Emotions Come From Thoughts

Emotional Healing is the Foundation

admin — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:38:09 +0000

Mind-Body Connection of Emotional Health-

Emotional health is directly connected to our physical health. Choosing healthy ways (exercise, meditation, centering, and deep breathing) to deal with stress go far toward our overall health. The mind-body connection is the way your body responds to how you think, feel and act.
Some of the physical signs that your body and mind may be out of connection are chest pain, headaches, back pain, extreme tiredness, high blood pressure, upset stomach, weight loss or gain, insomnia, etc. Many of these ailments may be as well treated by learning how to improve your emotions. Learn how to sort out the following emotions: anxiety, stress and sadness.

Too many of us have learned as children to stuff our feelings. The only emotional growth comes after we accept our feelings. Feelings aren’t good or bad or wrong or right. They are simply how we feel. Some people are helped by writing in a journal a short description of how they feel. After you accept your feelings, you can study healthy ways to deal with them.

Unfortunately, many people now believe that they have to continually “vent” all their feelings. In my opinion, vending feelings about the same situation does little good. If, once your feelings are known about a situation to all involved in the situation and everything stays the same, then learn new coping skills such as reframing to change the way you feel.

Remember, you can only change yourself—not others. If you still feel unable or unwilling to change—find out what your unhappiness is giving you. Holding on to old hurts only hurts us.

Our Definition of Addiction Recovery-

Although many definitions exist, the Changemaker definition of recovery includes the following characteristics:

1. All mind-altering addictions are given up. Often, an addict will simply trade addictions and call this recovery. If someone is addicted to one mind-altering drug, she/he will be addicted to all mind-altering drugs, legal or illegal.

2. The addict no longer uses the past as an excuse for today. Anything that happened in the past can be the springboard for growth by the beautiful experience of forgiveness.

3. The addict has balance in his/her life to include physical health, mental health, emotional health and spiritual growth.

4. In learning to get healthier, the addict will learn “one day at a time” but with continued growth, he/she will learn to take a longer view of the future and get in touch with his/her hopes and dreams.

5. The twelve steps are essential for turning a negative direction into a spiritual direction. However, the balance comes from not allowing the group to be another addiction used to avoid family and friends.

“The closest thing to a cure for most forms of serious psychological suffering is a permanent change in the way one conducts one’s life–and the changes in feeling and self-concept that occur as part of that process.” Tom Rusk

Healing the Soul-

Most of the sites listed under alcohol and/or drug addiction are from treatment centers. I believe that treatment centers as well as twelve step groups can help addicts.

My problem with treatment centers is the cost and the medical model they use which means someone has to be “sick”. I believe in the self-discovery model which is the reason I wrote the Changemaker Test. Anyone with compassion can take the Changemaker Test and get a group together and begin learning about themselves.

Of course, I also believe that the AA method of tearing someone down in order to rebuild them loses too many new addicts. It works for the military because the recruits have to stay or go to jail for desertion. Having been sober for 28 years and having been a substance abuse counselor who worked in profit and non-profit centers gives me a unique viewpoint. Someone with an experience is never at the mercy of someone with an argument.

How do you know that someone–regardless of age–is spiritual? Certainly not because they say they are. The best evaluation is to see the fruits of the Spirit manifested by them. The fruits of the Spirit are love, joy, peace, kindness, self-control, patience, faithfulness, goodness, longsuffering and gentleness as listed in Galatians 5:22-23.

When You Find the Buddha in the Middle of the Road–Kill Him is the wise title of a good book by Sidney Kopp. No one knows what is better for anyone but that person. We each have our own answers. Even those trained in counseling techniques can only see what is revealed. Tendencies may be seen and certainly personality indicators will be there. But the work of change is a person’s individual choice.

The opposite of love isn’t hate. The opposite is indifference. When you no longer have feelings for someone, you have no reaction to them. When you feel hate, there is still emotion for that person there. This is the reason abusers can hold on to the abused. Anger may be covering hurt or feelings of entitlement.

Choosing Your Emotions A-Z Link Directory

kberman — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 07:16:00 +0000

By rkramer62

The abyss winking back at me

Acceptance, appraisal or suppression: anxiety solutions

Affirmations about inner wisdom

Anger at things we can’t control

How to manage anger

What causes addiction?

Breaking open

It builds up

Are you burned out?

Change your life, be a mentor

Change–here’s how

Community: You deliver me

Compassion in action

Managing conflicts with email: why it’s so tempting

12 steps toward freedom from depression

Disease is a shape shifter

Doing good during bad

Increasing energy

How do I know what emotion I’m feeling?

Six easy steps to conquering fear and achieving bliss?

Business of forgiveness

10 reasons why I should forgive

Forgiveness with aromatherapy

But frozen things they all unfreeze

Getting through downturns

The God of my understanding

Grief–Welcome to my own little world

The social contagion of happiness

5 steps to achieving happiness (video)

4 conscious ways to really help others during any difficult situations

Paul Allen’s call for emotional health

Finding hope in the midst of depression

Stop following “the rules” of your life and bring back the joy

Law of attraction in action: knowing

5 easy healthy lifestyle tips

All you need is love

Married but oh–so lonely

Mastering your own mind

Meditation and the false lure of zoning out

Learn how to be a mindful leader

The power of mindsight: An interview with Dr. Daniel Siegel

A shift of mind

Money: Rent or buy is a stickier question when you look at real lives

Teaching doctors the art of negotiation

Online mindfulness meditation for PTSD, Boulder Colorado

Organization:

Hard, fun and beautiful

11 quick and simple ways to spread positivity around you today

Processes

Are you asking the right question?

The road map for life project–great discussions

Shamed for making mistakes

Unraveled? Here’s how to knit yourself and the world together

The false solace of vilification

Developing resilient willpower

My post-evangelical wilderness

You are not broken. You don’t need to fixed

Using Spirituality for Change

newyou — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 21:18:00 +0000

By Wolfgang Staudt

As we shift our feelings and thoughts to positive from negative, we become aware of the power that we feel inside. We are becoming aware of our soul. The soul is bigger that just our mind. It includes our dreams, our feelings as well as our thoughts.

I don’t think that we can try to attain the awakening of our soul in any other way than by choosing to put ourselves in the presence of the God of our understanding. Many centuries ago, a wonderful monk lived and wrote Practice in the Presence of God.

He taught me, centuries later, that all I had to do was practice presenting myself to my God. I didn’t have to do anything else but put myself in a place where the God of my understanding could communicate with me.

Prayer is when I communicate with my God and meditation is the practice of listening to God. Although I have tried many times to maintain the principles of meditation to my life, I have never been able to do meditation in the recommended ways.

Instead I set aside time several times a day to “check in” with Him. When I present myself to God for His answers, I come in a spirit of peace and quiet. I rarely “hear” anything. Instead I sense directions or guidances from Him. If my direction is God’s will for my life, the going will be easy. If I am trying to force something to happen, I will become stressed about it.

The difficulty is in getting out of God’s way. If I think that I know exactly the direction of God’s guidance, I have learned that it is probably my ego answering me. Another way that I use to understand God’s direction is to not do anything to force the outcome. I do the footwork and leave the outcome to Him. This is especially hard when all that maybe needed is a phone call.

If I don’t receive some kind of guidance, I realize that the answer may not be no, but rather may be later. This letting go releases great energy and feelings of belonging. “Let go and let God.”

Wikipedia identifies mindfulness as “the practice whereby a person is intentionally aware of his or her thoughts and actions in the present moment, non-judgmentally”. Although my faith is based in Jesus Christ, I am thankful that He has given me the gift of openness to explore and implement practices from other faiths.

In 1976, when I began implementing breathing exercise with meditation practices, I immediately knew that finding my center and focusing on my breath in and breath out enabled calm and peace to flow through my body. Being human, I learned in a moment what has taken a lifetime to implement. Transcendental meditation has been found to decrease heart rate and blood pressure because the mind-body connection prospers when one experiences peace and calm.

Spirituality and Practice A-Z Link Directory

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 20:35:20 +0000

By 'L'u'z'A'

21-Day Programs

Attention

Audios for Spiritual Journeys

Beauty

Being Present

The Blessing Path

Books for Spiritual Journeys

Change

Compassion

Community

Connections

Content Areas at Spirituality and Practice

How much does an E-Course cost?

Gardening as a Spiritual Practice

Living Spiritual Teachers Project

Online Retreats on Classic Spiritual Practices and Sacred Texts

Remembering Spiritual Masters Project

Reverence

A Celebration of Rumi

Advanced Searches at S&P

Set Up Your Own Group E-Course

Shadow

Silence

Spiritual Literacy Blog

Spiritual Literacy DVDs

Spiritual RX Prescriptions Chart

Spirituality and Practices Community

Teachers

Teaching as a Spiritual Practice

Ways to Use the Spiritual Literacy DVDs

The Mind-Body Connection of Emotional Healing

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:04:51 +0000

By Randomhead

Remember, you can only change yourself—not others. If you still feel unable or unwilling to change—find out what your unhappiness is giving you. Holding on to old hurts only hurts us.

Stress is Blocked Energy

admin — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 11:01:06 +0000

by lotusstressrelief

Stress is often blamed by many to be the robber of energy; however, stress can often be the perception we place on events. For many, stress occurs when we place a negative perception on a future event. When you are feeling stress, learn to use it as an indicator of how you are interpreting the events that are happening around you. Learn to make those reactions friends of yours rather than enemies. Begin to accept the conditions that you choose to not only react to but also sometimes choose to over-react to. Practice one of the following yourself when you feel engulfed by emotion:

Is my response reasonable and appropriate?
Do you want to invest my energy this way?
Is someone from the past “telling” you to react this way?
Practice shutting down your tapes from the past.
Is anyone else encouraging you to react this way?
Does the person who is encouraging have the courage to respond to the event honestly? Why are surrendering your power to someone else?

All stress isn’t negative. Positive stress helps to keep us focused and energized to act as a motivator for us. Negative stress drains our energy.

Make lists of things that give you energy and those things that sap your energies. On those things that sap your energy, ask yourself if anything is happening positively by your energy being drained.

Set daily habits to deal with stress:

Play each and every day!
Take short breaks in task that feel will never end.
Set 2-3 priorities each day rather then 15-20. I once saw 3 filing trays that were labeled: today—tomorrow—and maybe never.
Develop triggers to relax—maybe when you enter your car, get a drink of water, every time you look at your watch, or while waiting at a red light.

Stress is one of the 16 main topics I will be posting about. Leo Babauta at Zen Habits has these 20 Ways to Eliminate Stress From Your Life:

Identify your stressors.
Eliminate unnessary commitments.
Proscrastination.
Disorganization. late.
Controlling.
Multitasking.
Eliminate energy drains.
Avoid difficult people.
Simplify life.
Unschedule.
Slow down.
Help others.
Relax throughout the day.
Quit work.
Simplify your to-do list.
Exercise.
Eat healthy.
Be grateful.
Zen-like environment.

Peace of Mind Books

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 23:07:42 +0000

By Hamed Saber

These books are incorporated in our Changemaker Library. All of the books used are the choices of Changemaker without solicitation from any author or publisher. We include the title of the book, the author, the ISBN number, and an Amazon link if you choose to order the books yourself.

The following books are about peace of mind:

Peaceful Mind: Using Mindfulness and Cognitive Psychology to Overcome Depression

John McQuiad and Paula Carmona

ISBN 1-57224-366-X

Amazon link

Quiet Mind, Fearless Heart

Brian Luke Seaward

ISBN 0-471-67999-2

Amazon link

Serenity in Motion: Inner Peace: Anytime, Anywhere

Mary O’Hara

ISBN 0-446-69085-6

Amazon link

Taming the Tiger Within: Meditations on Transforming Difficult Emotions

Thich Nhat Hanh

ISBN 1-59448-134-2

Amazon link

Turning the Mind Into An Ally

Sakyong Mipham

ISBN 1-57322-345-X

Amazon link

A-Z Directory for Mental Health

admin — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 08:10:26 +0000

by Sister 72

Action Beats Inaction

Addiction Help-How does the Recovering Addict or Alcoholic Generate Healthy Self Esteem?

Are You Looking for Trouble

Art of Attention: Breathing for Healing Sleep

Being Nice to Yourself Increases Creativity

Believe in You

Be Nice to Yourself

Best Yoga Exercise for Weight Loss

Detoxifying Your Life

Diary of an Insomniac: How I Survived the Wee Hours

The Day Simplifiers-10 Fabulous Motivators That Inspire You to Take Action Part IV

Diet and Exercise for People Who Don’t Diet or Exercise

Don’t Panic

Foods to Beat the Winter Blues

Fostering an Atmosphere of Forgiveness

Fourteen Tips for Getting More Sleep-and Why It Matters

Get Outdoors with Weekend Sherpa!

Go to Your Happy Place

Go Within Mind Map

The Habit Change Cheatsheet: 29 Ways to Successfully Ingrain a Behavior

Habituating to the Feeling of Drowning

Handling Abandonment: Part 2

How Not to Hurry

How the Navy Seals Increased Passing Rates

How to Become a Power User of Your Brain: Part 1

How to be Inspired Every Day

How to Build the Confidence Habit

How to Create the Habit of Daily Meditation

How to practice mindfulness meditation

Impatient, ACOA, self sabotage, afraid they won’t be able to think

The Internal Dialogue: Mastering the Unseen Forces That Shape Our Destiny

Is Anger a Problem for You or Someone You Love?

K
20 Key Questions on Motivation and Habits, Answered

Learn the Art of Following Through: 5 Steps to Ensure You Will Achieve Your Goals

Lessons Learned from Tony Robbins

31 Lessons on Personal Effectiveness by Brian Tracy

Letter from Paris: A Mother’s Comfort

The Little Rules of Action

Meditation Made Easy

Moods: The Color of Life

Nature Solutions to Sleep Deprivation

7 Office Depression Busters: Tips for Work Depression

Our Barriers to Love: Monday’s Mindful Quote from Rumi

Outflank Your Own Resistances to Change

4 Parenting Strategies for Difficult Days

Procrastination and Other Everyday Passive Aggressive Techniques

The Resolution Retreat

Self Care is Essential-Part Two

Self-Control: When optimism is self-defeating

Self-Promotion for Introverts

Shyness or Social Anxiety Limiting Your Work Performance and Career Success? 9 Powerful Coping Tips

Shutting Off My Brain-Part 4

Silence

Sleep Advice: 5 Foods to Help You Snooze

Sleeping Enough is More Important Than Early-Rising

The Serious Pursuit of Fun

Sound It Out

Sport: Finding Your Prime Intensity

Sports: Prime Confidence

28 steps to a positive and successful life

Stop Complaining and Start Gaining

Stop Using Guilt as a Motivation Tactic

Stress Could Be Affecting the Way You Eat: What’s Your Eating Habit?

The Yoga of Eating: Holding the Edge

This Day Only (Just for Today)

Thought Commentary

Three reasons why mindfulness meditation helps relationships

Three Things That Sound Bad But Can Actually Be Good for You

Want Cheese With That Whine? Transform Negative Self-Talk

12 Ways to be Thankful

The Weed-Free Sanctuary Garden

What Hidden Emotional Anchors are Holding You Back?

Will Positive Psychology Save Our Soldiers?

Winding Down

Work Happiness Tip–Buy a Plant

You Can Let Go of Negative Self-Judgments

Your all-or-nothing attitude will bring all stress and no progress

Your Parental Permission Slip

The Gift of Change

newyou — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 16:58:25 +0000

By tiarescott

One of the best writers about A Course in Miracles, Marianne Williamson’s newest books is titled The Gift of Change: Spiritual Guidance for a Radically New Life. It is for sale here.

According to the author, A Course in Miracles, is a “self-study program of spiritual psychotherapy”. In this new book, she advocates her readers to begin a thorough plan of change from the inside out.

The main learning from Course is that there are only two emotions: love or fear. She advocates that love can transform anyone.

The ten bridges of transformation that we can experience are:

1) From forgetting who we are to remembering who we are,

2) From negative thinking to positive love,

3) From anxiety to atonement,

4) From asking God to change the world to praying that He changes us,

5) From living in the past and future to living in the present,

6) From focus on guilt to focus on innocence,

7) From separation to relationship,

From spiritual death to rebirth,

9) From your plan to God’s plan,

(10) From who we were to who we are becoming.

One of her more powerful suggestions is that wherever we find ourselves—that is where we should be. “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”

Other books by Marianne Williamson:

Letting Go and Becoming

A Return to Love

Everyday Grace: Having Hope, Finding Forgiveness, and Making Miracles

Writing Online A-Z Link Directory

admin — Mon, 12 Jul 2010 01:18:23 +0000

“A veritable gold mine of possibilities is hidden within each of us-aptitudes, attitudes, characteristics, and traits that once may have been conscious, but for some reason slipped away or were pushed away into our unconscious. In addition, there is great potential within each of us that has never had the opportunity to see the light of day. William A. Miller

I didn’t realize that I loved writing until I began my first blog in Nov. 2004. I soon developed a daily habit of writing 10-12 hours. I rarely grew tired of the routine and/or the discipline. Many of the following writers have given me great guidance and support.

51 Over-Used Adverbs, Nouns, and Cliches in Writing

Author, Jody Hedlund: One Pilgrim’s Progress to Publication and Beyond…An Uphill Climb

Author’s Echo

Bill Ward: Genre Writer and Reviewer

A Lesson from Curious George for Bloggers

Bookends, LLC–A Literary Agency

Booking It

Chapter-a-Week Book Club

Countdown to Publication

110+ Resources for Creative Minds

Ebook publisher–Abbott ePublishing

How to Write an Ebook in 24 Hours