A blog by Dr. Harry Henshaw
Posts tagged transform
What are you committed to in life, structure or chaos?
Sep 1st
This is a simple question to asks anyone whether they are in recovery or practicing transformation. What are you committed to in life? Are you committed to structure or are you committed to chaos? Your answer to this question is important. Regardless of what you say, the truth of your commitment will show up in your behavior.
If you are committed to chaos you will find life very difficult. You will also find doing recovery difficult, if not impossible. To be committed to chaos means that you will not do what you say you would do, you will be late for appointments, if you show up at all, will not complete on much of the work that you need to do to change or transform your life. Living life from the perspective of chaos will also allow you to take no absolutely no responsibility for your life, giving you the ability to blame others.
To be structured is to put order into your life. To be structured means that I will set up goals and take on accomplishing them through doing what I need to do. I will show up for my appointments and do what I say I will do. I will create a plan for my week, for my month, and then will go about making what I want happen. Structure lets me predict what will happen to me, as I am the one actively creating life, not being the effect of life. Creating the habit of structure will allow you to transform your life.
The Breakdowns that those in Recovery will eventually be confronted with.
Sep 1st
What are breakdowns? Experientially breakdowns start to occur when an event or events happen that the individual believes should not happen or ought to happen differently than how they take place.
As a result the individual starts to feel frustrated, angry, disappointed or even sad about what is happening in his life. Inside these types of emotions the person starts to become resentful, creating a story about the event and to which he will eventually begin to blame, be it other people, places, things, situations or circumstances for that which is appearing.
A breakdown eventuates into a relapse when the individual believes that his experience is intolerable, feels inadequate with respect as to how to handle it and chooses to use drugs or alcohol to reduce the emotional component of that he is experiencing. In this case, a breakdown and ones inability to transform the breakdown leads directly to relapse.
Positive Affirmations for Creating a Positive Body Image
Aug 27th
Positive affirmations can be of help to transform your life. Positive affirmations can also assist you in creating a positive body image.
1. I am perfect, whole and complete.
2. I love and accept myself exactly as I am now.
3. I love everything about myself.
4. i love and approve of myself.
5. I let go of the past. I ive life in and from the present moment.
6. I joyously forgive others and myself and I set myself free from the past. I am at peace.
7. My body restores itself now to its natural state of good health.
8. I always take good care of myself.
9. I have and maintain my ideal, natural and healthy weight.
10. I respect and always take good care of my body.
11. My body is healthy and filled with energy.
12. I have and maintain the weight that I want.
13. I am safe and protected at all times.
14. I can, I am able and I will. I always do my very best.
15. I am good enough just as I am.
You can transform your life with positive affirmations.
The Work of Generating Positive Language and Words.
Aug 18th
The work of transformation is about creating a new life, about creating a new self. This self, as we know, exists in language. Who we are is our thought, our beliefs and what we say, our Word. To transform, to alter our existence has to be done on the level of our Word, what we say and put out into the world, as that is what will come back to us, what will show up as our experience.
This work that I refer to is exactly that, work. At first the work will be merely an idea that we are contemplating, not necessarily doing. Then we will take on doing it, saying positive words, putting them out into the world. Shortly after we generate positive words we will probably go back to what we did in the past. The tendency in the beginning of the transformation is to keep what we have in existence, to not give it up immediately. It is only through constant staying with this work of generating positive language, of continuing to generate positive words, even when we go back to being negative, that the work actually starts to happen, that actually starts to show up in our life.
Comments about the Power of Intention.
Aug 17th
I am currently reading a book by Wayne Dyer, The Power of Intention. This is a very powerful book. Its application to all human beings interested in transforming their lives is very direct, including those in recovery. All of our problems are the result of us being “disconnected” from our source, from intention or God.
While I believe that positive affirmation can help to transform a person’s life, to help them feel better, ultimately this transformation has to led to reestablishing that union that Dr Dyer talks about. Without the connection we live our life from ego, and with this comes the problems and struggles of life. It appears that meditation is part of this process for reconnecting.
The two modalities are important, positive affirmations and meditation. Ester and Jerry Hicks wrote about the power of affirmations and meditation for transforming a person’s life and way of being. When these two modalities are put together the therapeutic result can be very powerful.
Reflections upon my Transformation.
Aug 8th
To transform my life is not about just changing it, the outside or external parts of my life. It is about transforming my thoughts, my thinking, and more importantly, who I think I am. This fundamental core belief about my identity, who I am in the world, is very difficult to alter, as it has been around along time and has been supported in a variety of ways. For the most part, and for many, it is hidden from view, hidden from the individual who life it rules.
This transformation to which I refer is difficult as my core belief, my self limiting belief, attempts to stay in control. It does not want to change, as it is my identity, who I think I am. We must have an identity, even if it is negative one. The transformation that will take place is slow and will require consistent and constant effort. The intervention that I am using is the use of positive affirmations. Saying and writing the positive affirmations everyday will eventually transform a person’s life and ultimately who he or she thinks they are in the world and in life.
The Primary Filter that Colors our Perceptions and Relationships,
Aug 8th
Some believe that they have the ability to see reality for what it is. Some believe that they see others for who they are. Some believe that they know and that they are right in their perceptions and ideas about how the world is, about others and even about ourselves. They believe that they are open minded and willing to learn from the world and others, that they can experience the world objectively.
However, we sometimes lose sight of the important filters that we use to experience life. These filters affect the information that we believe we gain from the world. We see the world through several filters. Some of the filters that we constantly use are our sensory organs that we have, that we use every day. There are our eyes (visual), ears (sound) and skin (kinesthetic) that are biological filters through which we experience the world and others.
The primary filter that we have, little known or ever recognized, is the belief that we have about ourselves. This belief to which I refer is that which in many ways defines us. It is a belief about who we think we are. It is our self limiting belief. This fundamental core belief colors or influences everything in our life, our perceptions and beliefs about the world we live in and those who we know and interact with. It is the source from which we project onto the world. To transform our life requires that we become aware of our self limiting belief, otherwise there will be no true transformation, merely change.
Our Nature as Human Being Involves Resistance.
Jul 30th
As human beings we do not really want or like to change. We like for things to be the same, for us not to have to put forth much effect to have what we say we want. We do not want to change and even, will resist change especially if another human being attempts to help us. Yes, we do change but we have to first get it that we do not want to change. Accepting our resistance is important for the process. We must first accept the fact that we will resist change in order for us to take it into consideration in our planning to transform our lives. It is important for us to plan and to make goals but it is equally important for us to plan how we will resist the process, will resist our achieving the goals we set. Such planning gives us power to respond appropriately when needed.
In my work in recovery I counsel people in how to recognize when they are resisting, when they are doing things to counter the goals they set and say they want. Such insight is important and necessary if individuals are to say in the program of recovery. The resistance will also show up in the very suggestions that are given, by a sponsor or therapist. The tendency is not only to resist but to continue to do it his or her way, with the results usually the same, much of how it was in the past. Our tendency is to try to do things and life our way, even when we continue to get the same results.
Positive Affirmations for Experiencing a sense of Relaxation.
Jul 25th
Below are some positive affirmations for experiencing a sense of relaxation and as a result reducing stress. These affirmations are more powerful when mixed with relaxation music and even recorded in your own voice.
1. I love and accept myself exactly as I am now.
2. I am relaxed, calm and peaceful.
3. I accept and enjoy the moment, I live in the present.
4. I am safe and protected at all times.
5. I joyously release the past. I am at peace.
6. I trust the process of life.
7. I am perfect, whole and complete.
8. I breathe slowly and deeply.
9. With each breathe that I take I become more relaxed.
10. I forgive myself and others and I set myself free from the past.
As with all positive affirmations repeated and consistent use of them will help to transform your life.
Using Affirmations to Transform your life.
Jul 24th
Louise Hay has written and spoken about the power of positive affirmations for years. She believes that using positive affirmations consistently will change and transform your life. While their transformative power is being confirmed and utilized more and more, using positive affirmations can also be difficult and even frustrating. For some, after a period of using positive affirmation they sometimes experience resistance to their continued use. What happens is that the positive affirmation are in conflict, sometimes direct conflict, to the thoughts and beliefs that the person has in their mind. Many of these thoughts, ideas and beliefs have to do with what the person believes to be about themselves as a person, who they are in life. In essence, ones identity gets calls into question, gets confronted and it is from the confrontation that ones experiences a sense of frustration and with it, creates a tendency to avoid and move after from and even stop the use of positive affirmation. It is at this point that one has possibility of a breakthrough in their life, that is, if they are able to push through the resistance and stick with their use. Sticking with the use of positive affirmations over an extended period of time can transform your life, can transform even who you believe yourself to be in the world.