One of my favourite Christmas presents this year is a little book called gratitude prayers by June Cotner. Each poem or excerpt is packed with an abundance of images, thoughts, emotions, beauty; there is nothing cliché in this book.
I offer you one that made me smile today:
No Need To Worry
Good morning
This is God!
I will be handling all of your problems today.
I will not need your help -
So have a great day.
- Author Unknown
I was thinking you might like to know how all of this began…?
It was January and I was sitting in an auditorium listening to the morning speaker. I had no expectations for the hour and a half talk as I didn’t really know what the topic was all about. The speaker,Todd Ritchie (www.theanswermodel.com) started to talk about the brain and how it is hard-wired and how important safety and security are to the actual mechanisms of the brain. Of course I knew this on a counselling level, but I had never thought about it on a biological one.
I had attended previous workshops on the brain over the years so I had a baseline understanding, but what I hadn’t figured out was how to put the two concepts together — how to meld the biology of the brain with my counselling practice. Suddenly, I was sitting up and paying attention, trying to absorb as much as I could.
I went to a second session Todd was leading instead of attending the one I had signed up for, and I gathered more ideas on how to put what I had just learned into practice.
The next day in my office, I jumped in and began to work with my new tools, connecting the brain’s biology with my counselling skills. I stumbled around a bit, but at the end of the first session, what I saw in my first adolescent client’s face was hope. I was hooked!
As I worked with more clients —teenagers, adults and families — and consulted with Todd regularly, I also worked on myself. This new filter clarified where I had come from, how I got to where I was, and how to move forward and live the life I really wanted based on my values as opposed to my environment. This understanding has led to an amazing calm and a sense of joy that I cannot easily put into words.
And the ripple effect has been magical. My relationships with my husband, children, extended family and friends have grown to a level that I could not have imagined possible. It has been truly transformational.
With such positive results, among my clients and myself, I had to share my new understanding of the brain and how to break old habits and forge new connections. I started to bring my friends and family into the loop. The feedback was so positive and rewarding. Before long I began to get requests to walk and talk with friends, the friends of friends, and extended family.
I decided it was time to take my practice to the next level and create Walk and Talk.
And, here I am.
Here is something I learned from Shawn Achor (The Happiness Advantage):
I practice these daily and they truly work:
1. Add 3 intentional smiles to your day
2. At the beginning or end of each day, remember 3 things you have been grateful for over the past 24 hours (be specific)
3. At the end of the day, write down( or just remember in detail) your most meaningful experience of the day
4. Take 2 minutes out of your day to email, text, send a note or call someone you know
5. Fun 15 – spend 15 minutes each day doing something energetic. As you do this, remind yourself that you are doing it because it is fun, not because you have to
Enjoy!
This has been on my to-do list for months and I am finally jumping in with both feet!
I have wanted to share my passion for this counselling process, pass along insightful quotes I have read and connect with people who are curious about how to identify their emotions and choose their responses.
Here I go…
