SERIOUSLY SPEAKING - FEEL IT AND HEAL IT!

Giving yourself permission to heal is not about erasing feelings, it's about moving through them.

Allowing yourself to feel helps you:

Move through difficult situations past and present

Get over whatever happened

Move on by releasing the pain, and finally,

Heal

In order to be emotionally healthy, we don't deny our feelings, but we also don't hold onto them.

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS                           

An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

SOME THINGS TO THINK ABOUT:

1)  Sometimes when we're stuck it's because we are blocking feelings.

2)  Sometimes deep breathing helps us get in touch with what we are feeling.

3)  Sometimes just making a sound (aargh! Haha!) allows us to release stuck feelings.

4)  Sometimes imaginary dialogs allow us to get in touch with our feelings and release them.

SHOULD NOT!

'I shouldn't feel_________' you say.

(Fill in the blank. Could be:  Angry, sad, depressed, unhappy, even relieved…)

'Why not?'

You answer:

'I have no reason to feel…'

'They told me I shouldn't feel…'

'Other people don't feel…'

What do ya say?

You get how ridiculous this is, right?

Ever do it to yourself?

SERIOUSLY SPEAKING - GOT REALITY?

Are your expectations in touch with reality?

We often link our expectations to our desires rather than to reality…

Ever catch yourself talking to a self-absorbed person and expecting them to listen to you?

How about trying to reason with a two year old throwing a temper tantrum?

And how often have your feelings been hurt because a jealous parent or sibling treats you in a dismissive way?

Ever hear:  'Wishes won't wash dishes!'?

The more you allow yourself to see things as they actually are, the less pain you will experience!

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS                           

An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

GET REAL!

Think about the people around you…

How do they see you?

How do they treat you?

Is it possible to change their attitude towards you?

How reality based is your attitude towards them?

LIGHTENING STRIKES

"… there was a list of things you could not argue with: lightening, lions, black mambas, crocodiles…"

  -The House of Unexpected Sisters

This one really caught my attention!

Think about it.                                             

There truly are things we can not fight … and it's really important to know the ones that we can push back on!

What do ya say?  You get this, right?

REINFORCING NEGATIVES…

We seem to need to 'memorialize' the messages we get early in life.  Whether we reject them or embrace them we are working from an old - and usually defective - script.

Think about it.

The people - parents, teachers, even older siblings - who gave you many of the beliefs about yourself were powerful - in your eyes - and the structure of power dictated their dominance over you. 

But if you look back along that alleyway of time - if you really look - can you see their fallibility?

And perhaps, from this perspective, realize that their messages were more about them than about you!

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS                           
An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

UNHOOKING NEGATIVE MESSAGES

Ask yourself:

What do you get by reinforcing these old messages?

What have you done to actually strengthen in these messages?

What would happen if you gave up these beliefs?

LOCKING IT IN

"I'm the outsider in this family", he complained.

"No one really thinks about me …"

What made this so fascinating was watching the way he actually put himself in this position - you know, not returning phone calls, ignoring invitations, not showing up when there were all inclusive family gatherings…

Really interesting to watch…

He had a belief - and worked really hard to cement it in!

What do ya say?

Ever catch yourself doing things like this?  Ever wonder what it's about?

SERIOUSLY SPEAKING - TIME OUT

You know that phrase ' wasting time'? What does it really mean?

Remember Einstein saying he figured out his theory of relativity by spacing out and staring out the window?

Who is to say how we should 'use' our time?

In our culture we often label years as young or old and attach symptoms to the labels…

Good?  Bad?

Doesn't it make more sense to value the moments we are given?

Taking advantage of the moments - There are no guarantees - we have N-O-W and that's the only guanantee…

DANCE WITH IT!   EXPERIENTIAL APPS                           

An opportunity to experiment with some fun ideas…

STOP AND FEEL IT!

Stop the clock a few times during your day and ask yourself:  'How am I using my time?'