|
Happy New Year! May 2015 be a year of blessings, joy and adventure for everyone!
When the movie "The Secret" was released in 2006, it introduced many people to a whole new world of possibilities. Yes, we CAN influence our lives by the thoughts that we think and the emotions we feel. Now, in 2015, it's becoming more generally known that we create our reality. I recently watched Anderson Cooper interview Jon Kabat Zinn, Professor of Medicine Emeritus and creator of the Stress Reduction Clinic and the Center for Mindfulness in Medicine, Health Care, and Society at the University of Massachusetts Medical School. He's been teaching and researching mindfulness meditation since 1979. People are awakening and becoming more aware. I see this in my practice of hypnotherapy and transformed life coaching, too. Perhaps, he mused, the next big movement in the United States, is toward getting our minds and emotions "in shape". Thirty years ago, very few people went to the health club. There were a few sweaty gyms where heavily muscled body builders grunted and sweated - no doubt there was lots of testosterone! Now, health clubs are numerous and people from all walks of life want to get in their daily workout, along with sauna and jacuzzi. I'm delighted to see more people moving towards working out with their minds - using meditation, self-hypnosis and other methods of consciousness-expansion and mind-training. Oprah Winfrey's staff practices transcendental meditation daily, Google, Facebook and Instagram employees are indulging in mindfulness practices. It's the next generation of exercise. Don't get left behind! Take a break from all of your technological gadgets and start exploring your mind, the most amazing gadget of all. It can lead you to feeling more peaceful, being more in touch with your heart, enjoying better health and relationships and having a lot more joy in your life. If you’d like to know more about my stories and the tools I’ve used to make it through the exciting and sometimes challenging transitions in my life, sign up for my newsletter and follow my Facebook page @KeenanWellness. Stay tuned for more blog posts at www.keenanwellness.com.
0 Comments
 Was this a dream? Could I really be sailing the azure blue waters of the Caribbean? Was this ME, anchored off the coast of the British Virgin Islands, sipping rum punch and luxuriating in the warm sunshine? Only 24 hours before I’d been enduring a bone chilling winter in the high plains of Wyoming. It’s hard to imagine how fiercely the wind can blow across the tops of the mountains at 7000 feet until you’ve experienced it. 40 below with 80 below wind chill wasn’t unusual. It took hearty people to work the oil rigs and uranium and coal mines in that environment, but that’s where my life had been 24 hours ago.
Not today, though! I looked up at the masts of the windjammer sailboat. Today the sails were down, but tomorrow we would venture off to another blissful island, enjoying some more sunshine and the camaraderie of fellow adventurists from all over the world. This was heaven to me. I wondered, “how does one get lucky enough to be able to LIVE year round somewhere like this? “ What would it take to make that decision, to plunge into the adventure and the pleasure of life in a tropical paradise? I started interviewing the people I met who lived on the islands. "What made you move here?" Did you just come on vacation and stay, or did you plan in advance, save your money and then take the plunge? I got various answers. Some had come on vacation and spontaneously abandoned their lives in the big cities, or small towns in the Midwest; some had fallen so in love with the lifestyle that they had gone home and made intricate plans – sold everything, liquidated or arranged to relocate businesses – and then moved. For the first time in my travels to tropical locales, I began to see that I COULD DO IT! There were more adventures along the way, of course. I did move to St. Thomas several years later, though, and have never regretted that great adventure! Today, I’m stepping into a new adventure. I’m learning to market my business online, and to reach people across the world from my safe haven in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I’ve experienced some stumbling blocks: my lack of experience with technology and fear of not keeping up being the major one. It’s like being immersed in a totally new culture, or speaking a different language. It’s also about tapping into the creativity that I’ve somehow let lie dormant for the past few years. I’ve been blessed with an amazing community to help me on this journey, but found that I was my own worst enemy. Nagging doubts were emerging and I was struggling to get out of a state of inertia that I’ve been caught in for several years (More stories to follow!). I decided to tap into my “courage codes”. If I had the courage and sense of adventure to move to the Virgin Islands with only a few hundred dollars in my pocket, I could certainly tap into that pioneering spirit and take the plunge into online business, couldn’t I? OF COURSE I could. Here’s how I got myself motivated and enlivened - how I tapped into my passion and courage:
If you’d like to know more about my stories and the tools I’ve used to make it through the exciting and sometimes challenging transitions in my life, sign up for my newsletter and follow my Facebook page @KeenanWellness. Stay tuned for more blog posts at www.keenanwellness.com. I woke up this morning and, as per my usual ritual, listened to a self-hypnosis recording that I'd made.
I was dozing - in and out of consciousness - that typical alpha-state between sleep and wakefulness. I was only aware of snippets of the words being said and then I heard : "you can TRUST your body now"! WOW! CAN I? That's been a big issue for me over the years - trust. What would life feel like if I believed that I could take care of myself, stand up for myself and always watch out for my highest good? Could I really trust my body to make wise choices about quality and quantity of food? Could I let down my illusory CONTROL, and RELAX in other areas of my life, too? What if I began to practice radical self-love?? Maybe if I remembered how to love myself, I could trust myself! You may think this sounds selfish, but no, just the opposite. When you engage in radical self-love, the world reaps the benefits. When you feel truly loved, from within, you automatically emanate rich nurturing feelings out into the world. You overflow with heartfelt respect and awe for the human race and the glorious universe that you inhabit. You feel CONNECTED to everyone. Today, I promise to be aware of my magnificence. I invite you to do the same. Take some conscious breaths throughout the day, and every time you do, reach inside and hug yourself. Notice how that FEELS and be thankful for yourself. Imagine that little child within you that didn't get all of the hugs that he or she wanted, and be lavish with yourself. Does this make a difference in the quality of your day? Does this awareness affect your interactions with everyone that you meet? Can you see the vulnerable child in them and reach out with compassion? Even the driver on the freeway who changes lanes without signaling? Give it a try. If you’d like to know more about my stories and the tools I’ve used to make it through the exciting and sometimes challenging transitions in my life, sign up for my newsletter and follow my Facebook page @KeenanWellness. Stay tuned for more blog posts at www.keenanwellness.com. I GOT DIVORCED A FEW DAYS AGO
I was hoping it would be an immediate sensation of cleansing - that I'd feel free and wild with lust for my new life. It took a few days, but I have begun to feel the resurgence of life and DESIRE to live life fully again. I remember hearing a story by David Whyte many years ago: about a man who carried his emotional baggage with him. He carried it on his back for many years – all of his grief, his grudges, his fears and armor were held close to him in a heavy bag. He never put it down. Over the years, the bag got bigger and bigger so that he had to drag it along behind him. One day he was getting on an elevator and he found that the door wouldn’t close because his baggage was spread all the way down the hallway. I don’t want to be THAT WAY! I am now dropping my bag off the top of a skyscraper and watching it drop down, down, down into an abyss. BYE BYE BAGGAGE! I’m a dazzling, delighted divorcee’ now. I was having a challenging time finding a new self image, but now I feel it blossoming. I claim myself back: the little girl, the successful business woman and healer, the sexy, sensuous lover and the vulnerable, creator. I am passion, now, and I want to point others in the same direction. I don’t need any ONE identity, I can be fluid, like a salmon in a stream, flowing through life, transforming with every breath if I so desire. If you’d like to know more about my stories and the tools I’ve used to make it through the exciting and sometimes challenging transitions in my life, sign up for my newsletter and follow my Facebook page @KeenanWellness. Stay tuned for more blog posts at www.keenanwellness.com. |
AuthorDenise Keenan, a master bodyworker, master hypnotherapist, certified HypnoBirthing Instructor, and certified science of the breath facilitator, has been in the healing arts profession for over thirty years. She shares wisdom on overcoming challenges, finding courage, and practicing self-love in her blog. Archives
January 2015
Categories |
RSS Feed