Hoarding your old habits

One of my favorite television shows is Hoarders. I am absolutely fascinated by it. I was watching just the other day and it occurred to me that people hoard habits.

When people hoard things, they don’t want to get rid of anything. They want to keep things even if they are disgusting. It could be soaked in rat urine or moldy or any number of things. But they want to keep it.

Why? Because it serves a purpose. It fills a need. In some way or another it is a comfort to have it. That is how it is with habits as well. We make habits to fill a need.

However, if the habits we make to deal with tough times in life, are on a low level, say with depression or anxiety, then it is not a long lasting solution. And so, somewhere down the line, this action or response stops working for us.

Think of it this way. When someone starts to drink alcohol to become numb, one or two drinks may do the trick. But as your body becomes accustomed to alcohol, you may need more and more to numb you from life. When you get to this point, you need something new. This is where some people turn to other stronger chemicals to numb their life.

Make sense? The same is true for the habits we make to deal with tough times. They worked for some time, but they don’t anymore. When they no longer work for you, you need to meet your needs on a higher empowering level.

But people hoard old habits as a similar manner as those who hoard things. No matter how out dated or useless this old action or habit may be, you want to hold on to it. Why? Because we think it is our only hope. We think it is the only answer. We fear that if we lose this, toss out this old habit, we we be exposed to the world defenseless. We need that comfort.

I want to urge you today to get rid of that hoard of old habits. I do understand that fear of letting go of that old habit. It is like losing an old friend. But if you want, I will be your safety net. I will take your hand and give you gentle guidance. I won’t lead you astray. I won’t let you do anything that is beyond your ability. But I will make you leave your comfort zone.

It takes going into unfamiliar territory to get where you want to be. It may take getting past the zone of fear to find your greatest peace.

Cheers!

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

The four corners of your life puzzle

If you were to look at the parts of your life as a gig saw puzzle, the first thing you would want to do is to find the four corner pieces. Why? Because once you get the four corner pieces, everything comes together.

How?

There are four survival needs. We all have them. These are similar to the corner pieces of a gig saw puzzle. These are similar to the corner stones of a building. Just as a building needs the corner stones for strength, we need to meet these four survival needs to build a strong person. But we don’t want to just meet them. We want to meet them on a high level.

And this is what I am all about. I am all about building up people. It may take breaking down the stuff that is not working for you, and replacing it with better pieces or actions.

When you have better corner pieces, better corner stones so to speak, you will see the other pieces in your life come together.

I know. It’s hard. But really, once you get in the habit of change, you see it happening more often and a lot easier. You gain confidence.

Cheers!

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

The benefits of a day of silence

So, one of the things I think is vitally important is to clear the mind from time to time. I practice a day of silence from time to time. I do it as often as I can. And if I can’t do it all day, I try to do it for at least an hour or so.

What do I do? I don’t talk all day. If I absolutely have to talk, then I do, but otherwise I do my best to not say a word. And for quick pick me ups, I just do it for an hour or two.

Why do I do it? It clears my mind for one. Our minds are so cluttered. If you are like me, sometimes my mind is going in 3-4 directions at a time. When you turn your mouth off, your mind settles down. Well, it is supposed to. It may take a time or two to get your mind to settle down. What you want to do is to let the thought enter, but not stay. Have it just enter then leave. A peaceful mind will brings peace into your life.

Another benefit of this is learning to live in the moment. When I stop talking, I am in the moment. I am not thinking about all the things I have to do. A lot of my focus in on keeping my mouth shut. It is actually very challenging. If I am doing some activity, then my mind is also doing this one thing. For those of you who like multi-tasking, I urge you to stop that. It really is not a positive thing. It really is better to do one thing at a time. It keeps the brain relaxed.

Another benefit is that I find it strengthens the mind. You build up brain power. You observe more. I find that I look at the world a bit differently. You shut your mouth and open your mind, and eyes a bit more. You are actually seeing and not just looking. You understand the difference, right?

And for me, I just feel a lot more peace and joy. My guess is because not talking is sort of like my little secret: I’m not talking. Of course if you are doing this around other people, you need to tell them in advance so that they know that you are having a day of silence and not giving them the silent treatment.

So, I challenge you to try a day of silence from time to time. You may want to start with a silent hour or two and build up the time you practice silence. It may be more challenging than you think. I suggest trying to do it at least once a week.

Shh!

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

The Schumann Resonance

What the heck is that?

As you may know, the Earth has electromagnetic frequencies. The Schumann Resonance, in a nutshell has to do with these global frequencies.

On Earth, the normal frequency is 7.83 hertz. This low frequency has spikes from time to time. These spikes are the Schumann Resonance.

So, that is not very scientific. It is a very basic explanation. I am not a scientist, and I am not here to discuss science. I am here to discuss how these spikes affect you.

We are normally in tune with the normal frequencies. But when these frequencies spike, it shakes us up. We get thrown off our game. We feel out of sync with the world.

We may have some unwelcome issues with our emotional, mental and spiritual self. We may have physical issues we chalk up to being “psychosomatic”.

But at the same time, bursts of higher frequencies can shockingly be helpful. These bursts can be cleansing. Our body energy can get blocked. These bursts can be cleansing by clearing energy blocks.

These spikes can raise our consciousness. We open up so to speak. We rise to a higher, love based frequency.

We can take advantage of these spikes. We can release mental and emotional blocks and get unstuck. During these spikes, we can release the action of apathy, “I don’t want to”, and replace it with a charged up, energizing alternative.

How? When we open our minds and hearts, which we do when the frequencies are raised, we frankly have the energy and motivation to make a change.

If you would like to see the Schumann Resonance levels, you can do it here: sosrff.tsu.ru/new/shm.jpg. Remember the normal level is 7.83 hertz.

So, the next time you don’t quite feel right, and you don’t know why, it may just be the Earth’s magnetic frequencies acting up.

Cheers!

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

How to Heart Life…book summary

I wrote a book which is step by step how I stopped doing depression. It also has general guidance for every day life. Here is the summary:

Everything we do or don’t do, every issue in life, every problem comes down to the same four basic human necessities. One of these is your prime need. This is the one thing you strive to obtain at all times. This is the one thing your life revolves around. This is your inner drive. This is what motivates you. If the necessity is not being filled or is being filled on a primal level, you suffer from emotional pain. Life is not happy. Life is not fulfilling. Life is dull. You may be experiencing anxiety, depression or fear. You may lack a sense of self. You may lack confidence. You may lack the will to live. You may think life is hard.

How to Heart Life leads you to understand the four basic necessities. It guides you to discover your prime necessity, your inner drive, your motivator. Once you understand this, you will be able to change your focus from problems in your life to the answer. You will come alive. You will create passion in your life. What do you want? What do you want to change? What is blocking you from getting that?

I was once like you. I was depressed. I worked hard but was unable to make life work for me. My life was filled with uncertainty. It seemed I had a bad attitude. But really it was a bad life that created a bad mood. But then when I understood what I truly wanted, everything became clear. For the first time in my life, I understood what made me tick. It was exciting. It was energizing.

I broke old habits and created new ones. I went from wanting and needing to having. My confidence grew. I acquired self-esteem, self-respect, and an improved sense of self-image. I eliminated my depression.

Life gives us detours. When we learn we keep our compass pointed toward our goal and we get where we want to go. You can get there from here.

Cheers, Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

No One Hates Anyone

Yes, that is correct. No one hates anyone. Let me explain.

You may or may not say you hate someone. Some people don’t like the word hate. They may say dislike instead. But it is a strong dislike, right? But think about it. If I were to ask you to tell me what it is you dislike about them, what would you say?

If you are like me, you may at first go blank. Your first response may be “just because”. Then you search your mind and think of things you just don’t like about them. But wait, is it what you don’t like about them, or is it more how their actions impact your life?

The impact on your life that is what you hate or dislike. It isn’t the person.

Most of the time when we don’t like people it is because they have impacted our life in a way that takes away things we enjoy. We may lose our rights. We may lose our peaceful environment. We may lose freedoms.

Let me give an example.

I have four direct neighbors. I really don’t like 2 of them. One, I really don’t like. I mean I really don’t like them. These are the neighbors directly behind me. They rub me wrong every day all day.

One evening, I walked into my kitchen. I looked out the back door and my knee jerk reaction was “I hate you”. Then I started to think about that. I thought why? Why do I hate them? Well, I think they are really not all that nice. But, why do I hate them?

Then it occurred to me. I don’t hate them. I hate their actions. I really love dogs. My dogs are my pack. That is how they look at it. My dogs are indoor dogs. They are with me most of the time. They are part of my life for companionship. My life is all about taking care of them. But my neighbors, well they have dogs. I don’t know why. They are outdoor dogs which is not terrible as long as the dogs are kept comfortable and out of bad weather. And I do have to admit that these neighbors do spend the evenings outside with them. But you can tell they don’t really enjoy their dogs. They don’t give them love or affection. I had to anonymously give the dogs a water bowl. Yes, they only had old cans for water before. I have more complaints, but I won’t go into it now. Anyway, this bugs me. All the ways I feel they mistreat their dogs bugs me.

And before you start, I talked to the Humane Society about things and there was nothing they could do but talk to them. And I knew that would not help and could possibly make things worse. And I did not talk to them because quite frankly, I am afraid of him.

So, this is why I thought I hated them. But I don’t hate them, I hate their actions. I hate how they treat their dogs. But more than that, and this is key; I hate the loss of peace with these people.

I have to avoid these neighbors. I tip toe around my house so that their dogs don’t bark at me because I don’t want to have him get angry at his dogs. I avoid being outside in the mornings all together. Starting at 4:00 p.m. I have to turn up the sound on the television to not hear them. I sleep in my back bedroom to not hear them. I have lost the peace of my home.

Does this make sense? I don’t hate them. I hate my lack of peace in my own home because of their actions.

Now, you may be thinking. You are a life coach and struggle with this? How can you help me or anyone if you struggle?

Yes, I struggle sometimes. But let me explain.

Everyone struggles sometimes. But here is the key to it all. Mentally and emotionally I no longer Do Depression as a result. I have a better response. This is let it go. When we have no control over something, we have to let it go. We have to have faith that all will be OK. I remind myself to let it go every single day and I get my peace back.

But more on this another time. The point of this post is to talk about hate. We hate what we lose because of the actions of others, or we hate the impact the actions of an other or others have on our life. We don’t hate people.

I want you to think about this the next time you think you hate or at the very least very much dislike someone, or the next time you think one group of people hates another. You don’t hate people and neither do they. They hate the impact on their life.

More often than not it is a sense of loss. The loss of a way of life they enjoy for example. What that may be is personal and cannot be defined here.

And with a change of perspective, you can learn to not feel so bad about it. Remember, no one can take anything away from you not even your peace of mind. We give things away. We can take back our power.

Cheers! Have a great day.

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

No one wants to stop doing depression.

That statement may surprise you. Let me explain.

It may seem that is a ridiculous statement. You may say that depression is so terrible no one would want to be depressed. Well, let me start by telling you that depression fills a need. It may not seem like it, but generally speaking it fills the survival need for comfort and control.

But, you may say that it is unpleasant to do depression. How can it be a comfort? I assure you if you are very perceptive of your feelings you will understand that it is comforting as it is a familiar. I remember telling my mom that I liked being depressed. She did not understand.

There are four survival needs. Depression is an action. It fills a need. So if you do depression, what you think you want may be to not want to sleep all day. Or you may think it you want to not cry all day. Or you may think you want to not feel able to interact with others. But these things are benefits of not doing depression rather than what you want.

To stop doing depression is a vehicle to meet your need and get you those benefits exampled above. It may be to meet the need for significance or love and connection with others. Not stopping the action of depression could be the fear of actually having what you want. It can be an excuse not to succeed in a goal. To actually stop doing depression there is uncertainty of how things would be without it.

As I mentioned before, there is comfort in the familiarity of depression. Who wants to give up that familiarity. More, there is certainty in the inability to stop doing depression. Apathy, “I don’t care” gets involved. Apathy is certainty and provides control…it is your decision to stop doing depression or not. With apathy, one loses motivation as you become certain you can not stop doing depression.

So you see, no one wants to stop doing depression. What they want are the benefits of not doing depression examples as suggested above.

To transform your life, to make a change, you need to understand what it is you want, really want. Once you know this, you can make an empowering alternative action that will help you to obtain the benefits that you would enjoy by not doing depression.

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

Depression and the cozy bed

Doing depression is like being in a cozy bed on a chilly morning. You don’t want to get up because you are warm and feel safe in bed. You watch the clock and time is passing, and you start to feel you are wasting time. This is why most people hesitate to stop Doing depression. We feel comfortable with it. You may not believe that, but it’s true. And the real, outside world seems so cold.

So, I do understand the pleasure of a cozy bed. I do understand the comfort of doing depression. Just as much as it is a comfort to stay in bed on a chilly morning we can want to stay in the comfort zone of depression. It is a familiar.

And as we watch the hands of the clock move we watch life passing us if we are doing depression. We may feel guilty not getting out of bed because we are wasting the day. We may feel guilty of not living and enjoying life.

We sometimes put these things together. We want to escape life and go to sleep. I get that also.

The world can be a cold place. But it can also be a warm place. I live where there are a lot of car crashes. What do I see? I see people coming out of their houses and offer assistance. “Are you OK?” is a common question. People may bring bottles of water. Sometimes they will even pull people out of cars before a fire starts.

So, as hard as it may be to get out of bed on a chilly morning, you must force yourself to do that. In the same way, you must force yourself to get out of your comfort zone and face the world that can be cold. Because if you don’t, you will be missing out.

Yes, you can.

I ask you what will you miss out on if you don’t change? How will that feel? What will you gain When you do change? How will that feel? I urge you to push back the covers and face the coolness of the world, and make the first step toward finding comfort in an empowering alternative.

Yes, you can.

Coach Lisa.

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

The Why of Suicide

In honor of suicide prevention day, there are a few things you need to understand.

First you need to understand depression. Depression is an action. It is in response to a sense of a lack of certainty or loss of control over some aspect of life. It isn’t all aspects of life. There is one aspect that brings on the action of depression. Some need is not being met, or the need is not being met in a great enough fashion. So this lack is where the depression comes to play.

Everyone has their response to the sense of a lack of certainty or loss of control. We all have our “knee jerk” reaction. Some people use depression. That may be surprising to those who do not understand it. Even harder to understand is that people with depression actually like it on some level. It is their comfort zone. They are used to how they feel. This keeps them in depression. It takes an alternative action to get them away from and out of depression.

After doing depression for some time, apathy comes into play. Apathy is the action of “I don’t care”. Why does apathy come in? It fills the need for certainty and significance. I know that is hard to understand, but it does. It brings in control. To care or not is your decision. This gives you some sort of control in one aspect of your life. You now have certainty. You are now certain things won’t get better. That issue that seems to be out of control, will never get better or go away.

Having a sense of control or comfort is important. We all need a sense of pleasure to avoid the pain. Depression and apathy also fill the need for significance by providing a unique answer. And as odd as it may sound they are done for survival. Survival.

So, how does suicide come into play? Well, when depression and apathy stop working, and they do, a new action has to replace them. There are two choices. Either find an empowering alternative that will fill the need on a higher level. Or turn to an alternative to meet the need on a lower level. This is the suicide option. More, it is the threat of suicide that most people use. Remember, depression and apathy are done for survival. So, when one threatens or attempts suicide, they don’t really want to die. They want someone to care. They seek someone who will help them to understand what is wrong or missing in their life, and to help to get that under control and make better.

Now how do you prevent suicide? So often people say, I had no idea. I thought he/she was fine. Well, it starts with paying attention. I know someone who regularly made posts on Facebook that should be red flags. But these posts seemingly go unnoticed. Why? Well either they are not recognized as by someone who is going down the deep depression path, or they are considered posts for attention.

That someone is seeking attention is a common reaction to certain actions that depressed people make. And quite frankly, most people get so tired of hearing about this persons problems they stop listening. We all have problems. Right? People who complain a lot are seen as whiners or cry babies. At some point, most want to turn to them and tell them to just shut up.

This is a cycle. The person in need makes attempts to be heard. They may get a little response, but it is not enough. So they make louder noise. They do it with more frequency. They become annoying. Others tune out. Now it seems no one is listening. The next action is to withdraw. This person who made all those Facebook posts suddenly stopped. What was the point? No one responded. No one reached out. They may try again to reach out in the only way they can. If they continue to be ignored, no for some this is where they now make the choice to take the second option and meet their need on the lower level. The threat of suicide.

What can you do? Well, don’t ignore the small signs, the small cries for help. If someone complains, whines or is a “cry baby” a lot, maybe that is the first sign. If they withdraw from society, that is another sign. If they want to sleep more, that is a sign. Listen. Ask. They probably won’t really be able to really tell you what they need. It is confusing. But just listening (little talking) will help to sort things out. The more someone talks, the more things become clear.

But, here is the tough part. If you have never experienced that sort of depression, it is hard to understand enough to help. What would work for you, more than likely will not work for them. It is best to have someone who has “been there” to help. Find a depression expert. But make sure they are a true expert. One clue is does the expert understand how depression is comforting? Even if you can’t find an expert that really understands, any counselor will be better than none.

So, there you have it. The why of suicide and what you can do to help family or friends in need.

Take care!

Coach Lisa.

www.facebook.com/coachLisa

Not living up to your potential

Most of the time if someone says you are not living up to your potential, one will feel as if you are a disappointment.

But in reality it is a compliment.

Think about it. You have not met your potential. You have room for more growth. You have room for improvement.

Who ever said that to you has a lot of faith in you. This person is challenging you to be your very best.

Are you up for the challenge?

That is the tough question, right?

I guess the answer starts with what is missing in your life? Is there something out of balance?

Balance

There are four basic needs in life. Everything we want falls into one of these four categories. We tend to strive for one in particular. This is our inner drive. This is the one thing we will work for first and foremost.

But when we strive to fill that need, we sometimes let other needs unfilled. This creates a life that is not in balance. So, we have something missing. So what is that? What is missing?

The easy answer is that it is the opposite need from the one you are meeting. You see, the four needs are paired opposites. Think of a compass. North and South are opposites. East and West are opposites. So if these were the four needs, and you strive above all else to have East, you are not filling your need for West. West is what is missing. Make sense? So until you fill your need for West, you are not living up to your potential.

Once you figure out what is missing, you find a way to fill that need. Then friend you are living up to your potential. Good for you!

So, if someone ever says you are not living up to your potential, smile and say thank you for the compliment. Thank you for having so much faith in me. I will take the challenge and find a way to fill in the gaps.

OK. Take care!

Coach Lisa

www.facebook.com/coachLisa