Lessons for Living

The father of a dear friend is dying.
And, as the reality of that sets in, I find myself with all sorts of emotions.
Denial, helplessness, numbness.
Sadness and grief, mostly.
And memories of my own father's death come up.  He passed away many years ago, and yet it is so fresh in my mind.

So what do I do with all of these feelings now?  We don't normally like to talk about death, as it feels like an ending.  We're reminded of our own mortality and that can be very scary.  But, it can also be transformative.

As things happen, I saw and read a story (attached below) this morning.  The  timing of finding this article is not a surprise and I recognized it as a way to learn something.  It's beautifully written by a woman who spent years working in hospices; offering thoughts from those who are dying about how to live life.

The advice, from people who courageously looked back back at their lives with honesty and shared their insight, is enlightening and inspiring.  Reading this article, I found myself looking at how I am experiencing life; how I could be living more fully and at the choices I am making.  It's a reminder that I have a responsibility to life.  Where and how can I change my thoughts so that I experience my life and express myself authentically?  I want to be able to look back on my life and feel that I really lived life fully.  We have opportunities every day to make choices about how we really want to live and be.  I owe it to myself to accept each day as a gift, and to make choices that honor that.  We each do.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/bronnie-ware/top-5-regrets-of-the-dyin_b_1220965.html

Surprise Gift

I absolutely love surprise gifts - and when I get them, I get this warm, happy feeling inside. 

Because they are surprise gifts, they come out of the blue, and often from places we least expect.  I got one today and feel so excited about it, I had to share it.  It came in the form of an email.

Recently, I signed up for daily email quotes from the author and life coach Martha Beck.  I adore her, btw.  The first time I read one of her books (years ago), it literally jumped off of the bookstore shelf and into my hands.  It was called "Expecting Adam".  It is an incredible, moving, personal story and ready it inspired me to find more of her work.  If you read 'O' magazine, you've probably heard of her, as she's a regular contributor.  If you haven't, here's her website so you can check her out.
http://marthabeck.com/

Anyway, I got so busy with building my new business in the past few years, that I'd stopped reading her (or much else that wasn't Hypnotherapy oriented).  Not sure why, but I searched her out again last month.  Now I receive her daily quotes.  This is the one I received today - and it really hit home; made me sit up and say 'AHA'!

 The process of weakening a false thought is a little like losing
a baby tooth; at first, you may only feel a tiny bit
of “give,” a slight wiggle away from rigid belief and constant
emotional pain. But as the mind turns its energy to dis-proving a
painful thought, rather than proving it over and over again,
the wiggling becomes more pronounced. You feel freer and freer,
until one day you forget you ever believed something
that is now obviously untrue.
--Martha Beck, Steering by Starlight

For quite some time, I've been trying to find a simple way to explain how Hypnosis and Hypnotherapy is such a fantastic tool........ and there it is.  It's a technique that an be used to weaken a false or limiting thought, and just as importantly, replace it with a new, positive and more empowering thought.  It comes down to choice - and when we realize we can choose what we think; that we can choose to change what we think - well that changes everything.
Thank you Martha Beck!