--->>> OTT --- Old Thought Thoughts! <<<---

[SourceShield]

Greetings!

This post is about LIMITING-BELIEFS, or as me and my brother Matt now call them, Old Thought Thoughts - OTT.

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This post will most likely not appeal to many people, because I am writing about our beliefs that we have about life and ourselves, that we all have had for much of our life.

Our beliefs are personal, and yet oddly the 'same' as well.

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There is a school of thought that teaches us that when we identify the OTT i.e. I am unlovable.

Relate to the OTT, rather than from it.

We can then release the attachment to the OTT, as well as the aversion to the OTT.

For example -

A child is told that they are no good, useless and worthless, every other day.

-sadly, this is a story often told, by many.

As this child grows a set of OTT have been programmed into the mind-body of the now grown adult-child.

I am no good.

I am useless.

I am worthless.

etc etc etc

The adult-child now has an attachment to the OTT.

But also you would see an aversion to those OTT as well.

I am no good <- the attachment.

And, I hate that I am no good <- the aversion. The judgement for having the OTT in the first place, keeps us attached to the OTT.

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Not all beliefs are limiting.

All beliefs are fluid.

They are mutable - liable to change, as all things in existence are!

But...

How do we release the OTT?

Thats what we're most interested in!.

I am going to share a few things of how I am learning to release all of the OTT that once ruled my life, and would love to read yours as well!.

1) Refer to the OTT being in the past. If we keep on affirming the OTT in the present moment, it stays in the present moment. By writing and talking about the OTT being in the past, youre correcting the memory. REWIRE!

2) I AUGMENT positive memories. Whatever they are, whenever they happened. This is why I actively look for things to be thankful and grateful for. Appreciation, heals! And thats now science...if youre interested in the research about this, let me know!

3) I have learned to ask for help, and to RECEIVE it graciously, whenever it comes to me. And, it always does.

4) I SMILE and LAUGH more. Theres research for this too!

5) I have changed my eating habits. I EAT WELL now. I am now on the Guts and Psychology Syndrome foodplan GAPS. I used to be obese. No more.

6) I EXPRESS in healthy ways - dance, music, write..

7) I take time out to LOVE - my family, friends, my dog bundy, nature..

REMEMBERING to LOVE is a biggie!.

And, whatta 'bout you?...

[Guest_9809]

"The therapeutic application of creative visualization aims to educate people in altering mental imagery, which in turn contributes to emotional change.It emphasizes and precipitates physical comfort, cognitive clarity, and emotional equanimity"

Thanks Kaitoa for the Visualisation exercise with the Apple. I have done a Mindfulness Exercise with a Raisin which is very similar. So I guess visualisation and mindfulness are closely related. And both are meant to do what I have highlighted above. Also similar are "grounding exercises", of which I also try to practice. All equally useful I think. But the trick for all of these of course is getting the mind to concentrate long enough for the benefits to be seen. Like with all things - practice improves our abilities. So keep on trying aye?

Heading off to work shortly so sending out a quick hello to:

Kaitoa and Bundy - Hey Bundy, your upcoming holiday sounds like lots of fun.

Matt and Amber - Yep here's the scratch behind the ear for a patiently waiting Amber.

Kaz and her 2 'Oodles - Kaz keep a tight hold of that head hamster. Yes - visualisation & mindfulness will help.

Shred - Good OTT and NPT today. You ARE definitely worth it! Now ... go get it. Have a good day. (-:

Anybody else who pops in - hello, have yourself a good day today, catch you later I hope.

Taurus xx (and Tammie too)

[SourceShield]

Morning Folks

For the next few weeks starting from Thursday, it's pretty full-on for me, as I'm sure it is gonna be for many of us.

This time of year can take a lot out of all of us, but when we here in 'BB-Land' factor in ALL our 'stuff', this time of year can be very, very exhausting.

As it turns out I am a naturally outgoing man, but there is also a part of me that still needs much healing.

PsychoMotor Retardation still affects me. (PMR)

Psycho - The mind

Motor - The body

Retardation - Abnormal slowness of thought and/or action

Do you find that some days all you can do is sleep or at least all you want to do is rest up?

This could be PMR.

This was first brought on in me after my second major 'breakdown'.

The body-mind needs time to rest and heal.

When we don't acknowledge that, or in many of our cases, we may not even know what's going on, the body-mind will just shut down.

I'm resting up now, so I don't go into shut-down mode.

PMR is quite common now.

But in our society still, we are told, "get out of bed", "stop being so lazy".

I am a naturally ambitious and conscientious man, so PMR used to do my head in, which made it worse.

I would punish myself because I thought that 'they' must be right.

"I am just being lazy" - but healing cannot and will not be rushed.

From Thursday I will be working the cricket at the Gabba, we have the orphans xmas to finalise, then I have Woodford festival.

I chose to do all these things, but now rather than being an OTT 'superhero', charging on ahead, wisdom calls for me to balance out.

If you feel like you must rest, then do so!.

And, so I must.

I will keep up with the posts here in OTT, and will post at night.

I will post the Creative Visualisation techniques, as promised.

At night I am also going to post my health and wellbeing journal (a daily journal of things that I do to stay healthy and well), in here, and I would like to encourage you to look into implementing something for yourselves.

It helps to keep us accountable to each other.

REST is a vital part of my health plan - Sleep and daily relaxation for those of us with all this 'stuff' going on is a NEED that must be respected.

I must rest up before all the 'full-on-ness' starts!.

Keep posting and I will get back to you at night.

Keep supporting each other.

Stay loving and kind with each other.

Thanks for being awesomely-beautiful peeps!.

I'll be back on tonight!.

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NPT - "I love and respect my body-mind"

Love

Kaitoa

[1113]

Power to you kaitoa warrior

You have given inspiration to me in ways I could of never imagined

Your soul is pure and free

You truly are a gift to humanity

I am forever greatful

Thank you my brother

I am free

Peace

Matt.

Ps

I will be back on later. SWJ. (Smiling with joy).

[Kazzl]

Hi lovelies! Hope you are all having a good day.

Kaitoa in case you need a seconder for what you say about rest, I'm it. (And yes, I battle the thoughts of laziness too.)

Since I left my very stressful job at the end of September, I seem to have needed more rest than ever and I think it's because I'm still getting over it all.

So, rest peacefully and well my friend. We will see you when we do.

Love to all here

Kaz

xx

[SourceShield]

Hello!

I'm going to write about 'labels'.

We need labels.

We need to know that something is jam, and not poison, for example!.

But, what about the 'labels' that are imposed upon us children, and during our life?

As mentioned I'm deep in relaxation-mode, and this has caused much to come up, but this time, with clarity and wisdom by my side, I see things differently now.

I first attempted to 'give up', when I was 11 years of age.

I still have the little scar on my left wrist.

I never told my family, because I believed that they wouldn't care.

I can now recognise that I was experiencing the first major depressive episode in my life.

I was 'depressed' in a major way at 11 years of age.

But at that time we had no 'real' idea about many mental health issues, so when my family saw that I was 'low and sad', I was labeled as being "stupid" and "no good".

And so the labels stuck on me.And so it is for us all when it comes to labels.

What labels were imposed on you as a child?

Are you willing to let these labels go now?

If you are, you may feel nervous.

That's just the nervous-system kicking back into survival-mode again.

But, let me 'hold your hand', as we let these labels, essentially OTT, go now.

I can now genuinely smile - Yep, I have a smiling-mind now!.

I can smile because I know now for sure that my family are not to blame.

No one person or thing is to blame.

Blame is a negative feedback-loop.I blame you.

You blame me.

...blah blah blah...

But, I am the only person that can possibly be responsible for my health and happiness, here and now.

What has happened, has happened.

Responsibility is the ability to respond - the act of being responsible.

How do your respond to the labels of the past?

Do you still wear them?

My responsibility is to ensure that I am as happy and as healthy as I can possibly be - including it ALL.

It is possible for all of us to take back full responsibility of our lives, despite all that has occurred.

It'll look different on all of us.

The depression, the disorders, the dysfunctions, the diseases - I must include them all in the Big Picture of my life.

And, so I do.

And, I am made 'whole' again.

The cracks are where the light gets in!.

If you need some assistance to let the labels of the past go...I am here for you.

Reach out, and I shall hold your hand.

We can do this!.

It is possible for us all.

I believe that wholeheartedly now.

...I will post CVIZ technique soon...

MuchLove&Kindness

Kaitoa

[SourceShield]

Thank You Matt!

Thank You Kaz!

MuchLove

Kaitoa

[Shred1106]

Hi SourceShield

I was labelled as different - because I was born with a malformation - not the expected normal child. I was told that I would never excel at anything as a result and medicos told me that I had little chance of being pain free in my bones.

My parents were perfectionists and demanded the highest achievements of all of us. My siblings all did well (3 of them) and I was/am the disappointment. I know, I can already hear you saying that I am not but that is why I spent so much time honing my sport skills.

I still wear the label - and I currently see it even more clearly just now because of where I am in my recovery from my current episode.

Let's work on it huh?

[Wednesday]

Hello Kaitoa,

My label was liar someone that made things up. though what happened tome was real. I still feel like a liar and find it hard to trust my own judgement, because I must be lying.

Labels have there uses, for a disability claim maybe? Labels are also a form abuse. We are human born to be imperfect with mental and physical issues. Who can say that there is no label that someone can attach to them?

Fight on Shred, those giving youth label may well need to be the ones labelled!

Hugs, xx

[Kazzl]

Absolutely Kaitoa and Shred. As Kaitoa alluded to ...

Ring the bells that still can ring

Forget your perfect offering

There is a crack, a crack in everything

That's how the light gets in.

Leonard Cohen, Anthem.

Onya Kaitoa! Perfect song for us - an anthem even.

[SourceShield]

Creative Visualisation Technique - Level 2.

Firstly keep practising the first level, until you feel like you've got it as sussed, as you possibly can.

There's no rush...so take all the time you need to allow the process to 'feel good' for you.

And, Matt - feel free to visualize a pizza...in fact, that's smart...try out different things to visualise!.

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Next technique...

Again commit 20mins to this exercise.

Get yourself feeling as comfy and at ease as you can - mindful of breath.

Deep inhale, slow exhale.

This time we are going to focus on something that has a little more emotional-value to us.

Choose something or someone that brings up feelings of love or joy, if you don't have someone or something like this in your life, feel free to use a character from a book or tv show and of course a pet is fine as well.

Also, the image of Christ, or Buddha, or even an energy-mass of pure love, is perfectly fine.

Bundy, is my "go-to image", for example.

That's what we are creating here, a "go-to image", for when we need to evoke 'good feelings'.

As with the apple exercise, see the 'thing' of your choice.

See what they are wearing...or if they are a pet, see their fur or wings.

See the clothes/fur etc in detail.

See their 'aura' - surround them in the colour or colours of your choice

Create as much detail as you can.

Next, we take it to a deeper level...so we must evoke the feelings that our chosen 'go-to' help us to feel.

Peacefulness.

Friendship.

Compassion.

...etc etc etc...

Whatever it is for you...allow yourself to fill in this image with as much 'warmth' and 'love' as you can.

Do they say something to you?

What do you hear?

Even if they are a pet or energy-mass...do they have a message for you?

Spend about 10mins minimum on creating the image.

Then spend about 10mins soaking in the feelings of love etc, that flow from your chosen image.

The more you practise this, the better able you will become to evoke and call upon this image when you are feeling low, because it's the emotions that you have now associated with this image that matter.

I use this when I have a new client to meet, or when I'm going out on a date for the first time...keeps me tuned into 'feeling good', rather than anxious or nervous.

Works a treat, but takes practise...one day at a time, right?

Tomorrow I will post a creative visualisation technique...to help you find your 'inner happy-place', if you haven't already!.

Any questions, please ask!.

Kaitoa.