Make a mental image of what you pray and ask for, build it firmly in your imagination, claim it as your own, close your eyes and see it. Then realize that you have created your desire from the invisible substance all about you. Believe that you have it, and you can safely leave ways and means for its material manifestation to the Universal Mind.

-Venice Bloodworth

Move toward your passion.

Express through your daily work

and your daily activities

what it is that lights up your soul.

Do not believe those who say

that you cannot do this.

Do it anyway.

-Abraham Hicks

“>

Last year I wrote an entry entitled “Lost and Found” and in it I described how to find a lost object. I am an expert this week at bizymoms.com and this article is featured on their website (totally unplanned and a nice coincidence).

The key to finding a lost object:

You don’t find the object, the object finds you.

YOU ATTRACT WHAT IS LOST INTO YOUR ENERGY.

Just imagine what it feels like to have the object (or animal) back in your life.

Take this same philosophy and apply it to your life rather than an object or an animal. This works the same for any opportunity you wish to experience. Rather than searching for a job, or a soul mate, or a house, car, money, establish a clear picture, a clear definition of what it is you want in your life. Then stop “wanting it” and envision the joy and the emotions that surround you, as you OWN it.

What do YOU want?

What DO you want to do?

If you aren’t getting anything or getting anywhere, it is because you are looking, rather than attracting. You will find (have) what you desire when you envision it in your life already…just laid at your feet or put into your hands…(you get the idea) rather than seeing yourself running all around looking for it.

The “scavenging” method scatters your energy and you cannot attract a thing with energy all over the place, it is important to focus and stay focused about what you desire.

So sit, focus on what you want and what will make you happy, not what you “think you can get”  or “think you can afford” but what you want and what will make you truly happy. Then put the intention out there and never let it fade, think of it and how wonderful it is to be in that space and imagine- that every time you think about it -will allow it to be drawn closer and closer into your energy, into your life…

Don’t worry about HOW you will get it, THAT is getting in your own way.

Now, this is where there has to be follow through in order for it to come to completion. You must follow your leads; fill out applications, answer calls, talk to people, follow the paths, hints, and yes,  blatant billboards that come into your field of vision. Why? because guidance is the path of least resistance and little to no setbacks yet you still need to do the walking.

Jack Canfield defines the word “effortless” as “less effort”…what Jack talks about is that there is still effort involved, just less of it as you follow your hunches, and leads. Listen to what people tell you no matter how ridiculous or off base it may seem, if it falls into your scope, then there is something to it to get you where you need to go in order to meet who you need to meet. Things have happened coincidentally as odd as bumping into someone on the way to the interview you felt you needed to go on, but didn’t know why, standing in line with someone as you wait to fill out an application then that “chance” meeting leads to something entirely different than what you set out for. Yet, you would not have gotten the lead if you didn’t do the odd job out…does that make sense?

Stop focusing on what has blocked you, finances, relationships, family, sale of property, education, credentials, and start focusing on where you want to be, then let the universe bring it to you full force.

You just need to know that the only wall that is up is the one you have built…but it has no sides, so you can walk around, rather than trying to knock it down or climb over. There is a Jimmy Buffet song about walls that came on while I was writing this, I had to laugh, in part he sings, “after one or two false starts, the walls that won’t come down, we can decorate or climb or find some way to get around…”

On that note, have a wonderful week! Blessings to everyone.

Catherine

Where there is pain, cures will be found.

Where there is poverty, wealth will be supplied.

Where there are questions, answers will be given.

Spend less time worrying and more time trusting.

-Jalil al-Din Rumi (1207-1283) Persia

Give me beauty in the inward soul;

and may the outward and inward person be at one.

May I reckon the wise to be the wealthy,

and may I have such a quantity of gold as a temperate man can bear and carry-

Anything more?

This prayer, I think, is enough for me.

-Socrates (469-399 BC) Greece

What a week! I know I say that every week, but this week I really mean it! This is one for the books, or at least the blog book. Last week as I was finishing up my Kick! my office was struck by lightning and it took out the cable, internet, router, network card on one computer, and singed the hair on my forearms. Everyone was asking what that was all about, and to be honest with you, I myself had to take some time to figure it all out. This entry is a long one, but worth the read.

It all began on Tuesday when I had gone into the store for some things. I found myself in an aisle with the Mexican food and looked down to see novena candles. Why they put them there I’ll never know, but they are always in the Mexican food section at every store. I thought to myself, “can’t hurt” so I picked up a St. Jude candle thinking that I fit his criteria, as he is the patron saint of hopeless and desperate cases. It worked for Danny Thomas, the entertainer and I believe in saints and miracles, I just have never really asked or gone through the ritual of a novena.

I decided to light my candle and start my novena, asking for help and guidance, more than anything help to get out of my own way and find some answers as to where to put my focus. I have so many irons in the fire (and always have) that sometimes it can be overwhelming. I have my guides, yes, and I listen to them but sometimes even I can’t see the forest through the trees. I asked for the billboard, not anymore of the subtle stuff…just tell me what to do next!

My first billboard, which I “drove” right past was the next day. My daughter Sarah and I were at a local store and at the checkout there was a beautiful writing pen. I picked it up and said, “I had a pen like this and lost it over a year ago, maybe even two years ago, I loved that pen.” Well, I had bought that pen when I started my book “Beyond Food and Fat” over three years ago. This book has had nothing but setbacks and disappointments, and I finally was able to get the rights back from Llewellyn Worldwide just about a month ago.

I had hired different editors and each revision was rejected by Llewellyn. With this last editor I decided to forget about making Llewellyn happy, I wanted the book to be in my voice and similar in tone to my Thursday Kicks! After all, it is my book and many like my style of writing because it is narrative and offers a feeling of intimacy. I agree, and really, it is the only way I know how to write. I enjoy writing like I am talking with each of you individually. In a sense I am, I put myself in that space when I sit down.

I still had three chapters to review sitting in my inbox, they had been there for weeks.  Meanwhile, my right shoulder is killing me and yes, I knew it had to do with letting go of something, but what? I couldn’t figure out. I knew it was work related, as shoulders represent burden and work. But for the life of me, what was I holding on to? Well, my guides, and St. Jude were about to give me a couple big hints, and some guidance in the process.

On the way home from the local store, Sarah and I talked about the writing pen a little more, then I mentioned St. Jude and that I had started a novena. A novena is a nine-day prayer cycle and can be offered to any Saint that you resonate with. (I will talk about the metaphysics of saints next week.) You do not have to be Catholic, you just have to have faith in a miracle. I also explained to her about St. Jude and St. Jude’s hospital and how I resonated with Danny Thomas and his plight.

I have had thoughts and feelings that if my career didn’t break soon and jump to the next level allowing my income to be proportionate with my talent, my experience, and my knowledge, I would just send out a blanket e-mail and say, “I quit”, and go find a teaching job somewhere. Yep, me, the ultimate upbeat, motivational person, quit. And I can find the guidance in anything (except maybe not this week). Yes, even I get tired of hitting walls and telling myself  “oh, this is guidance” or “this will just make a good story for a movie of the week”.

How many times can we pick ourselves up?

Well, the answer is, “as many times as it takes to get where you’re going”.

Sarah and I pulled into the drive and I walked into my office to work on my Kick! In the middle of the office floor is my pen. Yep, my pen. How it got there I don’t even care, but there it was. I ran into the house and scared my daughter Sarah half to death, screaming, “It’s a St. Jude miracle!”

Of course, did I go beyond the act and see the message? No, I did not. Not yet anyway.

Now we shift to Wednesday, and I am finishing my entry and posting my video. The last tidbit is always the newsletter, and as I sat down and began typing away, out of nowhere was a big clap of lightning, there wasn’t a storm it was just lightning. It had traveled through the cable/internet line through the router and came through my laptop, which is a metal Powerbook G4 and knocked me back. It felt like I had grabbed the horse fence at the farm.

I smelled smoke, but everything seemed to be fine, even the electricity was working. All three computers were in tact, which is so amazing. But I realized that the router was fried and it was too late that night to go buy a new one.

I went into the house and of course, I am frustrated on top of being frustrated…over thinking and trying to make sense of it all. Sarah is calling it “day 2” of my St. Jude miracle…since I wasn’t hurt, and the computers, office, and all but the router was fine.

Of course, did I go beyond the act and see the message? No. I did not. Not yet anyway.

The next day there was no Thursday Kick! I go to Wytheville on Thursday’s and volunteer at Copper Crest Therapeutic Horseback Riding Program. In the morning I had made an appointment with a friend and wonderful talent, Denise Romano for a second cranial sacral treatment. While I was on the table, she mentioned that my right arm and shoulder just “won’t give it up” and mentioned whatever I was holding onto needed to be released. I knew that already, but what was it? I already had two billboards, the pen and the lightning, and now here she was using the word “right” over and over…I heard “right” but the answer was “write”…

Of course, did I go beyond the act and see the message of Day 3? No. Now they were trying to TELL me and I didn’t even hear it. Not yet anyway.

I stopped and bought a router but by the time we got home from Wytheville it was late and I figured I would set it up in the morning (Friday) and get my Kick! out after my morning client. I walked into the office and turned on one of my lights. It flickered, faded, then just went out. As did all my computers, the electric was out, just dead. I checked the fuse box, replaced the fuse, but still nothing. I fought back tears (again) and just left, thinking that my “direction” my “guidance” was to just quit and work on a resume.

I had to reschedule two clients because I didn’t have the facilities.  Having an already tight budget, raising three kids, running a business with grocery money, and trying to keep the tenuous string from breaking was taking its toll. And all I was asking, was for St. Jude (the universe) to throw me bone! Shoot, I even asked Danny Thomas…Actually, to be honest, I was praying for the lottery. And I did buy one quick pick ticket. (Don’t know if there is a law about a psychic picking winning numbers, so I always get a quick pick to cover my bases). Yes, I am human.

Anyway, this was it. I was done. I just threw up my arms and went for a walk or you could say I went “wandering aimlessly”. I called Tom and said, “so much for a novena, the criteria must be that St. Jude didn’t think I was hopeless or desperate enough.” I again asked for guidance, what do I do? hang up my hat or just keep trudging forward with progress slow, so slow.Paying bills one client at a time…

I returned to the office, for some reason, the electricity was working fine, like nothing had happened. I even asked the neighbor if he fixed it for me? He hadn’t. Yes, another miracle. So I was fine to work, but the cable/internet still needed restored. The cable guy showed up an hour later, and by Friday late afternoon, all was restored. Now what? Resume? start looking for jobs? keep going one more week? thinking that “big break” will come…that big contract I have been seeing in my head…so, I did what I do, and I pulled out my list of “things to do”…and there it was.

Plain as day, and yes, direct as lightning.

I just did not see it through all the emotion.

On a piece of paper was written:

• “finish book edits” (there was the message with the Beyond Food writing pen in the middle of my office floor)

• “finish application process for Lightning Source” (which is where I am publishing the book! there was the LITERAL message with the lightning)

• “finish business cards, send off to printer”

• “finish application for national trademark for Queen of Color.”

Are you laughing yet? I am finally laughing, and as I have told this story to a few clients they find it refreshing that even I, The Queen of Color, can have some limited views when it comes to allowing guidance into my life.

St. Jude was working overtime on this one! After spending an afternoon with Tom at the farm, I also gained more insight into the guidance. He mentioned that I had so many irons in the fire trying to cover my bases that I just needed to chill out. I heard that loud and clear and that gave me the insight to look at what had happened from an entirely different perspective.

The universe was taking irons out of my fire for me, guiding me through the process of elimination. I was focusing on the new website, membership site information, NGH workshop and conference, Baltimore and workshop, products, and so much other stuff, that I was overlooking what needed to be done to get me moving to the next level. I know I needed to get that book done, and get the next book done. Everything on that list was finished in a matter of 24 hours.

Now it is time to give it a God Minute and let the book, Beyond Food and Fat, the workbook, and the audio CD’s take root. The time was not right for that book, but the time is right now. It is a good book, as I sat and read through the edited version, I tried to understand why I have blocked its progress? It will help so many, as it has helped me and it is time to move forward with it. And as it is being processed and finished, I will finish up the next book which is a compilation of my Kicks! So in a sense, it is already there!

I have been told all along that it will be these books that will make all the difference. So, getting out of my own way and finishing these projects were the messages behind the miracles.

Next week I will talk about patron saints, including St. Jude, the universe, the law of attraction and how miracles are around us everyday, we just need to be open to them. (tell me about it.) Blessings to you!

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout Would Not Take The Garbage Out

Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout

Would not take the garbage out!

She’d scour the pots and scrape the pans,

Candy the yams and spice the hams,

And though her daddy would scream and shout,

She simply would not take the garbage out.

And so it piled up to the ceilings:

Coffee grounds, potato peelings,

Brown bananas, rotten peas,

Chunks of sour cottage cheese.

It filled the can, it covered the floor,

It cracked the window and blocked the door

With bacon rinds and chicken bones,

Drippy ends of ice cream cones,

Prune pits, peach pits, orange peel,

Gloppy glumps of cold oatmeal,

Pizza crusts and withered greens,

Soggy beans and tangerines,

Crusts of black burned buttered toast,

Gristly bits of beefy roasts…

The garbage rolled on down the hall,

It raised the roof it broke the wall…

Greasy napkins, cookie crumbs,

Globes of gooey bubble gum.

Cellophane from green baloney,

Rubbery blubbery macaroni,

Peanut butter caked and dry,

Curdled milk and crust of pie,

Moldy melons, dried-up mustard,

Eggshells mixed with lemon custard,

Cold french fried and rancid meat,

Yellow lumps of Cream of Wheat.

At last the garbage reached so high

That finally it touched the sky.

And all the neighbors moved away,

And none of her friends would come to play.

And finally Sarah Cynthia Stout said,

“OK, I’ll take the garbage out!”

But then, of course, it was too late…

The garbage reached across the state,

From New York to the Golden Gate.

And there, in the garbage she did hate,

Poor Sarah met an awful fate,

That I cannot right now relate

Because the hour is much too late.

But children, remember Sarah Stout

And always take the garbage out!

OK, what does this poem have to do with your back? Well, actually, there are quite a lot of similarities. I also invite you to read this once again AFTER you ready this entry. It  is an amazing metaphor. I could use this in my entry where I talk about “cascading” because it explains that concept very well. I will use the reference here, however, because in my workshops and talks I often refer to your back as your “garbage dump.”

Your back is where we “put” issues that we do not want to address, nor do we want to let anyone else look at those issues.  Our back is where we bury thoughts, feelings, memories, anything that have caused pain or confusion in our life that we just don’t want to look at right now. In a sense, you want to “save it for later” and like Sarah Cynthia Sylvia Stout your garbage sits, then builds up until your back cannot take it anymore. Next, what seems to be the least opportune time, we have pain or back problems.

The back is made up of many muscles, the spinal cord, and then the spinal column, which has 33 vertebrae. There are disc problems, slipped discs, ruptured disks, as well as other serious problems, including chronic pain and paralysis. We also have the more minor back issues, such as acne, cysts, sore or pulled muscles. Quite a bit to tackle, so this entry will be divided up in the next few weeks.

Just as I do with the body, the back is also divided up into

left side: allowing, receiving, feminine influence

right side: releasing, masculine influence

There are also regions that represent different aspects of your life, so looking at which side you have issues offers more clarity to the issue you need to address. If you are having issues with your back in general, and both sides are affected, then I look at which region and we move forward with that information. These regions are influenced by the corresponding emotion centers, as your energy centers resonate within the body and therefore both sides, front and back are represented by the corresponding emotions.

Sacrum/Coccyx: This area is located at the base of the spine, and corresponds with your base or red energy center. Lessons with this area involve fear regarding survival, and that can include the survival of your freedom. This could be fear of HAVING freedom and not knowing what to do with the responsibility (look back at my entry on asthma for a possible cascade effect in this area) or it could represent the fear of LOSING your freedom.

Lately with the economy, I have found that there are many individuals learning from lower back issues. It is the manifestation of fear for their own survival. Fear of losing a job, fear of finances, foreclosure, even fear of losing your family through divorce or other issues  Many people that are in a position that they hate develop lower back lessons, as well as those that are very worried about finances.

Lumbar: This is the area we regard as our waist. I am tempted to type the word, “waste” because it is about material loss, the fear of losing our “stuff”. This area is from the fifth lumbar to the eleventh, it is often still considered your lower back, often people will grip their “kidney area” when they are experience pain in the middle region…you are dealing with survival issues just as with the sacral but it is geared more toward the material things, such as car, house, items of importance rather than the bigger picture issues that represent your very survival such as job, family, financial security, things that we consider the sacred to our way of living.

Thoracic: This is the area above the lumbar, the upper back area beginning at the waist, tenth dorsal vertebrae to the cervical vertebrae, which is the neck.  The upper back is about emotional insecurity, and fear of rejection. It corresponds with both the heart center, which is relationships, as well as being influenced by the solar plexus, your sense of self. Issues here can be associated with doing a lot (even over doing) in order to show others love and security.

When there is pain in this region of the back it literally means that you take a lot on (your back). You may have hesitation asking for help (support). How much do you “do” for others? If you do a lot for others, it is because that is the way you show you care. It is also the way you define caring, so when others do for you, you know they care and you feel more secure. If you do ask for help or support from others and they don’t deliver, it can manifest more pain.

Shoulders represent a burden, or what you are carrying around with you energetically. I often think of oxen and the yoke they wear to haul things around. Shoulder and shoulder blade issues are all about the worry and burdens you are hauling around. Often it is one side or the other, so it is about the stress and worry of waiting for things to manifest (left) or the burden of how to let something (or someone) go (right).

Cervical: Well, the term “pain in the neck” really does say it all. The neck when flexible allows us to see all around us, to see the world from all sides. When there are issues with the neck and it is stiff or you have limited movement, this represents limited views. There is a bit of stubbornness (stiffness) because the only view you have is what is directly in front of you.

The neck is also THE connector of the mind and the body. Everything passes through here, food, air, thoughts, blood…all is connected with the neck. Looking at what feels disconnected in your life, particularly in regard to relationships may help identify the tissue issues with the neck.

Next week I will address discs, slipped, ruptured, degenerative…keep this “regional” information close for reference. It is not just about the disc, but where on your back you are having the issues. Until next week! Blessings, Catherine

If we listened to our intellect, we’d never have a love affair. We’d never have a friendship. We’d never go into business, because we’d be too cynical. Well, that’s nonsense. You’ve got to jump off cliffs all the time and build your wings on the way down.

-Annie Dillard

An excuse becomes an obstacle in your journey to success when it is made in place of your best effort or when it is used as the object of the blame.

-Bo Bennett

Well, as we progress through 2010, my other site, which is all about color, www.QueenofColor.com explains that the Color of 2010 is yellow and represents a commitment to putting yourself first, with this year offering the energy you need in order to do so.

In my Color and Energy Management workshops I help participants remember how to “see” color and another’s energy field. (I say it this way because we could all see these colors and energy as children, we just forget that we remember)…and we all start with the feet. The feet are perhaps the easiest to decipher, and when I read your energy, I look at your feet and then scan upwards to see what colors, what energy, is present in your field. Each part of your body represents a different aspect of your body/mind connection, and what color is present or NOT present in that certain area gives me the information you need to help you understand and deal with your current circumstances.

The energy around your feet often set the precedent for the entire reading. Feet represent moving forward and how you accept progress in your life. The color and the way it is presented offers more details for me as to what challenges you are facing and how you intend to proceed. What I interpret in a reading may or may not have anything to do with tissue issues surrounding your feet, the energy I see and decipher is about where you currently stand on the issues and relationships in your life.

This week’s Kick! is about challenges you may have with your feet and what connection they have with your life in general. The feet reflect your body. Feet are the part of us that moves us forward first and furthest (fact and figuratively). Feet allow us to extend our being.

Issues with your feet are directly related to your willingness to move forward, or NOT move forward. Injuries, whether severe or slight need to be looked at with equal attention, as they hold the same message, one more severe than the other, of course, but the same message. And if the message is not heeded, then there is the possibility to have a more severe message delivered. So, it is always nice to listen to the feathers!

The left side of the body represents acceptance, Left can also represent a predominant female energy in your life, if you are female, then it could also include you but other influential feminine energy may need to be examined.

Since the foot is about moving forward, the left foot represents allowing or accepting opportunities that may help you move forward. Injuries to your left foot would represent a resistance to help or a resistance to accepting opportunities that could help you move forward. In fact, left leg, foot, or even you hip would indicate to me as a medical intuitive that you are definitely getting in your own way! Your body has been patient enough, now it is time to intervene and therefore pain or injury has manifested in order to communicate to you to shift.

Your right foot represents releasing or letting go, this could be people or opportunities that are anchoring you down and keeping you from moving forward. It can also represent a predominant male energy in your life, if you are male, then it could also include you. Injuries to your right foot would indicate a reluctance or hesitance to let go of the junk (yes, junk) that is holding you down, holding you back. Interestingly enough, I often observe people that hoard or are “pack rats” have issues with their right sides, whether it is foot, leg, hand or arm…but it all represents letting things go in order to move forward.

Think about what is going on in your life and whether or not you feel safe to move forward? Whether it is left or right foot, it is all about moving forward and what it will take to allow that to happen. You either need to accept help, or cut loose what no longer serves you. If it gets to the point where your body is communicating through aches or pains, then there needs to be some serious considerations as to what and how you need to shift. If you are married and your issues correspond with spouse, it may not mean you need to “cut them loose” as much as you need to become more conscientious of their role in your life, is it to help or to hinder?

If it gets to the point where there is injury, that is a serious message from the universe that immediate attention needs to be given! In my weight release workshops I talk about exercise-related injuries and how these can be a wonderful clue in helping one define obstacles regarding your weight release process. Many of those embarking on new exercise regimes will often be confronted with exercise-related injuries (or injuries that impede their ability to exercise). It can be very informative as to what side of the body the injury occurs, as much as what body part is affected. Usually it is the foot, ankle, or leg that is involved with impeding the weight release process, particularly where exercise is concerned.

Affirmations (self-hypnosis) are a successful approach to the obstacles your body presents through the physical signs of hesitation in moving forward. Whether it deals with weight release or just life changes, pay attention to your feet, as they have no agenda! Your BODY does not have an agenda, so it serves you well to take a moment and listen to what it is communicating.

Reflexology is based on the premise that all the internal organs of the body are reflected in the feet. So looking not only at the common foot issues from my metaphysical perspective, but also as a reflection of your body is another level of body/mind communication. Common foot issues and what it means metaphysically:

Toes are more about the details of your forward motion, as they are an extension of the feet. In a sense, issues with toes are about getting in your own way and spending too much time on the little things, rather than the bigger picture.

Corns represent resistance, usually due to lack of confidence. That is why the skin (confidence) becomes thick and the pain can impede any forward motion.

“Turned Feet” Depending how the feet are turned when walking indicates how one will decide to pass through this life. Outward indicates confusion about which way to go in life, as one foot is “pointed” on was and the other is in the opposite direction. Inward pointing feet are more about being hesitant and indecisive about direction.

Bunions I first read about the metaphysical meaning of bunions from a book by Debbie Shapiro, The Bodymind Workbook. She explains that bunions manifest at a time when we enter into a dominant relationship. We enter into that relationship because there is reluctance to being on this earth so we want to turn over our lives to someone else, as a way to escape. I can personally vow for that, I had a painful bunion on my right foot which manifested after marriage. I do not have any issues with it now! Amazing…

Hammer Toes are about stress, similar to clutching your toes, there is an indication of some serious reluctance to move forward.

Arches are about self and setting boundaries. Flat feet are about not having any separation between your private life and the rest of the world. High arches are all about setting boundaries (even walls!) between personal and private life.

Heels are all about being grounded, even the term “digging your heels in” means commitment and staying power, holding on no matter what.

Swollen feet and ankles are all about emotion, as edema is water retention and water is person to person relationships. Swelling of the feet occur when we fear moving forward for emotional reasons, it is just too much.

Blisters are also about emotion, as they are skin that fills up with fluid/emotion. They indicate that there is friction and there are emotional challenges “rubbing” you the wrong way. So take time and discern as to left or right? Sorry, won’t let you blame the new shoes…

If your feet hurt after you finish your day and you are resting. not on them, it is a message to stop doing so much so quickly and take time to balance!

Well, on that note, I hope you enjoyed this week’s Kick! (no pun intended). It’s time for me to go soak my feet and read my own blog! LOL

Have a wonderful week! Blessings. Catherine

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.

–Henry Ford

You need to make a commitment, and once you make it, then life will give you some answers.

–Les Brown

I understand this is a bit of a twist to the way we approach our personal weight issues, but as I have always said, your body does not have an agenda. Understanding what the metaphysical messages are regarding fat and where you carry it on your body is the first step in ANY successful weight release program.

We are all inundated right now with the New Year and countless ads on TV for every diet out there. I particularly like the new Alli ads, a pill that does not discourage eating fatty foods because it blocks 50% of the fat you eat! In this month’s Reader’s Digest it is reported that more people will die from obesity-related dis-ease than hunger. That did get my attention, although I am an avid believer that it is not about food, nor is it about exercise, at least initially.

My approach is so different from anything out there, why? Because fat is not about food, fat is about fear and protection. Why do some people carry their fat around their waist? While others carry it around their arms and their neck? Why do some people have love handles? Or some carry it everywhere? Their fat cushions them like a suit of armor? Your fat is a clue, a message for you about what issues in life are holding you back –or “weighing you down” from living your truth, from being happy.

Weight issues are as much about the emotions (energy) you accept and/or the emotions (energy) you protect. Where you carry your fat is a clue as to what issues and emotions are involved. Subconsciously, your fat cells protect you from “leaking energy”. Think of carrying fat as “energy management”, in a sense that is what this is about, and of course, color and energy management is what I focus on in my practice.

My years as a medical intuitive and hypnotist, have allowed me to work with many learning from obesity, diabetes, and related lessons. In a sense, I interpret the body’s messages so that a client can understand the connection between their life, their language, and their body.

Fat is manifested fear: fear of success, fear of intimacy, and fear of change. Where do you carry your fear? Once you are honest with yourself, discover what you are actually afraid of, and give your body permission to move forward the true release can begin.

Metaphysically, the accumulated fat on your body is communicating where your fears are based. You are either holding something in or keeping something out. Fat is protecting your energy, so I can look at location and discern the issue you are protecting with the (fat) tissue.

Color within your energy field is also an important clue, it tells me what you allow in and what you shut out. This can be experiences, people, or both. For example, those learning (and teaching) from diabetes carry their yellow energy around their middles like an inner tube or the Rings of Saturn!

Knowledge is power. When you know WHY you are holding on, it is a lot easier to give yourself permission to release the weight, and consequently, the fat. In my workshops, looking at the body part by part, is the first step in understanding what YOU are trying to communicate to YOU!

Often weight issues are manifested for what I call “course correction” meaning: your body is attempting to get your attention and get you back on track to your soul’s purpose, your life’s purpose-which is to be HAPPY. When you do not listen to the first few pounds, then it often “creeps up” or escalates, and then eventually cascades. Cascading is what I refer to as compounded lessons along with the fat manifestation, such as high blood pressure, asthma, diabetes, lower back or leg pain…they are all messages that get more and more audible!

Looking at Yourself: Part by Part

Your body is a puzzle waiting to be solved. Instead of looking at fat as a curse and a nemesis, it is now a messenger. I often say that “ the issue is in the tissue, and the tissue tells us the issue” in the case of fat, it is really about the “fat that protects the issue”.

Your Stomach: Belly Fat (yes, even the “muffin top”): This is emotionally linked to self and self-esteem. We often will gain here when we have had a major shift in our life, such as marriage, college, new job, etc. Why? We are threatened and our stomach is the most vulnerable part of our body, so we protect it with fat.

All-Over Gain is similar to a “Suit of Armor” because it is protection from everything and everyone. It represents fear of success and is manifested to keep you anchored -either in present or past issues.

Thighs and Hips: Hips are about fear of choosing a direction so you just stay put. The thighs pertain to intimacy and opening up emotionally.

Love Handles. In reality, this fat has manifested in order to protect you on an emotional level. Ironically they are called “love handles,” when in fact they have manifested to keep distance.

Buttocks: Your rear end is about making sure “you’re covered”. Fat in this area is manifested when you feel threatened. It is interesting to note that occupations requiring a certain level of accountability can contribute to this area of fat gain.

Arms: Fat arms reflect our fear in the ability to bring others close to our hearts and fear in our ability to reach out and hold often because there is a fear of rejection.

Busts: Weight around the chest and bust protects your heart center. It keeps intimacy out, and keeps yourself in. Large, fatty busts reveal that, on some level, there is fear of expressing your love, which is associated with rejection.

Throat/Chin: This indicates fear of speaking their truth. You may have a close association with a controlling individual and therefore have difficulty finding your voice. It can be a conflict between survival and truth.

My work with weight release is dedicated to your mind/body connection and healing your spirit. One of the most important components in my work and my workshops is to help you identify what you are actually telling your body. Listening to your language and realizing that your body is often just doing what you ask is a vital clue to shifting your life.

Workshops, such as the one being offered at Topsail Island address your body’s messages, but also your numerology, as well as the connections to past life triggers. Often in my work I find that past life experiences are not so much about food but more about fear of moving forward.

Discovering that connection between fear of moving forward and when the fat began to manifest never ceases to amaze me! Our bodies carry emotional memory, cell memory from our other lives and sometimes when there is an incident that has not been resolved it can surface in your current life. Often because there are parallel emotions or circumstances that “wake up” that fear or that need for protection. This is particularly true for those that gain “all of a sudden” after having been thin forever!

One example was a client that had undergone bariatric surgery and came to me when she began to gain back what she had released. This beautiful woman was regressed to a lifetime where she was a Native American and she described herself as she stood on the edge of a woods, next to a shoreline to greet “new explorers” that had arrived.

The encounter ended in a brutal rape and murder. She was stabbed in the stomach and died there by the woods. When she had her surgery (stomach cut open) it triggered the emotional memory of the traumatic event. Being heavy she was protected and safe. When she became thinner, she was more attractive and felt very vulnerable so her response was to put the walls of protection back up.

This situation is where hypnosis is wonderful in working with the subconscious mind to recondition the old behavioral patterns. Again, knowledge IS power, and sometimes understanding where the behavior patterns originate can help you to consciously redirect your language and your thoughts. It is your spiritual right to be happy and your body will help you in any way it can.

If you are interested in attending my Topsail Workshop that will be focusing on these principles as well as many other aspects of the weight release journey, we have opened up the second adjoining condo ON THE OCEANFRONT! WOO!HOO!

And don’t worry, it isn’t about food or exercise, so you won’t have THAT kind of workout! This wonderful weekend is an “inner workout” offering quality time with me and a phenomenal group of people. It will be a wonderful gift for you or someone you love! Blessings to you! Have a wonderful week.

February 6 and 7, 2010, Topsail Island, NC. Call Bryn Blankinship for details 910-620-0110 www.hypnoticsolutions.org

The greatest achievement was at first and for a time a dream….

Dreams are the seedlings of realities.

–James Lane Allen

Dreamers are the architects of greatness. Their brains have wrought all human miracles….Your homes are set upon land a dreamer found. The pictures on its walls are visions from a dreamer’s soul….they are the chosen few-the blazers of the way-who never wear doubt’s bandage on their eyes.

–Herbert Kaufman

Dreams. Hmmm…How many times growing up were you told to “get your head out of the clouds” or to “stop day dreaming”? It also goes beyond just setting dreams and goals, it is about residing in the energy and emotions of your dreams several times throughout your day. I remember how I used to sit in front of my phonograph (OK, I date myself here) but I would listen to certain albums, certain songs, and dream, imagine where I would be when I grew up.

The amazing part of that experience is that my life is not too far off from my John Denver songs and dreaming about my farm! I lost sight of that dream for a while, in part because I was discouraged by so many that I would never have those things “Catherine, you have no business having a farm”. My dreams did not make sense to my mother, my father, nor to others. As I continued through my education and adult life I found myself constantly trying to make myself into what others thought I should be, losing sight of who I was. But something tugged at me everytime I heard those songs and dreamed those dreams. To the point where I never listened to them anymore. But rediscovering them and listening once again made me realize that the “something” that tugged was my “Happy”. What we tend to avoid is the shifts and shakes we must do to get back on track. We are all here to find our “Happy” and unfortunately, finding your happy and making someone happy are two different things.

We lose our “happy” when we lose our dreams along the way…whether that is through compromise, keeping the peace, or the worst, needing to pursue a career for money rather than what you want to do…this is the year, 2010, to revisit what makes YOU happy, or perhaps imagine what will make you happy for the first time. Formulate some daydreams around that happy and use these dreams as fuel for change.

One little warning, and most that know me know I am not a “doom and gloom” person, but, you must be careful who you share your dreams with. I know this sounds selfish, but it is important that your dreams are reinforced and nurtured. So often they are extinguished by a parent, a friend, a spouse and we just get to a point where we feel we are too old, too tired, too “outnumbered” to persevere. Well, it is a new year, and time to either resurrect your shelved dreams OR create new ones that suit your purpose and create your “Happy”.

Day-dreaming goes beyond just imagination and formulation of a life you may or may not feel you can achieve. Day-dreaming is manifesting. It is the first step in shifting your energy and putting reality into motion. It is perhaps some of the most fun you can have without spending a dime! I have talked about manifesting and the “Magic Refrigerator” before, but not necessarily emphasized the day-dreaming component.

When you can be still, create a scenario that you desire and then imagine yourself experiencing it. Feel it with all the wonderful emotions that come with it, (I call it “feelization”…) you then shift your current energy. When that energy is raised and you have shifted your vibrations, through your “day-dreaming” you then set into motion situations and opportunities that will facilitate the fruition of those dreams!

The beauty of this is also about energy management from two different standpoints. First, raising your vibrations brings in higher, more beneficial circumstances as well as putting your dream into motion. The second benefit is to realize that you cannot solve a problem in the same energy that created it. So, if your ex, or your boss, or your sister is “pushing your buttons” and you are giving them your energy (no one can ever take it, but they can sure goad you into giving it!) shift from angst and anger to your day-dreams! It takes practice, but once you realize what they are doing, it is easier to not give them the satisfaction. It doesn’t sound “higher self” but in fact it is, you are not partaking of their invitation to bring you down energetically.

You shift your energy UP and only higher vibrations (higher energy people bringing higher energy opportunities) can reside with you in that space. That is what it means to be invisible to those who do not serve your highest good.

What are your dreams? Do you have any theme songs to coincide with them? I have songs that match my day-dreams and I listen to them in the morning when I wake up, with my ipod set to my specific playlist. I just lay there in bed and listen, play out scenarios in my head, and feel wonderful about what I visualize because I know it is closer and closer to becoming a reality every time I dream and FEEL how wonderful it is to be in that situation. My daydreams have been adjusted as they come into fruition, they actually become clearer and more detailed as to what, whom, and other peripheral details are then added.

I find as I continue on my journey and meet wonderful people with wonderful opportunities my dreams are not replaced, they are refined!

Situations and opportunities arise that I could not even begin to predict or understand, but it brings two other important points:

“Pray to God, but keep hammering”

Don’t worry about HOW you will get to your dream’s fruition, just keep visualizing you are already there.

Giving yourself stipulations or conditions is GETTING IN YOUR OWN WAY, just take the opportunities that feel good, feel right –and usually they are the”gifts”: the opportunities that fall into place.

That is where the “keep hammering” comes in! So many people out there buying in to the “Law of Attraction” and “The Secret” then criticizing it do not work toward their goals, they just wait and twiddle their thumbs. (You know what that means from my “Thumbs Up! Blog)

I can see where it can get confusing, what is the difference between “getting in your own way” and working towards your goal? The difference more than anything is about progress and continuing your journey, and that journey will hopefully be the one that carries your passion with it. Micromanaging is getting in your own way (and everyone else’s LOL).

I work hard, and I love what I do and I use the word “work” but it isn’t because it is fascinating, interesting, rewarding, and just fun. I know that every week, writing a blog, filming a video, seeing my clients, and doing at least five things to market myself every day is part of what I can do as I continue to achieve my dreams. I don’t just sit and wait for me to be “discovered” (Quit picturing Nora Desmond, I am not that old) I continually put efforts toward letting people know how talented, funny, and professional I am. And I am. I believe it, you have to in the psychic business, or as my dad used to say (and still does upon visits from the other side), “Little sister, your first vote is ALWAYS for YOU or they’ll eat you alive!” He is so right, on the confidence part, the negative scripting does need to be reworked!

I was getting in my own way when I tried to over extend myself with workshops, free talks to so many local groups, extensive phone calls, useless book signings, you name it. I also set all my intentions on clients thinking that was the only way to generate an income! I got in my own way by putting conditions on happy and conditions on abundance rather than letting the universe deliver to me what I requested AND visualized, AND put my emotional stamp on…once I figured THAT out (tell the universe what I wanted and step aside and let it work) miracles occurred on a daily basis (and still do).

Now, to add a little more to the “Magic Refrigerator” and your day-dreaming process, it is important for you to find images, phrases, and words that represent your daydreams. I take time out of my day or evening and “update” my fridge as my dreams come into fruition. I put myself into my daydreams and scenarios while I search for images, phrases, cut them out, and post them. This magnetizes them even more, particularly if you “program” your joy and emotions into the images and phrases. As you see them on the fridge, or wherever you post them, you can “go there” immediately so many times a day by just looking at them. Another subliminal benefit to the “Magic Refrigerator” is the underlying impression that we too are magnets! So I LOVE the idea of magnets holding my dreams. I play and rearrange, but also feel it all playing out as I look at my fridge every day!

If you are currently in a challenging situation, no matter how small or how HUGE, dream yourself healthy, dream yourself wealthy, most importantly, dream yourself HAPPY and watch the magic of manifesting begin. Success, happy, abundance is only a dream away! Please, if you need help or advice as to where your happy is, or help getting “unstuck”  call for an appointment. Again, if you are in a 9 or a 5 Personal year, make an appointment, both are about new directions and shifts. “Cosmic Academic Advising” is my specialty! All my best for you this week and EVERY week! Blessings, Catherine

New seed

is faithful.

It roots deepest

in the places

that are most empty.

-Clarissa Pinkola Estes

Can you believe it is 2010?! This is a bit of a repeat of last January, but there are many new subscribers this year and this is something worth repeating and it has been revised for 2010 vibrations. Many of you that have had a session with me know that I take your birth name and your date of birth when I do a reading. I am not a numerologist, but I do look at some of your numbers to help me tune in and to answer some of your questions. Numbers have a vibratory frequency, just as color-and I can tune in much the same way. Believe it or not, you DID come down with directions and your numerology is an important aspect of whom you are and why you are here.

Just as every color has a corresponding keyword, and a corresponding energy center so does every number. Every number over 9 is reduced to a single digit. Understanding these numbers provides insight to your lessons for 2010.

2010 is a 3 vibration (2+0+1+0=3)

Whereas a 1 vibrational year is about new beginnings, think of it as planting a seed, a 2 year is about germination-much is happening underneath but you don’t see any results. (That was last year as an 11/2). This year is a 3 vibrational year so it is about new growth and a time to start enjoying the efforts of the past two years. Think of the economy and what has happened over the past 18 months, it all makes sense that we are now slowly coming out of the soil. So, this is the year to start enjoying life and all it has to bring! 3 is all about expression, joy, and also a number for manifestation (the trinity represents: beginning, middle and end).

3 is also about communication, joy, and this next year will be about social interaction, creative imagination, and diversity. It will be a wonderful year, full of happiness and opportunity for new friendships and inspiration to start a new creative project, whether it is the arts, writing that book, preparing the new workshop, or just redefining what makes you happy and then doing it.

So many speak of 2012, 2012 is a 5 vibrational year (read below and understand where the doom and gloom comes from), Last year, 2009 was the year to create what we want to shift in 2012. We are in control, we are the creators and we are inherently good. THIS YEAR, 2010 is the year to nurture the power of friendship, creativity, joy and well being. Hold good thoughts and please do not perpetuate fear for 2012, it will be the year for changes and shifts, but not doom and gloom.

Want to figure out what vibrations are surrounding you now? Simply reduce the group of numbers from your day, month and THIS year to find out what vibration you are entering in 2010.

Here is my example: My birth day is November, 21

I add up my numbers, November is an 11 month, so my day is 11+21 and this year is 2010, add them up right across the board, for example:

1+1+2+1+2+0+1+0=8

I would say that I am personally going to have a phenomenal year! It is all 1’s and 2’s adding up to the money/business number of 8! I also think I am going to be very busy. Life is good!

I am entering an 8 vibrational year.

I will then look below at the very insightful information provided below and see what my theme for the year will be! Of course, if you would like a thorough numerological analysis, I can run a chart for you which will take you through each month of 2010. The compatibility charts are wonderful, they sure help understand what is going on with your partner! You don’t take it so personal if you know they are in a 7 month or 7 year or whatever year for whatever reason.

I run charts and e-mail them to you, as they are about 50 pages and very thorough. You can contact me via e-mail (for spam purposes my e-mail is spelled out: (cpoole at catherinepoole dot com) or call me at 276-206-0627 for more info. ENJOY and send this link to your friends to have them figure out what their year will bring!

1 Year: New Beginnings, Independence and Individuality.

2009 for you was all about finishing up old business and now, with this new year you are starting fresh. In essence the quote I chose for this blog is about you and your new life! Do not look at your losses as losses, look instead at the closet cleaning (click here to refer to that blog entry) to help you process and understand. A 1 vibration is also about independence and individuality so it is a year for you to shine!

In a sense you will be planting seeds for new projects, relationships, perhaps moving to a new location (business/and/or personal) starting a new career, or new class. Sometimes new seeds of change are slight and not noticeable, and it is only later on down the road that reflection will tell you different. Accept all new people and circumstances as if they may be something significant later on, they very well may be in a 1 Personal Year.

2 Year: Cooperation, Creativity and Person-to Person Relationships

After the last two years of change (the 9 cycle as well as the 1) and redefining who you are in the world, this year is about making friendships and establishing relationships. 2 is a year for peace and I equate it with the germination process of the seed that was planted last year.

It can be a year to nurture your creativity and really tap into your intuitive side, since 2010 is an 3 vibration you have that extra boost of self-expression and social interaction thrown in. Understand just because it is a year for cooperation and relationships does not mean you will have a year of perfect harmony, although that will be the ultimate goal-you will be offered opportunities to learn and nurture relationships. Take a breath and be diplomatic and all will be wonderful.

3 Year: Communication, Self Esteem, Honoring Self, Education

A 3 year is a year of expression and personal growth, that seed was germinating last year in your 2 Personal year, this year it emerges from the soil. Communication in all areas: written word and verbal and creative communication can come to the forefront in a 3 year. 3 life paths are known as comedians and class clowns, so it makes sense that a 3 year is about entertaining and being entertained. It is a year of fun, meeting new people and redefining how you fit into the greater scope of things. I often tell clients it is about networking in order to prepare you for next year, which is about foundations.

4 Year: Family, Foundations, Organization

A 4 year is about being organized and focusing on your foundation, meaning family, friends, as well as career, the things that define your life. It is a year of opportunities, and I have read that it can be called the “Survival of the Fittest” year, because it is all about cultivating what you have planted.

Whereas last year (a 3 year) was about meeting people and networking (or even about dating) this year is about commitment. It will be a year in which you will feel supported by family and friends and a year to build, proverbially as well as literally. Define and establish your foundations and work to build them into something lasting.

5 Year: My heart goes out to you, call me for a reading. LOL!

Just checking to see if you are paying attention. A 5 year will be the best year of your life, as it represents freedom and adventure. It will also be the most chaotic year of your life as it represents freedom and adventure.

5 is all about change, dynamic changes. You will have many surprises and I equate this year for you like a roller coaster ride. Hold on and enjoy it, even if your are holding on by your knuckles. You will be called in to give it a “God Minute” more than once, to remind you what a “God Minute” is, click here! When the year is all said and done, it will have been the most dramatic shift in a long while, but heh, “shift happens” right? This will be a year to literally go with the flow and enjoy. I equate 5 with “sex, drugs, and rock and roll” so it is a year to be careful with excess, including food! Did I say, “have fun?” I mean it, enjoy the ride.

6 Year: Balance, Harmony, Nurturing, Caregiving

Congratulations, you made it through last year! (and many of you DID set up a reading with me to get through it). After the chaos and shifts of last year, this is the year to catch your breath and see actual progress. Even with some of the financial challenges the past year or two have brought, this year is a step up for you as you begin to balance work with family and community.

A 6 year can bring renewal, whether it is with relationships or redefining work, even major career opportunities, so if you lost your job, got out of a long relationship, or you got passed over for that promotion, take heed, it was just the 5 vibrations of last year getting you reading for the opportunity of a lifetime. 6 is the most balanced number in the system, so take this time to reflect and adjust your panties from last year’s ride.

7 Year: The Faith-Seeker, Spirituality, Solitude, Introspection

If you are in a 7 year or know someone in a 7 year please understand this is the year for self introspection-so don’t automatically reach for the Prozac. It is a time of introspection and revelation and not necessarily a “go-getter” year on a material level. It is a time of inner-growth and a time to learn to allow. Take a breath and let the past six years take care of you for a change. You are important and it is time to put the oxygen mask on you so next year you can take care of everything and everybody! It is a good time to look after you on ALL levels. I just shifted out of a 7 year and it was a year of product development, spiritual insight and lots of time alone reflecting on where I wanted to take the rest of my life. It is important to take care of you. Check out the Holiday 101 series for hints to help you take care of you.

8 Year: Business, Money, Resurgence, Renewal (yes a GREAT year)

Last year was all about self and introspection, this year is about business and career. 8 is the number of business and the number of money. This is a year out of the financial tunnel and into a cycle of harvest. It is a year to be involved and reap the harvest of business and material wealth. It is a powerful year and your intuition should be on full blower. If you have been plagued with health issues this is the number that represents the “phoenix out of the ashes” so believe in healthy and be healthy, miracles can occur in an 8 year (they can any time in my book, but there’s extra help for you now).

9 Year: Endings, Wrapping Up Loose Ends, “Cleaning House”

Many will get a bit nervous when I speak of a 9 year being about endings. In fact it is one of excitement, afterall, last year was an 8 year and brought with it success and the opportunity for renewal, this year you make room for those changes. It is about letting go and releasing unnecessary stuff. 9 is also the number of the humanitarian and therefore you may feel the need to help others on a larger scale. This is the end of a 9 year cycle for you, so there will be changes and HOW you face the obstacles can make all the difference!

Listen to your guidance, listen to the feather before it is an elephant dropped on your head! (Yes, I have a blog for that too, actually more than one! click here…) This year is about implementing changes that will bring about new beginnings and new seeds being planted next year in your 1 cycle.

Have a blessed year and please do not hesitate to call or e-mail for a reading! Thank you for yet another wonderful year, I honestly love what I do! I hope to see you in one of my workshops this year! Take care. Catherine

All of energy, all of power, all that can exercise any influence over your life, is in your hands through the power of thought. God-good-is the only power there is. Your mind is part of His mind. He is “the Father that is within you that doeth the work.” So don’t put any limit upon His Power by trying to limit your capabilities. You are not in bondage to anything. All your hopes and dreams can come true.

Time after time throughout the Bible we are told that the battle is not ours-but the Lord’s. But like all children, we know better than our Father how our affairs should be handled, so we insist upon running them ourselves. Is it any wonder they get so tangled as to leave us in the depths of discouragement?

–both from Robert Collier The Secret of the Ages

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I speak often about manifesting and raising your vibrations in order to attract the right people and the right circumstances to you so you can move forward. For some of you out there, still seeing manifesting as a challenge, I have a suggestion. Believe me, I have had my moments, just as you have, and more than once I have been told by the one man that can get away with it, Dr. Tom Lavelle: “maybe you ought to go back and read your own blog”.

There are many ways to change patterns and behaviors. In my work, I help you find the answers, but in reality that is only part of the journey. Albeit, the most important part IS to find out the why, but often the question I receive after an intuitive session is “what next?”

As I continue to grow and develop my practice, I am more and more convinced that the power to change is within each of us. Our willingness to change can be blocked by fear, scripting, and negative patterns, as well as the energy of the people around us. The bottom line is, that we get in our own way. Our logical mind cancels out the manifesting or replaces what we want with what we BELIEVE we can get. And often we believe we will get what we deserve. We settle for what we logically think can happen.

One way to bypass the “blocks of logic” is through hypnosis. This week I invite you to shift your perception of hypnosis, step out of the realm of smoking cessation and weight loss and look at the OTHER benefits of hypnosis. First and foremost, hypnosis gives you the tools to help you shift.

The “CH” after my name: Catherine Poole, CH stands for “Certified Hypnotist”. I am a member of the National Guild of Hypnotists (NGH) and also serve proudly as a faculty member in good standing. I decided to write about hypnosis this week because I have had quite a few inquiries about hypnosis, and I really don’t advertise it. I realize I should, because I believe in it. My friend and colleague, Janice Manson states on her website: “Hypnosis is the fast, safe, easy, drug-free, and totally legal way to achieve the positive, lasting change you’ve been searching for!”™

Well, it is. And for those of you that are working with affirmations, you are working with hypnosis, as they are a form of self-hypnosis. Color can also a method of self-hypnosis, particularly when coupled with an affirmation, and like affirmations, color works on several levels within your physical, mental and spiritual planes. Self-hypnosis works IF you are motivated -self-motivated, that is. When in need of a jumpstart, think about visiting a hypnotist to help you get “unstuck”.

In August, 2007 I took a course sponsored through NGH to become a Diabetes Motivational Coach. C. Devin Hastings taught a wonderful two-day course which opened my eyes to the vast benefits of hypnosis. There is an emotional basis for every dis-ease, including diabetes. Even though I had worked as a medical intuitive for years prior I was naïve enough to think “knowledge is power, you know why you are sick, now you can fix it”.

It could be that simple in reality, if the clients believed it -but how DO you get to the believable part?! Devin’s class focused on helping clients with their A1C levels by giving them tools to manage stress, helping them with healthy food choices, water intake, many things that those learning from diabetes have to be conscious of, but often are not. So, hypnosis is a tool to help you get on track and keep on track with smart, healthy choices.

The other secret of hypnosis, successful hypnosis, is to set your sights on attainable, believable goals. Just as you would affirmations, in fact, I often refer to hypnosis as “accelerated affirmations” because they do jumpstart the process.

As an intuitive, I can help a client understand the emotional origins of their tissue issues, as a hypnotist I can help a client achieve the shift he or she needs to make to ensure lasting changes.

If you look at the emotional basis of dis-ease and can bring about a shift in thinking with hypnosis about your body, your life, and/or your relationships why would that not have a positive impact on your health? Hypnosis does not replace your traditional medical treatment, and often your doctor can refer you to a hypnotist if you have been diagnosed with something and would like to complement your current care. Hypnosis is a true partnership in the mind/body connection.

Stress is a major cause of many health issues and dis-ease. It would make sense to reduce stress and improve health. I would like to go further, as it is not just making an appointment with a hypnotist to reduce stress, it is about discovering the origin, the TRUE origin of the stress and then employing hypnosis to allow you to bypass your logical, conscious mind and access your subconscious mind so you “unlearn” negative beliefs and replace the negative with positive beliefs.

How many of you out there KNOW you need to drink more water to improve your weight release efforts? Have you tried hypnosis to help you hydrate? Many do not think of hypnosis in that light. How about using hypnosis to shift the way you think about exercise? Hypnosis can provide the gift of shift.

How many of you have been attempting to shift your current circumstances but are still feeling stuck? Or perhaps you need some help overcoming a fear or a habit? Hypnosis can also be used to improve performance and success.

Where does Past Life Regression fit into all of this? Past life regression is a form of hypnosis. With some clients our first session is a regression in order to find the root cause of their situation, then we follow up with hypnosis to help replace previous scripting with new, positive beliefs. You are in control at all times with hypnosis and you will go to the time and the place that will provide you with the answers you seek. Once those answers are discovered, they can be released and new beliefs, dreams and goals can be established.

Don’t worry about whether or not you can be hypnotized, have you ever driven from one location to another and thought “I am here already?” or if you have been so absorbed in something you did not hear what someone said, or were oblivious to things around you. It is a wonderful tool to help you move forward and can often be done in 4-6 sessions. So think about what you are having difficulty with and decide about whether hypnosis would be a wonderful way to help you get out of your own way!

Blessings for a wonderful week, Catherine

Believe. No pessimist ever discovered the secrets of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.

–Helen Keller

If it wasn’t for the optimist,

the pessimist would never know how happy he wasn’t.

–Anonymous

“>Listening to your own inner dialogue in all its many forms can be so enlightening and helpful. This week I talk about hypnosis, but not about the mesmerizing techniques of a stage hypnotist, nor the mind control aspect of a spy movie from the 50’s. My objective is to help you understand how you hypnotize yourself into where you currently are stuck. Yes, you have put yourself there, and yes, you can get yourself out.

Awareness is a powerful thing! In my new DVD, Affirmations: How Manifesting Really Works! I talk about language and the power of the mind. It is a great DVD, and today’s blog is about how we have put ourselves in our current situations using the SAME techniques I offer to manifest the positive.

For example, if you smoke and cannot quit no matter what you have tried reverse your hypnosis script! I hear you now, “but Catherine, I don’t have a script” you just don’t think you do.

My mother smokes. She is 78 years of age, she quit for 25 years and started up again when my sister and her children started smoking.

She has asked several times for me to hypnotize her and I will not. Why? Because she does not want to quit, she hypnotizes HERSELF constantly and until she is ready to shift and change her script, hypnosis will not work for her.

How many of you out there have been hypnotized for weight or smoking cessation and it did not work? You were not ready, perhaps you were doing it for someone else? -this can include a doctor, or an employer, not just a loved one.

The key is: you need to be ready to do it FOR YOU and for a POSITIVE pay off. What do I mean by that? Smoking cessation should be about breathing easier, cleaner fresher breath, healthy activities and healthy body, even something simpler like “I want to taste my food” not because “I don’t want to get cancer”.

My mom is already being hypnotized, she sits, she enjoys her cigarette, she tells me (and tells herself) repeatedly (hypnotically) “I love it”. We have also talked about what her emotional attachment to smoking is, because help with addiction is often about identifying your first emotional anchor with a habit, whether it is drinking, tobacco or other so-called vices we would like to shift. Identifying the anchor helps you identify your constant verbal (conscious) reinforcement, which can THEN be shifted to another pay off.

With smoking, mom began when she was 12 behind the garage in the alley with her friends. She felt grown-up, but more importantly, the emotional anchor was about being in control and being “hip”. When she began smoking again there were parallel circumstances in her life where she felt she needed to be in control, but also wanted to “fit in” with the individuals, her daughter and her grandchildren. It helped her stay connected (“hip”).

So, that being said, how many of you out there hypnotize yourself into staying stuck? When you smoke do you say continuously “I just can’t seem to quit” or worse, are you telling yourself you are “killing yourself” or refer to your cigarettes as “coffin nails” or worse? Think about what you are programming and how you are creating a repeated hypnotic suggestion.
Louise Hay, founder of Hay House Publishing talks about self-talk in one of her books, “The Power Is Within You.” She has my preferred method for smoking or addiction in general: bless your cigarettes! I tell my clients her philosophy before we even begin a hypnosis session for smoking, just as I tell a weight release client to bless their belly! Why? Because you are scripting/hypnotizing, yourself into doing the opposite of what you want to achieve. You alone are responsible for your actions.

I ask that you shift your thoughts, then your language and then your behavior will follow. So listen to your self talk when you light up, take a drink, eat something you feel you shouldn’t…then bless it and add that you no longer need it…or tell yourself it is OK to have some and you will save some for later. Those that just commented in their head “Oh, but I couldn’t eat just one bite” take note and pat yourself on the back, you were just given a gift of insight! How often do you say that when you step up to the buffet?

I had a friend that quit smoking because he would take out the cigarette, bless it and tell himself he would save it for later, then put it back. He initially smoked, but used this method to cut way back as he blessed more often than smoked. After four months or so he realized he hadn’t smoked but a handful of cigarettes… but never really identified himself as quitting.

How is that? Hypnosis. AND a very positive approach, his method was subtle and not the punishment of cold turkey, which again is viewed negatively as punishment…like we view exercise and diet as punishment. Also many of us like to have control and rebel when we HAVE TO do something, so cutting back, or ramping up an activity or a habit and using hypnosis to instill and maintain motivation is a wonderful tool. And yet another script in your head is (I caught it in my head as I wrote this…)

“if you tell me I can’t have it, I want it all the more!”

HAH! Hypnosis right there!)

A funny example of how we keep ourselves stuck is in the old 70’s movie Airplane! When Lloyd Bridges kept saying throughout the movie “I picked the wrong time to quit drinking” and again, “I picked the wrong time to quit smoking” and so on…the hypnosis in this is that he has convinced himself he needs those things to cope with stress.

What are you telling yourself?

Are you programming yourself to keep up with the very thing you are trying to shift?

Even something as innocent as “I will quit when I am not so stressed” is still telling yourself that you can only handle stress one way. When you hear yourself say something to that effect when you are eating, drinking or smoking shift to something more positive and beneficial such as “Sitting and taking a few deep breaths is the best method for my stress relief” or something along those lines. You are shifting your pay off and eventually you will really do it. The key word here, eventually again, life is a process!

I am a certified hypnotist with the National Guild of Hypnotists, a wonderful and credible organization. If you need help identifying and shifting a script there are many wonderful colleagues that can help. I would like to give you a few examples and suggestions that I find common in my practice and common in my own experiences! I am confident that this will help you turn some issues around.

For Smoking Cessation:

“I bless this cigarette and no longer need it in my body”

“I bless this cigarette and choose to save it for later”

“I bless this cigarette and only need a taste” (take a puff or two and throw the rest away)

“I bless this cigarette and smoke less and less each day”

Think about how many times a day you will say this if you are even a half pack a day smoker and said it every time you lit up, or even better every time you took a puff! Repetition creates success, that is how affirmations work!

Weight Release, Exercise

First, I refer to exercise as manifesting. I personally use this time to listen to my “theme music” and dream about what I want to do and where I want to go in life. It is one of the few times of the day I have completely to myself, so I focus on that as a GIFT rather than focus on it as punishment. Here are some phrases you may want to adapt:

“Exercise is like a ‘shower for my insides’”

“I feel so clean and empowered afterwards.”

“I love me and how I feel when I exercise”

“It is safe to move forward”

These are some good mantras to use to get you going and keep you moving. Create your own, I envisioned myself releasing weight with each step and associated the walking/jogging with release. Not just fat, but everything else in my life that no longer served me was left on the side of the track! Visit some of my other blogs to help you with visualizing. “Catherine, Your Other Left…” is a great one to accompany this week’s Kick! Several others are As if by magic…about my magic refrigerator,  Don’t Worry, Be Happy! and The Power of Feelization is a “how to” on manifesting. The DVD on Affirmations would also be a great reference and a nice gift for someone you know that is struggling to get “unstuck”.

Diet/Water

Here is another area I would like to address where many of us do not realize how we hypnotize ourselves into our own behaviors. I mentioned before about “ramping up” an activity, drinking water is a good example. I hear so many say “I hate the taste of water” or “I can’t drink water” even “I don’t drink enough water” well that admission is fine, but what are you consistently telling yourself? You are telling yourself not to drink enough water!

So turn it around and come up with some benefits of hydrating yourself. For one thing, particularly when dieting (weight release) seems to be all about taking things away, water is something you can do for yourself! Right there is a shift. I tell my weight release clients to do two things, drink more water as it is healthy and hydrates the body and eat at least one apple per day. So, immediately there is a benefit and a positive affirmation script to focus your thoughts on.

“I love water it keeps me healthy and hydrated”

“Water helps me melt the fat away” is one of my favorites, then every time to go to the bathroom you tell yourself the same thing-so you double up on your script.

I hope this helps you look at your language and your life a little differently. Affirmations are a wonderful tool to help you achieve any goal you create. The key is to see yourself ALREADY HAVING ACHIEVED YOUR SUCCESS every time you say your affirmation. Again, if you want to know more about the affirmation process and how it helps with manifesting, please order my DVD entitled “Affirmations”. It will give you some wonderful insight into how the process works and what your role and your language plays in the manifesting process.

To understand is to forgive.

-French proverb

To forgive is to set a prisoner free

and discover that the prisoner was you.

-Lewis B. Smedes

I do hope everyone had a wonderful week, I often keep my eyes and ears open to see what would resonate as a good Kick! This past Sunday (yes, Happy Easter) I sat with my coffee and watched my favorite weekly program, Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood while the kids devoured their Easter baskets. There was a fascinating segment about forgiveness, and it is still sticking with me today, so I thought I would throw in my two cents.

The story was about one horrific drunk driving accident that took out seven members of a college cross country team. It continued to describe one mother who forgave the young man that created the accident, and killed her son and another father who refuses to forgive the young man for the death of his son. What a dichotomy of lessons! The father feels that to forgive would mean his son’s death (and life) were in vain. He chooses to carry those emotions with him. The mother has embraced the young man that killed those college athletes, and they talk to groups about forgiveness and drunk driving and other related subjects.

In the segment, they explored forgiveness from different religious viewpoints, but I did not feel anything was answered to my satisfaction. As a medical intuitive, forgiveness is in the forefront of many tissue issues, anything from cancer to obesity. I have had many experiences helping others attain an understanding about forgiveness. This week is my perspective on the forgiveness process and perhaps it will help you understand the unique role of forgiveness in our lives.

How do you know you need to work on forgiveness? I explain to clients that if there is emotion there, any type of emotion between you and another soul, then there is still an issue to be resolved. When you feel nothing, harbor nothing and do not give thought to the person or the situation, it is resolved karmically.

How do you get to that point? The point of no emotion? Well, in a way it works backwards from the Law of Attraction! Remember that you use emotion to magnify what you want? (that blog was entitled, “Feelization” ) to cut ties and resolve you need to use objective reasoning and understanding to pull out the emotion. You don’t have to forget, we learn from mistakes, you just don’t need to give it any emotion (any energy!).

Forgiveness is not an act, it is a process.

Forgiveness is a subject wrought with many emotions and it is a process not a subject in and of itself. It is about understanding other people as spiritual beings creating human interactive experiences so all involved can learn about the array of emotions and energies that are involved in the earth experience. So forgiveness, true forgiveness is not an act, as so many faiths refer to it, it is a process, but it is a process of understanding and in that realization, it is a about perspective.

Allowing yourself to objectively look at another’s perspective of a situation or incident that brought you pain or grief is not an easy task. In my practice I often explain about the forgiveness factor and our human evolvement. In conducting past life regressions, it is important to emphasize that forgiveness is the impetus for the process of regression. Many think past life regression is all about fun and visiting a previous life, but it is so much more than that. It is about forgiveness and leaving the pain behind. In some of my clients, it has been about literally leaving the pain behind, in that lifetime and in that body!

In a regression, the highlights of that life are reviewed and the relationships are examined. I call the recall of relationships as “looking at the between” which is about the emotional memory that takes root between two souls. The true healing takes place generally with the review and search for explanations and higher wisdom after experiencing the death process of a particular lifetime.
Many clients are no longer afraid of death or dying after having a regression and understanding what takes place “on the other side”. Well, what does take place? Hopefully, if I do my job right (and your free will is “free-willing”) forgiveness will take place!

With a regression, understanding of the impetus behind behavior or relationships can be revealed. It is liberating to so many to understand why their father behaved the way he did toward them, or why they never liked so and so…but more importantly, you are gaining tools of wisdom and tools of forgiveness in the process. Why? because you are often getting a broader perspective of the situation.

Another tidbit of wisdom to help you understand how forgiveness works, and what I would love to impart on those of you out their harboring negative feelings or emotions for someone…is to understand the role of a panoramic life review.
What is that? Dannion Brinkley wrote a book, “Saved by the Light” in which he described his death, the process and his re-entry. I have had numerous clients that have experienced “NDE’s” or Near Death Experiences, and they describe their experiences in the same manner, you examine your life with your guides and angels with you.

You have a review of your life, from cradle to grave and how that life influenced and shifted all you came in contact with. It does not stop there; it is also the ripple effect of your actions, good as well as not so good. It is a learning tool, and earth is a classroom. Remember in last week’s blog, I mentioned about how I always knew we judged ourselves when we died? Well think of it that way. You not only see your actions (good and bad) but you FEEL what you made others feel, a thousand fold, and the ripple effect thereof.

How great is that?! Particularly if you live your life to bring joy and love to others. I examine my intent with my actions continuously; to make sure I am in line with my spirit. So, what does this have to do with forgiveness? Well, why do we have victim impact statements in the court systems? Because we want that “SOB” to know how he impacted our lives, ruined family, ruined jobs, on and on and on…the news is, they will know!
The other news is,

God can conduct a better “victim impact statement” than any of us can!
That is really what “give it to God” is all about.
That is really what forgiveness is all about.

Allow others to understand and learn the lessons of their own actions and stop giving others control of your life. When you harbor ill will or negative energy, they don’t care, they can’t feel it. And to top it off, they probably don’t have your ulcers, or your tissue issues! Becoming comfortable in your misery, like the father I spoke of at the beginning of this blog, usually means you bury the resentment and let it fester.

It is time to
understand
release
and
allow

Allow yourself to move forward in love.

I am not perfect, I will be to the point of true forgiveness when I stop saying, “OK, I bless you and send you love, but just wait until your life review…” before I release, but hey! I am human too, (and a Scorpio) so once I learn to drop off the life review as a threat, then I will be ready for walking on that water! lol

Have a great week, I hope this information helps you release and move forward in love.  All my best, Catherine