We have an amazing ability as humans. We have the ability to choose how we want to experience life. We have wonderful cognitive and emotional abilities that are meant to support us along this ride of life. Unfortunately, we often forget that we have these tools and fail to use them. Perhaps we were never told we had them to use!

I believe my emotions are how my soul speaks to me. This took me many moons to figure out, but once I did, I listen, most of the time. A work in process. All emotions are valid and if we give ourselves permission to experience them, life finds a balance.

One of the steps in Belief Re-patterning is to use permission. Last week forgiveness, a process to letting go of pain and the charge associated to old patterns, began the technique. This week, permission, helps one to move past the ways they may be acting or perceiving themselves. This is where consciously creating supportive emotions begins to happen. Consciously choosing emotions allows the brain to be calm and in time, respond with these emotions as the go to place. Emotions are neither bad nor good, they simply are, but that doesn't mean we can't improve on them and feel good in this life we are living.

During Belief Re-patterning sessions, I guide you through statements and breathing to release beliefs and emotions that are not supporting and to bring in those that are supportive. You get to take the supportive ones with you!  Isn't that great!

What do you feel you would like to give yourself permission to experience?  Permission is about moving forward and creating a life you would like to live in.

• Do you want to give yourself permission to love you?
• Could you give yourself permission to feel calm? Learn how to not react? To enjoy life?
• What if you gave yourself permission to learn a new technique to bring that calmness and love to your life?

Giving yourself permission is such a loving thing to do. Most of us don't take the time to look at what isn't feeling good and needs to shift. For some reason, a lot of the people I work with are afraid to even admit things aren't as great as they could be. Like there is some award or punishment if they looked within and admitted they wanted more. Want more!  Please!

For this week, when you bump up against an emotion that doesn't feel like it supports you, look at it in the eye, be kind and then give yourself permission to release that emotion.   Start there and let me know how you do.

I give myself permission to rock this technique,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

Chase their tails that is. I just don't get it. I have been feeling like I am doing that this week and it doesn't feel fun to me. Perhaps missing the canine gene is the issue but it seems pretty stressful to me. Even if you catch it, what do you do, bite it?

Have you felt like this lately? I know the energy is a bit excited and can be interpreted as an anxious feeling for some, or a feeling of being jacked up on caffeine, but spin in circles? I am not a fan. I am a fan of the direction of the universal energy right now which is to celebrate our process here and to be more of a cohesive unit. This doesn't mean be in each others back pocket..again..not a fan. What it means is recognizing that when we play well with others, we all succeed.

There is a ridiculous controversy going on in sports right now and I want to shout from the roof tops, IT IS A GAME! Unless you are the players that are directly involved, THIS DOES NOT INVOLVE YOU. Stop acting like it does because you are showing some of your true colors in your behavior and it ain't pretty. Play well with others. Realize that while some may not play well, you are only responsible for you and how you act in response to those who aren't playing well. If you have angry outbursts about sports or any external controversy, you have some within yourself that are the real issue and perhaps you could spend some time looking at that rather than chasing the tail of no results.

I found myself wanting to respond to some of the posts on facebook and then realized, Vicki, stop chasing OTHER people's tails! There is a reason for the unfollow or unfriend button. Exercise the option.

The reason I bring this up is the energy that is present now and for perhaps another two weeks will have this component of whipping up anger and unresolved issues in order to release them. Typically, I report on the energy when it is almost complete so that people can't use it as an excuse to be ding dongs but this is going to be long enough that I felt it would be good to grab those of you who are emotionally mature enough to be responsible for their own actions while realizing why others may be loosing their stuffing and lend some compassion.

We contribute to the energy in the universe so even though there is a little push to get us to clear our stuff, we can't use it as a reason to develop road rage. Be aware and do the things that help ground you so you can be present and not lash out at others in a game of energy volleyball.

What are two things that always bring you back to your senses and your body so you can make choices from the conscious place?  For me it is breath and a workout that involves paying attention to what I am doing and praying it ends soon. When it is that intense, you can't think about anything else and by the time you finish, most of what you were hanging on to is gone. The breath will always bring you back to center. Check in now and see if you are breathing and using your diaphragm or are you breathing in your upper chest. Most of us have learned to breathe in our upper chest and that keeps us in reactive mode. Take some nice centering breaths whenever you feel you are spinning out and you will be amazed at how fast the moment passes. Give yourself that gift of a minute and a half to focus and let the tail go.

Yes, life is busy and can whip us up into that tail chasing place but we don't have to go there or stay there. We can borrow the other canine ability; the ability to let things go and bask in the rays of the sun. I am going to align myself there as the self-sabotage of tail biting is boring to me now. Would you like to join me in taking some deep breaths and finding a great spot to soak up the stillness? I bet you would.

During the next few weeks, or years of your life, choose where you will align your energy and choose how you will spend your time. It's your life, do you really want to lend it out to non-supportive habits? Be nice to you and if the anger is coming up and you don't know how to use it constructively, which is not posting on a public platform, then seek help. Give that gift to self.

Choosing to breathe and play,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

As many of you are aware, through my request for donations to Gould Farm, I ran a 5k this weekend. This wasn't the first one I have done, but it is the first one I ran the most on. I had done this course last year with no training or even a clue to the path. I pushed through and with determination, made it to the finish line. I didn't enjoy it. I was proud of myself for showing up and doing it but fun, yeah, that was not on the list.

This year I was determined to do things differently. I had a time in mind and had set a soft achievement point (my word for goal as it sounds so much more friendly.) of consistency and less than 13 minute miles. That was all well and good but my main point was to have fun doing it. I was going to remember my breathing and I was going to laugh at the cows who moo'd their pride at our achievements. I was going to smell the leaves that had begun to fall and I was going to honor those that have tried to run through their challenges with mental illness. Sensitive souls who maybe Earth isn't their favorite home!

I was intending to have a joyful experience and I did! Did it hurt at times, you betcha. Was it a sweaty, not really attractive process, oh yeah but that is the fun part too. Learning to accept that life has these moments allows all of the challenges to be joyful in some respect. While I jokingly grumbled about the hills, I was validating to myself that no matter what comes up in my life, I will be able to climb it, run it, roll down it and land in the finish line and I will be smiling as I do it. Not in a fake, cheese it up way, but in a "hell yes I just did that" way.

One of the gifts we have available to us is how we see a situation. I am no Pollyanna, but I just don't get why you would want to focus on what is the hard part of things. So often I hear people say, but he hurt me, or she lied or that boss is a jerk. So? That's their story. What is yours? Where are you going to put your attention? To the things that didn't go well or to the things that did?

One other 5k I did there was an ambulance driver right on my butt. Yes, I was the last person in line. Yes, I was lapped by a seventy something year old who was late starting because he was in the bathroom and yes, that course had hills too. We are in the Berkshires after all. The ambulance pulls up next to me during one of my walk times and the driver says "you are doing exactly zero miles an hour." My first thought was, yeah buddy, on my feet, you are on your choochieboomie doing zero, but I caught myself because I wanted my run to be inspiring to me so I said, "YES I AM!" and turned to face the way I was heading and kept on going. They rode behind me the whole way. The fumes were impressive. I learned a lot that day because it took all I had to talk myself to the finish in a joyous way. I literally re-patterned my thinking along the route which was good because it made me forget about some of those hills and the driver!

I could have let his attitude and judgment bother me but I decided that day that even if I was the last one in, I wasn't, but if I was, I was going to be stinking proud of myself for deciding to be in life in a joyous way. Really, what is the point if you aren't going to do that. What is the point if you are going to allow others limited thinking bother you?

We are all entered into races in our lives. We do them at our pace and we do them to best of our ability, I really believe that. I also believe that our ability can increase and we need to do all we can to get to the loving life place and be contagious about it when we get there! Some race days will be tougher than others, but if you are dressed and ready to go, how you run it is determined by you and no one else.

I wish you all the fun of cows and hills and those oh so sexy headbands to keep the sweat out of your eyes on your journey!

Perhaps a 10k is next......

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com