Stress vs. Flow model of Mind/Body/Spirit

Continuing with Michelle Bersell’s (see previous blog) line of reasoning, if your path is blocked you can make that block part of the path. She says that the “stone on your path is not a stumbling block if you read what is written on it.” When we treat that stone as an obstacle or a stumbling block it is stress which is stemming the flow of the path. That is resistance. When we practice acceptance, and ‘read what is written on the stone’: that is Flow. We move congruently forward on our mission.

When we accept and experience life as Flow we remove the resistance stumbling blocks that are the mass that weighs us down. The body part of our Mind/Body/Spirit slows our mind and chokes our spirit. Just as a ray of light turns to mass when a photon is captured by being measured, as we experience stress and flow we become heavier and lighter accordingly.

Mission Possible

Getting past previous self-doubts and fears clears the way, and makes the discovering and pursuit of your mission possible. Aligning yourself, your passions, all of you in body, mind and spirit congruently with your mission make your Mission Possible. It is like taking your automobile out of “park” (or reverse) and putting it in Drive. In terms of the Energy Flow model we can now move forward on our mission the positive energy of positive emotions.

At times nagging fears or self-doubts may threaten your congruently Positive Flow with their negativity. When this happens, Michelle Bersell shows us an elegant way to re-frame that negative emotion and actually use its energy in a positive direction. Her advice is to “Feel Every Emotion as Love” (F.E.E.L.) 1- You need to recognize the positive intent of your fear (most fears are from childhood where they occurred to keep you safe, but are no longer true) 2- recognize that negative emotion is outdated but has a positive emotion message of love. As you become conscious of this the emotion becomes positive, and empowering. Michelle has a four step process for this she explains on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wIfkLvj3E6k&feature=player_embedded .

Whenever a negative emotion threatens, turn it around and make it positive by using Michelle’s neat re-framing technique! Michelle also has a F.E.E.L. training video that she provides to us for FREE here: http://www.michellebersell.com/feel-kit/training1.html . Thank You Michelle!

What is your Mission?

Do you have a direction for your life, a mission? If so you are to be congratulated! Many of us are too caught up in the downstream flow of life as it occurs to pay much mind to where we are going. Others may never have considered having a mission, or felt empowered enough to make the difference that having a mission implies. But it also implies direction, flow, and happiness in pursuit of a worthwhile goal. And it is something unique to you.

Chris and Janet Atwood, co-authors of The Passion Test suggest that if you follow your passions they will lead you to your life’s purpose, your mission. They have a website that is devoted to helping you along "the effortless path to discovering your life purpose:" http://www.thepassiontest.com/TPT/Home/index.cfm . They have a FREE “passion test” and helpful information about discovering and pursuing your mission.

Marci Shimoff, co-author with Jack Canfield on Chicken soup for the Woman’s Soul best selling series has also written Happy for no Reason. She suggests we can look for happiness and love from within ourselves, and bring that to the table. Some YouTube video interviews explain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u_V74zL6Fo8 and part 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&v=VXERNViRi9k&NR=1 . Marci offers some FREE coaching/newsletter at: http://www.happyfornoreason.com/Home.asp .

Perhaps we can bring/find our mission to what we are already doing; as Marci suggests. We find happiness and love, important ingredients of Mission, Within. The other ingredient that Marci and the Atwood’s, along with all the great Psychologists and spiritual leaders mentioned the previous posts is service to others. And the Scriptures agree, when we serve others, we serve God.

Purpose-driven Life

What will You Do? This question posed in the previous post is there for each of us to answer in our own individual way. Mostly we don’t pay attention. Or answer it superficially “I’m going to the store” or “I’m going to fix dinner” while on autopilot. Rick Warren, who wrote the all-time#1 best-selling book A Purpose Driven Life writes about a deeper, spiritual answer; the meaning in and for your life. He explains it on a TedTalk here: http://www.ted.com/talks/rick_warren_on_a_life_of_purpose.html . What on earth are you here for and where is your life force leading you; What is your Mission?

Victor Frankl, who was a holocaust survivor, psychotherapist and university professor, wrote about this in his famous book Man’s Search for Meaning: “Everyone has his own specific vocation or mission in life; everyone must carry out a concrete assignment that demands fulfillment. Therein he cannot be replaced, nor can his life be repeated. Thus, everyone's task is unique as is his specific opportunity to implement it.” Following is a short TedTalk excerpt of Frankl on this subject: http://www.ted.com/talks/viktor_frankl_youth_in_search_of_meaning.html

In terms of our body/mind/spirit positive energy flow model, mission is critical. Our mission is what we love, really, what we give our life for. It is the God-given positive direction for our life. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi has been studying the peak experiences and Flow of those creatively pursuing their mission in life as he relates in his book Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience. Mihaly finds that flow is greatest when doing something that helps others, to be able to work to our heart’s content on a mission. He relates this in his TedTalk: http://blog.ted.com/2008/10/23/creativity_fulf/ .

So the answer to “What will you do?” may well be found in your mission, or perhaps in finding your mission. And as Mihaly suggests, happiness flows best in the service of others.

Positive Thinking is not enough

Positive Thinking is not enough. The battle is only half won once we clear out the negative emotions; we need to take action steps along our life’s journey. We need to continue on our mission. Tony Robbins points us in this critical direction in his TedTalk: http://www.ted.com/talks/tony_robbins_asks_why_we_do_what_we_do.html . We need to make three action step decisions: 1) What am I going to focus on? 2) What does it mean? 3) What am I going to do? AND WE NEED TO DO IT EVERY MOMENT, IN THE MOMENT.

Given the above, and that we have cleared sufficient blocks to Flow, we need to set, start, or continue our life mission. As Tony suggests, progress is made with action steps, which occurs in the NOW (right now!) Eckhart Tolle, coming from an entirely different direction, would agree- your power is in the now. And in Truth, there is no other time but Now.

What will you do?

Body/Mind/Spirit: Maintaining and Encouraging Flow

Clearing the blocks to positive energy flow, and maintaining the clear path- job #1- opens the energy pathways. Once opened to the positive energy flow the “society” of mind/body/spirit is free to progress. However this is only half the story. Thus far we are kind of “in neutral” without a strong positive direction. By all means we continue to use the techniques on these related issues as they crop up. Also we can call on positive emotions to encourage positive energy flow.

Positive emotions are known to produce physical and mental well-being. Sarah Pressman, assistant professor of psychology at KU and Gallup senior research associate report about a Gallup World Poll study in which researchers analyzed data involving more than 150,000 adults “showing that positive emotions such as happiness, enjoyment are unmistakably linked to better health.”

“Laughter is the best medicine.” We have all heard that; and Norman Cousins credits laughter, along with medical supervision and vitamin C with curing his “incurable” disease. Love is essential for an infant’s well-being, as many studies now show. The child within each of us still needs that love. Even in the absence of someone currently in our life to give or receive love, in our imagination we can give ourselves (and others just as profitably) that love as well as forgiveness and blessings.

There is indeed Power in Positive Thinking.

Clearing remaining subconscious energy blocks

Even after the more obvious sources of stress have been identified and cleared by EFT, NLP or other techniques- there is more to be done to maintain a stress-free state. There may be times when you are uneasy or fearful about a situation but can’t pin down what it is. Odds are there is a subconscious fear lurking within. These free-floating anxieties may be related ghosts of issues dealt with previously, perhaps in slightly different forms.

EFT and NLP case studies often find that new issues appear after the initial issues are cleared. Gary Craig (EFT founder) likens this to “peeling the layers off an onion.” An issue may be cleared up with tapping and a new issue pops up that needs to be dealt with. This may happen repeatedly until enough “layers” are removed and the core issue appears; once the core issue is resolved the block is fully cleared and Flow is re-established.

With Flow established positive energy enables positive thinking, forward progress, and manifestation to take place.