Catherine Poole

We are not responsible for our illnesses,

we are responsible to them,

to what they offer and require of all of us,

sick and well alike.

–Kat Duff

Remember always

that you have not only the right

to be an individual,

you have an obligation to be one.

–Eleanor Roosevelt

Asthma is a chronic dis-ease that involves the air passages and makes breathing difficult. For me, when someone is learning from asthma I immediately see images from my childhood when my dad would come back from fishing and set the fish net full of blue gill on the pier, one or two would flop around, trying desperately to flop back into the water. Most of the fish would just lie there with their gills going in and out, slowly running out of oxygen…there are more similarities with this analogy than just running out of oxygen.

It is created by an inflammation of the air passages, this inflammation narrows the airways that supply oxygen to the lungs and then there is a feeling of suffocation. There are bands of muscles that surround the airways, and when relaxed the air flows freely. Those learning (and teaching) from asthma experience a tightening of those muscles and then the air cannot flow freely, mucous is secreted and that is why there is often a wheezing or a whistling sound, the air is being forced through this tight swollen passage leaving little space for air to move in or out.

Bronchial tubes are swollen and irritated and this is what is treated with most asthma drugs and treatment protocols. Looking at the metaphysical aspects of asthma, it is looking beyond the obvious symptoms of not being able to breathe. Asthma is much more complex than just the lung/breathing component. The various components of asthma include:

• Inflammation (first, base center and all about anger and survival)
• Muscles (first, base center and all about structure and controlled movement)
• Mucous (second sacral center, all about fluid and emotions)
• Coughing, wheezing, whistling (fourth center and all about control)
• Chest pain, tightness, or pressure (fourth center and pain is all about attention!)
• Inability to breath deep (shortness of breath) (fourth center and about inability to take in life, and to release what you take in…)

Putting all of these together can really emphasize the multiple lessons involved with this tissue issue! Taking these components and THEN adding yet another level of information helps me hone in on the issue behind the tissue. My two questions are:

1. What type of asthma?
2. WHEN did the asthma manifest?

Asthma attacks can occur at seemingly any time, yet being aware of what is going on in your life at the time is a good indication as to what is really triggering the lesson. Asthma is being out of your comfort zone, out of your environment. There is an underlying element of “smothering” by another, whether it is a parent, a partner, or even your work environment.

This smothering (some may call it concern) can create a sense of doubt about making it on your own, and then the fear/panic sets in and manifests an “attack”. The smothering does not allow one to breathe or be on their own or be in charge of their own decisions. This dependency may lead to a feeling of desperation and fear when they are finally asked to be on their own.

Often with children, take a look at how many activities they are involved in? Do they have a life beyond one practice or lesson after another? They may develop asthma in response to feeling they have no control at all concerning their own interests. Perhaps being in an activity that they do not want to participate in for some reason can trigger symptoms. It may be due to performance, self-esteem, or some other aspect of self-doubt, but the underlying lesson is there is a fear of being on their own.

As I mentioned in my entries on smoking, the bronchia in the lungs represent family. (I think of it as “the family tree”). Lungs are about commitment to be on this earth, and they also represent control, so issues with the lungs address situations in your life that involve your commitment to a task as well as how you “flow” from one experience (task) to another.

Asthma is also associated with the sacral center, the second emotion center that addresses person-to-person relationships. This emotion center has to do with fluids in the body, but again it is also about flow, in this case it is airflow and blood flow. This second emotion center vibrates to the color orange, and orange is often used in color therapy for lung issues. (More on this in The Color of Asthma).

This reference to person-to-person energy is important because the initial “attack” (right there is an interesting reference isn’t it?) involves inflammation. There is the increase in mucous production; mucous being a fluid, and often is seems an “ever-flowing” fluid! So there again is another association with that sacral center, person to person energy.

I would like to pull out two key words: commitment and attack. Commitment is often thought of as being “committed to a relationship” but I would like to define it in a different context here as I see commitment being about situations in your life that you need to take responsibility for, you need to be committed to, rather than allow someone else to do for you.

Therefore, situations that you feel are out of your control, whether you give up control in order to escape commitment, or someone else takes over and you relinquish control so as not to create any conflict are the basis for lessons involving asthma.

The word “attack” is interesting because there is an underlying feeling of being attacked and defenseless in regard to your situation. Whether it is allowing the attack and not having any energy or initiative to “fight back” or that there is a feeling of surrender because you do not feel you can stand on your own. Both involve the underlying theme of not believing you can do or the fear of even trying to do it without a particular parent or partner taking on the burden. You have trouble “breathing on your own”.

There are different types of asthma, and each type can be a bit telling as to what is influencing your fear to separate yourself from another and become independent.

Allergic Asthma is activated when specific airborn allergens such as pollen or smoke are inhaled. Allergies have been addressed before, and they represent “inner conflicts” These conflicts involve decisions of being on your own -vs- not being on your own and therefore, the asthma may be triggered.

Exercised-Induced Asthma is triggered by exercise or other physical exertion. There are those with asthma that experience symptoms when they exercise, but there are also those that ONLY experience asthma symptoms when the exercise. This would involve a feeling of not being committed to the activity, or the fear of not doing it well enough, so why bother at all?

Stress-Induced Asthma is the overwhelming fear of not being good enough, and frustration with not being able to get up on your own two feet. This can be a result of an overbearing, over ciritcal co-worker, boss, or the institution itself. I personally was diagnosed with stress-induced asthma years ago when I taught at Notre Dame. I was on an inhaler and had many attacks while I was there. It disappeared within a week after I left! What does THAT tell you? Amazing isn’t it?

Work-Induced Asthma involves the environmental factors of irritants or chemicals that you may be reacting to, causing symptoms to occur. This would involve a feeling of not being in control of your environment, and is common with factory employees, as they cannot “stop” the use of certain chemicals or processes.

Cough-Variant Asthma: Sometimes it is even hard to recognize asthma because there is not any wheezing or whistling involved. A chronic cough particularly at night can indicate asthma. Often the diagnosis of asthma is made as to whether or not the cough is relieved with an inhaler. It is a dry, non-productive cough, no mucous involved. This type of asthma is about releasing an irritation or frustration in regards to how you are living (or not living) your life. You cough and cannot gain control, gain air or oxygen and it is non-productive because YOU feel non-productive.

Last but not lease, is Nocturnal Asthma or “Nighttime Asthma”  which occurs when you try to sleep, anytime, not just nighttime. It ruins sleep and creates some serious issues throughout your entire day. What issues would we have with sleeping that would correspond with the asthma? It is the fear of separation and “breathing on your own” that takes place when one goes to bed. I think of my children and perhaps the biggest parenting challenge I had with them was getting them to go to sleep in their own bed! So it would make sense that nocturnal asthma would involve being forced to be on your own, and that is what asthma is all about!

Blessings to you, and have a great week! Catherine

Frisbeetarianism is the belief that when you die, your soul goes up on the roof and gets stuck.

–George Carlin

Fear is a question: What are you afraid of, and why? Just as the seed of health is in illness, because illness contains information, your fears are a treasure house of self-knowledge if you explore them.

-Marilyn Ferguson

This week’s entry is a client profile that helps explain my term “cascade” or “cascading”. “Cascading” is when your body’s messages get louder and louder (“hurtier and hurtier”) until you finally pay attention. I think of the Yosemite Sam cartoons where he constantly says, “Whoa, Mule!” pulling on the reins, then getting louder, then shouting, and finally, yep, the 2 x 4 and: “when I says ‘whoa’ I mean ‘whoa”. That, in layman’s terms is my definition of cascading.

Cascading occurs when you do not hear, listen, or answer (course correct) the subtle signals, so in a sense your body gets louder and louder. Most often the root of the tissue issue is not with the major message which ultimately brings you to my door. The root of the tissue issue can be traced back months, years, (even life times) to the initial moment where the message was first presented.

I have to say over the years that the fascinating client histories have taught me to listen to the feathers of guidance, the subtle messages that my body has to say. And this case of a teenage girl is no different. I learn so much from my clients, and in turn they teach you, my readers from their fascinating lessons. This teenage girl was brought to my attention by her father, concerned by the complexities of her issues and feeling that there was nowhere else to turn. At sixteen she was diagnosed with Lupus, which is also known as systemic lupus erythematosus or SLE.

Lupus is a serious inflammatory autoimmune disease, primarily affecting women of childbearing age (remember this part for later) and is also known as a disease of “flares”.  This means that the symptoms will worsen and you feel ill, then the symptoms will go into remission. In a sense, they ebb and flow. (remember this part for later, too). It is not an underactive immune system such as HIV or AIDS, it is an overactive immune system. The immune system’s antibodies attack healthy tissue.

Lupus can affect many different organs. It is also a tough condition to identify, as its symptoms are often associated with rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, even Lyme dis-ease. The kidneys, skin, red blood cells, musculoskeletal system and most interesting, the glands that produce tears and saliva often do not function properly. Symptoms include joint pain, headaches, rashes, sleeplessness, fever and fatigue.

It is interesting that lupus can be confused with rheumatoid arthritis, in fact this young woman was thought to have been learning from RA until tests revealed she actually learning from Lupus. Metaphysically, it is interesting to note that RA is fear of letting go, so one will hold on tight to things and people that no longer serve them. Lupus is similar, yet it is more about fear of moving forward, so those learning from lupus do not want to progress in life, there is an underlying fear of change. On some level, those with lupus just don’t want to be here on this earth they do not feel they have a purpose. They can be easily overshadowed or overlooked yet do not feel strong enough to stick up for themselves.

In part, that is what autoimmune lessons in general address, low self-esteem, low self-worth. When you are depressed and do not feel good about yourself or your life it is your immune system that is often your first “whoa, mule”. You become tired, usually fighting a cold or something…and gain weight. All connected to your low self-esteem. That is why happy, confident people don’t get sick very often.

One area of the body that I was drawn to was her second emotion center. This second center is associated with fluids in the body. Corresponding organs in the body which involve fluid, can be affected when there is a depletion in this area. Remember tear and saliva production is affected as well as kidneys? All second center issues.

This center also vibrates with the color orange. And when I see a depletion in orange then I begin tracing back to corresponding organs that may be vulnerable. I was a bit curious though because there was not so much a depletion as there was an overabundance of orange energy. Most of the time I deal with depletions and very seldom will address when there is too much of a color unless it is affecting the other centers by “robbing” or borrowing energy from them.

In her case, the second center was taking red from her base center (first emotion center) and  yellow from her solar plexus (third emotion center) and formulating a huge sponge of orange. (more about that here…)

Ironically, I had not thought of this young woman until a couple weeks ago when another client came to see me and I saw a similar “sponge” of orange. I even carefully asked this client if there was the chance that she could be pregnant? I didn’t see the green per se I often see with pregnancies, but the overabundance of orange and the feeling of pregnancy was overwhelming. Well, I now realize that this is how the more severe cases of endometriosis are presented in the energy field.

Energetically, this emotion center represents FLOW. And with both of these clients, it appeared that there was a lot of “flow going on”. Before this young woman manifested Lupus, she had manifested endometriosis. So, the overabundance of orange was the overabundance of flow, literally. And the endometriosis was perhaps the first clue? Not really, we went back even further…but first let me explain endometriosis.

When someone of her young age (prior to the age of 16), manifests something as “adult” as endometriosis, I look at past life experiences as much as her early childhood and current situations. Ironically enough, this center is all about flow, and it is her menstrual flow, which is directly affected by endometriosis. Now remember when I told you to remember that lupus affects women of childbearing age? And that the symptoms of lupus ebb and flow? Well, lupus affects how you “FLOW” through life, it is all about moving forward with ease. But with the muscle and joint pain, fatigue, and kidney issues, there is difficultly in going anywhere at all, let alone going with the flow and moving forward.

The challenge is in finding out why she did not want to move forward, or to really be participating in life at all. She was a reluctant soul on one level, and her body was just obliging her requests to stay put. When the issues of endometriosis were not addressed, her body cascaded into the lupus. Now, are you ready to go BACK EVEN FURTHER? Yes, there was a message very early on, which was overlooked, as many messages are when they are in what I call the “feather stage”. So often we wait until the elephant drops (or Yosemite Sam gets out the 2 x 4!) before we connect the dots.

When she was born, she had issues with her feet. Her feet turned inward which were an indication that she was not only unsure not only about her direction on this earth, but was reluctant to be here at all. This was the first manifestation that she needed help in confidence building, direction, flow and forward movement. She did not receive this direction, then came the issues with endometriosis, and then ultimately lupus.

The big question here is why did she not want to be on this earth, and have this fear of “going with the flow” and moving forward? How could turned in feet (technically referred to as tibial torsion or “pigeon toed”) cascade to endometriosis and then lupus? Well, making connections out of seemingly different tissue issues are what I do best! This young woman was definitely a reluctant soul. And although at the time she was too young to offer this explanation, I will provide you with the reasons for her reluctance:

She was a suicide brought back in to finish her lessons.

Amazing, I know but it all makes sense. It is very much an aspect of not wanting to be on this earth plane, she was sent in immediately after her suicide in her previous life. She committed suicide and was immediately sent back in. I had asked about her birth and there was difficulty with the birth becasue she did not want to come in. She knew she had to and she has tried to “turn back” ever since. Even her endometriosis is an indication or shall we say a protest against her reentry.

If you look back on my entry about Suicide: Life Lesson Overload then this will even make more sense to you. She became overwhelmed with her life and her lessons in the previous incarnation and committed suicide. Suicides are not punished by damning hell.

Suicides are assisted, (no pun intended and no reference to Dr, Kevorkian) they are de-briefed in a sense on the life and what lessons were taught, what lessons were learned and then sent back down to finish up or start over with new insight and new circumstances.

Remember, we are all spiritual beings and earth is a classroom where we learn about relationships and emotions.

OK, I can hear the question, “are all people with tibial torsion suicides coming back in?” My answer may surprise you, many are, and they resist being here and moving forward for many reasons. It is all about looking at the many other lessons they bring with them and how they cope with life. Not all suicides come in with tibial torsion, but many with tibial torsion are past suicides. Understand though, that sometimes suicide is contractual on a soul level to teach others, each case is individual.

Moving through the fear and recognizing how wonderful life and living can be when you invest in your dreams and honor your worth is perhaps the main lesson for us all.

I hope this gives you some insight into cascading as well as offering some wonderful information on lupus and endometriosis. This week at Queen of Color I will talk more about the Color of Endometriosis…Have a wonderful week! Blessings, Catherine

Our breathing is a fragile vessel that carries us from birth to death.

–Frederick Leboyer

“Your son’s just having a small problem,” said the nurse.

Small problem, indeed.

My baby wasn’t breathing-he was not yet alive.

Within moments the doctor aspirated thick mucous blocking Evan’s tiny air passages. In response, my new son inhaled a deep breath that flooded his skin with color and exhaled a loud cry announcing,

“I am!”

And when, at last, they placed this living soul in my arms, instead of first counting his fingers and toes, I just listened to the healing sounds of us breathing in and breathing out,

breathing in and breathing out…”

Excerpt from Healing Words for the Body, Mind and Spirit -Caren Goldman

As promised, this week I would like to have a continuation concerning the subject of addiction, with my main focus on cigarette smoking.

Addiction is tricky from a metaphysical standpoint, as there is not any cut and dried formula for determining addictive behavior tendencies in a numerology chart. It could be a number of things, and often is a combination of things, making it even more complex. The bottom line with addiction is that it is definitely GROUP karmic lessons. By this, I mean it is not just about the person with the addiction issue, it is about everyone involved that may be learning from the overall addiction experience.

Addiction comes from within, it is almost innate in the DNA, as we often will bring addictive genes/behavior to the table as karmic lessons. I would like to reiterate that these lessons are not just about the person that is addicted, these lessons are often about the addicted person TEACHING lessons through his or her addiction. Now before you click away here and leave me in the dust…there are always two sides to every lesson, and we DO pick our parents (“warts and all” as the saying goes…) and our children choose us. It is what I refer to as a “cosmic dance” of sorts, and some of us like to waltz, some do the twist, and others do the striptease!

One of the biggest lessons for those of you dealing with a loved one with addictions can be the realization that you have no obligation to interfere with another soul’s lessons. You will know that your lesson in the relationship is about letting go when you have tried all you can try, offered all you can and still no progress. There is no progress because the person with the addiction is here to teach you about allowing a soul to take its own path regardless of the outcome. (Hey, I didn’t say these lessons were easy). So if this resonates with you and you have any type of guilt or grief due to “giving up” on someone you love, I invite you to lose the grief and congratulate yourself on learning the lesson of release. Focus on the lesson learned rather than the regret or guilt which is a low vibration and who needs to attract that into their lives?

The first step in understanding the addiction is to think about what is being taught. Different addictions teach different lessons, again I will focus on cigarette smoking, but looking at the “complications” created by the addiction is a wonderful place to start.

With smoking the complications usually involve the heart and/or the lungs and those areas represent our relationships with God, self as well as others and issues of control. Drugs are often cognitive, (escaping reality) and deal with issues involving foundation, particularly the family unit. In the body, those areas affected are skin, muscles, joints, bones, all related to solids and foundation.

Food addiction is about self worth and self esteem and most complications are related to this area on the body, the stomach, pancreas, organs of digestion, throat (thyroid) mouth, intestines, the entire gastrointestinal system.

Alcohol addiction is interesting, and is as much about life, as anything. Liver and kidneys are targeted, as well as immune system. The liver and kidneys, as well as blood (think of the blood alcohol level for measuring alcohol in the system) all of these have to do with life, living, and the amount of anger, resentment, regret, or guilt we carry.

“It runs in the family”

So many will blame addiction on genetics. I personally don’t buy into that.

Heredity is just a genetic opportunity for lessons!

You NEVER have to own a dis-ease or condition because it “runs” in the family. The SCRIPTING runs in the family. Your body has the opportunity to manifest the lessons if you choose not to pay attention to the patterns and learn from those patterns, thus breaking the cycle.

Addiction offers an exit point if lessons aren’t learned, patterns are not broken. In many cases, the lessons need to be taught under a different lesson plan because no one is catching on with the current curriculum. An example of this would be contracting a dis-ease thus allowing others to learn from a different perspective. Exit points are built in to all our lives. You have all experienced exit points, those close calls where you almost “met your Maker”. We have these “free passes” to the other side in order to bow out if the lessons are becoming too complex, or lessons have perhaps shifted due to the free will choices of others, or perhaps all of the lessons you set out to teach and to learn have been completed! Addiction is just another way to provide that exit.

When I say “exit point” I refer to the health complications that occur with various addictions. These exit points are not just health decline, as I know of deaths by house fires from burning cigarettes, car accidents while under the influence, and whatever so-called “freak” accidents are out there that may be related to the corresponding lessons with the addiction.

Smoking addiction is a “built-in” exit point if you have not learned (are not learning) your lessons regarding

• relationship issues
• control issues
• family flow issues

You can take your pick of exit points depending on the issues you bury or avoid. I apologize if this is not in my usually “positive venue” but actually it is positive. If you do accept the lessons you have set up regarding relationships then you should not have a problem. The catch is, usually you quit smoking as well as resolve the relationship issue, now is that a “catch” or a benefit?

If you understand the impetus behind the cigarette, the addiction, then you can work on that issue and your need to smoke can be reduced/released. It is similar to my work with weight release; it goes beyond food and fat and invites you to look at the issues behind the tissues. When you know the “why” you can logically release the addiction (release the “weight”). Otherwise your emotions override the practical every time and when emotions are involved then we re-act rather than pro-act.

When you release that person, that relationship, that past offense, THEN YOU RELEASE YOUR NEED TO SMOKE! Wow. That is something isn’t it? Is this revelation worth a Nobel Prize? It could change the world. (should I put a “nominate button here?) lol

I am serious though, why don’t all smokers have the same tissue issues? The tissue issues are all related to their fourth emotion center…but the lessons are different in the corresponding tissue issues, why? Because their issues are different.

Yet it all has to do with relationships and being in control, or NOT being in control. I would like to take a moment and look at some of the related tissue issues with smoking. And for those of you that have quit successfully, was there a shift before and after in these areas of your life? If you have quit before and then started up again, look at the corresponding areas of your life and relationships. What was going on in your life at the time? Chances are you were resolving negative patterns and moving forward when you decided to quit. If you started back up were those patterns reemerging in your life?

Heart issues, including high blood pressure, heart attack and stroke, all can be directly linked to smoking. They each have to do with personal relationships, life, and joy. High blood pressure is all about your life being put under stress and pressure, and the result is literally high blood pressure. Blood is joy so anything dealing with blood is about how you are viewing your life at this moment. But I also look at the word “FLOW’ which is associated with blood, but also food, solid waste, urine, and air.

There is no “going with the flow” regarding addiction! ADDICTION STOPS THE FLOW. You seize up and contain all your emotions. Think of the red overlay/dome I talked about last week in The Color of Smoking. Flow is associated with person-to-person relationships in your life, and that exchange of energy “between” two people.

Flow is affected when there is not a smooth exchange of energy and emotions within relationships. There is not an appreciation or exchange and the “green” energy stops. In a sense, what I see in the heart center when it is balanced and open is an impression similar to the shutter on a camera, wide open and glowing green. When there is love for another, it is as if the center opens up and a beautiful green beam comes out to greet the other. It is one of the most beautiful exchanges I have ever witnessed. Unfortunately, it does not happen between people as often as I would like to see!

Often the interruption of flow is more family related than anything else. It is impossible to even attempt to control certain family members, therefore smokers will put up their smoke screen and keep these certain people at a distance. I can use my own mother as an example, she stopped smoking for over 25 years, then started up again at the age of 75! It would be great to visit, but I have two children allergic to the smoke, and I am not fond of everything smelling like smoke, so we limit our time with her, and on some level she prefers it that way…and I am not alone as I have other siblings with similar allergies and attitudes. And as I have said before in my workshops and talks, my mother did a wonderful job raising an independent daughter, but then on some level has resented having an independent daughter! Why? She can’t control, (be a “mom”) anymore, so she puts up her smokescreen to keep certain people out, therefore she doesn’t have to deal with the conflicts.

Now it does work both ways, so it is important to look at WHO is allergic to the smoke? Those with the allergies  have conflicted emotions about being controlled, often the conflict is about trying to discern between needing direction and being controlled! It is something to look into, I have two children with smoke allergies and one that does not. It all makes sense as the younger two have conflicted emotions, and the oldest just glides from one experience to another!

I have a friend that quit smoking and she cannot get over her freedom to travel and visit. She has new friends and realized she can shop in the mall all day if she wants, sit through a movie, relax and have a good time visiting. She even mentioned to me that she has been invited over to meet new friends and is trying new activities. She admits she would have stayed home had she still been a smoker and looked at the smoking from a new perspective:

SMOKING TOOK CONTROL OF ALL HER RELATIONSHIPS

SO SHE DIDN’T HAVE TO DEAL WITH THEM.

Look at that aspect in your life, who do you keep out by smoking?

Are you happy with that?

Your body does not have an agenda. If you cannot “pin point” certain relationship issues in your life, I am happy to help you!

Are you ready? This again is getting lengthy, (thinking I may have another book here?) so I will only highlight a few:

• Lungs are all about control. They are also your commitment to be on this earth, we take our first breath and establish our existence at that moment. We give up our last breath when we exit this earth. So, if you have lung issues look at your commitments to others, particularly family. The bronchial tubes of the lungs are like the “family tree” so bronchitis is really about being ticked off at family. Usually because they don’t DO what you think they should do (again lungs = control).
• Cough is about being easily irritated, mostly with yourself and this often has to do with your perception about your ability to control what is going on in your life. When do you cough the most? often smokers will cough in the morning to bring up all the tar and residue in their lungs…so, if you are doing this every morning, who really is in control? The addiction is, and you know this, which is irritating you on many levels. The other irritating factor is your realization that the only way to control the cough is to reduce or quit smoking.
• Understand that I work beyond the literal here, so I invite you to look at whom in your life you feel controlled by-not the cigarettes, but the person or persons? Again, that is the root of the addiction, not the cigarette. Smoking allows you to push relationships away. And take note, that individual does not have to be alive in order for you to still feel controlled. That scripting has taken root in your subconscious and because it is there, not in your conscious mind, you don’t question it. Hypnosis can reprogram that scripting once you have identified the issue.
• Your heart represents your personal relationships, not your “casual” relationships. These can be with children, siblings, parents, but also romantic, spouse. Heart issues deal with  your perception of your ability to provide for them. The heart is a complex “tissue” as it relates to so many emotion centers. The heart is a muscle and muscle relates to foundation/family and survival issues but is located in your relationship (heart) center AND deals with the flow of blood which is emotions, creativity, and person-to-person issues of the sacral center.
• If you are dealing with anything to do with the heart and its function, look at how that fits in to your personal relationships. Since the heart relates to so many centers, it makes sense to say it is a balancing organ, and it is about balancing the flow of all things, allowing people and relationships into your life as well as releasing and allowing others to move on with their life is really what this center is all about. Are you worried or stressed about their future? Whether or not they care the same for you? Is everyone provided for? I am often quoted, “The only way to gain control of your life is to let go”. This is definitely true for tissue issues involving the heart!

Well, again this is lengthy, and I do hope you have received some valuable insight into smoking and general addiction behaviors. I have received many compliments on last week’s entry, and appreciate all of you out there that value this site and its information.

Blessings to you! Catherine

Habit is habit, and not to be flung out of the window by any man, but coaxed downstairs a step at a time.

–Mark Twain

They have great powers, and they waste them pitifully, for they have not the greater power – the power to rule the use of their powers.

–Frederick W. Robertson

The mind is a powerful force. It is our creative force, and how all comes into being, whether tangible or intangible. Individuals and institutions alike have attempted to harness the power of the mind since the beginning of time, if they can “control” the mind, they can control the people. Shouldn’t this be enough to let you know how powerful YOU are? I often write my Kicks! the same week, it would be nice to get ahead a little, but it seems there is always something timely to address.

I put out the intention to have a subject matter that would be of great help to many and not something I have touched on before. Next thing you know, here comes an e-mail across my desk asking about “the color of smoking”…I would like to talk about smoking and the challenges of quitting, but also address the power of your own mind and how your thoughts will initiate your willingness and motivation to quit smoking.

I would like to present something a bit different here in the field of self-hypnosis: how to achieve self-hypnosis in the waking state. Yes, how to just allow those suggestions to work for you in addition to your initial 30 minute self-hypnosis session, and to supplement those days when you do not have the 30 minutes recommended in order for self-hypnosis to work its magic.

I am not saying to stop utilizing the 30 minutes or so, this is to offer you some help in between those private, quiet, relaxing sessions, as well as offer support throughout your day and evening. Many do not think self-hypnosis works unless you have sat down, taken a few relaxing breaths, played your script over in your head and set the intention for your subconscious to be hypnotized. Well, that works, and works very well (otherwise I wouldn’t spend my time with recording these audios)…BUT there is another way to offer support!

Taking a few deep breaths and opening, closing your eyes several times and telling yourself what you need to hear regarding your release process can also work its magic. This technique is simple, effective, AND you can do it almost anywhere (just don’t do this while you are driving…although we often slip into what is called “Highway Hypnosis” I don’t want to encourage the practice).  If it is easy and simple, guess what? you will do it!

I have worked over the past few years on addressing weight loss issues and the need to shift the language of dieting, food, and fat. Smoking cessation is no different. It is about accepting your willingness to breath freely and feel “clean” and healthy rather than “quit smoking” and then help you focus on redirecting your language in order to allow your mind to work WITH your body.

Today I wanted to talk about ways to shift the language regarding smoking in the hopes of turning on some light bulbs for all of you out there that need some help and inner stamina to help with this particular release process.

What I have found with clients is that it is usually not the script in its entirety that brings success with self-hypnosis. It is the key thought phrases that resonate and take root in your subconscious mind that really do the trick. Although, with the 30 minute or so sessions, you WILL discover that certain phrases will take root at one point and others will resonate later on, depending on your current experiences.

So what I am “gifting” you with today are some suggestions you can adopt and say to yourself throughout the day. You are working on self-hypnosis techniques all the time, not just when you sit, relax and put on an audio. Understand that you will be replacing the script or the voice that says, “oh quit tomorrow, have just one more” or the voice that says, “you paid for these, might as well enjoy them”…even worse, it could be the voice that calls the cigarette something harmful such as “poison” or a “coffin nail”. We are shifting out of that negative language right now and giving you the tools to release yourself from cigarettes.

Your mind helped you formulate the habit through repeated scripting, and your mind (self-hypnosis) can help you reprogram new and positive habits through repeated scripting. The point is, you have to be ready to do it, AND you have to do it for no one else – only for yourself. You are your own best friend, and you will get to the point where you inherently know only you will take care of you, and that realization will be your time to quit. Believe it or not, food and alcohol work the same way. It is time to shift when you know it is time to shift because you realize all you have to lose if you continue in the same patterns.

You reach this point, now what? Now, you will listen and take these suggestions.

If you find yourself reaching for a cigarette, have been handed a cigarette, or perhaps you find a cigarette YOU CAN CHOOSE TO:

• Put it back in the pack
• Pinch it or break it in two
• Run water over it
• Pat the pack but do not take one out
• Throw out the carton, or pack, or cigarette

When you are confronted with the choice or even when you THINK about “needing a cigarette” pick out some of the affirmations (self-hypnotic suggestions) that resonate best and repeat them each time you feel “triggered”…even close your eyes for a moment, take a breath and just tell yourself one of these phrases. You will find that they will soon become automatic responses and your behavior follows! You may adopt more than one depending on the circumstances…here are some suggestions, work them to your benefit.

“I release this cigarette, I no longer need it”

“I bless and release this cigarette”

“My final decision to release my desire for any cigarette begins now”

“Right now is my final decision to release the desire to smoke”

“I am proud I have released my desire for any cigarette”

“I do not need this now, I can save it for some other time…”

“I bless this cigarette and will save it for later…”

“I am completely healthy, breathing deep and clear.”

“There are never any exceptions or excuses to begin smoking”

“I have just added years to my life”

“ I am healthy and wealthy”

“I am strong and confident and release this cigarette”

“I am stronger and more confident, it is easy to release this”

“No thank you, I enjoy my health”

“No thank you, I enjoy my health and my wealth”

“I am more confident in everything now that I have conquered this”

“All I need is a deep breath of fresh air, my tension is released easily as I exhale”

“It is nice to remain relaxed and in control of my life”

“I love my life, it is nice to be relaxed and in control”

“My desire for any type of tobacco has vanished”

“My symptoms have disappeared, I feel wonderful”

“It is nice to breath clean fresh air and feel relaxed”

“I enjoy my work so much without tension, and plenty of time to complete tasks”

“My body is healthy, clean and clear and all that flows, flows efficiently”

“My body is clean; my lungs and circulatory system are clean and clear and flow efficiently”

“My old excuses for smoking have disappeared with the cigarettes”

Green is a wonderful color to support non-smoking, blue-greens are perfect when you are just beginning to transition into a non-smoker. Attach a color to an affirmation (self-hypnosis phrase) and it can help you “trigger” reassurance. Just realize that quitting is about feeling you are worth it, worth a healthy, happy life. So, if there is a challenge, it doesn’t mean you can’t quit, it means you need to build up your self-confidence so you actually BELIEVE your life is worth living in a healthy, abundant manner.

Trust me,

YOU ARE WORTH EVERY BREATH YOU TAKE.

For even MORE insightful information on smoking release, check out The Color of Smoking. I will talk more about the addiction next week, and discuss the karmic implications of smoking as well as the corresponding tissue issues with smoking and why one person manifests lung cancer and another heart dis-ease and another does not manifest ANYTHING! even though they are all smoking in similar habit patterns. That is next week, what happened was that this info began as a paragraph and grew into an entire entry! so I will see you back next week for more. Perhaps there will be some wonderful comments from viewers to add.

Remember to Love YOU and do what is best for you, and remember, only YOU know what is best for you at this time. You are your own best friend.

Blessings, Cath

Says someone: “the most potent, powerful, revolutionizing thing in the world is AN IDEA.”

• Idea is Power!

• Ideas rule the world.

• An idea built the Universe.

-from Robert Collier’s The Secret of the Ages

Man was born to be rich, or grow rich by the use of his faculties, by the unison of thought with nature.

-Emerson

This past Saturday I offered a three-hour workshop on Abundance. I was very excited about the potential of this workshop to shift thinking and therefore shift lives. It was developed based on my own techniques and insights that have helped me create my own life, professionally as well as personally. I talked last week about tithing and how tithing is an exchange of energy. This week I wanted to address the term “frequency”.

We are energy, our thoughts are energy. What we give the most thought to, what we give the most power to, we attract. Your mind, and consequently the Universe, does not care what it is you are giving thought to it will fulfill those thoughts no matter what:

• good or bad
• positive or negative
• poverty or wealth
• illness or health

You can define the “grand force” as “God”, “The Universe”, “Divine Will” but it is your attitude, behavior, and emotions that do most of the work.

The Universe will accommodate what you give your power to.

Just what is your “power”?

Your power is your

FREQUENCY OF THOUGHT.

“FREQUENCY” is a loaded term!  Not only do I refer to the vibrational frequency of the thoughts, but also how OFTEN (frequent) you give thought TO your target. I chose the word “target” carefully. I was going to write “desire” but so often we target experiences or people that have nothing to do with our dreams and desires. Our targets are things to perpetuate worry and stress. The results of this misdirection can be:

• career issues
• relationship issues
• tissue issues
• financial issues
• family issues
• issue issues!

A person or a situation cannot “take” your energy and emotions.

You give willingly through your frequency of thought.

Listening to your own inner dialogue in all its many forms can be so enlightening and helpful. So often, when I speak about hypnosis, the immediate reaction is “Oh, that is mind control.” If not that reaction then the mesmerizing techniques of a stage hypnotist come to mind, accompanied by the image of someone clucking like a chicken!

In actuality, we hypnotize ourselves daily AND we are being hypnotized daily through television ads and other repeated messages that seep their way into our subconscious minds. Pharmaceutical ads are notorious for repetition and suggestion. My expertise as a medical intuitive combines beautifully with my education and passion for color, marketing, and human emotional responses. I find myself fascinated with these subversive messages on paper and on TV! The hypnotic subliminal suggestions particularly focused on symptoms and the manifestation of these symptoms is amazing to witness. My point being, hypnosis is all around you and yes, it works-and it works well. So why not use it in your favor?

Negative scripting is hidden within us and often we do not even recognize our negative self-talk. It has origins with another’s opinion, someone we trust and don’t question, -or trusted and never thought to question. These trusted individuals can be a parent, grandparent, clergy, or doctor. Their beliefs are often not our own, we just recite a quip that they may have either continuously stated and “hypnotized” us with or said something just once, at a time when we “took it to heart”, in hypnosis, we refer to that as an “anchor”.  Their script, or anchor planted itself deep in our subconscious mind. Some are positive; many are negative, opinionated, and very limiting.

Identifying negative scripting is essential in turning it around to positive scripting. It is often easier to identify the negativity with others than it is with our own dialogue. This is not to invite you to correct and judge another, it is best to keep quiet, listen to their dialogue and then look objectively at their life, their health, their relationships, and perhaps their financial status. How does their life reflect in their language? Then take that insight and apply it to your own life. You can then see what may need shifting within your inner dialogue – your frequency of thought.

Here are some examples of negative scripting (lower thought frequencies):

• It can’t get any worse…
• It is so hard…
• I need more (clients, customers, hours, money…)
• We can’t afford it…
• We’re broke…
• I’m sick and tired of…
• I can’t stand…
• I’m so dumb…
• I’m so fat…
• Here I am, fat, dumb, and happy… (I just heard that yesterday!)
• That breaks my heart…
• I do not have…
• I pay…
• I took out…
• I was not able to…

I have two scripts that were written with the objective on turning the negativity around to positive opportunities and experiences. They are both wonderful and they embrace my attitudes toward positive anchors and reinforcement of self-worth and esteem.

Releasing the Opinions of Others is liberating! It is an amazing self-confidence booster, but also releasing others’ opinions of you puts you in control. You are no longer sucked into their vibrations, their thought frequency because you have shifted your own thoughts about the significance of their opinion.

So often we are afraid to change, which is one reason why I often use the word “shift” instead. Change represents loss. We think in order to change we have to leave things and people behind. We don’t want to hurt anyone’s feelings or abandon anyone along the way, so we often just stay stuck, comfortable in our misery. I talk this week at Queen of Color about The Color of Change. Releasing your concerns about what people think about you and understanding that what they think of you is none of your business! shifts your energy, emotions, AND behavior.

You change your thought frequency and therefore the frequency of your thoughts.

The results are often a gradual replacement of the negative people and negative experiences with more positive uplifting circumstances. Usually you are in the middle of “happy” when you realize that the negativity is less and less as you give less thought to “what’s wrong” and more thought to “what’s right”. Your “toxic friends” have been released because you shut off the tractor beam that kept them in your gravity (energy) field.

Replacing the negative scripting with positive messages builds your self-esteem and helps you attract more positive experiences. You ARE happier!

The second hypnosis audio I developed is geared toward dreams and goals, giving you the tools and the confidence to formulate your desires in your thoughts and attract them into your life.

Think Whealthy Thoughts with Vibrating Whealthy!

Whealthy is whole health AND wealth health combined. Think of it in terms of “healthy, wealthy, and wise” all combined into one concept. When you think “whealthy” you set the stage to attract the opportunities and the people into your life that will perpetuate that energy…that thought frequency.

I have talked before about the power of feelings behind your thoughts. Thoughts create, yet feelings manifest. I have several entries on the subject and talked about the power of “Feelization” in the Abundance Workshop. Vibrating Whealthy! is based on the “how to” process of switching out of worry and stress frequencies and move into joy and happiness frequencies. It invites you to create dreams and scenarios that will bring you joy. It provides you with the tools you need to release the worry and the stress AND get out of your own way in order to allow good things into your life.

Shifting your thoughts, your attitude, and your behavior will open the door to wonderful opportunities. We think we need to worry to be responsible adults. This could not be more bogus! Assign a time and a day to worry about whatever, and put the rest of your thoughts on high frequency…happy thoughts ARE high frequency, joyful thoughts are the highest frequency.

I believe you will be very pleased with the messages of both CD’s. Allow yourself the “gift of shift” and up your frequency of thought!

Have a great week! Blessings, Catherine