awareness

March 9, 2015

The Sacred Path

Our “SACRED JOURNEY” – Is A Holistic (Soulistic) experience of reclamation and transformation that starts with integration of all parts of ourselves into our complete and whole soul. This approach creates ultimate health of “Heart, Mind, Body & Spirit. Taking Actions, Developing Skills, and Harnessing Mental Processes that “Make A Real Difference” in our behavior and lives. When we are congruent and honor who we truly are we own and see our highest self and align with inner wisdom to be that person one step at a time.

This is a process that can bring “Clarity” and Courage to:

  • “Realize” – Where you’re at
  • “Visualize” – What you really want
  • “Strategize” – How to create change to get there
  • “Actualize” – Your plan, step by step for better results
  1. Start with the (physical), Cellular Balance builds a foundation for complete Body Balance.
  2. This physical balance leads the way for total Inner Balance (integrating emotional, mental and spiritual health with that of the body).
  3. All this allows the optimum Life Balance you seek.

Continued treatments using complementary and alternative modalities along with the best current medical support will reinforce a permanent chemical change in mind and body and will allow the electrical synapse system of the MindBody to rewire itself back to healthy patterns and the natural energy flow to heal and return us to our natural adaptability and flexibility.

Healing on a cellular level allows you the opportunity to take back your health, wellness and fitness. It will require a lot of hard work to change daily behavior patterns to those that will support continued healing, recovery, and optimum health to return. We need to include the following in our daily actions and activities.

  • Proper Nutrition, Rest, and Sleep
  • Exercise
  • Healthy activities and recreation
  • Self Care
  • 12 step meetings
  • Therapy
  • Creativity and Grounding Activities
  • Prayer and Meditation
  • Service and connection
  • & of course “Continued Abstinence” from what enslaved you!

These valuable investments of time and energy into ourselves will support the journey from Cellular Health and Balance to Physical Health and Balance. From Physical Health to adding complete inner balance and (Emotional, Mental, and Spiritual Health) for a Whole and Balanced Soul. Once we achieve this inner balance, peace and wholeness our higher path will lead to a life balance filed with the joy, love, meaning and the fulfillment we desire. With growth and contribution comes contentment and love.

January 16, 2015

Inner Voice III

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Part III of a series on Empowering Language Patterns:

Get rid of the word SHOULD.

Using statements like I should meditate…. solicit guilt, rebelliousness and maybe even shame…Thoughts like “Dammit why didn’t I, I was supposed to!!” soon follow. These shame and fear based thought patterns do not take you to a powerful place, but often undermine motivation and positive intentions/thinking.

Find another word that elicits better responses:

Wish – won’t motivate most people

I would like to – nope won’t bring urgency

I need to – not quite there to bring about action

I want to – getting closer to a commitment

I have to – to authoritarian for most (defensiveness and rebellion follow)

I must – sounds too desperate

I am going to – will work for some.. gives me a way out…

I will – a personal agreement is made…much closer to getting me to do it (I can visualize it and imagine myself doing it, and based on that feeling and imagery I actually may do it!)

Another powerful method is to take what you want to do and turn it into an action verb.

“I am meditating tomorrow morning at 7 AM”.     This should cause you to imagine not only doing it but the positive feeling, results, and benefits of doing it.

Questions: Do I see myself doing it in a certain place? Is it a movie, a video or a still picture? If it is a still picture, then I want to find better wording!  I am meditating tonight! Turns it into a video clip. You can play with words and get it into a vibrant, colorful movie which will flow ( a little short movie) – chances are that you are 10 times more likely to do it. An emotional/physical state of being shift actually occurs and you can see the benefits of what you will gain from that, and then make a decision or commitment to do it.. The more detail to your imagery and the deeper you see, hear, feel, taste, and smell the difference the more energy you will have in your motivation to take action.

We do this from the negative side too creating negative video tapes…but the more positive imagery tapes we make to offset the negative the more empowered we will be to take right actions!

January 9, 2015

Inner Voice II

redrockheader5Part II of a series on Empowering Language Patterns:

Get rid of the word “BUT”

But….used in the most common way, negates the positive that came before!! (Thank you for getting the groceries, but you forgot the milk.) It stops the brain then restarts the new statement leaving the prior portion of the message unheard – alone (in the dust)….the brain moves on to what follows the but. So, only use but to turn a negative into the positive (I know you wrecked the car but at least you did not get injured).

You can substitute the word “and” & “however” for but and it minimizes the damage caused by the negation (I went shopping at the health food store and on the way home I ate a Big Mac.). Think of how that sentence would feel with the word but instead of and. This helps us be more positive, resourceful and more motivated. An example would be (You did better on your grades this semester however there is room for improvement in math).   You did “x” for me and you forgot “y” (keeps the sentence continuous and the full message unit stays intact. The word but turns it into a more negative message unit going to your subconscious since the part after but is what is encoded).

Speaking this way with ourselves is kinder and gentler and it lays the foundation to speak the same with others.

A way to even enhance this speech pattern change is using the sandwich effect. This is sandwiching any negative or paternal statement in between two positives (Positive/Negative(Correction)/Positive). It helps us abstain from the defensiveness and packages the negatives with a positive feeling. This pattern would go something like this (It was great I did Yoga this morning, however I need to do it several times a week. Since in the past I practiced Yoga on a daily basis with such great results that means I can do it again starting with that class today.).

Empowering language patterns for ourselves and others;-)

December 8, 2014

Values & Virtues

Virtue based ethics can be interpreted many ways since there is such a variation of moral beliefs and various definitions of what is virtuous. For the most part virtue ethics has advantages since there is many universal virtues or much common ground when it comes to what is ethical. The biggest disadvantage is that there are differences among cultures, times in history, and even in between groups, organizations, tribes, and families in certain types of virtue based beliefs. I believe Kant’s duty-based theory overlaps and is very easily integrated with virtue ethics since most duties are virtue based. As I explore more about virtue based ethics and Kant’s theories in this blog I will expound on how these two belief systems could be merged.

It is pretty easy to explore virtue ethics from a deontological and a consequentialist viewpoint. Under deontology it is simple to see virtues as rules of what is right and wrong and that an individual has a duty to honor such virtues for personal peace and to serve a greater good. Through the viewpoint of consequentialism it also seems clear that the majority of results or consequences that are good or virtuous can only come through actions that are also virtuous, good, or right.

Based on Kant’s Doctrine of Virtue and his duty-based theory a person can only be truly happy and have their life flourish if they are living in accordance to their virtues and duty to honor and respect themselves and others. Where so many people have a commonality among their beliefs of what are acceptable or even expected norms as far as what are virtuous beliefs, intentions, and actions/behaviors it seems that the world would be far more peaceful if everyone lived up to this duty to honor self and others. This level of commitment to others would even go farther if everyone also honored the universe in a similar fashion. By universe I mean animals, nature, mother nature, the earth, places, things, cultures, etc., etc..

As stated above I believe Immanuel Kant’s duty-based theory fits hand in glove with virtue based ethics since the responsibility to honor or serve something greater than yourself comes as part of virtue or values based belief system. Both Plato and Aristotle spoke and taught of virtue based beliefs being a motivation for much of what a person thought, said, and did. So many Eastern based philosophies are based on doing what is good for self and others because it is the only way one can have peace and happiness. Many spiritual and religious beliefs are based on doing unto others as you would want done unto yourself. In most cultures common virtues such as generosity, loyalty, honesty, and courage are aspired to.

Approaching life with a goal to live a more virtue centered life may at times have the dilemma of potential ethnocentrism, where we judge others as we judge ourselves, wanting us all to fit perceived norms and expectations. It would seem one of the most important parts of virtue ethics and duty-based living is to value openness and forgiveness with ourselves and others and let go of those rigid expectations. We will never have the peace, joy, and love in our life we often seek if we cannot be satisfied enough to be happy, while still remaining unsatisfied enough to continue growth. Self-acceptance, and the acceptance of others “as they are” may be the highest virtue of all.

December 2, 2014

Attachment Style

Why do Attachment Styles affect our relationships?

Experience with early caregivers forms a working model, or RELATIONSHIP SCHEMA that impacts later relationships.

Secure Working Model

  • Others are dependable, trustworthy, and supportive (benefit of the doubt).
  • I am worthy of other people’s support and love.

62% are SECURELY ATTACHED:

As a Child

  • Mother as a safe base.
  • Upset when she leaves.
  • Go to her lovingly when she returns.

As an Adult

I find it relatively easy to get close to others and am comfortable depending on them and having them depend on me. I don’t worry about being abandoned or about someone getting too close to me.

Insecure Working Model

  • Others are expected to be undependable, untrustworthy, and UN-supportive.
  • I am unworthy of other people’s support and love.

23% are AVOIDANT:

As a Child

  • Initially do not seek proximity to the mother.
  • Very little distress upon separation.
  • Avoid/ignore her when she returns.

As an Adult

I am somewhat uncomfortable being close to others; I find it difficult to trust them completely, difficult to allow myself to depend on them. I am nervous when anyone gets too close, and often, others want me to be more intimate than I feel comfortable being.

15% are RESISTANT (AMBIVALENT):

As a Child

  • Preoccupied with mother (Clingy).
  • Great distress when the mother leaves
  • Simultaneously seek close contact but also hit and kick (punishment).

As an Adult

I find that others are reluctant to get as close as I would like. I often worry that my partner doesn’t really love me or won’t want to stay with me. I want to get very close to my partner, and this sometimes scares people away.

HMMM? Something to think about.

Awareness provides fertile ground for Transformation!

November 10, 2014

Free Agency

I believe the determinist view that desires are the cause of all actions we take, is not a truly accurate viewpoint of what determines either deliberate or unintentional actions. I do think that many behaviors are determined by our thinking and motivated by feelings that those thoughts bring about. The problem with determinism alone as the explanation of all action is that our intentions versus behavior are a far more complicated than just desires alone. Determinism alone does not explain the full complicated process of human behavior.
The duality of man is maybe more than a struggle in between just two parts of the individual. I can see how at times the heart, mind, body, and spirit all have different agendas and that a person’s actions both individually and in pattern are not just a result of this struggle but of even many more additional forces. The additional impact of the past through memories and prior experience can effect greatly how one interprets the present and perceives the future and that can cause someone to act in ways in-congruent with who they are and what they want. The pressure put on individuals by significant others, groups, and society also effect greatly a person’s actions and behaviors. Does a person truly have autonomy and freedom to do as they want, I don’t think fully, due to all of these contributing factors. But all actions are not determined.
Freedom over automatic subconscious actions comes through awareness. The more one works to bring the heart, mind, body, and spirit into a harmonious and symbiotic relationship the more a person can learn to act consciously and have their intentions and actions aligned. Emotions do carry all of the energy used to motivate actions but those energies can be rerouted to meet objectives and higher motives than just desires. The context in which one acts certain ways can be changed to be integral with behaviors that have a higher purpose. Integrity means to come together and honor all of you. When this is done the freedom of more conscious choices increases. The opposite is also true when people give into base desires or addictive thoughts, feelings, and behaviors, freedom is diminished.
The interpretation of memories and experiences that drive autonomic reactions when we perceive similar situations can drive behavior before thought. Man can also choose to relearn or put into new contexts those same prior experiences and change their interpretations of the past. In this way a person can change the meaning of their past learning’s and take back the power of conscious choice. As context and meaning changes so will the actions and behaviors. When we are open to change we can learn to live more as we intend to, instead of deliberate or unintentional actions that really are not congruent with the intentions of our hearts.
People can also learn to walk a path that is true to their own self instead of trying so much to please others, fit in to a group, or societal norms.

When you break free of expectations I believe you are also free to be as you want to be and do what you truly want to do. Re-framing beliefs, waking up and being aware more of the time, and being true to ourselves before others will bring more freedom. Determinism does not take into account so much of what causes or influences behavior and even though we go on auto pilot too often, we can have more and more freedom than we think we can, and we deserve it.

December 30, 2013 Image

Vantage Point

Vantage Point

This beautiful shot in Zion National Park by one of our employees is a great Metaphor on perspective. When we come together and get centered we have an internal “Vantage Point” where we see using all of the resources of body,heart,mind, & spirit at the same time.
We tap our internal wisdom and with deeper awareness make far better choices.