What I Learned From One Year of Hell

One of three presentations I will be giving at this year’s National Guild of Hypnotists Convention taking place in August in Marlborough, Massachusetts is “What I Learned From One Year Of Hell – Undoing the Trauma Caused By Those With Narcissistic Personality Disorder”. Consequently, I am reposting a revision of an earlier blog “Why Shit Happens – Part 2” that provides some background and food for thought.

Now, I have been writing about THE WHY behind problems and suffering for a long time, such as this blog post, “When Manifestation Doesn’t Work: https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/ 2016/03/17/why-shit-happens-or-doesnt/ . (See many more relevant blog posts listed in the links at the end.)

Yet, here I was forced to revisit this topic once more because during most of 2021 – 2022, not only was I (like all of us) dealing with the stress of covid, but I had to deal with a potentially dangerous, personal situation that went on with tenants living on my farm.

Initially, I thought that this couple was an answer to my prayers for tenants that would be “better than the best I could possibly imagine” . I was praying to manifest renters that would have a variety of useful skills to help me on the farm, and a desire to support each other if needed in these highly unstable times.

Yet, instead of a dream come true, it turned into nightmare as their facade, their voiced intentions, their background turned out to be a total sham. While I suspect that they may have been conducting some criminal enterprise on my property, they acted crazy, and seemed emotionally unstable, unpredictable, and as I said, potentially dangerous.

Very quickly this couple tried to usurp my authority as landlord, violating multiple terms of the lease and pre-established policies. Through continuous harassment, they tried to prevent myself, workmen or other tenants from walking or driving down my own farm road that bordered on their rental space. They tried to insist upon a buffer zone that would allow them privacy from even eyesight of their cabin. They wanted to control when and why I could use my rear access road – a road that was already specified in their lease was not part of their rental space but in fact was shared in part with other property owners.

Reason, logic, and respectful dialog with them was impossible, and I was completely baffled by their behavior. They refused to accept my wishes or attempts to explain the lease and policies. I was confused, frustrated about being unable to get through to them, and they were causing chaos, increasing tension and division on the farm.

Things came to a head when only six months in, they built a wooden ‘glass blowing’ shed onto the 1880’s log cabin they were renting – a shed in which they would be using an open flame torch. This was an insurance risk, fire code violation, and in direct opposition to my instructions. A month later, they started erecting a two-story addition onto the home – without permission, permit, and in violation of building codes and insurance. They incessantly lied that I had given them permission to erect both buildings.

When I objected to what they had done, myself and my workmen were subjected to intense intimidation and threats that required the intervention of the Sheriff. When I served them with an eviction notice, they countersued me in court for thousands of dollars based completely on lies. That is when I discovered that both of them had a police record.

Things got increasingly ugly to where the Sheriff had to be called again because another workman and myself were threatened with physical violence. This very tense situation went on for about 18 months, 8? court appearances, and 1 full year after serving them the eviction order. They are finally gone, and it is over, but not before the man threatened to sue me for defamation of character for writing the earlier edition of this very blog post. My lawyer, however, says that freedom of speech is still part of the Constitution, and that truth is the best defense.

So how or why did this happen and most importantly,

WHAT CAN I LEARN FROM THIS?
What made my manifestation efforts go so horribly wrong?

  • Was I too gullible?
  • Was I too confident in my own instincts to know a good person from one who is not?
  • Was I still carrying left over baggage from previous tenants that had not worked out?
  • Was my mind so focused on other bad experiences and what I didn’t want that I attracted more negative?
  • Was I so smitten because they said everything I wanted to hear, that I did not take sufficient time to find out who they actually were?
  • Was my ability to see the good in everyone (something that helps me to help my therapy clients) working against me in the arena of their landlord and employer?
  • Was I vulnerable because I had never met malicious narcissists before and did not recognize the signs?
  • Was I too much in a hurry to re-rent the place and get much needed income?
  • Was my lease current and hole proof?
  • Was this part of a soul contract to hold them accountable?
  • Was this part of a soul lesson for me as a way to grow?
  • Was it scripted into my life plan as an opportunity to heal from something unresolved ?
  • Did I have bad karma?
  • Did I have a karmic past life relationship with one or both of these people?
  • Did I fail to do due diligence by not getting a background check?
  • And why did not dowsing not work to protect me?

While there is some merit to the Law of Attraction and “you create your own reality”, to reduce all causation to what you were or were not thinking or feeling is not only blaming, but massively simplistic. It misses the bigger picture. And all the positive thoughts in the world do not eliminate many other factors a few of which include your inexperience, ignorance or naiveté, your ability to accurately discern the will, agenda and true character of others, the free will of others, the higher intention of Divine Spirit, and the problem of evil.

Spiritual leader Panache Desai and author of YOU ARE ENOUGH says that

“everything you’ve gone through you’ve gone through to help another human being, to be of service to the world ….it is not personal.”

While I don’t believe that service to others is the reason why shit happens,
deliberately turning your personal misfortune into helping someone else either avoid a similar problem, or to help him deal with it in an easier, faster way is a powerful way of healing your own pain.

Turn the trauma of drama into a blessing for someone else, and it will bless you as well.

Wring some good out of it. My skill as a hypnotherapist and dowser specializing in mental/emotional healing is a direct result of what I have learned of value from my own painful or stressful experiences.

In a scene from the movie, Gone With The Wind, Scarlett O’Hara frantically goes out to the garden to find something, anything to eat. She finds a carrot and rips it out of the ground, and then shakes her fist at Heaven to declare that she will never be hungry again. She uses her hunger to declare what she wants to experience and fuels it with forceful energy, thus fulfilling the basics of manifestation:

clear thought + strong emotion.

Make a decision that a blessing or gift is going to come out of your problem.
IT IS A DECISION! IT IS NOT HOPE or WISH or WOULD BE NICE IF….

You then will be looking for it or deliberately create one. Or as the saying goes,

“when life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

Painful experiences push us to seek help, to learn and to grow.

Universe may provide them to us as an answer to a prayer for wisdom, or for discernment. They can be meant to be a GIFT from God, not a punishment. Never think of yourself as a victim as it drains your personal power and ability to respond effectively.

So if your problems are the result of inexperience, ignorance or sheer stupidity, accept it and learn. Now you know. And if it was painful, it will help you to remember that lesson. But problems are not always that. They may be precisely what you need to change course in life – to stop what you are doing, or to start what you are not doing (get off the couch).

The 12-Step Programs such as Alcoholics Anonymous, say that is in ‘hitting bottom’ that the road out of addiction begins. And it precisely those who struggled with addiction and became clean and sober that can be the most help to others wanting to do the same.

Pain is a powerful motivator to heal.

But the personal growth that occurs as a result goes way beyond the resolution of a particular problem, but spills over into many other areas as well.

Recently, I was listening to a sermon by Dean Wolfe, Rector of St. Bartholomew’s Church in Manhattan on the topic of suffering. Rev. Wolfe quotes St. Paul as saying that

“suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope. And hope does not disappoint us because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit.”

According to St. Paul, God does not test us, or allow us to be tested beyond our endurance, but provides a way out for us. St. Peter even says that

“persecution is a kind of testing to develop a deeper belief in Christ, to strengthen character, and to deepen commitment to God.”

My opinion is that hardship will destroy you, or to survive it, you will be required to dig deep into your core and grow stronger.

Over one two week period in my own saga, I was so stressed out that I felt that I was at my breaking point. I have NEVER been brought so low. Besides being threatened again by my tenants, they initiated an emergency hearing for a Court Injunction based totally on lies in an effort to ban me off my own road, and extract significant financial damages from me. But out of it, I dug down much deeper within myself to anchor firmly on the truth of who I am (“a powerful, spiritual Being endowed with dignity, direction and purpose”). This is along the lines of the hymn ‘My Hope is Built on Nothing Less’, (https:// my.hymnary.org/song/dynamic/36/my_hope_is_built_on_nothing_less?toolkit=veroviostatic :

“On Christ the solid rock I stand. All other ground is sinking sand.”

This saying is not just for Christians, but for all people to find the rock, the truths, the things of substance upon which they can rely and which support them to weather severe emotional storms. As Canadian psychologist, author, and media commentator, Jordan Peterson asks “where do you derive your values?” Peterson also says:

The predator is calling the prey to be a better version of itself. What must you become?

He says that you should and can be more than you are.

In my own case, I was called to reclaim my power, establish clear and firm boundaries, assert my authority as landlord, and forcefully to declare ownership of what was rightfully mine. I was also being called to be a prayer warrior. In the process, I dug deep into my own past life history, as well as possible ancestral wounds or common traumas shared by all of humanity that were being triggered and acerbating the stress.

Courtney Brown, Director of the Farsight Institute in their Farsight Intelligence Briefing March 2022: How to REALLY Create Your Own Reality TRAILER ( https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=8IUTzRS2eNk ) points out yet another value to shit happening. He says that is is only by clearly seeing the negative that you can know what you want to create instead.

“You have to know what you don’t want to know what you do want.”

He claims that just ignoring the negative and thinking only positive thoughts keeps you a slave to those who are doing bad things. You can only navigate through life when you clearly see reality – the good and the bad. It is the contrast between them that is essential to creating the reality you want.

Indeed, it is the awareness of things that could go wrong that leads engineers to design better, safer, more reliable products, that has parents teaching their children to look both ways before they cross the street, and that requires training for people wanting to drive a vehicle or fly a plane. And it was precisely because of experiencing the abuses of power that our Founding Fathers built certain protections and limitations on government when they constructed our own Constitution and Bill of Rights.

Awareness of problems that have happened in the past and the potential for where and how they might happen again is not being negative but a vital part of wisdom and experience for which we pay people big bucks. When joined with alertness and prudent care and action, it is good common sense and protective.

Wisdom is what you learn through experience.

While we each may wish to avoid problems and just have a pleasant life with everything ‘coming of roses’, such a life will never push us to reach our full potential, develop our character, and grow in wisdom and strength, or to be a beacon of hope and a role model for our children.

So should we be grateful for our problems?

Well…. in the beginning it is hard to see how some good can come out of it. But once we earnestly work to resolve the matter, we may notice how much we were being called to grow, heal old wounds, get rid of our inner demons, deal with an addiction or other self-sabotaging behavior, destructive relationship, life sucking job, or dead end situation of any kind. Many people in reflecting back have found that such event did indeed turn out to be precisely what they needed to get their life on track, make peace with the past, reconnect to those that love them or make new meaningful relationships.

Regardless of knowing in advance how things will turn out and if they will be in the way you want, resolve to grow stronger and wiser as a result. Let your war cry be:

TURN IT INTO A BLESSING!

See these other related blog articles also:

https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/2017/09/14/the-tangled-web-of-choices-that-create- our-reality/

https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/2020/05/04/man-meant-it-for-evil-but-god-meant-it- for-good/

https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/2018/06/07/blessings-in-disguise/ https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/2019/06/16/on-grief-and-suffering/ https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/2015/10/02/the-good-the-bad-the-confusing/

https://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com/2016/01/27/dealing-with-challenge-find-the-blessing- or-the-opportunity/

Honor the Negative – it has something important to tell you!

It helps to think of the so-called ‘negative’ emotions like anger, hatred, jealousy, etc. and the thoughts behind them as simply communication from your inner self. This is more productive than instantly judging them and sinking into self condemnation for thinking and feeling as you do, or to quickly deny them and stuff them in the closet of your subconscious mind where they remain hidden as part of the Shadow Self, but act out in passive-aggressive and destructive ways.

Before you can do anything about the underpinning of your uncomfortable feelings, you have first to honestly acknowledge your emotions and then uncover the thoughts or judgments behind them no matter how repugnant they are to admit and how damaging to your self opinion as a good, evolved, or spiritual person. Growth and healing starts with self-honesty, self-forgiveness and then self-examination. From there you can challenge those thoughts as all is not as it sometimes seems. For example, your anger can arise because of limited or inaccurate information. As Byron Katie, creator of ‘The Work‘ says

  • Is it true?
  • Can you absolutely know that it’s true?

The Emotional Freedom Technique

“Even though I ____” [feel, think, did, didn’t____], “I deeply love and accept myself.”

One of the reasons for the tremendous healing results from practicing the Emotional Freedom Technique as taught by Gary Craig (https://emofree.com/) is this above set-up phrase. Admitting our ‘faults’, negative judgments, pain, wrong action, problem, etc, and then forgiving and choosing to love ourself anyway, not only reduces enormous stress, but helps to forgive and love others as well thereby improving our relationships.

Let’s start with some examples of the shoulds and should nots as they are frequently a part in creating the Shadow Self.

Thou Should Not!

  • I shouldn’t get angry!
  • I shouldn’t want to strangle ____ (my children/cat/husband, etc)!
  • I shouldn’t hate my ___ (mother-in-law, my boss, co-worker, neighbor, etc.)!

Thou Should!

  • I should love everyone all the time!
  • I should forgive everyone for everything!
  • I should be always calm, peaceful, patient, & willing to help!
  • I should put other people’s needs always ahead of my own!
  • I should be grateful for everything!

Whatever injunction you place on yourself can be put onto others as in They Should or Shouldn’t____ and this will translate negatively on to your relationships.

I. have often joked that the people that most needed to be in church or temple were already there. That is because when someone so needs to think of themself as a good, God fearing person worthy to be a part of that religious community, they often deny their own hateful thoughts and are acting from their Shadow – the dark underbelly of the unconscious mind. What is denied cannot be healed.

IN SUMMARY

Don’t rush into denying or trying to quickly erase your ‘negative’ thoughts and feelings. Rather take a moment to go deeper without condemning yourself or trying to cover it over with ‘positive’ thinking, affirmations, etc. Your emotions are valuable communication from your subconscious mind. Honor them as stemming from something deeper within yourself. Look at it. Perhaps challenge it. And then work to resolve what needs to be resolved, heal what needs to be healed, learn what needs to be learnt, and clear what needs to be cleared in a way that leads to real emotional growth and wisdom.

Copyright 2/12/23 by Roxanne Louise. However, this article may be shared in other free online sources only if this copyright notice and links to http://www.roxannelouise.com and http://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com are included with the content.

The Shadow Knows!

I don’t understand it–he was such a nice guy!

Many times we hear of someone that went ballistic, going on a rampage that resulted in hurting or killing others. Tension that had been building up within them for years with no way to regularly and safely escape finally exploded and went terribly wrong precisely because it had been denied so long. Perhaps the individual had been subjected to tremendous abuse while not being allowed to express his own anger or defend himself. Perhaps despite being grossly mistreated, he was nonetheless pressured to  ‘be nice’, polite, reasonable, accommodating or pleasing when no one was showing the same towards him. And then under stress came the ‘one too many’ times he felt mistreated, and the facade dropped and his rage let loose.

Finding your Shadow.

Whatever is unhealed, especially those unacknowledged hidden and denied aspects called the “Shadow”, has a nasty habit of cropping up in inappropriate, exaggerated emotional reactions and behaviors that sabotage not only one’s peace of mind, relationships, both personal and professional, but cause conflict in society as a whole. Shadow issues, precisely because they are hidden or denied, resist resolution.

Triggers are a gift!

Your Shadow and unhealed wounds are revealed by the things that trigger you. As such, recognizing your triggers is enormously helpful to identify precisely where your energies are stuck, and where you still have work to do no matter how much time has elapsed and despite how much work you have already done to resolve negative repeating patterns. Armed with that knowledge, you can now focus precisely where you need to finally free yourself of such issues. 

Healing and Reclaiming Hidden Parts of the Self

When you judge someone as stupid, or as a loser, irresponsible or lazy, consider that somewhere deep inside you are judging yourself as the same and that is precisely why you hate that personthey are your mirror!

If you can uncover, forgive and accept both your conscious and unconscious negative self-judgments, you will be more tolerant of others as you acknowledge your common humanity. This leads to better relationships in all areas of life.

The Shadow indicates what you repress, what you do not allow yourself to admit or express. Start with a willingness to look at yourself honestly. Regardless of what you uncover, you are still worthy of love. You still have phenomenal worth as a human being. The shame is not in being where you are right now, but in being unwilling to learn or grow, to try to do better. All of us starts off pooping in our pants and sucking our thumbs. But eventually if we take responsibility for how we are acting, we learn, heal and grow more and more into our infinite potential as a human being.

What is hidden, denied or suppressed is not all bad!

The Shadow holds both light and dark aspects of the self. It can hide wonderful things that are denied or suppressed because they are considered not practical, not lucrative, or thought undesirable by your family, group, religion or social class. Such denied positive aspects can include your talents and unique gifts, power, brilliance, earthy, and sexual or raw energy that gives you passion and zest for life.

There is a time and place for everything!

Hidden within the Shadow can be a ferocious, angry Mama Bear that protects her cubs, or a frightening Warlord that scares away the enemies that are endangering the tribe. The Dragon draws a line in the sand over which someone else dare not cross. The Bitch doesn’t put up with bullshit or mince words with manipulative, exploitative people. The Witch uses energy, visualizations, and intent to manifest desired outcomes. The trick is in knowing when and where to give expression to the Shadow. Giving the Shadow archetypes appropriate expression heals them.

“I recognize and forgive in myself what irritates me about you.” 

Decades ago, hypnosis colleague Doreen Virtue taught me the above phrase. As I repeated this sentence and thought about someone’s offensive nature or behavior, I was able to recognize the same traits or behavior within myself. I saw that I once acted the same way or I had wanted to. I saw my shadow in the other person. As a result of using this sentence, I found myself becoming less judgmental, less rigid, and more forgiving of others even while trying to maintain my own standards for myself.

Using the Hawaiian Practice of Ho’Oponopono

Another exercise that has helped me to both recognize and heal my Shadow is how I have adapted Dr. Hew Len’s 4 Steps: “I’m sorry, please forgive me, I love you, thank you.” Psychologist Dr. Len repeated these four phrases over and over while holding the case records of the inmates that were incarcerated in a special ward for the criminally insane at Hawaii’s state hospital. His diligent practice had such a powerful therapeutic effect upon the inmates that within four years the ward closed because it was no longer needed. The inmates had so rapidly improved that they were moved into halfway houses or able to re-enter the general community.

My Version of Ho’Oponopono

“I am sorry for whatever is within me, my relatives or ancestors in this or any other lifetime that attracted, allowed, caused or contributed to this ___ (illness, condition, state, feeling, tendency, behavior, situation, problem, event, experience, or issue) in any way.

Please forgive me. Please forgive all of us. Please correct any erroneous thoughts in my consciousness and/or our shared consciousness that is at all responsible.

Thank you for bringing to my attention what needs to heal within myself. (Addressed to God:) Thank you for bringing love, healing, harmony and balance into this for the highest good of all. Thank you for healing any resonance with the problem within myself, and correcting any errors in my consciousness and humanity’s shared consciousness.

I love you, ____ (my own name, my name for the Divine). I love you ____ (name of other person) in that I recognize our common humanity.”

Copyright by Roxanne Louise, 2022. However, this article may be shared in free online sources only if this copyright notice and link to http://www.roxannelouise.com and http://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com  are included with the content.

PUBLISHED: Releasing Anger without Killing Anyone!

Just Published!!!!

beartoons-anger    Cartoon citation: beartoons.com

Releasing Anger Without Killing Anyone!

by Roxanne Louise

An entire Anger Management Course!

Teach right out of the book!

Use it to help yourself! Use it to help others! 

A jam-packed guide on how to:

√ Turn anger into a blessing! 

√ Shift anger into constructive action! 

√ Use your challenges to improve yourself, your business, relationships & your life!

    • Understand the underlying dynamics! 
    • Change how you look at things so that they don’t bother you nearly as much! 
    • Make your enemies & problems help you! 
    • Harness anger as motivation to heal & make much needed change! 
    • Communicate more effectively! 
    • Fight clean! 
    • Stop conversations from spiraling downwards! 
    • Notice negative patterns & screw them up! 
    • Take effective action without the baggage!
    • Enjoy your life despite the crap!

Jam Packed Tips, Strategies, Techniques & Visualizations! 

Turn Everything Into a Blessing!

154 pages. Just $29.95 plus $5 shipping.  Order here: https://www.roxannelouise.com/releasing-anger.html

In addition to covering this information with clients over the years, I have taught this material at numerous hypnosis conventions including workshops at the National Guild of Hypnotists Convention and the National Association of Transpersonal Hypnotherapists.

 

Dealing With Challenge? Find the Blessing or the Opportunity

“NECESSITY IS THE MOTHER OF INVENTION” 

(English-language proverb)

Need is the primary driving force.

When I have a problem, I found that if I can turn my attitude from despair into curiosity, everything changes. Instead of feeling irritation, frustration, stuck or hopeless, the thought “I wonder if ___” immediately sets me on a path to discovery and creativity that can even be fun. Once the mental wheels are turning, the energy is flowing again, and I know that it is only a matter of time before I find some answers that lead to improvement, progress and, hopefully, solution. If I become stuck along the way, I might ask:

“I wonder who could help me with this?”

I wonder how ___ would go about this?”

“I wonder if ___ could work, how would it work?”

The key for the attitude shift is to turn it from a problem into just a puzzle to be solved.

For some of us and for some problems, it is easier to adopt this attitude of  curiosity that leads to creativity than for other challenges. So, for example, I get turned on with excitement when a client brings me an emotional problem because I know how to deal with it. While they may feel hopeless, I am not because I have ideas of how to resolve it, and I find that fun and immensely satisfying. However, if my car breaks down, I am better off going to a car mechanic who likes those kinds of challenges that I find very frustrating and for which I have neither the talent, skill or inclination to try to sort out myself.

Look for the opportunity

More than inventions come from solving problems–so do livelihoods, businesses, trade, books, speaking engagements, social programs and progress of all kinds. I am not implying that you can turn your problem into profit, but if you could …?

“When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.”

ID-100314621

Can you do something with the problem that is presented to you? 

Can you turn it into something useful?

For example, I have a small homestead and have found a way to use or recycle almost everything. If I find broken eggs, I feed them to the animals. Old vegetables go to the pigs. Egg shells get ground up and fed back to the chickens. I compost the poop, dirty bedding, feed bags. Dirty egg cartons go into the wood stove. Moldy hay gets spread on bare dirt to make it less slippery in the rain or used as mulch. A friend uses broken china and pottery and makes incredible mosaics. The old folks took old clothes and made patchwork quilts or rag rugs. You get the idea. Ask

“How can I use this?” or “How can I make this work for me?”

Look for the Blessing

Sometimes this process can be started with a question such as “what can I learn from this to be better?”  The moment I take note and apply it, I have extracted value from the experience. If I am not consciously aware of the blessing, I say

“there is a part of me that can use this experience to make me better or wiser in some way. And that part is doing so now in a way in which I am really pleased.”

Think of your challenges as education. They are helping you to build important life experience and expertise (knowledge and skill that comes from dealing with experiences). They are part of your path to wisdom. Accept it. Transmute and transform it into a blessing both for you and the world. A sense of humor helps.

Photo Citation: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/agree-terms.php?id=100314621

Copyright by Roxanne Louise. However, this article may be shared in free online sources only if this copyright notice and link to http://www.roxannelouise.com and http://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com  are included with the content.

Life Provides Three Kinds of Teachers

Somewhere I heard that a tribe of the American Indians consider that we can have three kinds of teachers.

The Positive Teacher

The first kind of teacher is one that teaches us by their positive example. Their words and life demonstrate in a most wonderful way how to be, how to live, and what is really important. They provide answers to the big questions of life. Not only is their teaching true and helpful, but they walk their talk. You are truly blessed if you have this shining example in your life as a guide.

However, the downside is that their teaching can be taken on faith without examination. Their lessons may be learned by rote. With unquestioning acceptance of what is said, their student may not learn how to learn, how to find the answers to what was not provided, how to discern and evaluate information. They may not learn how to handle or adapt to changing times or situations not encountered by their teacher. There is also a potential danger of remaining dependent on the teacher instead of growing in maturity and going beyond to develop a strong connection to the Source of all wisdom and truth on their own.

If you are accustomed to simply accepting what you are told and later meet an imperfect teacher, or imperfect followers of the perfect teacher, or if your teacher who had previously been a shining example gets caught up in ego and deviates from the path, you may not have developed your power of discernment to prevent you from also being led astray. Or you may chuck the whole teaching, throwing out what was good and valuable as well as what was not.

Another possibility is that although the teacher of the positive example found answers that were right for their own life and faithfully reported them to you, what was right for them may not be right for you or right at this point in time. You still have to process what you are being taught and told through the still small voice within you.

The Negative Teacher

The second type of teacher is someone who teaches you how to be and how to live by providing a strong example of how not to be or how not to live. Those who present the negative path are also very powerful teachers and can push you to self-reliance. By alienating you, they have freed you from dependency and having to conform to their ideas in order to please them. In so doing, you may learn to listen to your own heart and set a better course for yourself.

For example, if a parent abandons his children, you, as one of those children, may make a commitment to never abandon your own children because you experienced first hand the pain of that experience. As a result, your own children are blessed with the security that you will never leave them. If you had been around someone who taunted, humiliated, or verbally degraded you, you may learn to always think before you speak and to respect the feelings of others. This makes you nicer to be around. However, just because you may be gifted with a painful experience that has the potential to teach you much, 

learning is optional and never guaranteed.

The downside to the negative example is that you may simply judge and condemn this kind of teacher without ever finding the positive lesson. You may dwell in anger, bitterness or resentment, and may, unwittingly become like the very person you detest.

The Coyote Teacher

The third type is the coyote teacher that provides conflicting and confusing messages.  They give you both good and bad. They may say one thing but do another, or adhere to certain principles in one area while living/acting differently in another. Consequently, their message is confusing. They may give you only part of what you need and want to know. They sometimes tell you things that are true and helpful, but they may also tell you things that are false or hurtful, providing both positive and negative examples. The bottom line is that the Coyote forces you to dig down deep inside of yourself to find the answers for yourself. The gift that can potentially come out of this is for you sort through the mess to find your own truth and wisdom.

All types of teachers have value.

As you think of your parents, family members, school teachers, friends and associates, you may have witnessed examples all three kinds of teachers in your life already. The point is:

LEARN FROM ALL OF THEM!

The moment you learn, the moment you find the blessing, it takes the sting out of painful experiences and relationships, and removes confusion and discord. It also leads to greater understanding, acceptance and tolerance.

Ask yourself:

Is what I am hearing true? Is it always true? Can I still trust this message?

Is this example trustworthy, something that I want to emulate?

What can I learn from this person, this relationship, this interchange, positive or negative?

What is good that I admire and respect?

What is the positive opposite of what I am witnessing that I do not admire or respect, or dislike?

How can I use the words, message, example, positive or negative, of this person to be a better person myself?

What is the message others are getting from my life, my words and actions, my example?

Copyright by Roxanne Louise. However, this article may be shared in other free online sources only if this copyright notice and link to the following:

http://www.roxannelouise.com and http://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com 

Derailing the Train to Negative Emotions

How to Recognize and Interrupt the Downward Spiral!

Emotions follow thought. As you notice your thoughts, you can predict their emotional outcome, and deliberately shift them to get to a more desirable emotional end result. Thought substitution is an easy way to do this because you cannot think of two things at once.

Thought substitution is NOT to deny your ‘negative’ thoughts or feelings. It is not being a Pollyanna or sticking your head in the sand. But it is a shift in focus to what you can do, to what you do want to create, and on the priorities of the moment. It is a shift to possibility thinking. And it can start off as simply holding a question or statement in mind.

WHY DO THIS?
1. Some, perhaps many, of your thoughts, beliefs, judgments as well as those of others can be unsubstantiated, unchallenged, and quite possibly untrue. So why stress yourself out if you don’t know for sure?

2. You may not really know your true limits. Your beliefs and the beliefs of others that you listen to can be stopping you before you really test those limits.

3. You may not be harnessing your inner resources without which you can never know what can or cannot be achieved.

4. The negative opinion of others (even that of experts) can be wrong. Remember that people thought that the earth was flat, and that you would drop off if you sailed too far. Remember also that it was thought that it was impossible to run a mile under 4 minutes. Then Roger Bannister came along.

5. Finally, you understand the precious quality of your mind to create reality, and choose not to squander it’s energy, but to work to create only a life, world that you want, instead of what you don’t want.

Copyright by Roxanne Louise. However, this article may be shared in other free online sources only if this copyright notice and link to http://www.roxannelouise.com and http://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com  are included with the content.

Stopping the Downward Spiral of Emotions

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As you notice your thoughts, you can predict their emotional outcome, and deliberately shift them to get to a more desirable emotional end result.

Thought substitution is an easy way to do this because you cannot think of two things at once.

This is never to deny your feelings or thoughts as denial leads to more problems. But rather it is to recognize that holding or dwelling on some thoughts or emotional states is counter productive and you pay a price for that. Making wise decisions so that you can take the most constructive, effective action requires being able to think clearly.

Emotional control starts with thought stopping and switching.

Furthermore, it is recognition that many thoughts, beliefs and judgments are based on faulty interpretations or world view that hinder you from overcoming challenges or achieving your goals. Such counterproductive thoughts or judgments may have been absorbed or adopted by you years ago without being examined consciously as an adult. Are they really accurate assessments of what is real or possible? Shift them as necessary.

Here are simple ways to shift

1. Shift to a question.

If the thought is “I can’t, I mustn’t, it’ll never work”. Change it to a question of the opposite: “what if I could, what if I can, what if it could work?” All will stimulate your thinking to look for solution, possibilities.

2. Shift emotion by decision.

If you have a bad experience, you could make a decision that it is going to work for your positive advantage even though you cannot possibly know if that will be the case. This decision will stimulate you to look for and possibly find constructive ways to turn that situation around.

“I turn this to my positive advantage.” or “I make this work for me.”

3: Affirm inner resources to solve problems.

If you are feeling stressed, you could affirm that there is greater wisdom, creativity and strength within you that knows how to solve problems and handle whatever you have to do. Then affirm that these inner resources can be harnessed to do so. The truth is that you cannot know the true limits of your inner resources so why not affirm that there is more ability within you? Why not think that you are capable of rising to the occasion and overcoming problems and achieving goals? This can have the immediate effect of calming you down and moving forward.

fullsizeoutput_2c I do this through what I call The Infinite Intelligence Process, which is fully explained in my book, Accessing More – Tapping Into the Eternal, Unlimited Self with the Infinite Intelligence Process. Below is a sample wording:

“There is a part of my being that knows how to handle this with grace and ease, and is doing so now,” or “there is a part of my being that can resolve this issue, and I am being guided to what I need to do and how to proceed,” or “there is a part of my being that knows who can help me with this, and I am being directed now.” 

4: Challenge negative authoriity figures.

If someone else says that you can’t do something, that it will never work, you can challenge their authority to know. In your mind, negate the value of their opinion. The truth is that when someone offers their opinion, even their educated opinion, it is only from what they have studied, what they have experienced, and does not include what they have not studied or experienced.

For example, medical doctors are experts in drugs and surgery, but not in nutrition, energy work or the healing power of prayer, stress management, forgiveness and loving relationships–all of which have a powerful ability to heal. Even within any given profession, the experts frequently disagree. This is why we are advised to seek a second or third medical opinion. Same thing goes for all other experts as well.

Before you accept the opinion of others, determine how knowledgable and experienced that opinion really is on the given topic. Within every profession there are those that find solutions to problems that their colleagues think are unsolvable. And outside of the profession there are those that sometimes come up with creative solutions that work. Why not let that creative problem solver be you?

“What does he know?”or “That’s what he thinks. He’s not an expert. He only knows ___, not ____.”

Or “if there was another way to go about this, what might that be? How can I look at this situation differently?”

Affirm that you are going to find a solution to any important issue.

“I find a way to make it work, I find the answers I need, etc.”

When you are clear about what you want, when you are determined to achieve your goal, you harness both internal resources and external assistance to do so. This gives success your best shot.

5: Focus on what you can do or what you need to do right now.

“What can I do right now to help this situation?”

Write a list and sort out priorities.

“What is the most important thing I need to focus upon?” “What is the first thing I need to do?”

6: Use affirmations and counter thoughts

Repeat any helpful suggestion or counter thought in your mind over and over to blot out the negative thoughts that prevent you from solving the problem.

7. Walking Mantras

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Walking Mantras are positive counter thoughts or affirmation in the form of a little jingle that you repeat rhymically to match to steady movements such a walking steps. I list a great many more in my self-hypnosis book, Your Unlimited Potential, along with an entire chapter on stress management, but here are some:

I find a way that works for me.

Sooner or later I figure it out. 

I learn and move on.

I get everything done on time.

8. Singing

After you have done what you can and your thoughts are still run-a-way negative, you can perhaps shift with singing a song, preferably a happy tune or inspirational one. Or just listen to music. Dancing also helps. They interrupt the pattern and instantly shift mood.

9. Jokes

Tell a joke or ask someone to tell you one, and then quickly retell to others. The humor will release internal tensions, and shift your mood quickly. I did this when I was going through a divorce. It helped a great deal. See another blog article, Using Humor to Defuse Anger! 

10. Exercise

Physical work or exercise gets tension out of the body. Because you also have to pay some attention to what you are doing, it takes away from negative ruminations.

11. Concentrate on anything else

Do anything that requires complete concentration.

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION:

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My book Releasing Anger Without Killing Anyone is full of visualizations, exercises, and information that helps you to transmute not just anger, but other disturbing emotions.

Copyright 2015 by Roxanne Louise. However, this article may be shared in other free online sources only if this copyright notice and link to http://www.roxannelouise.com and http://unlimitedpotentialhealingcenter.com  are included with the content.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: see our main website: http://www.roxannelouise.com or call 434-263-4337

Releasing Anger Without Killing Anyone!

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I just returned from teaching at the National Guild of Hypnotists Convention in Marlboro, Massachusetts. It is the largest professional hypnosis conference in the world, and always a treat to attend, which I have done yearly since 1989. I have been a regular presenter there since 1992, and was honored by them in 2011 with a Lifetime Achievement Award, the Order of Braid, named after James Braid, the Scottish surgeon considered the father of Hypnotherapy!!! (See information on Braid, see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Braid_(surgeon)

My topics this year were Releasing Anger Without Killing Anyone and a two-hour workshop on What to Do When Stress Is Over the Top! Both were well attended, and for good reason. Stress is a major problem with our fast-paced lifestyle.

28473e803e35e109e67ed86c222bfda6   In preparation for my presentations, I put together a 32 page booklet on Releasing Anger assembled from a lifetime of study and practical application on the subject. It is filled to the brim on

√ How to shift anger and improve yourself and your life at the same time,

√ How to harness anger so it actually works for you, and

√ How to make your adversaries help you!

This fluff-free manual was written both for you to help yourself, and to use to help others!

Here is some of the content:

Understanding the Underlying Dynamics

Changing how you look at things so that they don’t hurt nearly as much!

Making anger work for you!

Using your enemies and problems to actually help you!

Using anger as motivation for much needed healing and change!

Communicating more effectively!

Fighting clean!

Stopping conversations that are spiraling downwards!

Noticing negative patterns and screwing them up!

Nipping anger in the bud!

How to use journal writing effectively!

Taking effective action without the baggage!

Using positive counter thoughts, walking mantras and more!

Regaining balance and perspective!

Dealing with what is 

Incident Review Worksheet

At just $12.95 with $3 shipping or $5 priority, it is a real bargain as it gets right to the chase. No filler!

BONUS: As a bonus for your order, we will include a handout with directions for doing the Emotional Freedom Technique.

FOR MORE INFORMATION: see our main website: http://www.roxannelouise.com or call 434-263-4337