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Addiction – understanding and overcoming addictions

1 December 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Health

This post contains information I prepared as a course handout on addiction several years ago. I share it in the hope that it assists someone to gain clarity and insight into how best to help themselves or a loved one suffering from addiction. Love, Jodi-Anne.

Addiction types and why used

There are many types of addictions. They vary greatly from substances relied on to help us get through the day (coffee, tea, sugar, fat) to those stronger drugs used to escape our feelings and reality (alcohol, smoking, cannabis, LSD, coacaine, heroin, etc). There are also addictions that are action based (work-a-holism, shopping, gambling, lying, stealing, sexual addiction). There are many types of addiction. Some society condones – study, working, shopping. Some society fears and shames those involved – illicit drugs and alcoholism.

All of these addictions are used as a way to cope, to attempt to feel better, to enjoy life, however the high is only temporary, requiring the addict to use again / to repeat the activity over again. Sometimes at higher doses or risk. Until ultimately there is a crash – a near death experience – over dose, car crash, blood poisoning; a terrifying experience – waking up in an unknown place or with an injury or person you don’t remember connecting with. It may be a loss of a job, home or family when they can take it no more. Some tragedy has to happen for the addict who is truly afflicted and caught in the co-dependent cycle to wake up and want to change. Without that crash the addict may not be ready to make the effort to heal. No-one will be able to force them to. Healing is an inner process that must unfold at a rate the addict can handle. It must be done in a supportive environment where the addict feels safe, accepted and encouraged. Any guilt, shame, pressure or judgement will just drive them further into addiction.

An addict may seem to improve temporarily but if you watch closely you may notice that they have simply swapped one source of addiction for another – changed substances or fixes. To really heal you have to go within, deal with the source of the unrest, of the need to medicate, numb out, find a high. You need to heal the pain, release the shame, guilt, feelings of loss, abandonment, not being good enough, not being loved and accepted as you were by your parents and any others through your life that have caused you trauma or a low sense of self-esteem and self-acceptance. You have to learn to love and honour yourself and treat yourself well – to become your own happy, loving parent.

Addiction sources and healing process

Some addicts do come from what appear to be happy homes, but somehow they developed an angst that needed to be filled by an addiction of some sort. Perhaps they felt stifled as a child, given too much attention, felt a need to achieve or be perfect. They may have felt trapped in a box of expectations and felt they couldn’t live up to it, so they gave up.

They may indeed have had a happy home (this is extremely rare due to the way the conditioning process works – the psychology of child development and the most common child rearing practices and disciplines). But let’s say they did have a happy home. They were totally loved, accepted, held regularly, fed when they were hungry, comforted, had all their needs met. They weren’t yelled at, disciplined through harshness but through kindness. They escaped unharmed from their early years. Then they went to school! For many people school is a nightmare – from bullying, to challenges with subject material that they can’t grasp or feeling they don’t fit in, or can’t do what others can – sport, academic, dance – whatever it may be. Some very rare individuals may escape school unscathed. Then comes relationships and work where further potential loss, hurt, betrayal, feeling not good enough, rejected, etc can come.

Somewhere along the line life provided a knockout blow that the person couldn’t cope with and they turned to an addiction to cope, to numb the pain, to feel free of their inner pain. They may be able to cope when the specific events occurred but they are cumulative all adding together until one day the foundation crumbles and addiction commences.

Even those who start young experimenting with drugs and alcohol do so because they are unhappy in some way. This is not to say their parents did anything wrong. They probably did the best they could. But their child has grown vulnerable to addiction due to some experience. The way society operates today encourages this. We are all so busy rushing around that we don’t get to love and cherish our children as we should. Working parents, divorces, step-parent issues, poverty, stress, use of TV and computer games as ways to escape and entertain children. All diminish the quality time connecting – talking, sharing, encouraging / accepting, honouring, loving each other, sitting quietly together or in nature playing non-competitive games or art or dance or many other ways that we can interact in positive relationship building and affirming ways that let our children know they are loved, accepted, okay. They are safe. The world is a good place that will provide their needs. They can follow their hearts and achieve their dreams. Few children get such a positive foundation to life, a foundation of self-acceptance and self-esteem to live from.

Most get fear and self-judgement, a need to impress or achieve or hide to keep safe. These are the underlying sources of addiction and it is these issues that need to be healed so the addict stops self-medicating or moving from one form of addiction to another. When they heal they find inner peace, love and eventually even joy and happiness. It can be done. It takes a lot of effort and willingness to face your past, feel and release the emotions buried within, face the fears and risk showing who you really are, risking rejection and ridicule to follow your heart, speak your truth, even if it is very different to other people. You become your authentic self, the person you were born to be, that has been hiding behind addiction and a raft of defense mechanisms acting as a protective mask. Keeping the vulnerable true self hidden away safely inside.

Addiction is very challenging to overcome as using is so quick and easy compared to the healing work. This is why for most people it takes some kind of disaster – trauma and crisis – to get them ready to make the effort, to face their demons and break free. Without that it is just too easy to keep escaping. But when you’ve truly lost something you love, then that shock, that pain may be enough to tip the scales. That is why you should not ‘enable’ an addict. Don’t clean up after them, bail them out, lie or make excuses for them. Don’t try to protect them by rescuing. They need to face the consequences of their actions if they are to heal and take responsibility. Yes, it is hard to watch them suffer but if they create the mess they need to deal with it. You can simply be there to support them emotionally as they pick themselves back up, offering love, forgiveness, acceptance – this is what they need.

Rescuing and the drama triangle

Some ‘do-gooders’ think they are helping but they actually have their own form of addiction called ‘rescuing’. They get to escape the dissatisfaction they have in their own life – be that with themselves, their relationships, their job, their family, etc – by focussing on whoever they are rescuing. They feel good about themselves, righteous even, and this is their fix. But their love and support is not real, it is conditional. They will be there for the addict for a length of time, appearing so saintly and wonderful, but eventually when they get frustrated enough, they will snap, moving from ‘rescuer’ to ‘persecutor’ telling the addict off, judging them as a hopeless case. The rescuer didn’t get what they wanted – to feel like they saved the addict and the addict owed them, was grateful to them. That doesn’t happen so they move into the persecution role, which does not help the addict at all.

The other role that gets played is that of ‘victim’. When the rescuer knows the addict is lying to them, using, stealing or in some other way being irresponsible the rescuer may accept this for a while, until they again move into the persecutor role. Upon which the addict becomes victim to their tyranny of judgement and imposed shame, blame and guilt.

This is the drama triangle and each person moves through the roles of victim, persecutor, rescuer until someone steps into the centre of the triangle, speaks the truth and stops the game. This triangle happens all the time in life – at work, in families, with friends. It is a pattern that repeats until people become aware of it and no longer allow the game to proceed. Choosing instead to feel, to heal, to speak your truth. This is one of the first steps in healing.

So the seeds of addiction are planted from a very young age, especially if there is a family history of addiction that is repeated generation after generation. This may partly be a genetic predisposition, but it is also simply learnt behaviour. If you grow up in an active addiction filled home – you learn that is the way life is lived. You simply see that as normal as you know no other way. This is how it repeats. Also you will tend to subconsciously play out the pattern attempting to heal the issues with your parents. So many ‘Adult Children of Alcoholics’ marry an alcoholic. They either become an alcoholic themselves or they marry one or work with one. They attract it into their lives so they face their pain and heal.

Again this happens naturally enough – if they were raised in an alcoholic home that is what feels normal to them, so they accept partners behaving that way too. They may believe deep inside that they don’t deserve better, that this is how relationships are. Their beliefs affect their actions and their experiences in life. It is these beliefs that need to be changed to break the pattern and cycle of addiction and pain. Getting to the point where you do believe that you are okay, lovable, acceptable, that you deserve to be treated well, that you are a good person, and that good things can happen to you. These and many other positive subconscious (deep) beliefs form the foundation of health and recovery. “I cope easily with my life”. “I love and accept all that occurs”. “I forgive those that hurt me and let go of the past”. “I live in the now and focus day by day”. “I’m doing okay”. “I’m proud of how far I’ve come”. “I know I will make it”.

The use of affirmations can be very powerful. This can be done for free wherever you are. Have them written up where you will see them and read them regularly. Say them out loud. Write them and notice what negative comments occur within you. Repeat this – writing the affirmation and then listening for the internal reaction, writing that, then the affirmation again. Do it about 20 times in a sitting. This will give you insight into what your resistance to healing is, to what negative beliefs you have that need changing. This is a powerful process to do. You can use affirmations many times throughout the day when you feel yourself tempted to use your addictive substance or behaviour.

You can also use ‘Thought Field Therapy (TFT)’ or ‘Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT)’ – energetic tapping processes that helps to relieve the build-up of energy encouraging you to use. With TFT there is a sequence to use for addictive urge. There are also tapping sequences for releasing the underlying emotions and problems leading to the urge. This helps to release the pent up energy and emotion. It is similar to acupuncture but without needles, just tapping on the meridian points. There are many different treatments that can be used. Some cost, some don’t.

Affirmations is a good place to start as it is free and it works. At first you may feel stupid saying to yourself “I love and accept myself” over and over. You know you don’t believe it. But repeating it regularly plants the seed in your subconscious and it slowly sprouts and grows, till one day you find you do actually believe it. The strength of affirmations is increased if you say them while looking at yourself in the mirror. You stare into your own eyes while saying “I love and accept myself” or “I choose health and happiness now” or whatever affirmation you use.

The process can be sped up by using techniques like ‘Psych-K’ or ‘The Lifeline Technique’ which reprogram the desired belief into your subconscious mind. It literally replaces the old one so that your dominant, underlying thought is the new one. These techniques are part of the new energy psychology tools that have evolved from split brain research. They help to get both sides of the brain communicating which makes subconscious belief change possible – quickly and easily.

There are many different ways to health, for some they will start with swapping from a less desirable addiction to one less dangerous – so the heroin user may become a sugar junkie or a gym junkie and push themself that way. Notice that word ‘pushing’ – that is a key challenge. Most people do not spend enough time ‘being’ – time spent being still, meditating, listening to their thoughts and feelings, dealing with whatever arises within them in the silence. It can feel uncomfortable, unnatural, a waste of time at first, but this is all just resistance to actually being with yourself and feeling everything that you feel inside. Persevere with it and you will find relief.

Whether you choose to meditate, sit in nature, use guided visualisation CDs, or do exercise then rest. Whatever method you use to help your body relax, de-stress and find peace is an important part of the healing process. Some embrace reiki, energetic healing, chakra balancing, massage or other body-work, which helps soothe your body and release the buried emotions and trauma from your cells. It all takes times and you move forward step by step, day by day, removing layer by layer the buried emotions, trauma and debris accumulated within your body. Be kind to yourself.

Surround yourself with others committed to healing so that you can encourage and support each other. This is why 12 step groups work. They provide a safe, accepting environment and community to be a part of. Clearly hanging out with active Addicts is not going to be helpful, so sometimes you do need to change friendship circles, disassociate from family members or others who encourage addictive behaviour. This can be very saddening and challenging, especially as some people will try to make you feel bad for doing so. They don’t want to face their own stuff and you choosing to do so reminds them that they should. Rather than feel that, they may choose to lash out at you. Don’t fall for the ploy. Be strong. Be loving and kind to yourself as much as you can. It is your life and you can choose to live it however you wish.

Remember there is a lot of support out there – from 12 step groups, counsellors and other therapists, to call lines and much more. If you truly want to heal and break free you can. Here are some good places to start if you want to find out more.

Addiction – Russell Brand requests a more compassionate and loving approach to helping people heal

28 November 201323 January 2021 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Health

This is a 29-minute video clip of Russell Brand testifying at a Government Committee about reform to the way that addiction issues are regulated and handled. He openly shares his story of overcoming addiction and his belief that most addicts are people suffering from emotional, mental and spiritual maladies. If they heal these issues they no longer need the drug to mask their feelings and internal pain. Russell argues for a more compassionate and loving approach by Government, seeing addiction as a health issue and people needing support to heal, rather than being viewed as criminals or burdens to society. It is wonderful to see his authenticity and truth sharing – he urges more people to do the same so that we can have a real discussion about these issues and how to resolve them.

What to do when you feel blue about the state of the Earth?

23 November 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Conscious Evolution, Sustainability

Recently I have been feeling weighed down by the state of the planet, the enormity of the sustainability challenges we are facing and the difficulty of getting behaviour change. I asked for a message from Mother Earth about all of this. Here is what I channeled (23 Nov 2013).

Child it is I who talks to you all the time. It is my energy you hear in your head, for I dwell inside all beings. I am not in turmoil, I am just in a process of flux, of natural evolutionary growth. Do not fear a doomsday apocalyptic ending for that will not occur. Love will reign supreme on this planet and will heal the hearts of man and revitalise the natural elements of all.

There is nothing to fear or worry about. Be happy. Yes, human actions impact me, but it is of minor significance for I am much stronger than your scientists think. I can discharge adverse energies through natural disasters and rebalance myself to a state of peace and tranquility. Yes, increasing natural disasters are occurring because there is much I have to release due to your actions, but that is not as devastating a thing as your media makes out. Not on a planetary level. On the human level it is disruptive if you happen to live at a place of flux, but those who live there chose this as part of their incarnation. All souls are aware of this. It is just your human minds that doubt and question.

So there is no need for panic or despair. Trust all is happening as it needs to. Yes beings raising their vibration and spreading love helps to cancel out the adverse energies, thereby reducing the need for me to have so many releases, which you call natural disasters. So, yes what you do matters. It is this energy work you do that is so much more important than how you choose to live. Yes, it would be good for people to consume less and conserve. It all helps. But as you know we all have many energetic bodies and the physical is the densest. You make a much bigger impact through being love, having internal peace and harmony than you do by just recycling or donating to an orphanage or other cause. It all helps. It is all important, but it is your inner work that has the biggest impact.

Be the love you want to see in the world.

So what I need from you and all beings is to have them understand this and to focus on creating inner and outer harmony in their lives, for then I will follow suit. Don’t panic or fear. Don’t predict the worst. Trust in love and joy and be this in the world. Celebrate life, live in a state of gratitude for all you have and vibrate at the level of the I AM Consciousness – that is what is needed most. So focus on that for yourself and assist others to do the same.

Do not waste your energy focusing on obtaining behaviour change for sustainability in the traditional sense. Let others do that. Your work, your mission is much more important than that. You are to help yourself and others to reconnect to me, their hearts, God and all beings. To see we truly are connected and united as one being. To create harmony and love for all. To see that connection, the synchronicity of life and its evolutionary process, to see we are all evolving into beings of love and peace. You are a wayshower for this.

You are an anchor for great light as are your Unite the Light and Abdy colleagues. A great many are doing this work and it is working. We are all awakening to oneness and love of All There Is. So do not fret, do not panic and do not give up. Be yourself, a bright beacon of light and joy for all to see. This is your mission, your joy, your destiny. So be it Child. Thank you for caring and for being the bright light that you are. Adieu.

Should I share this message as a blog post?

Yes Child you can do so. Some will relate, some will not, but a message of hope is useful. I am not saying don’t live sustainably, I am saying that it is okay if that doesn’t occur for all beings. I will not die and I won’t kick most of you off. I won’t need to as enough of you are waking up to love and peace, in yourselves and your lives, that you energetically help to balance up the actions of those who don’t. Yes, it would be great to see all of humanity choosing sustainable lives and supporting all beings, sharing and loving, but it is okay if this doesn’t happen overnight. It will not be the end of the world. Blessed BE.

By Jodi-Anne (23 Nov 2013).

Further free guidance on healing techniques and self love are available on the Life Insights and Healing from child abuse pages of this website.

Personal development dictionary L-Z

23 November 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Uncategorized

In this dictionary you will find a range of words commonly used in our every day language along with some interesting ‘spiritual / personal development’ interpretations of their meaning. I’ve gathered these from a range of books including the Conversations with God collection by Neale Donald Walsch, God I am by Peter Erbe and people such as Hermann Muller who teaches Psychosomatic Therapy. The explanations are my own interpretations and may not necessarily be exactly what the authors intended. It is fascinating to see how powerful our language is!!

LYING – When you lie, you don’t speak or live your truth, you don’t let your inner light shine. Hence the light of your being and your truth ‘lies (lays) down’ on the ground and you can get walked over. Lying leads to fear of being caught out, fear of talking to other people too much in case you slip up and contradict yourself. It leads to a lot of energy being used up in trying to remember everything you lied about to all the different people you lied to. It’s exhausting! Hence you become vulnerable and more fearful. You can become depressed. It feels like you’re pushed down with a heavy load to carry. Drop the load, tell the truth and you will lift yourself up – let your light and truth shine.

PASSED AWAY – Is a term we use when someone has died. Likewise if you are constantly thinking about the past and living life negatively affected by what has already happened to you then your body passes away. Your body is constantly caught up in those negative feelings and is unable to experience the present unhindered. When we live life this way our bodies age more rapidly. Science has confirmed this – anger and upset feelings lead to more acidity in the body which damages the cells. We also know this intuitively which is why we call wrinkles worry lines. Let go of the past, heal and enjoy life. Learn to love yourself, life and others. When you live in the now your body doesn’t age so much. You can even appear to look younger.

RELEASE – when you release buried emotions and tension you feel ‘real ease’ within yourself.

RESPONSIBILITY – RESPONDING with ABILITY – we all have the responsibility for how we choose to live our life. Every day we make lots of decisions and we can choose actions that lead to growth and healing or not. It is up to us. When someone pushes your buttons don’t react automatically. Stop and ‘respond with ability’ – make a choice you will be proud of.

SATAN – Seeing Anything As Negative – the universe is abundant and will support us if we just accept its love and assistance. Many of us don’t. We think it’s a ‘dog eat dog’ world. We have to work hard to survive. These are all just choices and beliefs. All just thoughts that we can change at any time we choose too.

SEX – Synergistic Energy Exchange – sex allows two people to be truly intimate. To connect in a very deep level of intimacy – ‘in to me you see’. It enables the energies of the two people to interact and exchange. It is a beautiful life creating gift.

UNIFORMED – when all people act the same, conforming to society’s standards then everything is uniform. We lose the diversity of life. This is ‘un-informed’. Reality is very diverse. we are all individuals. Conforming is a ‘con’, it is a ‘form’ of denial of yourself.

That’s it for the dictionary……. hope you enjoyed it!

Personal development dictionary E-K

16 November 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Uncategorized

EGO – the ego directs where your Energy Goes – E-Go. Many people think the ego is bad and needs to be gotten rid off. This is impossible. It is a part of us and it is okay. The ego can be balanced and not misused. Your ego can be just as powerful doing good, helpful things for you as it can be for doing negative things when you’re not consciously aware of what you are doing.

FATE – From All Thoughts Everywhere – Our thoughts create our reality and what we experience. We are all made up of atoms of energy vibrating at a certain frequency. Our thoughts reflect our frequency of vibration and radiate out drawing in to us people, places, things and events that match our vibratory level. As you heal and ‘lighten up’ your vibratory level also lightens and therefore you attract in lighter, more harmonious events, people, places and things into your life. You create your own reality through your thoughts.

FEAR – False Emotion Appearing Real – fear is just the result of negative thinking. Fear helps us to avoid change and healing. Whatever you resist persists! So the longer you avoid facing your fears the longer they will remain. And they will get stronger because over time you will feel weaker, more incapable and more negative about yourself since you are still afraid. Fear, like illness, is designed to show you that something in your life is not aligned with love and your highest good. Fear enters your life to help you heal. If you face your fears, learn that there is nothing to be afraid of and move forward you will become fearless – more loving and trusting of your own ability to handle life and more trusting of life itself. You will learn to come from love – which is the opposite of fear.

GOD – Getting Over Denial – Many of the personal development and spirituality authors believe that we are all a part of god or if they don’t go so far as to say that they say we are all capable of becoming like god. In essence what they are saying is that we all have the potential to do whatever we want in our lives. We can all choose to be good, loving people helping ourselves and others. We can all have success, happiness, love, peace and harmony. However, we have to create it. There is no god out there directing our lives. We are the director. We are the one in control. We have total free will in this universe – we can do what we want. It is up to us.

HOLY SPIRIT – the ‘whole I spirit’. When you heal and embrace all parts of yourself you become whole. We all have the potential to behave in all ways. Many of us try to separate from or disown the parts of us that we judge as negative. For example we may try to push away or bury the parts of us that are judgmental, jealous, angry, sarcastic, or nasty. Yet those emotions and forms of behaviour are a part of being human. Each emotion is trying to tell us something, to make us aware that there is something about our experience in life that we don’t like, that isn’t in line with our highest good. We can learn from this. As we do so we learn to embrace all the parts of ourself as we heal and become whole. We let go of fear and can come from love in all things that we do. We become able to acknowledge that we are ‘wholly spirit’.

IDENTITY – is the ID also known as the personality covering the ENTITY or soul during its experience of being human. We are not our bodies or our mind. We are larger than that. We may think we are our bodies or our minds and judge ourself based on those, but they are not our true self. Many people believe in reincarnation, where the soul enters a body each lifetime so that it can experience physicality and all the challenges of being on Earth. This occurs so that we can learn all there is about life – to go through a wide range of experiences learning to let go of fear, to love ourself and others, to realise that we are all connected and the universe supports us in our efforts. To some this may seem like absolute rubbish – that’s fine. To others it will ring true. That’s fine too.

INCURABLE – Curable from withIN – Doctors often suggest that some diseases are not treatable by medicine – that they are incurable. People labelled with incurable diseases often feel that there is nothing that can be done. That they are doomed to die from the disease which has been classed as terminal. The findings of quantum physics experiments, spirituality and healing modalities would suggest otherwise. Many people have cured themselves of terminal cancer and other diseases. They do so by working within themselves – to heal all their hurts, painful emotions and experiences from the past. The memories of these past events is stored in the cells of your body and if you don’t release the emotion or face how you really feel then it can lead to dis-ease – your body is not at ease and it is trying to get your attention. For a great example of someone who has cured themselves of cancer read Brandon Bay’s book ‘The Journey’.

INNOCENCE – My INNER SENSE – following your intuition and letting what is inside of you out without modification results in being at peace with yourself and the world. It is very powerful. However, it can be challenging to do as the majority of people in society follow conditioned patterns of behaviour and unwritten rules. To stand outside of these and honour yourself can often be a lonely place to start with. As you progress you will meet like minded souls.

INTIMACY – IN TO ME SEE – seeing myself more clearly and allowing others to see my true self. We often hide who we are out of fear of being rejected by others. We may think that if people truly knew who we were deep down inside they wouldn’t like us. This is really sad. As a result of these fears we interact on a very shallow, surface level talking about the weather, jobs and other ‘safe’ items. We don’t discuss deep and meaningful issues, our fears, our hopes, dreams and aspirations. We don’t get to know the true essence of each other. This can lead us to feel alone even when we are with other people. True intimacy requires taking the risk of letting people really get to know you. Showing them who you really are. When you do this it can be scary to start with, but ultimately it is extremely rewarding as you really feel known, honoured, heard and loved by those you interact with. As you learn to love and accept yourself you will radiate this energy out which enables others to love and accept you more. The outer world reflects your inner world!!

I will share more examples in the next post!

Personal development dictionary A-D

9 November 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Uncategorized

ADULT – As adults we have ADULTERATED our innocence (inner sense), changed it to fit in with others. Hence we don’t express ourselves. We behave – ‘be’ and ‘have’ what others ‘have’ and ‘be’ so that they feel comfortable around us.

ALONENESS – Many of us find it hard to spend time alone, especially in silence. We feel lonely and that feels like torture! This occurs when you don’t really like the person you are alone with – yourself!! As you heal and learn to accept and love yourself, spending time alone is great. You love the time to connect with your inner-self, to hear your thoughts, listen to your desires, to feel your feelings and to take action to create the life you want. You feel whole and connected to yourself, life and the universe. Hence aloneness becomes a beautiful experience of ‘All Oneness’.

ATONE – Some people talk about a need to atone for their sins. From a personal development point of view there are no sins – only learning opportunities. We learn that we don’t feel good about ourself when we do something that hurts others or ourself. We learn over time that hurting someone else just hurts me.

In this sense we are ‘at one’ with others. So to atone is to accept and live your life knowing that you are connected to others – that we are all one. Science shows that this is true in the sense that we are all breathing out dead cells and atoms from our body creating a soup of DNA, energy and information in the air. Each of us breathes some of this in and uses the atoms and energy in the air to create new cells in our body. Hence we all contain atoms and energy that have been in other people’s bodies. We truly are all connected! Spiritual authors also say that there is only one energy – that everything in the universe is made from this energy which is God – hence we are all ‘at one’ just experiencing life here on Earth.

BARGAIN – to bargain is to ‘bar gain’ from entering our life. Money can be seen as another way of expressing love. When we haggle down prices we are withholding love from those we are interacting with. We are coming from a focus on lack – a belief that there isn’t enough money or love so we need to be careful with it, stingy with it. We become reluctant to give and protect ourself. If everyone does this then the flow of money and love slows down. Life becomes more grim. Hence we diminish the likelihood that ‘gain’ will come into our life – when we don’t give freely we don’t receive freely! The world’s poorest nations are the ones where bargaining has become a way of life. Where withholding love from one’s brother has become the accepted norm and a cause of poverty. If you bargain down the price of an item from $100 to $80, then in your mind you will only value it as worth $80. Hence you lose out on $20 worth of enjoyment. Worse according to Peter Erbe author of God I am, you create an energy imbalance of $20 which means you will either lose the item, break it or experience some other loss or bill for the $20 plus interest later on. Peter claims that this is the universal law of compensation. He says that if someone offers you a discount without you asking then that is okay as you haven’t withheld your love – you still give freely what is asked. So to receive freely love, energy and all good things in life you have to give them away freely too. You have to trust the universe is abundant and will support you. Peter claims that whatever you do this with comes back to you in greater amount. However, if you give only so that you get more, it doesn’t work. You have to truly give freely with no expectation. This concept is a hard one for many of us who have experienced lack and poverty to swallow. However he claims and so do many others that it does work. The more you heal and accept yourself, you come from love. As you do this you see more love around you in the world. You realise that you don’t need material objects to make you happy and you’re happier with and grateful for whatever you do have. From this frame of mind it is easier to imagine giving freely and not being so self concerned, protective or self centred.

BEHAVIOUR – I change what I ‘be’ and ‘have’ to what ‘U R’ so that you will accept me. In doing so I lose contact with who I am. Often if we swallow what we would like to say or don’t do what we really would like to do, it feels horrible. It feels like a small death. In a sense it is. As every time we don’t honour our true self, we are dishonouring ourself. Internally we are flooded with ‘bad’ feelings – sadness or anger at ourself or the situation. We lose touch with our true self. We are all individuals and we are all therefore different. It’s meant to be that way!! Learning to love and accept yourself, to fully express yourself and to be who you really are at all times is part of your challenge here on Earth. It doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks about you – it’s only what you think about you that matters.

BELIEVE – What I ‘BE’ and ‘LIVE’ – knowing a concept like trust or self love is not worth much, it is only when you actually practice it in your life, that you really believe it.

CONFUSION – we are confused when we are ‘fused’ with our old beliefs which ‘con’ us into believing in lack, evil, scarcity – that the world is a harsh place. We may be set in our ways of thinking yet know that things aren’t working the way we want them to. We don’t know what to do about it – we feel confused. We need to un-focus from our old values and refocus on the greater reality – see the good in life. Confusion leads to a process of reorientation.

CRISIS – “Christ Is” – We learn and heal through crisis and pain. Without disruption to our lives many people would not take the time and effort to heal from their past hurts and focus on their personal growth – they try to ignore it and keep the past buried. Life is not going to be easy all the time. We all face challenges and can grow from them. Some people think they are being punished by God when something that they see as ‘bad’ happens to them. They’re not. It is a chance for growth. God, Christ, the Angels and Ascended Masters support us through such processes, helping us to find the strength to go on. This is aptly summarised in the saying “People turn to God when their foundations are shaking, Only to find that it is God who is shaking them”.

DEVIL – Denying Everything Valuable In Life – not seeing the perfection in everything – living life backwards – LIVED. Many of the personal development and spirituality authors believe that there is no devil. No such thing as evil. No judgement by God – only love and acceptance. It is we who judge ourself. It is we who create negative situations in our life by our thoughts and actions. If we get caught up in only seeing the negative in life we can spiral downwards into depression – it is our thoughts that create this. To overcome it we need to change our thoughts, start noticing and appreciating the good things that exist in the world and in our selves and our lives. Everything that happens to us occurs to help us awaken to love and let go of fear. If we don’t listen we have to attract larger lessons to help us. When you truly understand this and experience how it works and heal it becomes easier to see that everything is happening perfectly and the universe truly does support us – once we love and support ourselves!!

DISEASE – Dis Ease – when we are not at ease with ourself – we become ill. All dis-ease comes to us to help us realise something about ourself. To get our attention so that we wake up and change aspects of our life that are not in line with love and our highest good. Speak your truth, release buried emotions, heal, come from a place of love, do what you enjoy in life and you will be at ease. Choose to grow and develop – take action and do it – then you don’t need to attract in disease or other wake up calls.

DOUBT – Driving Ourselves Unconscious By Thinking – We are all beautiful human beings capable of doing amazing things. However many of us have been told or made to feel that we’re not good enough by other people. Unfortunately many of us now believe that about ourself. We may want to try new things, to change jobs, to start a new hobby or sport, but we feel doubt and fear and we allow this to stop us. The events themselves do not have any power – it is our thoughts about them – what we say to ourself that creates doubt and gives objects or people our power. In healing we learn to take our power back and to stop negative thoughts and self criticism. We learn to overcome doubt and fear and do things anyway. Knowing that we won’t get it perfect the first time, no-one does, and that we will get better at what ever we choose to do the more we do it.

I will share more examples in the upcoming posts…….

From disconnection to connection

3 November 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Health, Parenting, Sustainability

Many people have lost their connection with their hearts and the Earth. They live busy, stressful lives where they rush from one moment to the next, rarely slowing down to breathe deeply or see the beauty all around them.

Such hectic lifestyles lead to a focus on doing, achieving and rushing which result in a lack of rest, peace and joy. We rush about and touch briefly with those around us. We may not eat together and converse savoring the opportunity to connect deeply with what each other is going through.

We may not take the time to play or exercise, both of which are needed for our bodies to be healthy. We spend so much time indoors we forget the majesty of the Earth and all the treasures available to us if we sit quietly in nature.

The green and blue colours which dominate in nature are soothing to our bodies. These colours help us relax and BE. That’s why people can sit and stare at the ocean and feel perfectly content doing so. The salt air also cleanses us energetically making it a very therapeutic activity to do. Likewise, spending time in parks, forests, gardens all helps our bodies to relax, our autonomic nervous systems to regulate and balance back up, to come out of fight or flight and adrenaline rush. Gardening also helps with spores from the soil being dug having a calming effect on the body.

So much happens without our realising it. There is now a field of research called ‘Earthing’ or ‘Grounding’. Where they have scientifically shown that the Earth’s surface has an electrochemical current that gets transmitted to us when we are in physical contact with her. When we walk bare foot or have other skin to skin (Earth’s surface) contact, an exchange of negative ions occurs, which is beneficial to health.

Many people have reported amazing reductions in inflammation, pain and other health issues simply as a result of spending more time connected to the Earth. You can buy earthing sheets for your bed so you can sleep grounded. The sheets have silver threads that conduct the electrical energy through them. However, it’s not electricity. It is just the Earth’s energy drawn through the third prong in a power outlet – the Earth wire. The power point can be turned off and it still works. Similar to sticking an earthing rod into the ground and running a wire from it to the sheets. For more information check out the Earthing Oz website. There is also a documentary made about the amazing health benefits of Earthing that is sometimes available for free viewing. See: http://youtu.be/jgwF0tpioTU.

In ancient times we all had greater contact with the Earth. We walked barefoot or in leather moccasins which also permitted the transfer of the current. We slept upon the Earth perhaps on animal skins which are conductive too! We grew and harvested our own foods and caught or hunted animals to eat.

Modern society is largely separate from that past. We wear rubber soled shoes which block the transfer of the Earth’s current. We spend our time indoors mostly and we buy the majority of our food already processed and prepared from the supermarket. Many are very disconnected from nature spending more time playing with technology than in nature.

Today’s children – many of them – have not spent a lot of time playing outdoors, using their imaginations, watching the clouds or playing with bugs. They don’t ride their bikes to the local creeks and catch tadpoles or have adventures. The creeks in some areas are gone, turned into concrete channels and some feel it is too dangerous to let kids roam the street, concerned about what may happen to them. Some parents feel it is safer to keep them inside, to let them play video games all day long. The result – greater levels of obesity, anxiety and depression. Also boredom. Many kids don’t know how to BE in nature, they would see it as boring. They are used to fast paced, action filled games and TV/Video shows that capture their attention and entertain them. They’re not used to generating their own fun or being still. This is something that is really sad for all concerned as many kids have not experienced deep conversations with those they love, with an ongoing heart to heart interaction. We all need that level of human connection and we need connection with nature too – in order to be truly healthy.

Another negative side effect of being indoors so much is a lack of natural light. Sunlight contains the full spectrum of light. If you shine it through a prism we see a rainbow. Each colour is a particular energetic frequency – that is what it is and our body uses each colour to regulate its functioning. If you become deficient in a particular colour there will be a negative impact on your body.

Colours are a certain energetic frequency (Image from: www.myuniversalfacts.com)

Fluorescent lighting, energy saving globes and LCD TV and computer screens all emit the blue spectrum – the higher end of the colour frequencies and less of the lower end – the red, orange and yellows. Excessive exposure to blue frequencies can lead to depression and is one reason we are seeing an increase in depression in our society. To alter this you can spend time in nature absorbing sunlight. You can also buy full spectrum light globes. You can even buy yellow TV/PC glasses that balance up the excessive blue with the opposite colour = yellow. Yellow is needed for our nervous systems to work effectively. You can wear the colours you need, decorate your house in them or have colour light therapy to help your body come into perfect functioning.

Colour is just a certain vibrational frequency and we are all made of energy. Our bodies are simply atoms vibrating at a certain density that seems solid but in fact is all energy. Light and colour is also energy and helps our bodies to heal itself. For more information about light therapy and the use of colour for happiness and health see my page on Samassati Colour Light Therapy.

So, if you are feeling sad, exhausted or depressed make some time to BE in nature, to connect into the peace and tranquility, to absorb her energy through skin to skin contact. Go for a walk, do some gardening, grow your own vegies. There are lots of things you can do that will help shift your mood. Even the act of walking at a normal pace for 20 minutes creates a change in the hormones and chemicals in the brain leading to greater peace and calmness. This is important for all of us, but especially those who are struggling in some way.

If you have kids ensure they spend some time outdoors playing or BE-ing. Get them involved in outdoor activities – be it scouts, sports or even environmentally restorative activities such as tree planting.

Schools today thankfully usually have some activity on this front. Many have their own vegie gardens, native gardens, chicken coops, compost and worm farms – that expose children to nature and important information about nutrition. It embeds a joy of working the soil and growing your own food. It teaches them how to prepare nutritious meals from what they’ve grown.

These programs have been found to have much wider benefits too. They help foster teamwork and leadership skills in kids. They build self esteem and give an opportunity for non-academic kids to also excel and feel successful. Indeed some of the academically gifted kids struggle outdoors and get to see the strengths of the other kids. These programs are often run in partnership with the community. Parents and other helpers assist the kids with the gardening or other activities that they do. This provides children with exposure to role models that they may not normally have access to. This is especially beneficial for the many children who are growing up without their Dad’s around on a day to day basis. They get to form a positive relationship with men who show them respect and appreciation of themselves and the Earth.

Guidebook explaining how schools and communities are working together for sustainability.

I conducted, along with my colleagues at RMIT University, a 3 year review of such partnership programs in Victoria from 2008-2010. Click here to read case studies of what schools are doing and here to see the benefits that result.

Our findings were used to produce a guidebook for other schools and communities to use on how to establish effective ‘School Community Learning Partnerships for Sustainability (SCLPfS)’. The guidebook is available for free online at: http://mams.rmit.edu.au/s3ysio6sumic1.pdf.

So, lets get connected with the Earth and enjoy the many benefits of doing so! The more connected we are the more likely we are to care about what occurs on the Earth. Like a protective parent standing up for it’s child, we can stand up for the Earth – speaking out against activities that harm her; taking action to reduce further damage; and repair that which has already occurred. All of us can play a part in this process. So, lets step up and use our voices and our hearts to create a world full of love and respect for all beings – for us and the Earth.

Blessed BE, Jodi-Anne

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Family breakdown and social fragmentation

1 November 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Parenting, Sustainability

In times past families were physically located closer together which helped strengthen connection and unity. Now families are spread across the globe. Aging parents don’t necessarily have loved ones near by to take care of them.

Our society, in general, is focused on achieving success, material wealth and individual advancement. This paradigm does not reward caring for the elderly. The elderly are seen as a nuisance, a problem to be handled and solved rather than the wisdom keepers, the pioneers, the treasure trove of support that they can be.

Grandparents can make a massive positive influence on children. This is especially needed in today’s world where many children are suffering from a lack of loving nurturing attention. Either because their parents have separated or even if together they are so busy that the children don’t get quality one on one time. Parents role model this lack of connection and this need to succeed and acquire wealth to their children who then grow and perpetuate this cycle.

What is needed and could solve this problem?

Parents realising what their children need is their love; their time; to play; to feel special, wanted and loved. They don’t need to watch more TV or have another computer game. They don’t need junk food and hurried eating. They need time together growing food, preparing nutritious meals and connection while eating them. Be a positive role model for your children for they learn from your every move.
Choose a simpler lifestyle so you do have time to play with and nurture your children. Listen to them, get to really know them. If you can’t do this all the time, ensure there are other people who can. This is where grandparents play a valuable role. Children need connection and ideally that connection should come from people they love and trust, not physical objects or strangers / movie stars. This is why children form gangs – for connection, for a place to belong. Help them feel like they belong at home. Let them know they are loved. Encourage them to care for self, others and the planet by role modelling this for them.
Where the elderly are isolated it is useful for the wider community to engage with them and show them their value. Start community gardening initiatives where young people work in the yards of the elderly to grow vegetables, flowers and trees – to form connections and roots, to share the produce. Many homes are now being built on tiny little blocks and don’t have much garden space. Older homes often have larger yards and once past a certain age it is hard for people to dig the soil and do all the bending, lifting, etc that is a part of gardening. But if we work together we don’t have to loose that joy of gardening or the expertise people who have gardened for decades have. We can share and learn from each other.
Community building initiatives such as communal gardens, such as sharing equipment like lawn mowers, whipper snippers and other tools can save the need for each family to purchase their own. This saves money and physical resources which benefits the planet. It also means you don’t have to work so hard as you don’t need to buy all the gadgets yourself.

There’s lots of things that can be done to strengthen community cohesiveness and have fun at the same time. Get to know your neighbours, find the people who are passionate about sustainability and work together to raise awareness and make changes in your neighbourhood. By making it fun, social and engaging more people are likely to join in. We will explore this more in future posts.

For now just know that we can turn this around. We can have strong family bonds and cohesiveness. We can have community’s that care and share. We can have happiness and harmony. We just have to make the choices and take the actions to create this in the world.

From my heart to yours, Jodi-Anne

Poetry as a tool for healing

4 October 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Healing from child abuse, Self help techniques

A large part of the healing journey is releasing buried emotions stored within your body. In order to do so you have to first get in touch with them. Many forms of creative expression can help us to do exactly that. Some people journal, some draw, some sing and some write poetry. Find what type of creative expression works for you. The benefits are enormous.

While we are being creative we operate more from the right side of the brain. This side of our brain is linked to our emotions and intuition. Hence, we can access our feelings and intuitive information from within us. It is much harder to do that when we are operating from our left brain which is focused on logic, reason, and analysis.

A lot of people in our society are very strongly left brained. We are taught to focus on the facts in school, to learn the right answer, and be rational and realistic. The message passed down in school is that being playful, creative, imaginative, and artistic is not as valuable to society and that if we want to succeed in life we should focus on learning a profession. But a focus on the facts and logic separates us from our hearts and our spirit. For many people it feels like a deadening, a deep loss. It is time to resurrect the creative, to reconnect to your heart and soul. Let loose and be creative. Your poems or art does not have to be beautiful or perfect. That’s not the point. The point is about feeling within yourself and letting out whatever is inside waiting to be released.

I wrote poetry for a few years prior to my entering therapy. I then switched to art as my main form of creative expression. Here are a few of my poems from the past.

The last tree. (By: Jodi-Anne M Smith, c1998)

The last tree, is a tree for us all to see, but how long will it last- as long as it has in the past?

We, humans who believe that all is ours to rape and plunder. Have destroyed the Earth and its no wonder,

Because people believe that they are the best, and they don’t seem to care about all the rest.

We are human, but also animal, and we have no right to ruin life especially on a planet as beautiful as this.

Rivers no longer flow, trees no longer grow. Volcanoes continuously blow, the atmosphere unstable, forever changing as carbon dioxide takes over and oxygen disappears

Because we cut down the trees, that help us to breathe. We cut down the trees, to use as we pleased.

But now we must pay; for the mistakes we have made. Hopefully before it’s too late.

Save the last tree, help it to breathe and then maybe we’ll see, that nature is more beautiful than the goods that are made, from the beautiful trees.

Strange Game (By Jodi-Anne M Smith 12/9/1998)

Life can be a strange game.You play to win, to earn and to succeed.But sometimes in winning you lose the lead.

Obtaining the goal can be enthralling.But if all you have is that, then the moment is fleeting

Forever searching, powering on, to find the next run, next glow, next surge – Fake fun

Giving your all to such a quest, is dangerous and destructive, it hurts you at best

It doesn’t really matter how high you climb, If you can’t open your eyes and see, if you can’t enjoy the view and the breeze.

Society tells us that we must succeed, but sometimes I wonder if that is what we really need

Live life, rest and breathe.

Going low in order to grow (By Jodi-Anne M Smith 27/9/1998)

My life I have simplified, I have removed the sources of stress, the result has been remarkable – I am at ease and at rest.

I came close to losing my mind, before I paid attention to the warning signs.A dangerous situation where I was afraid and upset.

The people around me who saw me so bad, have now come to realise the pain I suffer and this has made them sad

It seems they have realised that I need them so, and now they are there and are helping me to grow.

Communication is occurring, Our love we are sharing, and together we are finding strength and happiness.It is a great feeling to know they are there and that they care.

I am healing and blossoming, growing and coming alive. I am happy and relaxed, I’m living my own life.

It is unfortunate that in order for this to happen, I felt like I almost died.I was so sad and depressed all I could do was cry.

I thought my life I needed to change completely. But this was not true. I just needed to take it easier and to my heart be true.

Now that I have done that I feel better than before, I feel capable of doing anything. I can take what ever life has in store.

But one thing I know, one thing is for sure. I won’t ever again let myself get so low.

In future the warning signs I won’t ignore – I will pay attention when they come to the fore.

But as always does, good has come from bad, and in some ways I had to get so sad, before I could get glad.

I had to get so low in order to grow. But now that I am there, it is go, go, go.

Together with everyone, my love I show.

Bliss and happiness – together we bloom and we grow!

Snippets of wisdom…

3 August 2013 by Dr. Jodi-Anne M Smith, posted in Conscious Evolution, Personal Development, Uncategorized

Snippets of wisdom channeled July 2013.

Follow your heart. It will lead you where you most need to go – to be on purpose, on love and on bliss. For you can have these feelings all the time if you allow it.

So breathe into your heart. Visualise golden light awakening and enlivening it and let that light shine forth – soothing and awakening all souls you come in contact with. Spread love and light wherever you go and you will be a powerful servant of God – without even uttering a word.

You don’t have to have the answers or any knowledge. Just an open heart, that is all that is needed. Needed so much in all of society. Blessed BE. Light the way and enjoy each and every day as you live your life in gratitude and joy for all things.