Warning Signs

I got a new lease car two weeks ago, and I love it!

I discovered it has a feature that I've never had on any car I've previously had. When it needs diesel, a light comes on, as with other cars I've had, but this one, when it gets dangerously low in fuel, the light starts flashing on and off. I like this! I'm easily pleased!

Wouldn't it be great if we could have a wee warning system like that when it comes to nurturing our mind? If only we had a flashing light that came on when we stopped nurturing our mind.

Actually, we do have a warning system in place. They are called emotions. They let us know by causing us pain that we are thinking something that is bad for us. In a situation that triggers off these thoughts, such as being out of our comfort zone, or rising to an annoying comment, we 'hook'. This process of 'hooking', or thinking a series of thoughts cause the emotional pain.

For example, we might go down the road of thinking thoughts that we are not good enough in a social situation, which might lead to emotional pain of embarrassment and anxiety. We are so wrapped up in our thoughts, i.e. our 'hooking' that we can't be in the 'here and now', and enjoy the social interactions in an authentic way. On top of that, if we don't see the emotional pain for what it is, just the 'warning light', we can start adding more bad thoughts to the 'hook' about how painful it is to be so shy, or shaky, or blushing, or panicky, making the hook bigger and the pain bigger as a result.

But maybe if we seen the emotional pain as the warning light that we are 'hooking', we could 'unhook' or 'let go' and stop the emotional pain. My website has some good tips on how http://www.stressalternatives.co.uk/.


With the car, I might decide to be stubborn and ignore the flashing light, and carry on driving, but inevitably the car will come to a halt if I don't take decisive action and buy some fuel, no matter how new or shiny it is!

It isn't so clear cut with us humans if we ignore the warning signals. Yes, we probably come to a halt in the end, but we tend to chunter along for a while in a less than optimum way, getting ill; losing opportunities; forming addictions if we don't take decisive action to 'unhook'.

It's a new way of working, but it puts us in the driving seat!
Happy New Year
Liz

Read This Several Times!

Here's something for you to get your head round!

When looking at ourselves and making changes, many of us, examining the way we are feeling, or something we are going through or have gone through in the past, look for an explanation or the 'point' of it all before we can feel we can let go and move on. We might often think, 'What's the point?' or, 'Why has this happened?'. We may go to therapy or counselling and pay someone a lot of money for them to help us find the explanation, or we may join a religious organisation or get into the new age scene to help put our experience into a nice framework that explains it all to us.

There may be a point in coming up with a point, but it stops us making progress if we insist on finding the point before we let go! What if we just postponed our need to find the point by asking ourselves, 'What if there is no need to find the point, at least for now?'.

The point is, whether there is a point or not is immaterial! We could just let go of our pain causing thoughts at the point of pain, and move on! Do we get the point?

Actually, our human egos put the idea into our heads that we need an explanation, or a point, as a way of keeping us where we are: as a way of putting off letting go and moving on.

I think letting go of the need to know the 'point' might give us more insight into what the point is in the end! Or maybe there is no point!!

www.stressalternatives.co.uk

House and Mind Training

Happy Christmas and Love For this Next Year to All!
We have a new baby in our home! Our puppy! Yes, he's not just for Christmas but for life, but what a responsibility! It's our job to train him to act in a socially acceptable way, and that doesn't just include 'sit' and 'paw' and 'high five'! These are the easy things to teach him because he gets instant gratification in the form of a treat for doing them, and a great deal of 'aws' and 'ahs' from the humans!

Teaching him new tricks is much easier than trying to get him to unlearn old habits. For example, he insists on peeing everywhere indoors, as was his habit in kennels. As an optimist in training (I've still got loads to learn!), I have tried not to go down the route of fretting every time my carpet gets another dose of puppy excretion, but have seen it as an 'opportunity' to point out puppy's 'errors', and run promptly to the back door with him, calmly saying, 'No, outside!', as opposed to, 'Oh, bother! That's another stinking stain on my lovely floor. We'll never get the smell of pee out the carpet. Will he ever learn, the stupid mut! We'll be up to our ears in p--- and s--- soon!' Etc etc. (You get the picture?)

I must admit, it is SO tempting to go along the route of the latter way of thinking! Our problem, I think, was partly to do with him sneaking off and peeing in a different room to us, so we had no way of instantly letting him know it was wrong, so now, as much as possible, he is not allowed to roam the house, 'marking his territory' willy nilly! (Excuse the bad joke!) Someone must be in charge of him now, and be ready to stop him in mid-pee and take him outside.

And so it is with our own habits of thinking. If we become aware through our warning signals of emotional pain or undesirable behaviour, or even through how others treat us, we can stop ourselves as soon as we become aware, as I do (most of the time) when I start shrieking at the dog! I can then seize the opportunity pup has given me to teach me and him something! Two for the price of one ! A 'win-win' situation!

I still don't know how I am going to get the smell out of my carpets though!

Love Liz
http://www.stressalternatives.co.uk/

An Everyday Miracle

My mind never shuts up!
The best I can do , until i receive a cure for this is keep the negative stuff out of it as much as possible!

I am a bit addicted to figuring out how our minds work, and this week in particular, why we hold on to things that give us emotional pain.I've been working on my chapter on 'letting go of fear' lately, and I've changed it so much! Anyway, I was pondering to myself this the other day in the car with my daughter sitting quietly by my side, when suddenly, out of the blue she said, 'You know, you can't really get burned by a hot radiator because you automatically take your hand away as soon as you feel it. The only way you get burned is if you deliberately hold on to it'.

This was the answer to my problem I had been thinking about for days. the only way we can feel bad emotional pain is if we hold on. Once you get into the habit of letting go as soon you feel sadness, anger, fear etc, it becomes a much rarer occasion to get 'burnt' by our 'hot' damaging thoughts. To me, it's more than coincidence that my 9 year old should come out randomly with this statement.
Wow!
www.stressalternatives.co.uk

Having a Bad Day

Happy Halloween
I was feeilng really negative and critical and dissatisfied yesterday, for no particular reason. The gloom just came from nowhere that I can think of, and made me feel like I wanted to hide away and blame the world for this awful struggle I was feeling.

I racked my brain trying to put it down to various things that had happened the previous few days, or the changing of the clocks to winter, or bad news about one of my family member's health, but nothing quite explained it to my satisfaction. Then I blamed the full moon, and my menstrual cycle, then I found a horoscope that predicted 'emotional turmoil' for the early part of the day due to 'moon-jupiter' something or other, so that got the blame (I quite liked that explanation!). One of the times I felt like this before, I had taken myself to the gym to try and shake it off, and when I looked at the TV screens there, it was the Pope's funeral, so I reckoned I was just picking up on the mood of the millions who were grieving his loss.

The truth is though, we can analyse our emotional pain as much as we like, but we really don't ever know why it's there. Having an explanation like, 'My father critisised me when I was young', or 'The full moon affects water balance, and we are 70% water' might appeal to us, but the former can be used as an excuse to continue underachieving and feeling sorry for ourself, and the latter can have us dreading every full moon!

However, if we use these explanations to say, 'That's OK. Maybe I'm just going through a normal low, but it's a bit more than normal because I'm tired, or life's a bit demanding at the moment', we can watch ourself having this feeling and know that no feelings can last forever. In other words, we 'let go' of the need to be anything else but where we are just now. When we do that, it doesn't affect us so badly, and we come out of it quicker too.

I read a brilliant quote the other day that goes like this, 'When you are going through hell, keep going'. I'd like to add, 'Don't stop to figure out why' and 'Try not to act like the devil while you're there!'.

I'm feeling much better now. I just have a couple of apologies to make to the victims of my grumpy mood!!

Funny how I don't feel the need to find an explanation for my 'normal' state!

Look me up on http://www.stressalternatives.co.uk/.

The Real World?

Welcome to my second blog of the day! It's only because I haven't had the computer for a week! Not because I have been working hard or anything!

I'm not one for films, as I don't like the idea of sitting down for too long doing 'nothing', but I do admit to liking 'Coronation Street' and 'Desperate Housewives'. There's something compelling about seeing other people's stories and getting angry, upset, proud, sad, surprised, scared, joyful etc on their behalf.

I guess it's the same when you make connections with real people, or when you do anything in life that pushes your emotional buttons. Even just waking up in the morning or looking in the mirror, or hearing a love song on the radio, or waiting in a queue for a bus.

For most of us, while we're watching the film or TV, we are able to tell ourselves, 'It's only a story', if our emotions get the better of us, and we can let go and get on with our lives after the programme is over, or even during it if necessary.

A bit closer to us, when we get emotional about the 'drama' played around us in the 'real world', it usually keeps the drama going and makes it worse if it is a 'bad' drama.

An example for me would be getting angry about my children fighting with each other, and joining in, so we all end up shreiking, and doors being slammed, and me feeling guilty because I'm a bad mother who can't control her kids, or her own temper! We haven't exactly got the Waltons now, but I am learning to let go (sometimes!) of my own internal drama a little, so that I can be in a better position to deal objectively with teenagers who wind each other up at the mere sight of each other! Mealtimes are fun in our house!

I do this by trying to be aware as much as possible when my buttons are pressed, and using these emotions as signals to let go.

Our ego is our personality or 'human' part that consists of thoughts, emotions, desires and behaviour, that interacts with the world all the time we are awake. This is the bit of us that has the 'buttons'.

So what if our ego that we've built up in this life is just a drama as well? What if our 'human' part or personality is our own story that we play the leading role in? If so, when it gets too painful or scary, we could just sit and watch it, as if we were watching someone else's story or a TV soap drama. We have a witnessing part of us that could do this, that we rarely use. If we did this when the going gets tough, our ego has to quieten down as a result. It only stays active as long as we give it attention, and attach our whole self to it, like we would to a TV drama. Our ego is always wanting attention. We don't always have to give it what it wants. It needs taking down a peg or two if it is being too negative or destructive. If you are feeling deep emotional pain, like grief and despair, or panic, or rage, sometimes you get the feeling you are watching yourself doing it. That's because you are watching your ego. You are more than your ego.

Thinking of yourself acting the drama of your own life can help enormously at times of emotional pain. You can decide to stop playing the tragedy and change the plot. You not only are the main actor in your life but you write the script as well. When something you experience is painful, you can take your attention off the pain and take a tea break. If you choose the tragedy, that's what you'll get. Choosing the good things in life isn't always easy. We need to clear the old habits our ego has taken on. My web site has lots of ideas to help with this: http://www.stressalternatives.co.uk/.

When my ego gets too negative and destructive it gives the game away by causing me emotional pain in the form of anger, sadness, guilt, embarrassment, or I think negatively, or I am tempted to behave in an undesirable way. I am learning to take note of these and realise I'm acting out the tragedy instead of the 'feelgood' story, and I let go more and more.

One of my favourite songs by John Mayer has a line in it that goes like this: 'There's no such thing as the real world: Just a lie you've got to rise above'.

Sending you love!!

Comfort Zones

Good Morning Reader ( I'm sure I must have one!)

I don’t know how long the expression ‘comfort zone’ has been around, but it seems it’s part of many people’s vocabulary now. It’s years since I read ‘Feel the Fear and do it Anyway’ by Susan Jeffers, but it’s where I first heard the expression, and it’s definitely a book worth reading on anyone’s self development journey. It says, if I remember it rightly, that whenever you get out of your comfort zone you feel fear, but that only lasts a short time, then your comfort zone has become bigger, and you learn that fear is normal and nothing to be scared of.
This is also the basis for many behavioural techniques used by the psychiatric profession, and many parents in bringing up their children (though they may not know it).

There are many people who find this hard to do. In most cases, fear is a way of life for them. Most have grown up believing that the world is a dangerous place.
The most obvious example of this is the kind of person who never fulfils their potential or anywhere near it because they avoid fear, and their comfort zone is tiny. When ill they might go to the extreme of being agarophobic, or socially phobic.These are the kind of people who are prone to depressive, negative thoughts; that talk themselves out of living life; who procrastinate or live life in a very limited way. Anxiety and panic are a feature for them in any new situation, so they avoid them at all costs. They have few relationships as they are not out there meeting people, and they are more likely to be dominated by others. They don’t trust people. They are prone to depression also because of underachievement.

The much less obvious example is the person who ‘feels the fear and does it anyway’. They are very brave people who also have a belief that the world is a dangerous place, but they push themselves thrrough the ‘pain barrier’, which produces an adrenalin rush that they can become addicted to. They are constantly on ‘red alert’, but the adrenalin rush along with the success of increasing their comfort zone gives them a feeling of elation. This is fine, but they get that they can’t ‘switch off’, and when they get sick, they get insomnia, hyperactivity and restlessness, high anxiety states and panics, and are tempted to get into behaviour that is designed to calm, like obsessive-compulsive problems or addictions or excessive exercise. They do ‘life’ to extremes, and can be very successful as a result, but seldom are they content or calm. Relationships with others are difficult because they like to dominate and stay in control because they also lack trust in others, or they get bored easily and have to constantly be looking for change. They are more likely to come across situations that are ‘dangerous’ because they are ‘out there’ living life to the full, therefore it’s tempting to have their belief that the world is a dangerous place reinforced, because they really are doing more ‘risky’ things than others.

In practice, both extremes can go on in the same person in different situations and times, but in common is the belief that living in the world is dangerous and a struggle. In reality, both extremes have the same issues: fear of rejection; fear of poverty and lack of security; fear of losing power and control; fear of ridicule; fear of doing the wrong thing; fear of critisism etc.
Psychiatric advice given to the ‘avoiders’ is to ‘do more’’ and for the ‘doers’ is often to ‘do less’, but it is so much more effective to get to the root; the reason why one either has to avoid or do instead of just ‘be’.

It might take years of psychotherapy to figure out the reasons, but there’s a part of us that already knows: our subconscious or intuitive part. This part just needs to be given some space to reach our conscious parts or our awareness. We rarely give it any space because we are too busy using our conscious mind to think and do. It never stops! If we were to stay still long enough to ‘just be’, the inspiration and ideas to survive, make money, be loved and love unconditionally and have control comes without effort.

To ‘just be’ is quite a mammoth task for most of us. It doesn’t come naturally for most of us to be quiet. I’d go as far as to say we weren’t put on this earth to be quiet! But what we can do is turn the volume down on our fears. These are destructive parts of us that hold us back or pollute our minds, and through our behaviour to ‘avoid’ or ‘do’we pollute the rest of the world too. Turning the volume down on them will lead to more peace, love, inspiration, creativity and joy. If we have more of that stuff in our mind, we wouldn’t have to push our comfort zone. Our behaviour wouldn’t be about ‘feeling the fear’. It would be about giving and receiving and connecting with people and the world with honesty and authenticity, instead of ‘acting as if’ we had no fear. There would be no ‘fake it till you make it’: just trust!

Becoming aware of our mind pollution and reducing the volume as we go along with a few strategies I talk about on my website www.stressalternatives.co.uk will get you doing stuff outside your comfort zone that will astound you. You will probably do something without thinking then realise later that you didn’t get your usual anxiety about it. Have a look!

Scotch Broth for the Heart!

Hi from the kitchen.
I just made a pot of lentil soup! Sorry, scotch broth is beyond me, and not so 'new age' either! It made me think of nurturing. Shame not all my children will eat my soup. Maybe it's because it's 'pants'. Naw, it's probably because it doesn't give the same 'buzz' as the tinned tomato! You have to take a few spoonfuls before you realise what you've got. The tinned tomato doesn't have the same lumpy consistency, and it looks and smells great and promising, but not so good for you as the home made! So, if I want others to eat my lentil soup, or for that matter read my articles on my website www.stressalternatives.co.uk I have to convince them to 'have a few spoonfuls'.
I don't have a lot of charismatic verbal persuasive skills up my sleeve. Most people try stuff they're not sure of by being frightened into it by being forced or told the consequences of their inactions, or because they haven't any other choice (and they're hungry enough), or they might do it because they want to impress the person who recommends it. So, if I want my kids to eat my lentil soup, I have a few choices: 1) give them nothing else (and hide all the goodies, treats and lock the food cupboards!) ; 2) preach to them about the horrible diseases they might get if they don't eat my lentil soup; 3) ram it down their throats until they learn their lesson! They'll grow up big and strong but a bit loopy! 4) bribe them with the yummy ice cream for after they've eaten the soup or 5) give them real choice: my soup or the tinned, and give them whatever they choose with love, and hope that the love makes up for the the excess salt and sugar in the tin. I reckon it always does! Just don't give them too much choice and don't include sweets and crisps in the main course!
Anyway, getting back to my advice for personal development and mental health, it isn't that obvious till you read the articles that my website is full of stuff you can get your teeth into, but it is,so when you realise that your antidepressants are just 'tinned soup', visit me!
www.stressalternatives.co.uk
Bon appetite!

Post Holiday Resolutions

Happy summertime!

There's certain times of the year that are ripe for making positive changes. The main one is at New Year when people decide on resolutions, and for me, another one comes after the summer break. As I've just got the kids off to school for the new term, my own intentions are set again to 'sort out' things I'm not happy with, let go of a few things that create clutter and really get down to the business of my New Year's resolutions.

This year, I've felt more than others that I can do this as I have set more definite goals than ever before, and have kept them in my mind often, and have found ways of keeping the sabotage under control. I believe that the sabotage has always managed to stop me before.

Whenever we set an intention to improve things for ourselves, our sabotage or 'self-destruct' parts show up pretty quickly. Where do they come from? It's tempting to think it's the devil testing us, and some people buy into this, and who am I to argue? Maybe the 'devil' is just that destructive part of us rather than a malevolent power outside of ourselves.

For example, when you start on the diet, what do you see all around but lovely fattening food! When you decide to declutter your house, you go down with extreme fatigue, or get taken off on a 2 hour trip into nostalgia when you come across your old photos, or suddenly you MUST watch this very interesting daytime TV show about the latest fashion to hit the swimwear industry, even though you can't swim!

In my work with people with anxiety and depression, of course it is nearly always everyone's intention to 'get better', and I have lots of suggestions to help with this; many that really work, but people either don't carry out my suggestions, or do it for a bit, experience changes for the better, but then stop doing the work with lots of different excuses. I can forgive them for this as I do it too. But why? If it makes things better, why not keep doing it? Sometimes it's because it's very hard work, and it is if we don't deal with the sabotage buttons in our mind. It's like driving the car with the brakes on.

One of the biggest sabotage buttons is mistrust of the process. A feeling that, 'This won't work', or that, 'What's the point? I'll only fail!' will act as our 'brakes'. Some people form such a strong belief that they are always right (not me!) that the sabotage buttons will always be pressed if even a small part of them has this belief.

How quickly the sabotage shows up after a good intention is set will give a measure of how big it is. Trouble is, it's not always something you can explain. Yes, it's obvious it's there because it stops us achieving, but to say 'Aha, that's because I am frightened of change', eg when working on confidence, or 'That's because I feel guilty about letting go' when working on a bereavement, isn't easy. The reasons for sabotage could be many and could take years figuring it all out with a therapist.

But what if you could get a metaphorical vacuum cleaner that sucked out all the sabotaging beliefs, thoughts and emotions? Even the ones we are unaware of, ie, our subconscious ones, which are usually a lot like the submerged part of an iceberg, ie, a huge part of us.

This year, I found a particularly effective cleanser for my subconscious sabotagers, in the form of the Z point process. Here's a small example of how I used it the other day. I had the task of cleaning my house hanging over me like a huge dark cloud and felt so fatigued (I'm a bit averse to housework!). I used the Z point process' ETT technique before I got started, then had a brilliantly productive day. I'm so chuffed! Placebo? Well that's another subject for another day!

Check these websites: www.Zpointprocess.com
www.stressalternatives.co.uk

Natural Urges and the Conscious Mind

I'd like to introduce you to 2 members of our family: Candy and Sandy. They're our gerbils!

We have a bit of a problem with them. They chew away the plastic door to their cage, then they can escape, as Candy did in the middle of the night, and scared the life out of me scuttling around under my bed! I thought we had rats!

They are very busy animals. In between sleeping, they work, chewing and burrowing. When you put even strong tape on the door, they chew through that too! The only way to deal with the problem is to keep them supplied with other things to chew, like toilet roll middles and their favourite: egg boxes. If only we ate more eggs!

Us humans are different. We may have urges to behave in certain ways, but because we can think things through, we can resist doing that which is 'wrong', but it isn't always easy. Sometimes we have to replace one habit with another. If we feel restless and are constantly looking for activity, like Candy and Sandy, we can decide to focus our energy on something productive (like chewing egg boxes!) or we can choose to do something destructive (like chewing doors!). (Or maybe Candy and Sandy really do know about the door leading to freedom!)

But it isn't that simple. Why would we ever choose the door rather than the delicious egg box? When we keep going back to the door, it's because we 'resonate' with it rather than the egg box! Why do we keep going back to chocolate, when trying to lose weight, rather than eating fruit? Because we resonate with it. The part of us that creates the resonance is our 'mind pollution', and can mostly be unconscious. Like an iceberg, the unconscious mind is unseen and not obvious, unless we know what to look for. Life gives us signals all the time. Whatever gives us emotional pain acts as a signal. This could be in the form of a person or situation that creates emotional pain, or that which comes from emotional pain, i.e. physical sensations and tensions or bad behavioural habits.

Beliefs are what we bring from the past to the present. Negative beliefs create fear and tension and make us resonate with destructive things. If we didn't have the tension, we wouldn't feel the need to 'chew the cage door'. In traditional psychotherapy, the purpose would be to make the unconscious beliefs conscious, then work on letting them go.

However, getting rid of the tension is much easier than you think, if you are willing to be open to the possibility that 'energy therapies' work. You don't have to identify all your self destructive beliefs either! My favourite self help ones are 'Timeline Detachment Practice' (invented by me!), 'EFT' and 'Z point process', and for those who don't want self help, homeopathy. There's lots of free information and links on my website: http://www.stressalternatives.co.uk/.

Got to go! I've got two eggs left in that box. It's time to make pancakes!!

Live Earth was on this weekend, so here's my tuppenceworth.

It's nice to know that the world is waking up to the fact that our behaviour is wrong. It's not that we are bad. but many are unaware of the impact wasteful, thoughtless behaviour has on the environment, so this weekend's awareness raising session by celebrities is fantastic.
But how has it got to this stage? Why do we have to be 'sick' as a planet, race or individually before we sit up and go "Oh shit"! (in more ways than one).

I guess that it's more than just lack of awareness. Probably many of us will have been exposed to this message many times before, but we still choose to behave wastefully. Those who profess to religiously recycle and reuse etc, usually do it because they like doing it. It fits in with their thrifty ideas about the world anyway, so it's no hassle. They then can feel righteous and say, "well, I recycle, buy 2nd hand clothes and cycle everywhere and so should everyone else!".

Like any behaviour, we do it often because it 'suits' us. It 'resonates' with us. If there was a law made forcing us to stay indoors, it would 'suit' the socially phobic and agarophobic, but the rest of us would build up tension. Same with the environmental message. To be green would create 'tension', particularly begin with as we change habits. It doesn't come naturally to us .

So how could it be made easier? Could we change something so that we can resonate more with the green way of life? The message this weekend delivered by celebrities went some way towards it, as what they did was change beliefs. Beliefs create tension which creates our behaviours.

The message that I got at the weekend was: 1. It's cool to be green; 2. It's important to be green; 3. It's wrong to be wasteful; 4. We all have individual resonsibility and 5. Working together will produce big results.

Beliefs like this can enable positive desirable behaviour, but what if you also hold on to the old previously held beliefs? for example: 1. Green is for hippies; 2. Live for today and don't worry about tomorrow and 3. Green is the government's responsibility? Will it result in positive change or will old habits win?

Repetition might be one way to get the message through, and I guess that's what we do in health education, but it's pretty costly, hard work and time consuming. It's not just about education about the positive, but a process of identifying the negative beliefs and consciously working on getting people to let them go.

The same thing happens when we want to tackle our health or make any positive changes in our life. We can do it a lot easier if we sort out the opposing beliefs that sabotage our good intentions.

When we want to lose weight, for instance, we get a diet plan, and a target weight to aim for, but the reason so many people fail is because of the sabotaging part of us (and cos fat and sugar taste sooo good!). Many of these beliefs are unconscious. They might be several of a whole list of beliefs, for example, "I have no self control; I am scared of being the right weight because of new responsibilities; Being fat protects me from advances of the opposite sex; Eating stops me being angry; I am a bad person who doesn't deserve to be healthy or beautiful" .

There are a few new energy therapies that can be used in a self help way to quickly deal with these. Check out my website for my favourites.
www.stressalternatives.co.uk
Liz

From the Heart Not the Head

I was not always into homeopathy and alternative therapies. I was brought up by pretty 'normal' good working class Scottish parents. I studied science at university then psychiatric nursing: all good reasons for sticking to the 'straight and narrow' of the conventional medical world.
My first experience of holistic medicine was receiving homeopathic treatment 11 years ago for what I thought was a purely physical problem that my doctor had run out of ideas to treat. Not only was my physical problem sorted out very quickly, but a week after a course of 4 tablets only, my mood was so much better than I had experienced ever! It felt great to be alive!
Working in the mental health field, this emotional aspect fascinated me, and I set about studying the subject for the next 5 years.
Each time I received a good remedy, I made leaps in my understanding of myself, and felt a bit further along my personal journey.
Pretty quickly I discovered the opposing force of the conventional medical world and the skeptic, but the more I treated family, friends and my patients, the more I knew this treatment was much more powerful than the 'placebo' (sugar pill) reaction that many skeptics claim to be the reason for it's success. I didn't need scientific studies to convince me, and neither did my patients. Only some of the doctors I worked with seemed to need this too. I did for a while get concerned about this and look into trying to find evidence for homeopathy's effectiveness mainly just to defend my practice. There is evidence available, though not for many specific ailments as it's a holistic treatment. Nowadays I don't feel the need to pursue this line of enquiry, as it takes good energy away from what I really want to do, which is to get on with it!
Somehow I was pushed to the fringes of society, just because I found something that actually worked for the mental and physical health of myself, my family, friends and patients, and it was safe to take!
I would say (though not in those early days) that homeopathy can only take you so far in personal growth. I had been looking at other self help and new age authors such as Brandon Bays and Louise Hay, and doing their courses, and the Silva Mind Control helped me move forward a little more. However, the most powerful book to 'change my life' was 'The Power of Now' by Eckhart Tolle, which made me realise the power of awareness of my thoughts. I discovered just by watching my thoughts that I was still essentially a negative, critical person, and learned that they are only thoughts and could be changed. This set me further along a journey which made me look at mindfulness, psychosynthesis and cognitive behavioural principles which have been the main recent influences in my writing and practice.
I was very thankful that I worked in the NHS, and not principally as a homeopath, because it led me to find ways from within oneself to solve emotional pain.
My most recent discoveries of EFT (emotional freedom technique) and Z point process, have helped further move on my growth process to the point I am at now. (By the way, I am still 'only toty!'). My aim now is to get this information out to others. It's a bit evangelical for me!
My point: I never set out to look at alternative therapies. I discovered something that worked though I didn't know how. In doing so, it opened up a whole new world of possibilities for treatment and self help.That appeals to my increasingly rebellious independant sub-personality I wasn't even aware of before. I am not a hippie, irreverant 'tree hugger', but a pragmatist who has found something that works because I was open to the possibility that it might.
Give it a try yourself!
Read my articles on www.stressalternatives.co.uk
Liz Temple

My Despair!

I'm indignant!

I've been working in the helping profession for a long time now, and would you credit it? Some people don't listen to what I say, and don't do what I tell them! They come to me full of complaints about how their life is, and I, with my great wisdom learned from books (isn't this the best way?) tell them all the ways they can change. Do they realise how honoured they should be? That stressed mother of 5, or the woman who has lived through a childhood of abuse and fear doesn't have to read all the books themselves! Sometimes people have the cheek to find a way to cope that hasn't been proved by psychologists, doctors or scientists! Even my husband and children don't listen to me! I despair!!

Do you know that some of my patients don't trust me? After I've spent hours studying and tell them about this fantastic (sometimes even evidence based) therapy that will sort them, they metaphorically stick the two fingers up at me, and carry on doing what they usually do, even though it hasn't worked in the past! Where do they get this total mistrust of people from?

OK, so they've maybe spent a lot of time in the past being let down by people who they should have been able to trust, or have had to churn out their story to umpteen well meaning curious professionals in their life, but THAT'S NO EXCUSE! Even I have to admit I have made the odd error of judgement myself in the past, but now I'm perfect and I DEMAND RESPECT!

I also demand respect from conventional medics. How dare they mistrust homeopaths and other new agers! Just because some of us believe in Atlantis, angels and tree hugging! What's wrong with that? And we drone on about energy, auras and vibrations! (see my website http://www.stressalternatives.co.uk). Some of the claims they make are just as unlikely, for example,'cure', 'non-invasive investigations' and 'very mild side effects'.

I blame the NHS because it's free. Bring back charging, and the patient will listen to every last word of wisdom, as each one will have cost them. Maybe we'll then get the trust and respect we truly deserve!

Liz

The NHS and the state of psychiatry

Over the last few years there has been a big move in the NHS to provide 'evidence based' practice. This means that there has to have been good quality clinical research to prove the effectiveness of a treatment. For drug treatment this research, carried out of course by drug companies, has been essential to ensure patients' safety. Once the treatment is proved experimentally to be effective and 'safe' for a specific diagnosed complaint, it can be licensed and used.

In psychiatry, it has always been necessary to provide more than just drug treatment, and traditionally mental health workers have known the therapeutic value of activities that change peoples' thoughts and beliefs about themselves and the world around them. It isn't rocket science that someone with confidence, be it through having a good social network or achieving at work, sports, art, music etc, is going to have better mental health as a result. People with depression undertaking therapy to increase their insight, such as counselling, alternative therapies and psychotherapy will also improve their mental health.

The trouble is that there is a requirement in the NHS now for these approaches to have the 'evidence based' stamp of approval. Of course, drug companies will not pay for such research, and funding for any kind of psychological research is pretty sparse. Though psychologists do the bulk through educational funding, the rest of us clinicians are too busy coping with heavy caseloads and large waiting lists. There are also lots of difficulties, apart from time constraints, in doing research in some of these therapies. The 'gold standard' in scientific research is the 'placebo controlled double blind trial', which requires that the patient and clinician doesn't know what treatment they will receive, or whether it be a placebo (just a sugar pill) or not. Of course, it's impossible to do that with most of the non-drug treatments in psychiatry, so even if there are good research findings, they are seen as 'second class' in scientific and medical circles, who advise our government. As a result, there are only a handful of non-drug therapies given the evidence based stamp, the main ones being cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and interpersonal therapy (IPT).

In the field of mental health, workers of various disciplines are being encouraged to train to do these therapies, particularly since the government's aim is to reduce antidepressant prescribing and help in other ways, which is a good thing. Some nurses have deskilled and concentrate on only providing evidence based stuff. As a result, all other therapeutic possibilities are dismissed until a 'miracle' happens, and someone in 'research land' comes up with the evidence. What did they do before CBT got the stamp? Didn't people get better? Of course they did, and still do from non-evidence based practice! I am proud to provide this for my patients, though I don't broadcast it too loudly! It's like the emperor's new clothes story. We all put up and shut up. We conform, and go and train do do these therapies, then feel superior to those who provide 'second class' therapeutic interventions to the mass of people that CBT and IPT are not suitable for.

This policy of only providing evidence based practice is stifling original thought at least in mental health in the NHS. We are importing our therapies from the States because that is mainly where the research is being done.

As for alternative therapies, we haven't a hope in getting recognition from the NHS, though privately, it is increasing hugely. Why? Because the NHS is mainly palliating with drugs that have side effects. The doctor's favourite saying is ' there are side effects, but the benefits outweigh the risks'. If someone was willing to provide money and research expertise I'd set about proving my approach's effectiveness. Anyone out there?

To conclude, I'm not anti evidence based practice, but it must be recognised for it's limitations, particularly in the mental health field. I heard an inspiring story the other day from a nurse who got a football team together made up of people with severe mental illness, and how many were able to go and work as a result of increasing their confidence. There's more than one way to skin a cat! I rest my case!

Visit my website for another way! www.stressalternatives.co.uk
Liz Temple

Introducing my ego!

Happy midsummer night!
I have a serious mental health problem! I am deluded that I can help people to make positive changes! I am also egotistical enough to be quite obsessed with trying to figure out how to do this. Instead of taking life easy, I have been afflicted with this illness of feeling responsible (and also that I am always right!). I am not egotistical enough to believe that I have a 'calling' from God or anything, but I can't shake this feeling I need to do the aforementioned. What a waste! I could be partying or watching Big Brother! Actually, I'm not that fond of partying or watching Big Brother. How sick is that?
Visit my website on www.stressalternatives.co.uk
Bye for now
Liz