When Your Emotions “Runneth Over”…. and how to prevent wide-spread contamination.*

Emotions can be pretty tricky, heck even trickier then a David Copperfield illusion. Since our emotions are deep within our bodies, and don’t have any physical form, they can be pretty hard to detect and interpret. What can even be more challenging are very passionate emotions, especially from our past.

Some emotions we hold are so strong and intense, that they can spill over and affect other areas of our life. For example, I have a friend named Sarah who would experience emotions of sadness periodically from her past. She was hurt as a child, and as the years passed she tried to just brush them off, as if shooing a fly from her food. For many years, this strategy worked and Sarah lived most of her days pretty happy and content.

However, over time, Sarah noticed that other aspects of her life were changing. In particular, she noticed that while at work, she felt occasional urges of sadness and nearly cried. Sarah wondered if her past emotional sadness was now trickling over into her work like. In many cases, that is most likely. Most people, who have past emotional pain, will experience that pain spilling over and into other aspects of their lives. This is mostly due to the fact that they may not have taken steps to acknowledge the past pain, and then heal the pain.

Our bodies often use emotions to communicate with us. If we try to disregard or avoid those emotions, then our bodies may find other ways (i.e. other aspects of our lives) in which to try to get our attention.

Sarah decided to look into her past and face the saddening pain head-on. She read some self-help books and even hired a life coach….* As Sarah continued to heal, she noticed a difference at work once again. However, the difference was the absence of sadness she felt. In Sarah’s case, her past pain had begun to affect her at work…*

Some people may deal with an un-welcomed emotion, yet still feel its effects in other areas of their lives. In those cases, I do encourage people to reach out to a counselor or therapist, as it may be related to other medical conditions.

If you believe you may be experiencing an emotion that is affecting other aspects of your life, please try one of the effective exercises (i.e. Identifying the Source* and Confirm and Schedule*) that can help you to deal and heal those emotions.

Peace to all!

Shannon

* Please note, these are highlights from an entire article in Higher-Self Living Paychecks. For more information, please visit our website at www.higherselflifecoaching.com.

”What Dreams May Come”….the good, the bad, and the ugly.*

Ah dreams…a very interesting topic many people are fascinated with. Some people have good dreams that include hopes and desires, such as starting a family or becoming famous. Other people have bad dreams that may include unfortunate news, or a replay of a past event that was not welcomed. Further, some of us also have
ugly dreams that are also known as “nightmares”. Nightmares may include losing a loved one, being harmed ourselves, or being chased by some alien type creature from the movie “Signs”. Some dreams are easily forgettable, while others sit with us all day.

In any case, most people do wonder about their dreams, and even try to interpret them, as if they were a Freudian student. Some dreams are repetitive while others are one-time occurrences. Dreams can teach us something about ourselves and even help shed light on issues or problems we may be facing.

A great trick that I learned from my mentor, Martha Beck, is a very unique and effective one. I challenge you to try this out sometime, especially if a particular dream bothered you for some time afterward. What you do is get some paper and a writing utensil of choice (e.g. I prefer the Hello Kitty Pen). Then sit for a moment and replay the dream as best as you can recall it, in your mind. Write down what you see, what is going on, who else is there, and where you are. Write down any objects and/or people that are present. Then you look at each object and/or person you wrote down, take one at a time and sit for a moment and then imagine being that object, or person, in your dream. Then write down what that object would describe itself as, or who the person would describe herself, or himself, as. For example, if there was a table in your dream, imagine you are the table. Describe what type of table you are, the color, the style, etc. If there was another person in your dream, imagine being them. Who are they? What were they wearing? How were they feeling?

Then, when you are done, look back and read what you wrote down. You may realize something you didn’t notice about your dream before, or you may see some sort of pattern or trend. Looking at your dreams from another perspective (i.e. objects or other people) can really help you to shed light on a dream, or even problem you are dealing with. As a result, you can either start taking steps to accomplish that dream, or deal and heal a problem you are experiencing.

Beware.....your point of view may start to change over time when you begin to analyze your dreams in this fascinating way.

* Please note, these are highlights from an entire article in Higher-Self Living Paychecks. For more information, please visit our website at www.higherselflifecoaching.com.