is a book by Colin Tipping, mentioned in Chapter 6 (Reflect) of my book, which helped me look at forgiveness in a whole new way. I began to see that there was a pattern in my life that kept coming up. Instead of feeling sorry for myself or victimized by this pattern, I learned to see it as an overall misconception that needed to be healed. Colin's website offers a worksheet that you can use to work on this. Relatedly, I recently attended a forgiveness workship with Dr.Carol Scott-Kassner connected with Spiritual Eldering. Carol names the people who we need to radically forgive as the "severe teachers" of our lives. Question to ponder: Who have been the Severe Teachers of our lives? Are there ways you can begin to forgive and release them?
  3. Another book that has helped me immensely is Feelings Buried Alive Never Die..., by Karol K. Truman. In her book Karol offers a "Script" which can be used to help release old negative belief patterns that have bound us up. By using this Script over and over, repeating it to oneself with feeling, one can gradually release old negative patterns of judgment, anger, self-criticism, and/or self-hatred, for example. You may also want to visit Karol's website.
  4. Essential oils are a wonderful, fun, and creative way to work with releasing old feelings. For starters, I invite you to go to the YL Oils page on this site and order some of the oils that you are attracted to. Some oils which I have found very helpful are: VALOR, FORGIVENESS, RELEASE, and JOY blends, or FRANKINCENSE, LAVENDER, BERGAMOT, and SAGE single oils. At first, I would invite you to simply start using them and enjoy getting them out and playing with them. Later, I can offer you a more refined way of using them. There's a book that VisionWare Press publishes called Releaving Emotional Patterns with Essential Oils, by Carolyn L. Mein, D.C. that has bundles of information on how to use the oils in this releasing process.
Finally, let me suggest an exercise I learned from my teacher Iolani Grace Emmanuel: Think of a negative pattern or behavior in your life that you are ready to release. After you get very clear about what this is, write it down or share it with a partner or friend who you trust. Then, every time that pattern or behavior comes up, be prepared to "LOVE IT FREE"! We can embrace and then LOVE these patterns and behaviors FREE from our lives -- what a concept! Blessed releasing... as we move toward Heaven, and lighter states of being.

P.S. I have recently returned from Guatemala where I spent a beautiful two weeks with the Grandmother Drum, her drum keeper White Eagle, and new friends honoring and celebrating the Oneness and Interconnectedness of All! To look at some of my reflections related to this adventure, click here. Visit The Whirling Rainbow Foundation for more details on the Grandmother Drum Project, and see this story that was posted from our trip related to the Law of Attraction. Here's a link to see some beautiful pictures related to the story and websites I shared above.