Are you just wired that way?
One of my kids called me a couple of weeks ago and asked, “Mom, how do I stop my negative thoughts?"
And, “Mom, it seems like when I think them, they start to happen. Is that true?”
What amazing questions.
Maybe you’ve had that same feeling…like you just can’t shake negative thoughts, worry, anxiety or even despair about the future.
I started my journey years ago studying Silva Mind Systems and later Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP). Both of these modalities are about understanding and then working with how your mind has been coded or programmed. They are both still part of my daily practice.
But it is when I took a deep dive into sacred time that I truly had the visceral, full body understanding of how our minds (our brains and our thoughts) can stop us from creating a life we love.
Your mind is built from the experiences you have… which gradually sculpt your brain, shaping your thoughts. Your memories begin to “fix” an arrow of time and start to manifest your life and inform your body.
From a shamanic perspective, your experiences in utero and even past lifetimes also sculpt your brain.In trying to protect us, to keep us safe, our brains hold on to negative thoughts or events, in case we need them for future reference.
And it not only stores “real” experiences, it also stores memories of traumatic dreams, or even movies you’ve watched as if it had happened to you and was real. (Which is good reason not to watch horror movies).
Your brain does not know time, so it still considers these stored experiences a “threat” even if you’ve grown or changed.
It also holds onto old self-limiting beliefs and negative self-talk, as well as things that were said to us as kids (even if we don't remember them on a conscious level).
And since the brain doesn’t code time, this negative reference section just gets keeps getting larger and larger.
No wonder it feels so hard to change our thoughts to create what we want and be present for a life we love. The good news is that our brains are neuroplastic in nature and can grow new neural pathways.
This is what shamans do – consciously creating a new circuitry of the brain by stepping outside of time and becoming whole.
Sometimes when the trauma occurs, “parts” of us leave to stay safe; classically the shaman’s role has been to call these lost soul parts home. It is an important first step to becoming “whole” so we can then reprogram our brain circuitry.
You're then able to experience the transformation of witness connection – to rewire the brain to move beyond time.
I invite you to join me and my good friend Mary Agnew for a free LIVE online event, Journey from Pain to Peace: Shamanic Approaches to Working with Trauma, next Wednesday evening, August 26.
Together we'll explore becoming “whole" and you'll experience a guided soul retrieval and power animal journey. The event is completely free to register and attend.
