The world is changing at a rapid pace. I believe we are at a precipice in history and countless people are finding themselves in transition.
Never before have Bob Dylan’s words, “The times, they are a changin” held so much meaning. I know hardly anyone who isn’t facing change these days and not always by conscious decision. Life’s circumstances are dictating new choices be made: reinvention of beliefs, careers, understandings, letting go, forgiveness (or not), and if not forgiveness, it generally comes at a cost, the cost of investing our energy in past hurts instead of in today.
Taking the First Step Into Action
When people call or come to my office, I ask them, “How can I help you?” Often they tell me about difficult challenges they are facing and are having a hard time trying to cope, not knowing what to do to help themselves through this painful time.
For instance, they may be fighting an on-going depression, a failing relationship, a debilitating illness, a financial crisis or perhaps something else that has left them feeling vulnerable and afraid.
I immediately congratulate them for taking the first necessary step toward making a positive change in their life by reaching out and calling for help. I then let them know that no matter what they are facing, there is always hope and with proper guidance, care and commitment, they can indeed turn their lives around.
Are you dealing with difficult circumstances at the moment and having a hard time coping? If so, you do not have to feel isolated and alone. I can help you re-establish a strong state of mind where you feel empowered to make healthy choices that will bring you back into a state of well-being.
You Are Not a Victim of Your Circumstances
You will come to appreciate that at the core of your being is a centre of wisdom, love, and joy which you can learn to access at any time in order to receive your own inner guidance. The result will be greater peace and ease in your life. Instead of having the sense that things rarely work out, you will start to notice how your life begins to flow in harmonious ways.
Synchronistic and serendipitous events start to become a natural part of your daily living. This is not some new age nonsense but what can happen when we change our perceptions, take charge of our lives and recognize that we’re not a victim of circumstance.
Conscious Choices
Most people do not know that their suffering is a choice. They believe it is as a result of what someone did to them or because of their particular life circumstances that they had no choice over. And sometimes that is true. Often we do not have a conscious say in what happens to us.
People do die or leave us. Children get sick, property gets stolen, and new businesses that were created with the greatest ambitions sometimes end up failing. And true enough, all of these things can cause tremendous heartache and sorrow.
The Gift
Yet there is a gift that each of us has been born with that can dramatically change how we feel about those things that happen. Even when the most dire things happen to us, we can still maintain a sense of peace and wholeness. And that gift, is the gift to choose how we respond to the circumstances we are given. Yes, we always have a choice as to how we respond to what happens to us.
And that simple truth will determine whether we will be at peace with ourselves or have unnecessary suffering. When we are deciding how to respond to a particular set of circumstances, we can choose to see innocence or we can choose to see guilt. We can choose to respond through the eyes of fear or choose to respond through the eyes of love and forgiveness instead. One choice will bring us peace. The other will cause us to suffer.
As Wayne Dyer said, “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.”
Sometimes this is not easy because of our preconditioning and we are reluctant to consider that things can be different than the way they seem to appear.
Forming Belief Systems in Childhood
One of the reasons why life can become so unmanageable in the first place is because of the experiences we had as children. For many, their childhood years were painful and frightening and they formed beliefs and opinions about their world based on their interpretations of the events that occurred.
These interpretations later became their belief systems. To protect themselves, they built fortresses to dull the pain. There are umpteen numbers of defenses children use from temper tantrums to deep withdrawal as ways to fight the pain of feeling unloved and abandoned.
False Projections
The human mind is an extraordinarily powerful tool. In times of danger, right from birth, it will invent immediate psychological solutions to survive. If the danger persists and the child feels unsafe, more defenses will be brought in. Before long, these defenses become automatic.
The problem, however, is that these responses eventually become ineffectual. They are projected onto people and events that “appear” the same but are not. And now this protective armour, which has become the cornerstone of their belief system, (the world is not a safe place in which to live), only serves to keep them imprisoned in isolation, fear and false reality. Not only are the walls keeping out the pain, but the love as well!
Often, as a result, their relationships break down and they are left feeling lonely, afraid, angry and anxious. And it is at this critical juncture that people often begin to make unhealthy choices as an attempt to heal their heartbreak. Unfortunately, this cycle will continue as long as they are still operating from the fearful minds of the young children they once were.
Healing the Child Within
Much of my work work centres on healing that child within us while coming to know our adult gifts, strengths and capabilities. You will learn how to keep your heart open while being taught how to set healthy boundaries — when to say ‘no’ and when it is okay to say ‘yes’. How to re-parent yourself with love, tenderness, kindness and compassion.
I believe that the therapeutic process and the creative process are one. It’s about accessing that special place inside of us where wisdom, beauty, love and truth reside. When we tap into this creative life-force energy, we raise our vibration and our life unfolds in new and wondrous ways.
The Power of Intention and Commitment
If you are ready to make healthy changes in your life but are lacking the confidence or don’t know what steps to take next, let me extend my hand to you. When we set a true intention and make the commitment to heal our lives, wonderful things begin to happen. That is because we are not doing it alone. We live in an intelligent, benevolent universe where all of our actions are being lovingly supported.
The following quote from Goethe holds much meaning for me personally in my life. I have seen it time and again, that when I fully commit to something that could help move me forward in my life, even though it’s scary and takes me out of my comfort zone, whether it is a commitment to particular healing process or to a person or simply taking a ‘me’ day when I’ve got a ton of work to do, it’s amazing what unfolds. The Universe seems to always reward me with miracles.
The Power of Commitment
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation) there is one elementary truth — the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans — the moment one definitely commits oneself then providence moves too.
All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events, issues and decisions, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no one could have dreamed, would have come their way . . .
Whatever you can do or dream, you can begin.
Boldness has Genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now. —Goethe
If you are ready to take an empowering stand to help you cope with difficult situations, I am ready to help you.
You may book a 30-minute complimentary consultation with me by clicking this link.
For more on mental health and my vision for the Academy for Creative and Healing Arts for
People with Mental Health Challenges, visit this page.
Read about the play I wrote, Madness Masks and Miracles: A Play to Help Dispel Myths and Stigmas about Mental Illness
Madness, Masks and Miracles© is about the madness or the dark night of the soul we all go through as we walk our human journey, the masks we wear to hide the madness the sadness, heartbreak or grief lest we be judged and ostracized, and the miracles that allow us to take off our masks and stand tall in all of who we really are. Learn more about the play here.