Working Through Brain Clouds - Part 2
You are already aware that Brain Clouds are groups of negative mind programs that produce stress chemicals & block communication with your subconscious mind library. You also know that you are responsible for both the production & diminishing of all stress chemicals... Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht
Meet Diane: When I first joined the thoughtWARE Program several years ago I was 52 years old & had terrible brain clouds in most areas of my life. I had just divorced & wasn't feeling complete in my work. It was like the years leading up to my divorce had drained me & being free was about all I was going to get. Part of me said be grateful for that & forget anything else. I was truly out of touch with what my body had been telling me over & over again for more years than I care to remember.
Eliz asked me to observe my cloud-states & I felt truly frightened as I grew increasingly aware of what I had been bringing to my body & mind. My eating was OK, but not great. If you looked at me you probably wouldn't have known this, but my body did. I was highly stressed & little did I know that very soon I would paying the Piper a big price for all of this. I worked on my self-development utilizing Interactive Self-Hypnosis & began to have more positive experiences in my life. I looked & felt better than I had in a very long time & even my work had taken some creative turns.
My 56th birthday was to be a great celebration. My friends gave me a surprise party & a tickets to Hawaii. My sons surprised me by flying in for the occasion. My doctor also surprised me & gave me a diagnosis of breast cancer. So much for the party. My brain cloud that had been fairly well under control by this time changed forever in that one simple moment.. I would never be free again, or so I thought.
Diane's brain cloud was very toxic & needed to be cleared many times during the day. Her emotions were producing large quantities of stress chemicals that were going to interfere with her diagnosis & treatment, as well as the quality of her life. It would become very important for her to work closely with her "team", but the cloud-work could only be done by her.
Knowing How to Re-Center is Key
A diagnosis of cancer can make or break a person. Diane was in better shape than most people because she already knew about brain clouds & heightened awareness. Of course the diagnosis hit her very hard & especially because she wasn't expecting it. She needed some time to adjust to her new reality & to get on track for what she needed to do. Once the surprise was over, she had a choice to make. Would she choose to keep the negative brain cloud, or would she be willing to work to dispel it. Her new life experiences would be tied to her choice.
She didn't have a large window of opportunity either. The subconscious begins it's etching process very quickly. If she procrastinated with staying the victim in the dark clouds, her mind would see this as her goal of choice & would bring more of the same to her, actually digging her deeper into the dark. Taking the positive route meant disallowing some of her grieving, even though she was entitled to it & pushing with consistency through all sorts of hurdles into the positive & healing state. As Diane put it, for her, there was no choice. She would dispel the brain cloud & would start immediately. It was back to the same familiar drawing board, but with a brand new scenario. Diane would have to begin again with her introspective detective work, but I felt very sure that she would become her own expert once again.
One doesn't have to have an oncology diagnosis or a chronic disease state to understand Diane's predicament of having the rug pulled out from under you. Sometimes it has to do with relationships, or perhaps job security or even falling of the nutritional path. One moment things are going well & then life turns on a dime. Ominous brain clouds can appear very quickly & it's important to make the right decision very quickly indeed, because windows of opportunity are always very small when it comes to polluted clouds. Your goal is to make sure that your subconscious mind knows what you truly want & you spend little to no time in getting back to your drawing board.
Facing & Dismantling Brain Clouds
Earlier on you met Claire. Her brain clouds were filled with so many negative issues. Most of them were medical or at least health related. Her doctor told her that nothing was wrong & yet he offered her multiple medications to manage the symptoms. In the beginning Claire did not share everything with me. She told me that she didn't want to come across as being so flawed. This is a common fear, not only when working with others, but when working with yourself. It's important to learn how to detach from yourself, so you are in a better place to explore all that needs exploring.
Mind Exercise
Take some time to relax deeply into the moment. Settle into your chair & sense magnets pulling you down gently. Tilt your eyes up slightly & bring forward your mind screen. Place or sense an image of yourself who is facing you. Feel tenderness towards this individual. This is the needy you. In a very receptive mind-state, encourage the self-image to tell you everything. Don't shy away. When it is out it can be taken care of in a healthy fashion. Leave the suggestion with the image to bring anything else it may have forgotten to you as well.
Claire was able to share more easily after working with this interactive self-hypnotic imagery. What bothered her was that she had to face such a negative brain cloud each day while pretending that it didn't exist. Her work was truly suffering from this incongruity. Claire was living a lie. She didn't thing others noticed because she was able to get all of her work accomplished, but she knew & was paying the price for play-acting. She also knew that she could be doing a better & more creative job if she wasn't so absorbed with keeping her physical & emotional feelings under wraps.
As Claire explained it, the moments of her life seemed to be drenched in anxiety & so she was also programming herself to continue along the same parade route. This way of approaching multiple problems was very new for Claire. In the past she would go on a diet or promise to watch her nutrition. She would register at the gym & try to fit that in for both weight & stress management. Then she would put on artificial nails & even gloves when no one was around to keep from picking her cuticles & nails. Weekends were designated sleep times. During the week she would have sleep problems, but weekends were different as the body was eager to sleep both day & night.
Claire began noticing subtle changes almost immediately upon starting the thoughtWARE Program & was very curious about how this could be. Claire came to understand that she was already dispelling her brain clouds. When you begin to pay attention to yourself in this special way, the mind & body can truly become engaged, bringing change very quickly. Later on in this area dedicated to excerpts from thoughtWARE, you will learn about "re-etching" behaviors & special images designed for bringing health, as well as what you truly want to your self.
It's very common to have multiple physical & emotional complaints when under stress & especially if the stress has gone on for a long time. It's also common to find unhealthy stress releasers such as nail biting, hair pulling or twirling. Food is another avenue for stress-release as is smoking & alcohol. Over-working, perfectionism & other compulsive behaviors are also utilized for stress release. Claire has already shared that she has a problem with her weight, bites her nails & picks her cuticles. I'd like Claire & the rest of you to do some self-exploring here.
Self-Discussion & Journaling Work
Download the above & highlight those areas that speak to you personally. Place this in your 3 ring binder for future reference. Keep in mind that your subconscious mind is always present & is very communicative when participating in work such as this. In this work you will be communicating with your creative inner mind through reading & through automatic writing. This means that you will be relaxing before all journaling/writing exercises & inviting your pen to flow across the page, delivering messages to your paper.
Open your separate Journal & explore your brain cloud a bit further. Are there things that come to mind that you didn't write in the first chapter? Sometimes it takes awhile before the mind is willing to give up some of it's stored stressors. How does your body communicate with you? What parts tend to speak louder than others?
Draw a graphic of your brain cloud & see if you can name some of the components. Ask your subconscious mind to tell you more of them. Be open & receptive. Send yourself some compassion & move away from judging yourself. You are simply a human being & doing the best you can. Understanding brain cloud components are key to changing them.
How do you release your stress? Do you have any excesses? Explore these, as well as others from the past that stand out. Also explore your positive stress releasers. You will want to befriend them, re-energize them if they are down & work to attach them to new areas of your life experiences that might benefit from these.
Elizabeth Bohorquez, RN, C.Ht is a Clinical Hypnotherapist, President & Program Designer for Sarasota Medical & Sports Hypnosis Institute located in Sarasota, FL & online at http://www.hypnosis-audio.com & http://www.sugar-addiction.com She is the author of Sugar....the Hidden Eating Disorder & How to Lick It, Beyond Disorderly Eating...The Truth About Sugar, Bingeing & How to Stop, as well as The MindBody Fitness Boot Camp... Lifestyle Change Made Easy. She has also written & produced +350 audio CD's & mp3's. The websites include moderated discussion groups, ezines, library & a host of other educational tools for learning Interactive Self-Hypnosis. Visit the online Boot Camp & work directly with the author. Download a free mp3 each month.