September 2017 Newsletter

Hello, and a sensational September to you!
Welcome, or welcome back, to my newsletter. The photo above was taken by a friend at an energy medicine gathering. She said something silly like "OK, now see if you can look pretty". This is why I have that grin, while also trying to be indignant. Do you spend time with good friends who make you laugh?

Today's issue has an article about assigning meaning to an event, and how that could lock you into a negative viewpoint, or open up a positive one. Enjoy!

You may have heard the fable about the farmer who had a strong son (good, you think). The son suffered a leg injury (bad, you think), then couldn't be drafted by the military (good?!). It goes on, but of course the point is that almost every experience can have an upside, no matter how gloomy the future may look at first. If you scan back over your life, you can probably find an event which initially seemed horrible, then led you to something much better. Maybe that sudden job loss prompted you to start your own successful company. Or that scary health diagnosis put you on a road of fitness and eating right.

With this "hindsight is 20/20" perspective, it becomes obvious we're not always looking at the big picture, or taking the long view. This is especially true when we're faced with a big new problem -- it's only human to overreact and disaster-ize. To quote Chicken Little, the sky is falling! One of my friends worries about everything. When she has a headache, she always wonders if she's getting a brain tumor! This sounds funny, and I think it's a big waste of her energy.

A better approach when something "bad" (remember, you may see this differently later!) happens may be to ask "What's good about this?". Sure, take care of the problem and clean up the mess first. Then also see if there's learning here. Did this teach you what not to do again? Are you now remembering earlier warning signs you chose to ignore? Another place this shows up is with others "making us" feel hurt (or anxious, or slighted, or...). I recently participated in a group coaching call, where it seemed everyone had this issue. The man comes home, looks at the woman with a frown, and she makes it mean that he thinks she's not doing enough around the house! Maybe he's still annoyed at the traffic on the drive home, nothing to do with her at all.

With all this in mind, why not make an event mean something positive and helpful and uplifting, since we have the choice? This can be useful with strange, possibly alarming, body symptoms. Remember my friend who worried that her headache might be a brain tumor? Perhaps that new pain or inflammation is only your body talking to you the one way it can, with symptoms, asking you to change your habits.

One area where I've found this approach particularly useful is in taking another look at some troubling situation in the past. Maybe that critical teacher or parent who drove you so hard saw enormous potential in you, and didn't want you to waste your talent. Maybe you didn't get the help you thought you needed back then, because others needed the resources more, yet look how you managed to move forward anyway. Things usually have a way of working out.

So about that remark or reaction or event which hurt your feelings, whether it happened 5 minutes ago or 30 years ago, what would your wise loving grandmotherly guardian angel say about it? Look how capable you are, and you're much bigger than this little trifle. Hold your head high, know you're loved and worthy, and are doing the best you can. Who could ask for more?

To read about visual blur, and what people often make it mean, click here.

Have you wondered if my work could help you?
I'm now offering complimentary Discovery Session consultations of 20 to 30 minutes, for us to discuss what you're looking for in a coach, and to decide whether you and I feel like a fit. To schedule your Discovery Session, click here.

Do you want your own copy of future newsletters?
If a friend forwarded this to you, or you're reading it from Facebook or LinkedIn, this is a hit-or-miss method of receiving it, and you might not see it next time. If you'd like to be on my distribution list, you can join here. You can unsubscribe at any time. Thank you!

Please send me your questions and comments
Let me know what you've wondered about concerning energy medicine or vision or dreams. I'll be glad to write a short article addressing that topic. Thank you to those who have sent me questions, or see a question you asked me in a private session written about here. You're helping many other people! Enjoy the start of your September. I'll write again in a couple of weeks. Take care!