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Anna's avatar

I like how you set up the chart with the reframe, Derek. Your writing is always flows well. It’s easy to grasp the message you're trying to convey. In this post you gave us a specific exercise we can use to get in touch with our higher selves. I find that many people struggle with that. They may even doubt that they have a higher self. I find getting quiet and still is half the battle. I often need to ground myself. I find it depends on where I am in the moment. It’s easier at home than if I’m somewhere else. Dropping down, for me, is the next challenge.

I have never tried the ‘white light’ followed by ‘is it true?’ I imagine that could be a powerful exercise of you feel it and when you can truly take it in, as Rick Hanson at the Greater Good Institute likes to say. It reminds me of what my psychotherapist taught me. She was influenced by his work.

His method generally includes four steps:

1. Have a positive experience. (Notice it or create one.)

2. Enrich it. (Stay with it, feel it in your body, make it intense and lasting.)

3. Absorb it. (Imagine it sinking in, becoming part of you.)

4. Link it. (Optional) (While feeling the positive, also bring to mind a mild negative to soothe or reframe it.)

Not exactly what you described here. But, it’s related I think. We have more power over our emotional states than what we tend to believe. I especially like the ‘enrich it’ or ‘expand’ it part. This is when you can take a positive emotional experince and expand it throughout your body. I believe it helps counter negative messaging from childhood. It’s literally rewiring the brain. That’s been a game changer for someone like me that was conditioned to develop a negative or pessimistic mindset.

Inner knowing is a gift. So is the idea that we can change the way we feel. I find comfort in knowing that personal resources are always available for me.

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Andrea Stoeckel's avatar

I was never meant to be. PERIOD. My mother contracted polio between the two epidemics and although she conquered it she was told she couldn't have children. So she married at 35, and got pregnant (?!) and then had another girl 15 months later(!)

And we both disappointed her- I was a child born with FAE issues and compromised lungs. My sister has her own set of issues. We lost both our parents 15 months apart 40+ years ago.

I set myself free by investing my inheritance in physical corrections and education that has granted me a 40+ year career in ministry

Not bad for a disappointment

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