Maggie Phillips, Ph.D, lives and works as a clinical psychologist in the Oakland Hills above the San Francisco Bay. She has taught at major conferences on trauma, hypnosis, Ego-State Therapy, EMDR, behavioral medicine, Somatic Experiencing, and Energy Psychology in the U.S., Canada, Europe, South Africa, Australia, Scandinavia, Hong Kong, China, Malaysia, and Japan. As the author of numerous papers and articles on trauma, dissociation, ego-state therapy, hypnosis, and mind-body healing, she specializes in the treatment of traumatic stress and pain disorders. She is a Fellow of the American Society of Clinical Hypnosis and of the International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation. Dr. Phillips is co-recipient of the Cornelia Wilbur award from International Society for the Study of Trauma and Dissociation and of the Crasilneck award for the best writing in the field of hypnosis.
Dr. Phillips is author of three books. Her latest book, Reversing Chronic Pain, was released in October, 2007. Her other books are Finding the Energy to Heal (W.W. Norton, 2000) and Healing the Divided Self (W.W. Norton, 1995). She has also recorded two CD programs on pain: Hypnosis: The Pain Solution and Hypnosis: The Headache Solution. As an innovator in mindbody healing and in the treatment of persistent pain, Dr. Phillips is particularly interested in the interface of trauma, dissociation, and pain conditions.
Dr. Phillips will deliver program Body As Ultimate Healer in Beijing on December 12-13th. Check Upcoming Events section on http://www.small-steps-coaching.com/
If you can’t view the video on this post check the following link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jv5hvHuo5CQ
Look at the images (view the enlarged version by clicking on the images). Are they moving or still?
The website where I found these images www.showsteers.com/ Fun%20Stuff/StressTest.htm states: The patterns are used to test the level of stress a person can handle. The slower the pictures move, the better your ability of handling stress. Alleged criminals that were tested see them spinning around madly. However, senior citizens and kids see them standing still. None of these images are animated – they are perfectly still.
What happens if you drop the intent into your dantian area (2 fingers below your belly button, inside your belly)?
Try few times – images will stop moving once you are observing from your dantian.
When in a stressful situation next time – use the same trick. Repeat as many times as necessary. It is good to close your eyes and stand in a relaxed way, pretending you are a tree. Imagine roots reaching the middle of the earth coming from the soles of your feet. From your head imagine leaves breathing into your body).
What happens if you stand like that for 10-20 minutes? An hour?
“FEAR is an acronym in the English language for “False Evidence Appearing Real”” Neale Donald Walsch
Recently I had a close encounter with a bat. It flu into my apartment, that is how close it was. I am afraid of bats, or shall I say – I was afraid until I met this fragile creature and named it Angelina.
She was trapped in the apartment for 5 hours and soundlessly flu around while my dogs remained oblivious to it. No matter how high or low she flu, one dog kept sleeping and another one was curiously looking at me while I was hiding under the table. I felt ridiculous and at times thought I was living a nightmare.
Eventually I decided to close myself in a (bat-proof) room and call friends to help me with Angelina’s rescue. While waiting for their arrival I Googled ‘bats in the house’ and found a lot of interesting facts and myths related to these creatures.
Many myths are associated with bats, such as the saying “blind as a bat.” This isn’t true. Bats can see quite well. Another myth is that bats get caught in people’s hair. They don’t. Nor are bats destructive pests like rats and mice. In fact, a colony of bats could cut down on unwanted mosquitoes around your house and help keep your garden free of insects.
The more I was reading the more I felt my fear of bats was based on an event that happened when I was 8 or 9 years old: I think I saw bats for the first time and was mesmerized by their flight until my friend said that a bat can get trapped in hair and the only way to release it was to cut the hair off. Just the thought of carrying a bat around until I found scissors seemed like the worst thing that could happen. That is how 30 years of living with fear of bats was programmed in my brain. How powerful (and paralyzing) is that!
The process of naming the bat Angelina, reading more about the facts, myths and symbols and finally seeing her magnificent flight into the night I felt more empowered then afraid. This was put into a test the next evening as I walked around a park: bats were flying all over the place! I smiled as I checked in with my body – my heart was not beating, I didn’t panic, I didn’t run away, I didn’t feel disgusted. I was free of my fear and bats are cool.
“Bat medicine teaches us to release fear and any pattern which no longer fits in with our pattern of growth. A new beginning, trusting one’s instincts, the bat is powerful medicine.” (http://symbolism.wikia.com/wiki/Bat)
I have a new philosophy. I’m only going to dread one day at a time. Charles M. Schulz
Last week I got a request to deliver change management program for a leading multinational corporation – in Chinese. My Chinese is good, I can communicate, I can understand but to deliver a program… I haven’t done that in 7 years! With a thought that I have enough time to prepare I accepted the offer as an opportunity to expand my comfort zone and learn. So preparations began. I received pages and pages of material and as I looked at the volume of words I had to learn my heart started to sink. Insecurity kicked in and a voice started to ramble: “You won’t be able to do it! It’s too much! You’ll fail!”
Narrator (or Gremlin) is the official title that circulates amongst coaches for the voice that evokes fear, doubt, worry and anything else that you may regard as negative. Another voice (sometimes called gentle voice within or simply Intuition) is the one that navigates towards joy, peace, love and anything else that we can define as positive. Engaging these two voices in a dialogue is what creates stress as the Narrator starts to fight for control. It provides the whole list of the reasons why you SHOULD listen to it and how awful things would happen if you don’t.
Here are two pieces of advice I got from my teachers:
Narrator is there to encourage you to create a risk assessment of the situation you are in. Once you create the risk assessment send the Narrator to a quiet corner of your mind and let it rest until there is a need for it’s assistance.
Simple formula for success is: for positive outcomes engage positive thoughts and emotions.
Here are strategies I use to deal with the Narrator.
Letting go of the Narrator
Breathe!
Bring yourself back to the present moment and recognize that Narrator engages only when you think of past or future.
If you were standing in the middle of your head as a mini You where would the Narrator’s voice come from? Left? Right? Your back?
Bring it down into shoulder closer to the initial position and let it talk from that shoulder.
Bring it down to the elbow of the same arm. How does it sound when it talks form there?
Bring it to the thumb… let it speak in a Donald Duck or Mickey Mouse voice saying the same things. How about a really seductive voice that begs for attention and obedience.
Shake your hands and your whole body to let go of the negative emotions and energy.
Next steps – risk assessment and positive outlook
What is the worst that may happen?
Breathe!
Write down thoughts that you are worried about and brainstorm 2-3 solutions for each concern.
Think of the time you have solved similar problem successfully. What did you do then?
Consider choices you have.
Visualize desired outcome until you see the projected 3D image, bigger than life, right in front of you. Paint it with bright colors, add a pinch of nice smell and music that makes you dance every time you hear it.
Dance like nobody’s watching.
Start acting with the question in mind: Does what I am doing right now bring me closer to what I want? If yes: what am I doing that energizes me? Keep doing it. If not, stop and start doing something else. Experiment, gather new reference data through new experiences.
Have fun learning.
Every time I learn something new it pushes some old stuff out of my brain. Homer Simpson
The first rule of focus is ”Wherever you are be there.” Author Unknown
I have two dogs and do my best to take good care of them: I walk them twice a day, feed them, groom them and take them to the vet if they are ill. I also take time to play with them, roll on the floor and throw a ball while my mind storms through the deadlines, phone calls I have to make, dreams I want to fulfill. I do that unconsciously, mind slips into the ‘figuring out’ mode, takes me away into the future or past events and although I am physically present, in reality I am not. Whenever that happens both dogs simply stop playing and retreat, they actually behave as if I am not there.
Did anything similar ever happen to you? Were you ever at a party worried about tomorrow’s meeting and suddenly realize that people just disappeared? Did you ever try to calm your child down but it just doesn’t stop crying and the more you think about the proposal you have to write the more child cries? If the answer is yes, next time you get into the similar situation stop doing whatever you are doing and breathe! Bring yourself to this moment and live it fully because that is what makes you alive. Develop skill of being present (focused, mindful) each and every moment (not only during meditation – bring that state into everything you do) and observe how life unfolds.
Simple technique to bring yourself to the present moment
Place hand on your heart and focus on your breath. Ask yourself: What is the quality of my breath? How deep is it? What is going on in my body in order for that breath to have its full cycle? And what about this breath? And the next?
Further questions to engage yourself in present moment:
What do I see right now?
What do I smell right now?
What do I hear right now?
How do I feel right now? (remain with the feeling even if it is uncomfortable and keep breathing. Observe how feeling ‘travels’ through your body)
The problem that I am thinking of – can I solve it right now?
This thought that I have – is it related to past, present or future? (if it is related to past or future just let it go and pretend to be Scarlet O’Hara from Gone With the Wind – “I’ll think about it tomorrow”)
Dan Millman’s Law of Presence: Time is a paradox stretching between a “past” and “future” that have no reality except in our own minds. The idea of time is a convention of thought and language, a social agreement. Here is the deeper truth: We have only this moment.
