Engagement: One of the Secrets of Happiness

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

When meeting with a client for the first time, I make a point of asking what he or she cares about.  The deepest answers to this question require reflection, a very special kind of engagement with the self that involves tuning into one’s subtlest feelings and desires.  Because many of us grow up in homes where we were given little time for reflection and where what we cared about was never considered important, we often find getting in touch with our deepest feelings a challenging task.  Collectively and individually we continue to evolve away from punitive authoritarian times, those days when man/father/priest was supposed to know best and was to be obeyed, no matter what; in our current culture, each of us has the responsibility to become our own authority.  This means engaging with the Self in highly rewarding ways.

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Flint and the Call to Activism

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

One of the biggest stories in the news this week is the water contamination in Flint, Michigan.  As this story unfolds, we are shocked to discover public officials’ negligence in the face of this huge health crisis for Flint citizens.  Although citizens began expressing their concerns about the water soon after Flint switched its source of water  from Detroit Water and Sewage to the Flint River, it has taken two years for some government officials to take action and for others to resign over the decisions they made that have jeopardized the health of children and adults.

Often it is this kind of crisis that prompts local citizens to become activists.  Activism can be frustrating, but it can also be highly rewarding because those in power must act to remedy unsafe or unjust practices when their constituents pressure them to do so.  No matter the gains made, activism is never an easy road to travel.  It takes both courage regarding one’s abilities to speak truth to power and faith in the process of civic action, characteristics we must cultivate as we mature into full citizenship.

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The Longest Journey

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

Many cultures, including our own, tell us  that the longest journey we ever make is the journey from head to heart.  Anyone who has spent time living in thinking mode knows the truth of this statement.  We spare ourselves the work of feeling when we crowd out our emotional responses with constant information gathering, analysis, and judgment.  The truth is, our emotions distress us, because they often come with an awareness of our vulnerabilities.  It feels much safer to give ourselves over to thinking about our lives and the world.  And yet, without the guidance of our hearts and emotions, we are nothing more than machine-like problem solvers and problem creators.  Given the number of crises we must address address today, it is easy to conclude that very few people have made the journey from head to heart.

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Creating a Kindness Practice in 2016

Please Note:  Winter Blooms is an educational website in no way meant to replace building a relationship with a trained EFT practitioner, counselor, or therapist.  To find an EFT Practitioner, visit the AAMET website, the ACEP website, the EFT Universe website, the Tapping Solution website, or contact Jane for EFT coaching support.

Given the current state of the world, it is hard to believe that kindness is a virtue valued in every culture.  The effects of kindness are so profound that every generation of every society speaks of its vital importance through its sages.    In ancient China, Lao Tzu, author of the Tao Te Ching and founder of Taoism, told his world, “Kindness in words creates confidence.  Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.  Kindness in giving creates Love.”  In classical Greece, Plato admonished his fellow citizens to, “Be kind, for everyone you meet is fighting a harder battle.”  Much closer to us in time and geography, George Sand, nineteenth century French novelist and essayist, instructed her readers to, “Guard well within yourself that treasure, kindness.  Know how to give without hesitation, how to lose without regret, how to acquire without meanness.”  We are all recipients of kindness at one time or another, and each of us knows first hand that kindness is what makes life both meaningful and joyful.  With this in mind, I’m suggesting we all develop a Kindness Practice in 2016.

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