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We, as Westerners in particular, give a lot of credence to the concepts of independence, autonomy, self-determination and freedom.  Our social and political consciousness is embedded with these notions, and when we are faced with disturbing issues such as health care system changes or incipient terrorism, we reflexively latch onto these abstract concepts believing they are what is at stake.  We get frightened and we become resolute in our desire to hang onto these so-called privileges of civilization.  We believe that what freedom is is not to be controlled by others; that it is the absence of external control.  But perhaps real freedom is the presence and awareness of internal control.

It is our birthright as human beings to have bodies that are imbued with an innate wisdom.  This wisdom includes knowing how to guide and heal ourselves.  Our access to this wisdom requires only that we get out of the way.  We have to establish time and space to attain the mindfulness that enables our inborn compass, but we also have to cultivate awareness—awareness of the everyday ways we “go unconscious.”  One of these ways is the automatic, habitual thinking we engage in.  This is actually not thinking at all; it is the mindless recitation of thoughts we are accustomed to repeating to ourselves in our heads, and out loud to others.  We have long ago stopped assessing whether we actually believe these pronouncements.  They are just place-holders for true thought; but they do take up that mental space where something more authentic could be taking place.

The same is true of our health and healing.  We let superficial symptoms and the soft and not-so-soft addictions that quell them hijack our attention from what our body knows is wrong.  We tend to add, rather than subtract something when we are ill-at-ease, again, not creating the space where wisdom can operate.

The mechanism by which we can cultivate this space is mindfulness.  Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and aware in our lives from moment to moment.  Mindfulness is a teachable skill, and even the attempt to attain mindfulness is richly rewarding and healing to the body and the mind.  It is my wish that each of us would achieve even a little bit of mindfulness this coming year and beyond.  The payoff would be immense.

Please visit the other pages and resources on this website to find ways that you can be helped and can help yourself.

I was asked by a client the other day whether there are home study tools that would help him “straighten out” his subtle energy disruptions.  The answer is yes; that is the genius of EFT and some of the other energy therapies–they can be learned and then applied in the moment that the help is needed.  Once these techniques become second nature to us, we will use them almost automatically when we hit a difficult patch of road in our lives. 

But what can we do to maintain our energy systems in top order so that we can weather the storms that will surely come our way, psychologically speaking?  There are a number of helpful practices that serve this end.  Many come from the associated field of energy medicine.  Acupuncture, acupressure massage, energy exercises,  and mindfulness meditation are good ways to keep the body energy flowing.  Presumably this will lessen the likelihood that energy will get “stuck” around difficult psychological problems.  Then there are more specific, and in some cases more technological aids such as binaural beat audio embedded within music or nature sounds to induce learning or particular brainwave states such as focus or relaxation.  There are biofeedback technologies now made into multi-media games that are pleasant to play and teach you to autoregulate your heartbeat, respiration , and muscle tension.  There are particular EFT protocols to help with food addictions and cravings of all sorts in order to regain control of your own physiology.  I have collected some of the best examples of these aids on my website for the convenience of my readers.   Please take a moment to peruse what is available to help you attain peace of mind and peak performance by clicking on the Resources page link from the Website and Beyond list, in the sidebar at the right.  While you’re at it, you can visit the other pages of my website as well.  I hope you find it informative, and I would be interested in your comments.

Most of you reading this know of the tremendous phenomenon created by a little DVD called The Secret.  Something about the timing of this market launch of the Law of Attraction was magic.  People were inspired by the simple message that our thoughts and feelings help create our reality.  The most exciting part of this notion, though, was that we have control over this process.  Our thoughts are not in charge of us—we are in charge of our thoughts.  Teachers of meditation tell us that we can have a thought, but not engage it.  We can have a thought, but not believe it.  And we can train ourselves to have thoughts that promote what we wish to achieve and experience in the world.  It’s all vibration, which is another way of saying it’s all energy.  The energy of certain thoughts “pulls in” experience that is consonant with that energy just as a tuning fork attracts vibrations similar to its own.

Now there is another phenomenon waiting to happen that is available to you on another little DVD.  It is the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT), and it makes use of energy principles and techniques to dissolve energy blocks that are experienced as anxieties, phobias, pain, and dysfunction.  Other than experiencing it yourself, I know of no other more convincing way for you to become acquainted with the promise of EFT than watching the DVD, Try It On Everything.  This video follows a group of people on an EFT retreat with therapists who are accomplished practitioners of the Emotional Freedom Technique.  You get a sense of the range of problems EFT can treat, and the experience of applying the technique.  On their website, the authors also offer a follow-up on the participants so you can get a realistic view of how lasting the gains are and what is necessary in order to make these gains permanent.  The trailer for the DVD can be viewed and the video itself can be ordered through the Resources page of this website (see link in sidebar, on right side of this page).  I urge you to become familiar with what this simple, non-invasive technique can do for you.  After viewing, please contact me if you would like to do some EFT on your own problems.  See my contact page, Reach the Clinic, right sidebar.  I am also interested in hearing from you regarding your impression of the DVD.  You can offer your comments, below.