Are you Stuck Living in the Past?

In my last “Are you Stuck” post I talked about poor self-image as a limiting belief and provided you with some statements that you may be saying to/about yourself. This time I want to address the issue of being stuck living in the past.

All your experiences are recorded in the past which makes it valuable as a learning resource for the present and the future. Dwelling on past mistakes or reliving miserable memories is self-defeating. They cannot be changed.  If you want to grow, let go of the past, live in the now and plan your future around what is most important to you.

If you answer “yes” to a number of the following statements, you are probably living in the past:

I dwell on the past
I underestimate myself
I can’t make decisions
I don’t enjoy life
There are things about my past that I resent
I worry about the past
My past has a large impact on me
I have troublesome memories of the past
I am too conventional
I am resistant to change
I block out the future
I pay too much attention to past procedures and policies
I continue to relive past memories and situations
I lack imagination for the future
I go by the rules
I don’t have much fun
I seldom consider alternatives
I am dull and boring
I go to the same spot for vacation every year

These are just a few of the negative ways you may be allowing the past to control you. Start paying attention to the moment you are living, see the positive in every situation (there is always one if you look hard enough) and start doing things differently.  Learn EFT and let it be the first step in helping you get out of the past and into the present.  For more information on EFT, visit http://budurl.com/WorldCenterforEFT

Are you Stuck? Take a Look at Your Self Image

When clients come to see me it is because they are “stuck” and can’t move forward in a particular area of their lives. The issue is figuring out what is holding them back. The fact that they have an awareness of lack of momentum is the first step. Finding a solution is a matter of discovering what past programming is influencing them in the particular challenge they are facing. 

I thought it might be helpful to go over some of the various areas in which any of us could have limiting beliefs.  The first of these is Self Image.

Self image is about how you see yourself and how you think others see you. Your self image determines the way you live your entire life and sets the boundaries for what you can and can’t do. You learn this behavior from those who have had a significant influence over your life.  Perhaps they transferred a poor self image to you or you internalized comments from others as being negative.

The following statements are ones that some of my clients have used EFT on.  If they apply to you, then there’s a great starting point for you to clear some blocks.

I feel inferior
I depend too much on others
I blame myself for everything
I embarrass easily
I hate the way I look
I agonize over life
I set low goals
I give up quickly
I avoid direct eye contact
I avoid issues in which I feel weak
I am a poor conversationalist
I don’t come across the way I would like
I get embarrassed when people stare at me
I don’t socialize at parties
There are lots of things I don’t like about myself
I dress sloppily
I suffer from emotional illnesses
I prefer to play it safe
I don’t believe in myself
I don’t trust myself
I don’t feel free to express myself
I suppress my creativity.

There are obviously many more but these are a start.  If any/some/all of these are true for you, start using EFT (or another technique of your choosing) to “chop them down” and notice how your self image becomes much more positive.

I Want to Follow my Passions but I’m Afraid of Change

I know what my passion is and what my ideal life looks like but I can’t get there from here!

Plenty of people say they want to start living their passions but never seem to be able to make it to first base because they don’t understand how powerful their fears about making changes are.  These conscious or subconscious fears will stop you dead in your tracks every time unless you deal with them. 

EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) has been extremely successful as a tool for eliminating those negative beliefs that stop you from living a more fulfilled life. You may come up with many different beliefs but the first one I want to address is Fear of Change.

Here are the EFT Setup Phrases, followed by two rounds (one negative and one positive) for the specific topic of being afraid to change:

If you are not familiar with EFT, go to http://www.blueprints4change.com/pdf/EFTprocedure.pdf to view the tapping points.

EFT Setup Phrases

Step 1. Tapping the karate chop point (either hand is fine), repeat the following statements out loud (or use words that fit your own situation)

Even though a part of me is afraid to change and follow my passions, I deeply and completely accept myself.

Even though other people may not like it if I follow my passions, I choose to go in that direction anyway.

Even though change is hard, I accept who I am and that I have these beliefs.

 
Step 2.  Focusing on the challenge, tap on negative phrases such as…

Eyebrow: I don’t want to change

Side of Eye: Change is scary

Under Eye: I don’t want to upset _____(name)

Under Nose: It’s not safe to change and follow my passions

Under Chin: It’s not safe for  ______(name) if I change

Collarbone: I feel comfortable staying where I am

Under Arm:  I don’t want to make any waves

Top of Head: It’s easier if I don’t change

 
Step 3. Focusing on the solution, tap on positive phrases such as…
Eyebrow: I do want to make the change

Side of Eye: ______(name) can handle it

Under Eye: I will do whatever it takes to make the change

Under Nose: Maybe I WILL be safe in following my passions

Under Chin: I deserve to follow my passions

Collarbone: I love following my passions

Under Arm:  I want to live a more passionate life

Top of Head: I feel free to release this fear now

Continue tapping and notice how you feel more calm and balanced by eliminating the emotional distress related to your issue.
 

My blog post Change your Mind, Change your Life demonstrated the power of mind/body techniques in helping my mother-in-law recover extremely quickly from surgery for lung cancer.  You can find that post at http://budurl.com/ywdb

If you would like to learn more about EFT, go to http://budurl.com/WorldCenterforEFT and download the free manual.

Create Your Life: It’s a Choice!

Create Your Life

 

The future is not a result of choices among alternative paths offered by the present, but a place that is created—created first in mind and will, created next in activity.  The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating.   The paths to it are not found but made, and the activity of making them changes both the maker and the destination–

John H(omer) Schaar (born July 7, 1928), scholar and political theorist.

We all have our stories based on our experiences and the belief system that evolved from those experiences.  The way we confront, rise above and transform them creates the picture that we call OUR LIFE.

If you want to see how powerful you are, look at your life. It is the expression of all the beliefs you have held till now.

Perhaps the first thing that comes to your mind is “bad news.”  However, the GOOD NEWS is that if you don’t like the movie, you can change it.  The choice is up to you!

How do you change your negative beliefs might be your next question!  My favorite way is by using EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques)   If you would like to learn more about EFT, contact me via my website at http://www.blueprints4change.com

Change Your Mind, Change Your Body

This past weekend I spent a lot of time on the phone, due in large part to the fact that my mother-in-law was having lung cancer surgery (for a tumor larger in size than a table tennis ball) in Omaha.  If you’ve had a parent with a life-threatening illness, I’m sure you can relate.

Since learning of the diagnosis a couple of months ago, my husband, Bill, has traveled to Omaha a few times in order to help mom have the best possible outcome from the surgery. How?  By teaching her self-hypnosis, visualization and EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).  And that’s saying A LOT, for a lawyer!  But, you see, he is also a gift healer. 

Some of the suggestions he gave her related to minimal bleeding, fast recovery, least amount of pain, minimal discomfort, no fear or anxiety and surprising the doctors with “perfect” test results, etc.  So how did it go?

• Before the surgery she was not afraid or worried, didn’t lose any sleep and never had a concern about the outcome – in her words, it was “the most amazing thing”
• There was very little bleeding during the surgery
• Instead of having to spend a number of days in intensive care, she was out of there within a day
• She was on solid food within 24 hours instead of on a liquid diet for a few days
• She didn’t even notice when the pain control drip came out and she was only receiving a fraction of the amount she should have been
• The doctors were amazed at her speedy recovery
• The staff called her “their prize patient”

Her recovery would have been fantastic for a woman in her fifties but here she is in her early eighties!

I’m writing this to show you how incredibly powerful the mind is.  We can use it to heal ourselves if we have the focus, concentration and belief.  One of my favorite books is The Biology of Belief: Unleashing the Power of Consciousness, Matter, & Miracles by Bruce Lipton, Ph.D.  In this book Dr Lipton discusses the latest research in cellular biology and quantum physics showing that our bodies can be changed if we change our thinking.  It’s only our erroneous beliefs that hold us back from living the life we dream of.

How do we change our beliefs?  You can do this in a number of different ways but the most incredible tool I have found is EFT. It’s my belief that EFT is the “medicine” of the future.  I’ve seen it change the lives of many of my clients.

To learn more about how it can impact your life, click on the link below and visit the World Center for EFT – http://budurl.com/WorldCenterforEFT  Then read some of the phenomenal case histories and download the free manual, a gift from Gary Craig, the creator of EFT.  It may change your life!

Memory at Midlife: Did Your Car Keys Disappear Again?

Do you find you are forgetting things more often?  Those car keys that just disappeared again!  The grocery list that’s probably still on the kitchen table!  The eyeglasses you’re sure you left next to the bookcase! 

As we age, our memory seems to fail more often. Researchers point to the erosion of the white matter pathways in our brains as the reason.  This impairs communication between different areas of the brain.

For a fun exercise try this short-term memory test (slightly modified) developed by the Memory Assessment Clinic in Maryland.

Read through this list just once, and only once, and concentrate on each word. Then look away and have a pen and paper handy.

Here’s the list:

• Onions
• Potatoes
• Milk
• Blueberries
• Peanuts
• Shrimp
• Carrots
• Mayonnaise
• Oregano
• Cucumber
• Papaya
• Noodles
• Ham
• Crackers
• Cottage Cheese

Now write down as many of the foods as you can remember on your sheet of paper.

How many did you remember?

The average person ages 18-39 can remember ten items. From ages 40-59, nine items; from ages 60-69, eight items and for 70 and older, seven items.

If you scored low for your age, there are MANY books and articles available on increasing your memory power. I would give you some names now, but I have forgotten them!

PS If you find you are being forgetful because your life is one big clutter and you are unfocused and distracted, a tool you might want to try is EFT. For more information check out the EFT World Summit starting tomorrow.

In a Rut? The Secret to Getting Unstuck

Mary (not her real name) came to me because she couldn’t seem to lose weight (at least not more than 10lbs at any one time) no matter what she tried and she had tried most of the diets and products on the market.

What Mary didn’t realize was that food was not the real issue.  The “culprit” was the emotional baggage she carried around the issue of being thin. Her programmed beliefs were contributing to her holding onto stored energy (fat):

I don’t deserve to be happy with my body
My weight holds me back from earning more
My weight keeps me from making life changes
I want someone to love me as I am and THEN I will lose weight
Other family members are overweight and so that is my fate
My size allows me to avoid certain sports, hobbies or events
I avoid some social situations because of my weight
If I stopped eating ice cream, pastries etc, it would be like losing a friend
My weight allows me to be passive, to hold back
…etc, etc.

Every diet she had ever tried was an outside job.  She was supposed to shape up and act right externally: eat the low-fat foods, exercise more, and drink copious amounts of water.  What she needed was an inside job – an energetic approach to getting rid of the stored energy.  Or in other words, EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques).

EFT is a simple, easy-to-learn form of energy psychology (or acupuncture without the needles) that you can use to gain freedom from emotional and physical issues that hold you back from success in those things that are important to you.

You can learn more about this innovative technique by attending the FREE EFT World Summit. It starts this Monday, April 20, so you might want to register for this virtual online event right away.  The process is being used and endorsed by some of the major players in the health and personal development industry like Jack Canfield, Bob Proctor, Joe Vitale and Bob Doyle, featured teachers from The Secret…and Dr. Joseph Mercola, Bruce Lipton, Dr. Norm Shealy

The organizers of the EFT World Summit have put together an amazing event featuring 9 consecutive days of FREE presentations from some of the top experts and Masters of EFT in the world.  So join us and register now.

… oh yes, if you are wondering about whether it worked for Mary, after 12 weeks she had lost 30lbs and was well on the way to achieving her goals.

Procrastination – What Do I Tap On?

Following on from my last two posts about Procrastination…

Now that you know EFT can help you eliminate procrastination, how do you come up with the phrases to use while tapping?

Here’s what you do:

• Ask yourself – What is the potentially difficult situation?  What am I procrastinating about?
• Establish the root fear or limiting belief that’s holding you back from __________(the situation)? What am I afraid will happen if I do  _________?   (It may be fear of success, fear of failure, fear of rejection, fear of doing it wrong, fear of asking for what you want, fear of saying no to someone, etc.)

Let’s pick fear of failure, just for argument’s sake.

• Think back to your childhood. What is the earliest memory you have of failing at something? Write it down.
• Write down ALL the events in life in which you can remember that feeling of having failed (your parents, kids in grade school, high school, the dating years, sports tryouts, career, etc.)
• Now, think about what MEANING you created about yourself as a result of each of those incidents. (I’m not good enough … I’m dumb … I’ll never be good at writing … When I start something new, I fail … i’m not cut out to make a lot of money, etc. Really spend some time on this, because that’s where the core issue lies.
• Then, make a separate list of how these MEANINGS you created have stopped you in life. What behavior did you take on? Did you stop reaching out? Did you stop taking chances? Did you retreat into a hole? Did you hold back from taking advantage of opportunities that could have advanced you? Write them all down.
• You took on this behavior to avoid feeling __________? (like an idiot, sick with anxiety, not good enough)

Now that you have a list of beliefs and emotions, use EFT to eliminate them. Take action now and free yourself from what is holding you back!

To Learn More About EFT and Download a Free Manual, go to http://budurl.com/WorldCenterforEFT

Eliminate Procrastination with EFT

Is something holding you back from realizing your full potential or making the changes you say you want to make?  Has your creativity come to a standstill?  Do you feel blocked in your motivation to achieve your goals?

Lasting Emotional Freedom Is Now At Your Fingertips!

In my last post I talked about procrastination and mentioned a tool for helping you eliminate it.  That tool is Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT).

EFT is the doorway to freeing yourself from the emotional blocks that are keeping you from living a more fulfilling life.  In essence, it is a psychological version of acupuncture without the needles.  Instead, you “tune in” to your emotional issue while stimulating stress relief points by tapping on them with your fingertips.  This provides a meridian “balancing effect” that replaces emotional distress with a form of peace.  While the process is not perfect, it often works where everything else fails.

EFT can help you break out of the procrastination mode and become more motivated to achieve your goals.  Begin by using it on such limiting beliefs as I mentioned in my last post.  Then tap on all those other beliefs you might have around the issue. 

If you are new to EFT, you can find a summary page of the tapping points and the appropriate phrases on the Resources page of my website – http://www.blueprints4change.com/pdf/EFTprocedure.pdf

… and procrastinate no more!