Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see the shadow. – attributed to Helen Keller
avoiding negativity
It’s well known that focusing on the positive is supposed to be good for us. If you agree then putting our attention on the silver lining and the sunshine ought to do the trick. However does that mean we brush the negativity, the resentful thoughts and the hurtful past under the rug?
processing the past (active journaling)
One way to process your past completely is to journal. Not just journal casually and occasionally, but journal actively, with passion, daily and with abandon. You sit down and just start writing away. I call it Active Journaling. You don’t stop until you’ve written whatever’s on your mind, good, bad or ugly, onto paper (or typewritten). You write without worrying about editing, grammar or typos. You just write. Write about your passions, your worries, your fusses, your resentments, hates, likes or dislikes. You just pour your heart out. You write for 15 minutes (or longer) once or preferably twice daily. You focus your full attention on this writing practice, writing as fast as you can without pausing to just dwell on thoughts. You must write down everything that comes to your mind! I first learnt about this technique from Julia Cameron’s best seller ‘The Artist’s Way’. Check out her download here. I then read a fascinating book that helped deepen this journaling practice for me, this book is by Janet Cooper and it’s called ‘Writing Down Your Soul’. I’ve truly enjoyed reading this book on my Kindle!
processing the past (EFT)
The normal way we handle negativities is to try and not think about them. That doesn’t quite work. Another way to neutralize your past traumas, without forgetting the thought itself is via EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques). If you’d like to learn EFT, please download the The EFT Manual from Dr. Gary Craig’s website. It’s a technique that combines affirmations with the physical tapping of energy centers around the body. The method effectively rebalances the movement of energy in your body. It works to fix or alleviate most emotional issues and many physical ailments that resulted from such emotional issues. You can also check out a video introduction to EFT on my site here.
Recommendations:
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Manu: How sweet of you to share the power of Writing Down Your Soul with your readers. I’ve been writing this way for 13 years and it still amazes me. I love watching people’s reaction at my workshops to their first ten minute experience writing in theta. It is such a deliciously easy and effective way to access that wise inner Voice that resides in each one of us. And I’m blessed to be it’s spokeswoman! If your or your readers have any questions about the process or the Voice, let me know. I’d be delighted to help.