101 Strategies for True Health and Empowerment

PREFACE I remember waking one morning some years back and getting a very clear sense of writing about healing that arises through releasing emotional pain and building awareness. At that time I didn’t know who or what it was for. It didn’t matter. The inspiration was really strong and I trusted it. I was already teaching many of these practices in my Expanding Consciousness classes and empowering my clients with some value added tools as a health care practitioner. I fantasized about the idea of business incorporating these consciousness-building strategies into the workplace and the profound benefits it would create for business owners, the profits of the companies and their employees – maybe one day. I reflected, too, that it was more than 2 decades earlier when a mentor and health care practitioner I sometimes consulted advised me that cancer was in my energy field and I better do something about it. He had the ability to see energy and identify the emotional link with incredible accuracy. The truth of his words penetrated like hot spikes all over my body and I immediately knew I had to resolve the pain and resentment I was holding and get really serious about doing the essential inner work. As the ideas continued to develop, it became obvious that I was writing about everything I had learned in my own healing journey from protracted sexual abuse as a child, depression, addiction, an earnest quest for truth, and understanding why things happen as they do. Though my own search for meaning was long and included many years spent with a spiritual teacher, it was the world of spirituality and energy that made increasing sense to me. I discovered that the answers could really only be found through my own inner exploration into greater consciousness and reconnecting with my feeling body, where I had suppressed so much pain. I learned that under all that wounding was a growing truth and peace. The earlier dislike for myself continued to transform into increasing self-love, along with an expanding appreciation and love for Mother Earth and all her inhabitants. That we are all part of the whole became my knowing and not just a belief I adopted from others. My humble thanks go to the Evolutionary Leaders of our time whose foresight and teachings recognize the spiritual essence of people and the connectedness of all life. Their awareness of energy and heart-focused work has inspired me along the way and opened the door to my own inner explorations, which are reflected throughout this work. In particular, I would like to acknowledge Tom Kenyon, Eugene Gendlin, Eldon Taylor, Lynne McTaggart, Esther & Jerry Hicks, Eckhart Tolle, Don Miguel Ruiz, Ken Wilber, Candace B. Pert, Debbie Ford, Bruce Lipton, Michael King, Alicia Power, the Heart Math Institute, and many more who have shared their wisdom through their books and teachings. They awaken within us an eternal truth that we all own, not individually but in common. With added thanks to those who have inspired many with their own recovery from terminal illness: people like Louise Hay, Brandon Bays, and so many others, whose own healing journey into greater awareness may not be publicized but has fed the collective global energies of consciousness to assist our own awakening into knowing the truth and power of our integral self. I deeply thank Mother Earth, who many years ago became my anchor when meditating, helping to ground myself when I wanted to escape to the spiritual realms and avoid some of the harsher experiences of earthly life. I thank her for the many walks and sitting in nature that captured my heart and mind with her beauty and wonderful energy to bring me into presence and inspire me with answers to my inner questions and inspirations for the next bit of processing or writing. Perhaps strangely, it wasn’t until the work was approaching completion that I realized this compilation of writing was going to become a book with 101 Strategies for True Health and Empowerment. Had I known that at the outset I seriously doubt I would ever have started. I am eternally grateful to my precious family, including my extended family and beautiful friends who continue to be both my support and my teachers. You know who you are. I love you all without reservation. To those who have gifted me with your trust to assist you on your healing journey, I am grateful that you have pushed my creativity to communicate these skills in a way that speaks to you. Your input has contributed to the succinct simplicity and alternatives offered throughout these processes. To my editor, Venetia Somerset, thank you for your patience, precision, and tenacity in dealing with my submission of over a hundred different files instead of one. I offer this book as a self-help program consisting of 12 Categories and 101 Strategies (plus bonus Consciousness Tips for Children) to those who are ill, distressed, or seek a better understanding of who they are and their place in this world. It is my sincere wish that you may find within yourself the power to heal and come to know the magnificence of your true self. I hope you can feel my love and compassion in the written word directed to you, the reader.