Category: Relationships

How to overcome the tendency to isolate?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Relationships, Uncategorized

People isolate themselves when they are feeling overwhelmed by life. They may have been hurt badly and not trust anyone or they may be fearful and depressed. Either way hiding out alone feels safer than risking contact with a world that to them seems harsh, unforgiving, cruel and threatening.

Life is not like that at all. You are always surrounded in the love of God/Source Energy, however, most people are so busy in their heads that they don’t notice it. You rush from one place, one task, one test to the next. You don’t rest fully in the peace of God/Source Energy, in your heart or spend time in nature deeply connecting to the Earth and your true nature.

People rush, rush, rush and then feel exhausted, then they wonder why they have no energy to enjoy life, to go and have fun. They get caught up in negative thoughts and conditioning, which just play out on an endless loop, until they wake up from this state of exhaustion and seek the light.

Sadly all this busy-ness has led to diminished connections with other people. It is rare for you to stop and meet another fully, to look into their eyes and feel their essence, to hear what is going on in their hearts and to talk honestly, truthfully about their experience of life.

empty-cup

You are all walking around like empty cups. Your cups should be filled with love and be over flowing from you to others. Connecting to God, to nature, to each other deeply fills your cup. But most people, nearly everyone, thinks they are too busy to slow down and have their cup filled.

If conflict occurs and you feel fearful, your cup is drained of the little amount of love you have in it. Then you feel empty, drained, exhausted. You know that it was the conflict with that person who led to you feeling drained, so you vow to isolate yourself from people like that, so you don’t get drained further. But in isolating yourself out of fear your cup stays empty. You get stuck in fear and that is the opposite vibration of love.

To love fully you need to be filling your own cup from God/Source/Nature, then you have so much love it doesn’t matter if a little conflict occurs. You will be able to respond to it more lovingly and be less affected by it as your cup is full and over flowing. Instead of getting upset, angry or blaming the person for negatively affecting you, you would simply send them love, feel compassion for them, as they are obviously having a hard time and have an empty cup.

So the key to feeling good is not to isolate out of fear, but to connect with love to God/Source/Nature, to listen to your heart and do things that bring you joy. Do this and your cup is filled, then it is easier to face the other aspects of life.

With people that you do feel safe and good around, make sure you take the time to connect, to talk heart to heart, to fel seen, heard, validated. You will never have that kind of connection with everyone, but when your cup is full the interactions that are less pleasant don’t bother you so much.

Yes you should have boundaries between yourself and those who disrespect you, abuse you or take advantage of you. That is self love, to say no to their demands. But make sure you spend time with those who do love you, respect you and treat you well. Don’t isolate and hide – at home, in social media, in work, etc. Come out into the open and breathe in fresh air, absorb the love, take the risk to open your heart and be present to what life is bringing you. It is all helping you grow and all leading you forward to a higher vibration, to the vibration of love. It is a process, a long one for many who resist out of fear, but know you will get there in the end, everyone will.

When you are isolating out of fear it is like you are stuck, frozen, unable to move and life life fully. Symbolically, that is what is also occurring within you. Any buried emotions, trauma, stress and tension gets held in your body, in your muscles and it is this stuck energy that leads to physical pain such as aching backs, shoulders, hips knees, necks. It is this tension, this rigidity, locked-in that stops our bodies from moving fluidly, from gliding with ease through life.

When our body gets locked up tight so does our thinking. It becomes less flexible. We see more in black and white terms. We see less love and goodness in the world because we are seeing through the lens of pain, of tightness, of soreness, of defeat, anger, disappointment and fear. The way we feel inside our body affects our thoughts and way of seeing in the world. We see less opportunity for change, for improvement. We slump down into resignation, shut down, overwhelm. We curl into a ball to protect ourself.

All of this inner tension, stress and pain can be eased if we use Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) to activate the body’s natural process for releasing that tension, stress and trauma.

The body has a way to ‘shake it off’, to cleanse that energy adn use up all of the fight/flight molecules stored in the body from all the times when we were triggered, but didn’t fight back, run away or speak our truth. All the cortisol and adrenaline was released into our blood stream to prime us to act, but we didn’t so it never got used up and these chemicals stay in the body as incomplete trauma activations. They build up and it is part of what causes our muscles to then tighen up and ache.

TRE can help you to shake out those energies, to complete the trauma activations, so that your body can finally open back up, relax, see and feel more clearly from the now, rather than feeling from the past. Clearing out that stress and tension enables you to see differently, to have easier social interactions, to feel more playful and safe.

When our body is tight, wound up, on hyper-alert, of course it is hard to play or joyfully interact with others, but that all changes when you complete the trauma activations and enable your body to come out of high alert back into peace. It is well worth doing so you can come out of isolation and enjoy life.

When you have healed the hurts in your body, it is much easier to open your heart, to love yourself, others and just BE. You can be present to all that occurs, choosing faith and peace, knowing it is all perfect and all of life is made of God and is doing God’s will. There are no bad people or places or choices, just learning opportunities. Just people who have closed their hearts to love and the light and who will open back up in time. Nothing to do or force, just trust God’s plan and love all that arises.

Send love to your fear, to your pain and to your sadness. Send love to those who you perceive have harmed you. That is what they need most, love. Noone who is feeling good about themself and is at peace within would willingly hurt another. They know that to do so hurts themself. So know that anyone who does hurt you is suffering, they are struggling within themself and with life.

You don’t need to accept the poor treatment, but try to send them love instead of hate or anger or judgement. They are judging themselves harshly and that is what leads to their angst. It can be torture when you are stuck in self defeating patterns of self judgement, self hate and self loathing.

Sadly many people speak to themselves more harshly than they would speak to others. They beat themselves up internally calling themselves names and feeling not good enough. It can be a very dark place. Know that noone will treat you as badly as you treat yourself!

When you are in that dark place the whole world seems dark, but the light is there, just waiting for you to see it and let it in. This is the process of awakening to love, light, God, peace and joy. This is the path back to wholeness. Become your own best friend, be loving and kind to yourself, say nice things about yourself to yourself. Be the loving parent you wished you had.

As you become more loving to you internally, the outside world will mirror it, bringing you people who treat you with more kindness and love. Life is just a mirror showing us what we still have to heal.

Heal it and see the truth, there is nothing but love around us. Anything else is an illusion created by our minds out of fear, judgement and hate. Heal it and you wil see peace, joy and beauty wherever you go. for it is there, we just have to clear out the blocks, the filters to seeing it. Blessed BE. Amen.

Remember everyone is on this journey, you are all isolating out of fear to some degree, not showing your true self for fear of rejection or ridicule. Yet you all are longing for love and acceptance, so why not give it. Just love everyone as they are. If you could do this the pain and fear will drop away and you will all feel safer, happier and more able to enjoy life fully. Choose to love and be loving, that is the key. Blessed BE, Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (5 November 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

How do you stop being over controlling?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Relationships, Uncategorized

People are over controlling when they feel scared and vulnerable underneath. They micro-manage everything in an attempt to stay safe and have everything work out as they want it to. If another person does not behave the way they want, the first person is likely to get very angry as they fear the consequences of that person’s actions will be devastating.

Underneath it all is FEAR, lots of fear, hurt and sadness which has built up over the person’s lifetime. The controlling personality is just a defense mechanism to cover up the fear and protect their vulnerability.

In reality the process of over controlling is exhausting, it is done frantically, manically. It is not a peaceful process and it certainly isn’t kind. A controlling person can be very bossy and judgmental as they push through trying to force the outcome they need to feel safe.

They are not thinking about the other person’s feelings or needs, only their own. While this sounds selfish, it is not really. It is not coming from a place of my needs are more important than yours. It is coming from a space of ‘I need you to do this in order for me to feel safe, I am in danger unless you do this, you must do this, please do this’. It is a painful way to live, so desperate and afraid.

Many controlling people appear tough, cold, judgmental, unemotional, but that is just the mask they wear to cover up their vulnerability and fear. What the person really needs is to drop the mask, feel the feelings, release the hurt and sadness, learn to speak their truth in kind and loving ways. For instance:

‘I know I have been pushy and controlling wanting you to do certain things. I’m sorry that I have been so forceful. I was afraid that if you didn’t do those things, X would happen and that worries me. I’m scared Y will occur and I wanted to avoid that. I understand you don’t feel the same ways as me and you may have felt I was saying “You are not good enough as your are”. Please know that I never meant for you to feel that. You are a beautiful child of God on your own path of healing and wholeness. I was just scared and wanted to avoid what I feared would occur. What I really need is to say all of this to you and stop pretending to be strong. Can we work out a plan together to tackle this situation, then I can relax knowing that it will be okay.

When I start to get scared or frustrated can you please just give me a hug, help me to feel okay, safe, reassured that all is okay. I would love it if we could do that. I know it is not your job to look after me, I will look after me, I am just sharing how I feel. I will do my best to let go and trust you to do what is agreed to. I may slip up and be pushy occasionally – this has been a lifetime habit. If I do slip up just let me know and give me a hug. Please don’t get mad at me. I mean no harm, I’m just scared and need to be comforted and reassured. Thank you for loving me, listening to me, and caring for me. I love you and value you and want to treat you better and I will do so. Thank you’

If a person who has been over controlling like this can speak their truth, the armour can start to melt, they can let go of the rigidity, soften the emotions and feel their heart beat. They will need to learn self supportive talking techniques to reassure themselves whenever they start feeling vulnerable. They will need to learn positive thinking / thought stopping skills, so they can stop a negative thought in its tracks and change it to a more positive one. ‘Yes, I used to believe it would be a disaster if …. occurred. I know now that I would cope, even if it did occur. In all the years of worrying about …… it has never or rarely happened and even when it has, it hasn’t been that bad. I’ve coped. I’ve survived. I’ve learned and I’m okay!’

Free-Bird

Worry is pointless, it really is, let it go. Let go of wasting your days in fear. Let it go. Focus on your breathing and calm your body this way. Deepen your breathing as much as you can. Long breaths into the belly help your body to calm and to regulate itself. Fear chemicals will get dissolved and you can return to a state of balance and peace.

Know that those people who appear most rigid, have the most emotion locked inside them. They have not processed and released it. They have bottled it up inside and they are like a pressure cooker waiting to explode. They are under great internal pressure that they need to learn to regulate, to let the steam out little by little, in manageable ways until the pressure has dissipated.

The body actually has a natural mechanism to do this. It will ‘tremor’ to release the tension, stress and trauma that has accumulated in the body. You can activate the tremoring mechanism to safely discharge the blocked energy and calm your nervous system out of fight and flight back to peace. If you would like to learn more about the tremoring process see the Trauma and Tension Release Exercises (TRE) page of my website.

Processing the emotions underneath controlling behaviour will take time and courage to face the truth of your feelings and drop your personality mask. It requires a willingness to be vulnerable, to meet and reveal your true self, your inner child and all the hurts that have been hidden. Doing so leads to freedom, to inner peace, better relationships and more enjoyment of life. It is worth doing. Blessed BE. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (29 October 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

Why is the urge to fix others so strong?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Relationships

When a person has been deeply wounded, they will project that wound out onto others. They will see others as wounded and in need of fixing. When in truth it is themselves that need healing.

Because of the depths of the pain, a person will see wounds everywhere, they will feel the pain of others – it is like they can see it, feel it, smell it. They don’t want to be in it all the time, so they try to fix people or run away, so they don’t have to be surrounded by pain. But you can’t run away from what is inside you. It always goes with you.

Some people are more sensitised to it than others. If you were raised in an abusive home, you learned to watch others closely, to see their dynamics and watch for danger. You could see their pain and see when it would burst out to attack others. You learned to do this to help yourself survive and not be in danger. You focused on the pain of others to protect yourself from their outbursts. In this sense it was a good skill that you developed. However, the habit of watching and feeling other people’s pain never got switched off. So now as an adult, you still see people’s pain and fear it will result in an emotional attack at some stage. So you stay on high alert inside and feel threatened by their pain. This is why you try to fix others, so you can relax and not have to be on guard all the time. That is your own issue. There is no danger. Other people, most people, are capable of managing their pain and not having it burst out and affect others.

It is only because of your past experience as a child in a volatile, abusive home, where your parents didn’t cope with their emotional pain, that you fear it all the time. Alcoholics in particular are known for lashing out with their pain. The drink inhibits their ability to manage the pain and their reactions to it.

Once drunk the pain and their sadness or anger about it comes spilling out and it may get projected onto all those around them. It can be overwhelming as the person has a massive release, a let go of their built up pain. However, because they don’t work through it, they don’t have any insights or forgiveness, it just happens again and again. The pain builds inside them until it topples over the edge and then cascades like a water fall from them to their surroundings.

People who don’t drink excessively, generally don’t react that same way. They can sense the emotions building up and do something constructive to release or manage them. most can heal themselves or at least not explode out affacting others.

The problem with children of alcoholics is they are used to seeing the pain of others as a danger sign, a warning to be careful and watch out. They don’t trust the other to handle it responsibly. Clearly the issue here is this high alertness and expectation of abuse – for that is what the urge to fix others really is. It is as if you have decided that you can’t relax or feel safe unless all the others are okay. Hence you see the problem as them and their behaviour, instead of recognising it as your own issue and wounding that needs resolving.

Once you have resolved your own pain and retrained yourself not to react in advance or expect the worst, then you can relax and be happy. The fixing that is needed is of yourself, not others.

Once you heal the pain in yourself you will not be so affected by others or care about their pain. You will happily live your life doing what you need to do and trust them to resolve their own issues without your help. They don’t need you to rescue them. You need to rescue yourself. The urge to fix others shows you are still drowning in pain from the past or outdated belief systems and defense mechanisms that are no longer needed. Thank them for keeping you safe in the past, and reassure your inner chld and those protective parts of you, that their efforts aren’t needed now. You are safe. You are an adult and you can walk away from anyone who did abuse you.

You are not a child trapped in an abusive, scary, volatile, unpredictable home any more. If you don’t do the work to heal yourself you react as if you are still living in that dangerous home, even though you left it many years, even decades before.

The feelings of pain and the need to protect yourself by watching others and attempting to manipulate situations so explosions don’t occur – is so strong that it will stay with you your whole life – unless you explain to the guard dog that the danger has past. You can take off the armour, put down the sword and relax. It is time to do it. Time to have fun and play.

nature-love-wallpapers-widescreen-6Ultimately that is what we want – for you to play and have fun, and for you to have reprogrammed your subconscious beliefs so that you expect goodness, love and support from others. You feel peace and joy when others approach you, rather than angst and fear. It is your inner work you need to focus on, not what the other is doing. That is their business to resolve and action. Yours is yours. Focus where you can make the most change – in yourself. Do that work and be a positive role model for society – of healing, wholeness and love – that is what we need, more people who have done the inner work and can role model it for others.

Others will heal themselves, when the time is right. That is not up to you or set by your standards or expectations. Let people off the hook. Love them as they are. Support them to grow in their own way and time. Let go of control and choose peace, for it really does exist. It is just a choice you need to make. Blessed BE. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (12 Sept 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

How to recognise when a relationship no longer serves you?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Relationships
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Relationships occur to support your growth and expand your understanding of life. Through conflict and challenge in relationships you learn to see your conditioning, your patterning and what it is you need to heal.

Simply leaving one partner and moving to the next one will result in repeating the lesson and confrontation which will surface once again hoping you will heal it and resolve the issue. Once you heal the issue inside you, you no longer need to manifest it in the outside world.

So how to tell if the conflict you face in a relationship is leading to beneficial growth and therefore is still a useful, supportive relationship or if it is time to leave? That is the million dollar question.

If your relationship is generally happy, filled with love and supportive of you and your growth, then it is beneficial. If your partner accepts you as you are, cares for you and wants the best for you then it is clear that this is a beneficial relationship in which you can continue to grow.

Life will never be completely easy and relationships wil always have their ups and down. The challenge is not to run away too early or throw the baby out with the bath water, so to speak.

It is a time of tumultuous growth on Earth. Much is being asked of you all and you are clearing out dense emotions and energy at a rapid rate. There are going to be times when you or your partner are bogged down in their stuff, where they are not able to see the light of day, where they appear stuck and hopeless. Will you love them at this point or leave them? Love stays. Love heals. Love reconnects the wounds within to the light of love and freedom.

Love and support each other through these challenges. See the good in each other, not the weaknesses. See the growth and changes occurring in all beings you interact with.

While there is love and support a relationship is worthwhile. When the love is gone or there is meanness, harshness and selfishness, then perhaps it is time to part. But not before hand and don’t go too soon, as it may just be a healing crisis that can be worked through resulting in elevated energy / vibration for all.

Trust life to guide you forth. If you are meant to leave you will get a clear message. If you are confused then it is not time to go. Look at your own stuff to heal, focus their and keep healing your own stuff, raising your vibration and welcoming greater love and light into your heart, body and mind.

You are a being of love. It is only the wounds that stop you from seeing it and feeling it. Don’t reject yourself or others. Love them. Love them all. It is love that heals and reunites us.

If you are being abused by a partner by all means leave. But if there is love there, support and encouragement – see it, value it, appreciate it.

If you can talk heart to heart and connect deeply that is a gift, a powerful healing opportunity guiding you both to wholeness. Don’t turn away from such a love because it is not your version of perfection.

All relationships will have challenge, that is what they are designed for. They help you clear out your conditioning and patterning. Will you love or reject the other when they are less than perfect? You too are less than perfect. Do they accept you? Are you being less loving than them?

It can be very complicated to see through all the projections and wounded aspects to see into the heart of the other. But try to do so. In their heart they are still pure, innocent souls. Each just needs love and acceptance to help them unlock the door to their heart and let their light shine.

That is why we bond in relationship. We are looking for someone to love us as we are, which gives us permission to consider that we are worthy of love and are okay even with our wounds. When we feel this, we can let our guard down, the defenses and walls dissolve and we can be vulnerable, authentic and intimate.

Without that acceptance we don’t feel safe to expose our tender hearts and heal our deepest wounds. It is the love and safety that comes with intimacy – seeing into another’s true essence, that heals us both, all who participate in it. Be that loving. Be that supportive of each other and your relationship will continue to grow and evolve.

That is the goal of life – to evolve into conscious and loving light beings while living here on Earth. If you can still your mind and go deep within to the still place of your heart, you will hear the truth about your relationship and you will know what to do. The answers are within you, you just have to have the courage to hear them and the sense to patiently wade through all the static like noise that comes from your projections and mind chatter.

Never take action rashly. Never leave or attack the other when you are feeling threatened / defensive / rageful. Breathe through those emotions and work through your stuff, so you come to a place of balance before talking to your partner or friend about the situation. In this way you respond with honesty and love for both of you, as opposed to reacting full of initial emotion, which does not necessarily represent how you really feel.

You can use Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) to help you to release your frustration, stress and tension. It will help you to complete unfinished trauma activations from the past, so that you can relax, be more present and see how you feel based on today’s information, rather than being driven by past pain and disappointments.

TRE can help you to balance your nervous system, body and mind. It helps you to reach a place of greater peace and calm where you can enjoy socially interacting with others, not seeing threat or danger where none is present.

Trust life to lead you forth. Let go of needing to control it all or figure it out. If you are confused it is not time to leave. It is time to look within and heal the buttons being pushed and the wounds beneath them.

Relationships are not meant to be warm and fuzzy all the time. They are tools for growth and learning how to love fully, accepting another as they are – not directing them to be your ideal man or woman.

They are who they are, accept them. Don’t try to change them or control them. That will only result in resentment and frustration on both sides. No one likes to be told they are not okay or not good enough. No one deserves to be treated that way.

Love everyone you come in contact with. That is what we all need, to open our hearts and become our true, authentic selves. So choose peace and happiness. Don’t take things personally and accept each other as you grow and evolve in love. That is how it should be. Blessed BE. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (11 Sept 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

What is the healthiest response to loss of a loved one?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Health, Relationships

Peaceful-Radio-slider-1The healthiest response to loss of a loved one is to allow whatever emotions you are feeling to flow through you and be released. Death is not annihilation of the person. It is the liberation and expansion of the spirit back to its fullness.

We can only access a small portion of our true self while in the body. We are limited due to our minds, egos, and the distractions of the flesh, which stop us connecting with God, our higher self and innate wisdom. All of that comes back together at the point of death. It is freedom from suffering and re-immersion into bliss and peace, knowing with full certainty that you are loved, accepted and complete, because love is all there really is on the other side. That is what you are immersed in, the vibration of God which is love, so it is a peaceful and joyous occurrence.

For those left behind when someone dies there is temptation to be angry at God for letting it happen; there can be guilt for not seeing the person enough; shame over any resentments you still hold towards the person and of course sadness at your loss. The sadness really is about those who stay, not those who go. It is saying “I will miss having you here to talk to and see, I love you and didn’t want you to go. I am sad for my loss, not yours. You are at peace, with God and your family. You are in a better place than I. I wish you well and I will soldier on in this place, till I too join you in that place”.

The sadness can also be tinged with fear of your own death or others you love. Know we will all die, but we only do so when it is our time – it is planned, pre-set before we are birthed. We have a destiny to fulfil and we cannot avoid it. No one dies before their allotted time. No one goes unexpectedly – they know intuitively, deep within, when it is to occur.

Our time on Earth serves a purpose for our evolution and growth. We come to learn / master certain lessons or experiences, to round out our soul’s knowing of all that is. In each lifetime we experience certain events or aspects of the whole. We keep doing this until we have experienced it all. In one lifetime we may be the villain, in another the hero, and yet another the victim. We get to experience it all. This can only occur if we can end each lifetime once the mission is completed, so we can go on to the next. There is no oblivion or nothingness. Life goes on in a different form and then a different body. So there is no real death. Life continues.

Your loved ones watch you from the other side. They send you love, they cheer you on, they sit beside you when you cry and despair. They are not gone and you are not alone. Know they continue to exist and they want you to enjoy your life as much as possible, to make the most of the gift of life on Earth. So do not wallow in pain and grief for too long. Let the emotions flow.

Talk to your loved ones still here about how you feel or a counsellor if necessary. Spend time in nature and let it soothe your soul. Meditate and connect in with the silence and your heart. Feel your heart and its messages. Let yourself rest and recuperate. Look after yourself well with nourishing food, time for sleep and exercise. Remember to live, it’s okay for you to live on. You don’t have to die too. Don’t shut down or numb out, out of loyalty or longing to join your loved one. They don’t want this. They don’t want their death to harm you. They want you to live fully, to embrace life in honour of them. They want their influence in your life to have led you on to greater things, not hindered you or slowed you down. It helps to say “I will live fully and honour your memory. I will live a while longer, then I will join you at the right time. It is not up to me and I surrender to God’s plan”.

Most of all it is important to honour your needs and emotional reactions. Don’t suppress your feelings or deny them. This just buries them in your body which can eventually lead to illness.

Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) can help you to release the tension, stress and trauma out of your body. It can help you to stay calm or to calm back down after emotional releases. Don’t let yourself tighten up, shut off and deaden within. No need for you to become numb. No need to push away your emotions, your true feelings. Feel them. Honour them. Support yourself as you move through layer upon layer of buried tension and emotion.

The grieving process empties out of you a lot of old grief, anger, rage and hurt from experiences that have devastated you throughout your life. That’s why it can feel so intense. It is like the flood gates open enabling it all to rise to the surface to be seen, felt and released, to be laid to rest so you can have peace.

If you fight against all of the tension and emotion rising you create frozen trauma energy in your body. You lock the pain into your muscles and cells, hence our muscles tighten, contracting around the trauma to hold it down. This results in dis-ease and physical pain. Our muscles hurt being clenched tight. Better to use TRE to help you to naturally release, to shake out all of this tension, so that your body can relax, be calm and it is easier for you to move through all that arises when you have lost someone you love.

If you have to go to work or care for young children, then make sure you do take some time each day for yourself, to sit with your feelings and honour your needs. You can’t give constantly to others and not burn out. You need to also receive – let other’s assist you. Let go of your perfectionistic tendencies – it is okay for the house to be a little dirtier than normal; it’s okay to eat take-away food for a while, rather than cooking yourself.

Honour yourself and your needs. Be kind to and comfort yourself, like you would if it was a good friend going through the experience. Be that friend to yourself and let people in. Don’t isolate yourself thinking people won’t understand. They will. Everyone goes through this at times – be it the death of a pet; a close friendship or relationship; or death of a loved one. It is all similar – a dying of what was known and a moving into the unknown. That is what people fear, the unknown. They worry what will occur and whether or not they will be able to handle it. Know that you will. Whatever comes you will handle it. You are strong enough. Otherwise it would not be occurring.

It is through adversity we learn to accept, surrender, let go of control, to open up to God and the mysteries of the Universe. It is through challenge that we see how strong we can be, when we need to be or events force us to be. It all leads to our spiritual growth and evolution and that is what we are here for. Life on Earth continues until we have learned what we wanted to learn, what we chose as our focus, prior to incarnation. When the learning is complete, so are we, and we let go of the body and return home to God, to our fullness and to those who came before us. It is a celebration and graduation all at once. A time of joy and love, so choose peace when someone you love crosses over. Know they have gone home and they are okay. Honour yourself and your needs and know it is all happening as it is meant to. There are no accidents or mistakes. Trust in life and keep living. It is not your time to go yet. Blessed BE. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (12 Aug 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

Why is it hard to love others fully?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Relationships

4209049-end-of-love-normalHow do you love another fully? By not fearing losing them or being rejected by them. By accepting them fully as they are – good points and bad points. We all want to be loved and trusted, but we fear showing our true self to others for fear of rejection, loss, pain.

It is sad but true, most people keep a wedge between themselves and others. They only let people in close enough to connect, but far enough away they feel safe. Then they wonder why they feel alone.

To live life is to love fully. You need to fully love to live fully. To hold back out of fear means you never experience the fullness of being seen, held, known and loved. It would be sad to miss out on that greatest of gifts. Choose to love fully, choose to risk your heart breaking. It will only break open. Do not see loss of loved ones as inevitable. See it as destined timing for being together and apart. You share in each others lives for a time and then others come into your life.

You will always love someone, something and hopefully yourself as well. For when you love yourself fully you do not feel so alone, nor does separation with another feel so devastating as you still have your own love to sustain you as well as God’s and that is a lot of love.

So take the risk and love fully, let people close, know they can’t really hurt you. Even if they leave how you think about it is what determines your reactions to it. You can choose to celebrate what you shared and be grateful. You can choose to be excited knowing the Universe will bring you another great love in time. You could choose to mourn the loss of this love or be devastated by it. You can choose to see the time alone as a chance for self reflection and growth. It all depends on what you think about the situation and how you choose to react.

Know that death is not the end, but the beginning. Death is a reuniting with your whole self – soul energy with God’s energy and your higher self, the part of you that is God-realised. Death is a coming home to the fullness of who you are. It is a celebration of light not encountered while on Earth. It is rhapsody and pleasure. It is bliss.

We all will die. We all must awaken to that truth and celebrate life while we have it. Make the most of your interactions with others. Love fully so you will not be alone at the end, but surrounded by all who hold you dear. Celebrate their lives and yours and all you have shared. Do not hold back out of fear. Do not isolate yourself or stay stuck in pain. Let go of the past and any hurt from relationships.

There is much you can do to clear out stress, tension and trauma from your body. As you do so it is easier to relax and enjoy life. Your body will be less reactive, less hyper vigilant, more willing to connect and socialise when your nervous system is calm. Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) can help you to discharge the old stagnant energy so that you can open to being more playful and for life to be more enjoyable. When you look through stressed or traumatised eyes you see danger and threat, you see more negatively. When you look through relaxed eyes you see beauty and love everywhere, you see more positively, because your body and nervous system is calmer, more peaceful, more relaxed and open. It’s not closed off out of fear or hurt.

Start a fresh each day choosing love and laughter. The choice is up to you. In the end that is what it comes down to, a choice – to love or not to love and how much to love. Choose to love fully and you will experience life more fully.

Let the guard down and love. No need to protect yourself, defend yourself, keep a distance between you and others. Let people close. Love them and their flaws and they can love you and yours. We all have areas for growth. We all have habits we could improve. That is okay. We all deserve love, we don’t need to be perfect. We don’t need to earn love. We all deserve it because we are alive and being alive is an opportunity to love – to give and receive love. So let the guards come down and love. Blessed BE. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (21 June 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.
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What constitutes a healthy relationship?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Conscious Evolution, Relationships

A healthy relationship is one in which both parties attain greater wisdom and self awareness. This occurs through using all situations to reflect on their conditioning and subconscious beliefs. The beloved is a mirror to your consciousness showing you your areas for growth and insight. Each triggers the other to provide them with the opportunity to heal and grow together towards the light and God-likeness.

It is a dance of growth, a sharing, a connected togetherness. It is not a clingy we, but a grander version of you and I. Together they dance and sing through life helping each other to grow. They share their insights, their feelings and dreams. They share their inner most thoughts and have no fear of rejection as they know the other does the same, and together they look after each others vulnerability. You hold my hand and I hold yours. I choose to be here for you and you choose to be here for me too.

It is a mutual reciprocity of love and acceptance. They see each others potential for growth and improvement, but rather than judge harshly, they love who the person is now and see them expanding/evolving into their authentic self. They love the person fully which enables the other to feel safe enough to be themselves. They let their defenses down and can be in touch with their heart, their true authentic self and become that in the world.

It is an honoring of two souls who have come together to share and learn. There may be challenges, but they are seen as an opportunity for reflection and growth, to get to know the inner workings of each other at a new level.

These relationships are common, not rare. However they are often overlooked as too easy or simple. We have been conditioned as human beings to look for Mr Right / Mrs Right, the perfect one to meet all our needs and rescue us from our life. Prince Charming and Cinderella type stories. But this is not love, this is not real life. For that type of rescuing does not help you grow. It is an unhealthy relationship where the Prince is a pseudo-parent figure taking responsibility and the damsel in distress stays a weak, dependent child. That is not an example of a healthy relationship.

A better example would be Hansel and Gretel who are not needy, but co-exist, they live together and grow together day by day. I hear you all shouting but they are brother and sister. Yes, these relationships that support growth can be siblings or friends. It doesn’t have to be just romantic partnerships. Let go of the fantasy of romance. It is fine as a concept, but know that it fades, know that as you get to know your partner you will see things you don’t like. It is meant to be that way. The honeymoon phase of the relationship has to end for the true inner work to happen.

When you are pushing each others buttons that is when insight can occur. You can reflect on when else in life have you felt that same way. You may realise your parents treated you in a similar manner and you adopted a belief about yourself as a result. If you no longer want to attract that same kind of treatment change your belief about yourself and what you will attract will change. Learn to set boundaries and speak your truth about how you do want to be treated and make sure you are treating yourself that way. Do you really love and respect yourself? Do you meet your own emotional needs? Do you take care of yourself well? If you don’t it is madness to expect someone else will.

Do your inner work to heal and find peace and your life will be much more peaceful and balanced. There are many ways to centre and ground yourself to go within, to connect with your heart and inner guidance. One way I have found particuarly useful at clearing out stress, tension and trauma so that I can sit in stillness and listen within for my truth and guidance is Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE). It helps to move your body out of reactivity – anger, fear – back down into calm relating where it is easier to connect with others heart to heart.

A healthy relationship is one where each party takes responsibility for healing their own issues and meet together in wholeness.

They don’t judge or project their stuff onto each other. Instead they share what they have learned and give thanks for the support they give to each other. They thank God for their lives and the chance to evolve and grow. They stay open to change knowing life will guide them forward to higher and higher levels of growth and service to the whole.

They are interdependent, capable of being on their own, but choosing to be together. There is no neediness or dependency, and if a time comes when one decides to go their separate ways, they celebrate what they have shared and walk away without regrets. They know each will find the next person they are to learn and grow with when the time is right. There are no guaranteed commitments for life. Couples stay together while they have more to learn from each other. When the learning is done they may go their separate ways. There is no fear of this, just trust and love.

For a healthy person knows they will always be connected energetically to their loved ones no matter how far they roam and it is their connection with them self and God that really counts. Those are the true, permanent commitments and they are the only ones you need. Blessed BE. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (18 June 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and HEALING FROM CHILD ABUSE pages of this website.

Why is divorce so common?

by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Personal Development, Relationships

Divorce occurs when two people lose their heart connection, their openness and willingness to be vulnerable with each other. They no longer feel safe enough, held enough, to express their truth. Fears and judgements come in and walls or defensive barriers come up, creating distance between them.

It is like they are on opposite sides of the room unable to touch and unable to find their way back to each other. For some this leads to sadness and despair. For others, it leads to anger and rejection. They push the partner further away in the false belief that it makes them safer, less vulnerable if they are creating the distance.

Usually, the love for each other isn’t actually lost. It’s just hidden away behind all of the emotional hurts and disappointments, the sense of loss and failure, the sense of not being enough, of having been naive to believe in the other person and your relationship.

Basically, grief takes over and becomes the dominant feeling. If a person doesn’t know how to process their grief and keep their heart open then they may drop into anger, rage, resentment or into collapse, depression, shut-down, numbness or they may escape literally leaving or fleeing in their mind dissociating from it all, pretending it’s not happening or distracting themself with addictions and other distractions.

If they could talk openly, genuinely, about how they feel and what had led to the distance between them, then they may find their way back to their heart-felt connection, their love for each other, but many don’t do this. They simply part not realising their love for each other is still there deep within.

It is a really painful process to let go of that which you’ve loved and treasured most deeply in your life. Devastating for the partners and even worse for the kids.

Before separating it is worth doing whatever you can to find your way back to your heart, to your truth and to speak openly and honestly with your partner. At least then you know you have done all that you can. If your partner isn’t willing to open up, to hear you, to speak their truth, then there’s not much you can do. Sending them love, doing loving things for them can help, but you may not be able to do this due to your own hurt.

Basically, we are wanting to soften the defence mechanisms, to bridge the distance between you, to bring you back closer together. This requires both parties to be willing to look within, to feel and to heal. It is vulnerable to do this, especially when you’re already feeling hurt.

Tension and Trauma Release Exercises (TRE) can help to shift some of the tension and stress you’re experiencing. It can help you release some of the contraction, the trauma so that you can access your heart again, your body’s wisdom and intuitive guidance. It can help you both to meet and talk from the heart, rather than from the head and ego.

TRE is well worth doing alongside self-reflection and other healing activities. These can be done on your own or under the support of a counsellor or TRE provider to assist you to find more balance, more calm and to be able to access a deeper level of knowing what you need to do next as guided by your inner self, your true essence. That will guide you more effectively than the mind and its’ ego judgements.

Divorce is not inevitable. It’s a choice people make when they see no other way forward together. Make sure you have explored all possibilities for reconnection before divorcing so you don’t have regrets or what-if questioning later on. You know in your heart what you want most. Take the risk to listen within and follow your heart’s guidance.

If after doing all this it is clear it is time to part then do so with ease, with grace, knowing that whatever and whoever is in line with your highest good will come when the time is right.

You may need to be alone for some time to heal, to start to open up and take risks again before you will be willing to let someone close. Honour your needs.

Divorce is common because it is an easy option when two people no longer feel in love. What they don’t realise is their relationship was bound to fail if they expected the other person to complete them and make them happy. That is impossible. Each has to complete themselves, find inner peace and happiness within themselves. Then two whole people can come together and share with each other, supporting each other’s continual growth. They can share their joy and love as it is overflowing from each other.

When couples join from a needy space, a space of I’m lacking something and I hope you will fix it, it doesn’t work. Temporarily it will seem to work, that your prayers have been answered, but it is false illusion. Eventually, the rose-tinted glasses will fade and you will judge the other person as not good enough, as problematic. When in reality they are fine. You are just projecting your own unfinished business onto them. You feel not good enough, so you project it out and judge them as that too. When you love and accept yourself completely it is easy to love and accept others too.

You don’t judge them as you recognise it is none of your business what the other person does. You don’t control them because you are not needy and your happiness doesn’t depend on what they do. You could walk away easily but you don’t because you enjoy watching the other grow and you don’t take their actions personally. You know what they do is a reflection of their inner workings and if you get triggered it shows you something inside yourself to heal/process. So you see challenge/conflict as a gift that leads you to more wholeness. You are teaching each other about self through your interactions and helping each other to grow. so the relationship and your love spirals upwards, positive growth to infinity, to Source connectedness.

Those that couple from a needy space spiral downwards into dark, murky depths of inner pain. The other doesn’t respond the way they want. They take it personally and take it as confirmation that they are not good enough, worthy or lovable. They blame the other for their pain instead of taking responsibility to heal their wounds. This escalates ultimately into separation and divorce and unfortunately repeating the pattern over and over if each doesn’t learn from their mistakes. Yes, their choices, not just the others choices.

It is up to each of us to take responsibility for our baggage and clear it up. Otherwise, we will never have a peaceful journey. Time alone allows the inner reflection and insight, awareness to dawn. It is good to have time being single then you can cling to your true partner – your heavenly father – who loves you just as you are. It is this love, this connection that you have been craving and fearing due to your many false beliefs about God and life.

Life truly can be fun and enjoyable if you heal your wounds and let the light in. Become whole in yourself then you don’t need another. Having someone as your partner is a bonus, not a necessity, and if they go it is okay as you know the next person destined to help you grow further will come when the time is right. You can not miss him/her. It is destined from before you were born. You made an agreement to meet at a certain time in your lives and share the journey together, supporting each other to grow, to know God, self and others as whole and complete.

This is the purpose of relationship, to help us evolve into loving, kind, compassionate beings who honour each other and share love and light with humanity. So be it. Amen.

By Jodi-Anne (12 June 2015).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.