From Survive To Thrive

One of the the finer points of spirituality I've struggled with is that I know I need to take responsibility for everything in my life.  My coaching teachers tell me so, and any self-development path I follow also tells me so. Something I vividly remember scoffing at as a child is listening to a sermon where the speaker said "and God told me to go and ..... help an orphange in Romania." No he didn't! You did! You wanted to go and do that thing, so own up to it, don't say someone else told you to.  Even as a child I wanted that person to take reponsibilty for their thoughts and actions. I knew that if things go wrong you can't go and blame someone or something else, even if it is a higher power. As I got older and got therapy and learned about coaching I realised that taking responsibility for your actions and beliefs can lead to acknowledgement, awareness and therefore healing, and you have to take responsibility for EVERYTHING. Your beliefs, thoughts that you...

So it's become clear to me that there are many ways to tackle this problem of staying out of pain. To be clear... I NEVER WANT TO GO BACK TO THAT PLACE.  Of course it's unlikely, as now I know that there's a "strain counterstrain" practioner not too far away from me who can help with the pain relief. But assuming that seeing him is a the last resort, then what steps can I take and have I taken to date to stay out of this kind of pain? Well, considering that the pain was caused by stress and tension that manifested in my body, the answer seems to be to handle stress better or don't get that stressed again. The main source of my stress comes from work and being a parent which is the majority of my life and waking hours, so I need to change my workstyle and lifestyle. I need to change how I handle life in order to not get stressed like that again.  I've been reading, learning, talking and writing a lot about what happened. I'm still a little confused by i...

Something had to change. The physical pain, the mental stress and tension that caused it and the fact that something was holding me back from reaching my goals. What was it? Were they all connected?  I'd already done a lot of limiting belief indentification, but even so I still felt stuck. Like I couldn't evolve into the person I wanted to be. So, while talking at a relaxed networking event one evening, I had one of the best conversations I'd had in a while.  This inspiring entrepreneur suggested that I should practice more forgiveness for someone in my past. Talking with this person I realised that even if it wasn't forgiveness that I needed, I really needed to find out and face whatever it was that was holding me back. I wanted to reach that inspired place of limitless possibilities, which Joe Vitale talks about, so that I could make strides on my own entrepreneurial path. I'd already done a significant amount of work on the topic of forgiveness, but I figured it ...

I've discovered that when I go to work I get sucked into a black hole. In that place my outside live doesn't exist. All I can think of is work-related stuff. Then the end of the day comes and I'm spat out dazed and drained. In fact, one of the reasons Taiwan life is so addictive, is that I have the luxury of choosing to work part-time if I wish, and I have exercised that right for many of the 18 years I've lived here. I simply get too stressed and triggered by working full time.  However, since having children, working part-time simply isn't practical. We have financial goals that need to be met. I need the regular salary, and yes, being a Grade 5 International Baccalaureate Homeroom Teacher is stressful, but I also recognise that as far as teaching jobs go, mine isn't that bad.  I really think the stress is mostly my problem. I need to learn how to handle and react to the stress better if I'm going to stay out of pain. To reduce the frequency and severity o...

I'm SO happy to be out and about with friends and family today! It's a completely different experience being relatively pain-free! It honestly feels like a miracle has happened. I NEED TO KEEP IT THIS WAY and I'm starting to get an idea of the changes I need to make in my life in order to make this happen. Thank you to my friends who are making suggestions and having the conversation with me so I can process I've also decided that writing a blog to document my progress and share what I've learned might be useful, not just to myself but hopefully also to others.

  Happy New Year! Today I'm celebrating being in less pain and being able to move my body. I had an interesting day yesterday. I was in despair, it was the most amount of pain I've felt since giving birth. I went to two doctors. The first took x-rays and diagnosed mild herniated disc and mild sciatica. This didn't really explain the amount of pain I was in, so he gave me a keto injection. However this didn't really touch the pain much and I left knowing I still needed answers. I went to a second doctor in the afternoon who used the "counterstrain technique". It took almost two hours but I can walk, sit, stand and lie down now with relative ease. I'm beyond grateful to this guy, and I'm grateful I persisted with finding a solution. Luckily, it only took two doctors and their clinics both weren't busy on New Year's Eve! Such crazy fortuitousness. Now I need to make sure that I don't get myself into this state again. I need to learn how to no...