Emotional scars are like internal tattoos...

The tattoo parlor of the unconscious and subconscious mind is an interesting place to pick up some new ink...
















This lair of our mind holds all of those important events, whether positive or negative... 

It leaves its scars as tattoos on the psyche, shaping, altering and traumatizing our experience of the world. We hold our "tattoos" of trauma closely at the core of our perceptual filter for our lives.  The scars sit closely to those triggers which call us into patterns of accepted behaviors we have conditioned our lives to be.  Sometimes those scars become our comfort, they become our safe place when we need something to fall back on.

So what are these "trauma tattoos" that so many of our minds are covered in?

Events which create extreme stress and anxiety tend to imprint deeply in our persona.  These may be echoes of events from early on in life, or of events we experienced just yesterday.  The effect of these moments creates that anxiety and stress that permeates every aspect of our being.  With one little catalyst we can spiral into our behaviors and coping mechanisms as though we are right back there with the event, as though we never left it.  For soldiers, this is a common occurrence when they are engaged in battle. This has been called "shell shock,"combat stress reaction, battle fatigue, and now its most commonly referred to as post traumatic stress disorder or PTSD.

These scars have trouble being released because they were not fully embraced, however difficult that may sound...

Letting go, while it seems like it should be easy, can be a very arduous task and this is especially true in cases of trauma. Think of it like a sink filled with dirty dishes.  Usually, you would just rinse off the dirty dishes and put them in the dishwasher, letting go of their filth and releasing the attachment to the dirt that they have built up. The person with PTSD or with traumatic dramas has a damaged faucet and dishwasher. Their faucet won't wash off the dishes and now the gunk on the plates is caked all over the sides of the sink! This gunk just builds up and up sealing the unaltered sink. This sink is like your mind, with the grime being those painful scarring memories of your past.  You just can't seem to wash the pain or difficult memories away.

What we need here is something to get the painful memories to release, to let go of their hold on our psychological well-being.  

Ok, so here's the hard part, but it can be accomplished in a softer way...

We have to revisit those traumatic events in order to fully free ourselves of their grasp. Did just the mention of this idea send a shudder through you.  Don't worry,  we are going to do this as gently as possible, it will be tough though. 

Just as a good doctor will tell you to let the fever run its course, so it is with our mental disruptions as well.  We rob ourselves of the fullness of an experience when we recoil, or shut down, or become unconscious to what is transpiring. This compounds in our subconscious, creating a feeling of anxiety and distress when we remember the experience because we never let the difficulty and pain run its course in our emotional body.  Our body is naturally cathartic and will initiate its own fail safe as we process really hard events, but only if we can be aware of all of the emotions that arise.  This attention to the pain and discomfort lets it run its course just as a fever needs to.

So this can be really upsetting depending on what your stressor was...

What are some ways to diffuse or release the gunk that has clogged up our perception?

First things first, reliving and really acknowledging and embracing those difficult feelings will be hard to do, but it is truly vital.  Once they have been fully expressed they can be seen as what they are, emotions and feelings and nothing more.  They lose their power when the light of awareness comes upon them.  This awareness can be fostered using some Sedona Method work by asking yourself if you are able to let go of the held emotion or held attachments to the traumas.  Then you ask if you would be able to let go, thereby empowering your self confidence. Lastly you would simply ask when you will be able to let this go.  What this does is diffuse the emotional energy bomb attached to the trauma and makes it so that it can be released over time in a safe way.

Another way, still requiring some revisiting, but in a more muted way, involves going back to the event or events from a distance and keeping awareness on the event while you do EFT, or Emotional Freedom Technique, also known as tapping.  This will send a vibration accompanied by intention statements and reframing statements to help shift the blockages caused by the held or trapped emotions.

Still another very powerful method involves hypnotherapy work where we go in and replay the trauma from a safe distance. We gently break through to become fully present and aware of it in order to diffuse the power we have given it to control our lives with fear, shame, guilt, or any of the other lower energetic emotions.  This still brings us back to it, but in a more distant way depending on the hypnotherapist or program they are working with.


These tattoos of our life experiences are just as permanent as our external ones.  

Taking the power out of their control over our emotional lives is how we can stop letting them control our perception of the world.  This will free our experience so we can grow and transform into our highest selves in this lifetime.

The memories may never fade, but the power we let them have over our lives is something you have the power to change...




What are you waiting for?

Light for your path...


Just be.

Written by Rev. Brien Egan CHt, CRM, CKRM.


Brien is an author, certified hypnotherapist, a reiki master, karuna reiki master, pranic energy worker, crystal bowl sound healer, EFT practitioner, quantum touch practitioner, sedona method practitioner, chakra cleansing teacher, qi gong teacher, an ordained minister from the Essene New Life Church and has his B.S. in Psychology with a minor in Special Education. He has been practicing and teaching spirituality for over 14 years. He has done a lot of work with children, families and individuals by leading workshops, classes and through individual or group sessions. He also designed and ran a kids spirituality summer camp for 8 years which taught children many quantum physics and spiritual concepts, meditation and mindfulness practices.

Brien's e-mail: nowherebe8@gmail.com

Brien's website: www.beoneherenow.webs.com

Link to Brien's book, The Art of Falling: https://www.createspace.com/6150280 

Falling in a Hole, chapter from the self-help book, "The Art of Falling" by Brien Egan (another book chapter I need comments on...)

***Chapter from The Art of Falling, by Rev. Brien Egan

 

Falling in a Hole

“When we feel stuck, going nowhere--even starting to slip backward--we may actually be backing 

up to get a running start.”               

                                          -Dan Millman

Ever feel like nothing is going right for you, like you are stuck and can’t get out of your rut? This feeling of lost hope can create overwhelming sadness or depression about the situation you are in. When you feel this confused about your direction in life all can seem lost. It is as though you are out of sync with life and you have fallen off your original path. Everything doesn’t always go as planned as we talked about in chapter 2, so let’s look at how we can climb out of our hole and keep on our path we had started. We may feel suppressed in where we are or maybe we aren’t claiming our vision or personal power and are letting others control our destiny.

First let’s look at how to analyze the hole we are stuck in to understand how we got to this point. We need to identify what derailed our train. Take a second to mentally back track to where these feelings originated, who you were with, what was happening. Did you not do something you were supposed to or should have? Did you let someone else dictate your actions? Did you not stand up for what you believe in for your dreams? Try to identify that moment where things began this unraveling. Now walk yourself through what transpired next in sequence. What inaction created your hole? Or was it something you did?

Can your hole be filled with a simple conversation? Or does it require an entire life style change? Finding the courage to step out of the hole may be the issue as well. Some people find comfort in theirs, it becomes like their default position. Sometimes the hardest part to a limiting adversity is the willingness to change it or even identify it honestly. Has it become your “acomodador?” Did you settle to create your distress of being trapped? Can you bring yourself to be strong enough to do something now that you can unlimit your dreams? Maybe you need to share these concerns with a partner or a friend so you can take those key steps and muster up the strength to move on to where you truly wish to be.

Personal power can be what is creating these limits for us if we are afraid to step out of our comfort zone and really reach for those goals and aspirations. Others can help encourage us but ultimately it is up to each person to find strength deep within to make major changes and to alter our path. When hope feels lost it is even harder to pick up and move on.

Perhaps disillusionment with the outcomes is keeping you stuck. You might have too much faith in a broken system or a dream someone else has that may be different from your own. If this is the case it may require a revisit to the shared vision or a revisit to what you really desire. This is not to say we should settle, but a refocus on what is essential may be all that is required to get you back on track. When you get to this point the best point of view is to know your real desire and this may require a significant bit of introspection. Once you rediscover your intentions, you can push forward just as we talked about in chapter four in order to reaffirm your personal truth and your self worth. Soon you will have filled in your hole and be ready to rewrite your plan or to reconfigure the path you are on. Having a renewed vision on your journey will make it easily attainable to ignite your drive with new fervor.

The key here is to realize that we are never stuck in any situation. There is always a way to climb out and keep our march to victory under way. Stepping out of a hole and away from a situation that is against your dreams is a safe thing to do. We need to have trust in what we are doing and that it is moving us in a direction we feel is heading toward our goal. Everyone has moments where they feel like there is no way out of something and we need to find the personal strength to not be tied into something that goes against who we are or against the direction we are heading. This hole you are in may just be a divot in the road or it may seem like a bottomless pit but that lies in your perception of it and your abilities and strengths in doing something to climb out of it.

Autobiography in Five Short Chapters

“I walk down the street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I fall in.
I am lost... I am helpless.
It isn't my fault.
It takes forever to find a way out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I pretend I don't see it.
I fall in again.
I can't believe I am in the same place.
But, it isn't my fault.
It still takes me a long time to get out.

I walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I see it is there.
I still fall in. It's a habit.
My eyes are open.
I know where I am.
It is my fault. I get out immediately.

walk down the same street.
There is a deep hole in the sidewalk.
I walk around it.

I walk down another street.”

Portia Nelson

 

Summary and Reflection
 

How do you realize you are stuck in a hole?

·         Loss of freedom, feeling suppressed

·         Distrust in a situation

·         Fell off of your original path

·         Losing hope

·         Confused about direction to go

How can you find a way out?

·         Regroup your vision

·         Rediscover your intentions

·         Back track through your life to find where the hole was to begin with

·         Feeling adequate worth for efforts

·         Rekindle your drive to succeed

·         Rewrite your path/plan for success

·         Reaffirm your personal truth and aspirations

 Visualization

Take a deep, full breath in, all the way down to the bottom of your lungs. Notice your breath, now take another deep full breath, feel your lungs stretch out with the quiet path of your breath. Each breath that you take now is releasing more of your tension and tightness, relaxation is flowing in with the in-breath, and tension is released with the out-breath. Picture a shimmering light come in to the top of your head and with each breath it will slowly go down your body relaxing you as it moves into your neck and chest, down your arms, going down further now with the out-breath into your hips and legs going into your calves and out your feet...

 

Now imagine that you are sitting on the edge of a very deep well. You lose your balance and fall backwards towards the water deep below. See the bricks as you fall farther and farther into the well. Splash! You are drenched. You notice handhold spots throughout the entire wall back up and out of the well. As you grab each one and move up further you notice that each handhold makes you realize a step to correct your slip, and the further you climb, the more confident you feel about your goal at the top of the well walls. As you get to the top you are overcome with joy at having overcome your fall and rekindled your efforts towards you goals and desires. You head off down a road emitting a yellow glow and you feel a renewed sense of direction. Picture yourself now in a violet bubble as you float down the yellow brick road towards your dreams...

When you are ready, be back here in the room, at peace, knowing that you are on your way to wholeness...

Light for your path.

 

Just be.

A brief introduction to my EFT and to Life Coaching/Spiritual Counseling sessions

Rev. Brien Egan's individual EFT sessions use EFT and a blend with the Sedona method to help move through blocked issues in your life to help you to move through any issues such as weight loss, smoking cessation, anxiety, depression, trauma, ptsd, fears, anger, and past trauma. It can also help you to manifest things in your life by clearing blocks, whether spiritual or emotional so that you can help reach your goals.

What is the Emotional Freedom Technique?

The Emotional Freedom Technique, or EFT (also referred to as "tapping," is the psychological acupressure technique developed by Gary Craig which I routinely use in my practice and most highly recommend to optimize your emotional health. Although it is still often overlooked, emotional health is absolutely essential to your physical health and healing - no matter how devoted you are to the proper diet and lifestyle, you will not achieve your body's ideal healing and preventative powers if emotional barriers stand in your way.

EFT is very easy to learn, and will help you:

• Remove Negative Emotions

• Reduce Food Cravings

• Reduce or Eliminate Pain

• Implement Positive Goals

EFT is a form of psychological acupressure, based on the same energy meridians used in traditional acupuncture to treat physical and emotional ailments for over five thousand years, but without the invasiveness of needles. Instead, simple tapping with the fingertips is used to input kinetic energy onto specific meridians on the head and chest while you think about your specific problem - whether it is a traumatic event, an addiction, pain, etc. and voice positive affirmations.

This combination of tapping the energy meridians and voicing positive affirmation works to clear the "short-circuit" the emotional block -- from your body's bioenergy system, thus restoring your mind and body's balance, which is essential for optimal health and the healing of physical disease. Some people are initially wary of these principles that EFT is based on - the electromagnetic energy that flows through the body and regulates our health is only recently becoming recognized in the West. Others are initially taken aback by (and sometimes amused by) the EFT tapping and affirmation methodology.

Life Coaching/Spiritual Counseling-
Rev. Brien's life coaching sessions are a combination of counseling, energy work (reiki and karuna reiki), EFT, Sedona method, hypnotherapy, qi gong, tarot, rune work, visualizations and meditations to help with any physical, emotional or spiritual malady affecting your life.

What is a life coach?

      A life coach is someone who aims to help and empower others to make, meet and exceed personal and professional goals - including excelling in the workplace, becoming happy and fulfilled in the home, exploring the self and the world, and achieving ambitions.

      By harnessing specialist techniques based on core psychological principals and natural intuition, life coaches provide clients with the tools to confidently face difficult situations, push past emotional barriers and eventually view life with fresh, hopeful and enlightened eyes.

      Just as sports coaching enables athletes to hone themselves into the fastest, strongest, most tactical competitors in their disciplines, life coaching helps people from all professional and personal backgrounds improve their strengths and build upon their weaknesses to make the most of their lives.

      A life coach will never try to be an 'agony aunt' - he or she will never attempt to dish out advice because, firstly -giving advice is just a way of imposing a personal view of the world onto another person (who may or may not share the same view) and, secondly - it is not a life coach's job to become personally involved in a client's life. Life coaching is about objectivity, structure and empowerment, not instruction or indoctrination.

      At the heart of it all lies the idea that clients must be given the power to help themselves. Offering advice, opinions and judgements would undermine some of the basic principles behind life coaching, which include:

A) Subjectivity: we all have different perspectives of the world - no one perspective is 'right' or 'wrong', but some perspectives are restrictive and can stop a person becoming who they want to be.

B) Empowerment: it is within everyone's capability to adjust the limits of their own perspective. With the help of life coaching, anyone can learn to open their mind if they wish.

C) Guidance: there is a difference between an instructor and a guide. An instructor shows a person exactly what to do, whereas a guide provides the tools and support a person needs to do something for themselves. A life coach is a guide, not an instructor.

      The term 'coaching' itself comes from the Anglo-Saxon word for 'carriage', which is a means of transporting something from one place to another. A life coach therefore, is an individual who guides another individual from where they are in life, to where they want to be in life.

Contact Brien today at (757)-822-8675 or through e-mail: nowherebe8@gmail.com to set up a phone consultation or in person meeting and plan your future so that you can live the life of your dreams!!!

Light for your path...


Just be.