Lately, I've had this fascinating pain in my left shoulder. Since I am well versed in energetic causes of pain, I did my due diligence to look at all the emotional reasons it could be bothering me so much. I see it as a bit of a treasure hunt. You can actually feel the pain let up when you are close to releasing the issue and tighten when you are ignoring it or brushing it off.  While the emotional and energetic excavation was going on, I supported it with care from my team of keep Vicki thriving practitioners.  As mentioned in a previous blog, it took a lot of practice and re-patterning to be able to allow myself the care necessary to live the life I do being wired as I am.  Part of the team is an over the counter TENS unit.  I love this puppy!

A TENS (Transcutaneous electrical nerve stimulation) unit provides stimulation to the nerve endings that are sending messages to your brain saying "um excuse me, you seem to have some unshed issues here and I'd like to draw your attention to them" and does it well.  In a former occupation, I used to dispense the machines, now I go to CVS and buy one to use at home.  I also receive this when my chiropractor deems it necessary in his office.  Anyhoo, I was using the unit to help my cute shoulder that was trying to help me see my issues in my tissues and it needed a new battery.  When I changed it out, and it didn't work because I had it in backwards, I had an "a ha" moment about the two sides to a battery.

We are all familiar with the positive and negative ends or sides to a battery.  Please don't ask me about a car battery, that still stumps me.  So, this battery that I had to replace had it's positive sign and negative sign.  After I figured out how to get it in the machine.  I thought well, hell, we aren't batteries so why do we divide things up into negative and positive?

I hear on an almost daily basis someone saying "I am trying to be more positive."  "I use positive affirmations and they don't work."  "I tell people I don't want to hear the negative in life."  Well, what if there aren't two sides to how we see our emotions, experiences or challenges?  What if we stopped separating them and cut to the chase of "this is how I feel, this is what it is and this is where I'd like to be."

What is positive and negative anyway?  What I may think of a completely supportive process, another person may think it stinks.  I took my older sister to work out with me one night and while she did very well, as we were leaving she said, "I am never doing that again.  You are insane."  I thought it was very funny and complimented her on her stamina and ability to make a choice.  In this circumstance, there is no side to be chosen. She has every right to not want to do that again and I have every right to enjoy it and do it twice a week. (ok, I don't always enjoy it.  This week was hard!)

• What if instead of trying to quantify our experiences we learn from them, move through them and assessed life from an "I like that place"?
• What if we stopped trying to convince others that if they don't like what we are doing, that we have to discuss it, argue about it or think our relationships are lost causes?
• What if we gave ourselves permission to see all experiences as opportunities to assess our I like that meter and adjust accordingly?

Yes, some experiences are going to hurt.  They are going to really, really stink but most of the time, those are the experiences we look back on and say, wow, I am totally amazeballs and lived to tell of it.

For this week, as we celebrate living in this amazing United States of America (for those of you who are in other countries, celebrate your home as well) why don't we see how fortunate we are, how fantastically diverse we are and what opportunities we have to grow everyday without restriction.  No matter your circumstances, you are the only one who can restrict your thoughts and can limit yourself to descriptions of positive and negative.  There are so many colors in between, why aren't we using them all?

• A couple of statements to help you; "I forgive myself for believing life only comes in positive and negative descriptions."
• "I give myself permission to see the amazing opportunities in my life."
• "I choose to be open to appreciating all of my experiences and what I can learn from them." 
• "I am learning to see my world as open and expansive."
• "I am so grateful to my forefathers who believed anything is possible."

I wish you the best of weeks as you open up to having more sides than a watch battery.

Charging through life,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

Following my own advice in the last blog, I have been specializing in self-care. I think it is very important to do your research and to be able to know how challenging AND rewarding something is if you are going to offer it for advice. Kind of like trying a recipe before you serve it to guests.

This week I had a massage, went to bed every night around ten pm and had an advanced craniosacral session on Thursday. I also worked out and then was nice to myself when I didn’t want to work out one afternoon. I did vacuum the house and considered that a workout though. Shouldn’t it be considered a workout? I think so!

While I was doing all of these things, I had to deal with the chatterbox in my head that kept saying, who do you think you are indulging in this care? Don’t you think you should pay down a bill, invest the money or adopt an elephant through one of those programs? Even after all the processing and work and inventory I have done on myself, this voice still comes up from time to time. So I did what I do when that inner critic shows up, I talked nicely to it and suggested it take a nap!

Why is it so hard for us to take care of us? Where is the off switch to that programming? I have found the pause button but the off seems elusive. The Belief Re-patterning has definitely helped in that area and more and the rest is ok because it keeps me honest and intentional about my connection to me.

Do you have that voice inside that wants to keep you stuck in old patterns? The one that thinks it is giving the best advice, but it really isn’t? This is the inner critic or gremlin as I like to call it from time to time. The inner critic is an aspect of us that I believe has been taught. None of us as a soul came in with a self-deprecating, sabotaging voice. We learned it through well-meaning people and sometimes, not so well-meaning, but from outside sources none the less. Isn’t it about time that we start to be in charge of the voices in our head?

There is a new movie out called Inside Out that speaks to the idea of the voices in our head. I can’t wait to see it because intuitively, I feel it is going to be amazing. I am so grateful we can talk about the voices in our heads and not be seen as a psychiatric issue but rather a fully diverse and sometimes complex human.

The inner critic has a co-worker that is often referred to as the inner coach or the supportive voice. On a daily basis I ask myself which one do I want to support, the unsupported or the supportive?  I figure if I put a bra on every day to support my gals, my voice may as well be supportive too! (Sorry for the visual on that one but I thought it was a funny metaphor.)

Which voice do you listen to? How do you practice self-care when it comes to your inner dialogue? What if, for today, you decided to support the supportive side of communicating with self? No one else is going to be able to hear you talking nicely to yourself. They may recognize that your face looks softer, your eyes are happy and your vibration is amazing, but hear inside your head? No, you are good on that one.

Give it a try would you? For today’s self-care, say something that you believe to be true and that can help you support an amazing life to be part of. If it is challenging to come up with something, lead with the phrase “I am learning..”. Suze Casey, developer of Belief Re-patterning, introduced me to this concept and I use it A LOT!  So if:

• I love myself is difficult to say…. I am learning to love myself may be more accepting.
• I am organized and life flows around me….I am learning to be organized and am excited to see life flow as a result.
• I have talents galore…..I am learning to see my many talents.

You get the point. It is a way to ease yourself into self care and to learn the communication style that will not only support you but give you a whole new way of seeing self. I truly believe if we learn to like ourselves, it will go out exponentially and effect the rest of the universe.

I believe in you and I know life does too. Join us in believing in yourself too, won’t you?

Having conversations in my head and laughing out loud,

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

You may have seen the posts for a series (each class stands independently) offered at my office. The Life's Tool Box Series. We had the first one at the beginning of the month and are doing another the thirtieth of this month. Putting these together have been a lot of fun for me. Tam is a hoot to work with and we are both so excited about people's growth that together we make a pretty impressive pair, in my opinion anyway.

So with all this focus on helping others develop their toolbox, the analogies of tools are popping up all over. One tool I would love to remove from everyone's box is the billy club. I am sure it serves a purpose but when most of us use it to beat ourselves over the head with, it doesn't make much sense to have it in there any more. Let me explain. 

When someone comes for a session and I get a feeling or a picture of the billy club I know that whatever we are talking about is their way of beating themselves up. It may be language or unsupportive relationships. It could be eating habits or smoking or drinking. It could be overworking and stress addiction. The list is as long as the number of people and variables in the universe. However, everyone has a billy club. 

Some may say it is a way to keep one from being too egocentric and self centered. Perhaps it is a way to motivate, but is it effective? I don't know about you but I'm not the most effective when my head hurts or my ears are ringing because I've been knocking myself upside the head. 

I've seen it in many forms too. Some people are very creative in their billy clubs. Some have gone as far as to create them to be steel rods or two by fours. Now that is impressive. 

I'd like to suggest we put the clubs, tire iron or two by four down and pick up the tool of self care. Here are a few examples of a certified club carrying member:

• The critic in your head is louder than the coach. 
• Your first reaction is to downplay your intelligence, looks, talents or beliefs. 
• You think happiness, good relationships, abundance or opportunity are for other people and not you. 
• Your perception or your teaching has been, life is hard. 
• Do you focus on what is not working rather than what is?
• If you compare yourself to others often. 

Of course there are many others, you can become aware of what yours are by taking a few minutes to observe when you feel all twisted up and ready to grab the weapon out of habit. 

Step away from the clubs and pick up the "I matter" tool and try using that for a bit. Ok? Good. If you would like help with that, check out the classes offered. :)

Cleaning out my own tool box, 

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

This past year I decided I might like running. I'd like to say this is the first time I've questioned my sanity, but it isn't and won't be the last, but nevertheless, this was this years challenge. I like a good challenge. Something that stretches me and isn't always easy but I know is attainable at some level. So, running it is.

There is a discussion in running circles about which is best, the straight out and back path or the loop. Typically I am a loop person because, quite frankly, if I have the option to turn around and go back easily, I just may do that. The loop ensures I will go all the way around to get back to my starting point. The longer the loop, the better as it means I again, won't give up earlier. See a pattern here? Yeah, it's good to know thyself.

So, on my latest and longest run I was thinking about the brilliance in my loop plan. The loop gave me an opportunity to see roads I haven't explored on my side of town and it also gave me time to say to myself, "what the hell were you thinking?" Now we (my legs and I) have to go all the way around to get back home! My legs often question my brain and the lungs chime in at times too. It is quite the dialogue. So, rather then lament on the mileage to go, I decided to write this blog in my head while on the road.

The looping thought process, or repetitive as it is more commonly known, is one that many people get into on a regular basis, myself included. It is learning to see the loop for what it is and decide on a straight out and back track which often produces a calm feeling and moving forward. The loop process is one that I believe we create to fool ourselves into thinking we are actually doing something. Well, thinking is something but when it isn't tied to some kind of action, it is a time consuming and often confusion proposition.

What do you find yourself looping about? Most of the time it is something you can't do anything about anyway, right? Another persons actions, an experience in the past, or whether or not your favorite show will be extended this season. Not all looping thoughts are majorly life impacting, in fact, most aren't at all except to give the illusion that you are living.

So, which is your preference? To loop or straight out and back? Here are some suggestions to deciding that conundrum:

• First become aware if you are have a loop process. Any thought that is reoccurring and feels limiting or stuck is an unsupported loop and time to untie that puppy! For example: constantly running your bank balance in your mind, or the lack of a balance. Playing old conversations as you remember them over and over. Playing conversations that haven't even happened over and over. The should list: I should do this or I should do that. Looping. 
• Next, be nice to you and acknowledge you are having one and ask if there is anything you can do to help it be supportive. Can you take an action, can you bring in more income, call someone and actually have the conversation or redirect your head to a task that has nothing to do with the looping thought. 
• If you have a challenging time re-directing, you can call me and we will re-pattern the thought process or you could reach out to someone helpful to assist you in shifting. 
• Realize that the looping thought process is a habit and new habits can be formed much like the ones that are there that aren't supportive. 

Your mission this week, should you choose to accept it, is to be aware of when your head wants to do the loop, acknowledge it and step away from the track! Choose one of the suggestions above or utilize your own tools and get on that straight out of the loop path. 

Someone get the car. I'm contemplating another run. I may need a ride back. 

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com

I originally had another blog planned for today but when I was out with the dog today I had a thought and loved it so I asked my guides to let me remember it when I got home! A lot of times I will have an idea and it will go in one chakra and out the other. Have you ever had this happen? A brilliant idea pops in and then, whoop, it's gone! You aren't losing your memory, you are tapping into thought forms and your guides. Until it is landed in this realm it can be very challenging to retain. I either write it down or send myself a voice note. That's not the great idea but I thought you may want to know you aren't losing your marbles.

The idea that came in was when we were rounding mile three and even though it was only fifteen degrees outside, I was sweating in my four layer outfit. The sun was out! In February! In the Berkshires! I actually said out loud to Tank (because he never judges my thought process) "I am so looking forward to running without all these layers." Immediately I had a comment back to myself (Yes, it is sane to talk to oneself. If sanity were to be questioned it would be the comment about looking forward to running! ) that the clothes aren't the only layers that will be shed.

Now, I get very excited when I hear back that more change is happening but what really made me want to remember it was the idea of how many layers we have in our lives. You can layer your hair. You can order a layer cake. You can layer degrees on top of degrees in search of professional satisfaction and many people layer relationships in a bid to never be alone. We are fascinating, aren't we?

Do you feel like the little kid with so many layers on they can't even play in the snow? What layers are you carrying around and are they even your layers?

• Are you hanging on to other people's beliefs about life? (Think parents, teachers, bosses, friends, network news, etc.)
• Do you spend a lot of time wondering what others think of you? (Pssst, it's none of your business.)
• Is a good part of your day spent worrying about things out of your control? (psst, it's all out of your control. Get good with that and life is a lot of fun.)
• Are you depressed about the past and anxious about the future? (Staying in the present can solve that little dilemma.)
• Is the critic in your head louder than the coach? (Spend some time with the coach and that will happen less.)
• Do you layer up on commitments so you aren't spending time alone? (You are really pretty cool. Imagine if you learned to spend time with you and liked it?)
• Are you not moving forward because you are waiting for someone else to even be aware they have layers? (Putting your life on hold for someone else never works....never!)

You get the point. We are multifaceted beings and are always going to have layers. How you layer yourself will determine how much you enjoy this life process. When applying layers be sure they are supportive. That they make you stronger, much like sedimentary rock. The more supportive layers you put on, the stronger you get. 

Be choosy about your layers. Be willing to pass on the layers that may make you overheat or be willing to strip those puppies off while in route to your amazing life! 

As for me, I am still looking forward to the running without two pairs of pants on, but am so grateful for the analogy that had me looking at my layers today! I wish you the same fun process. 

Promoting the loving layers, 

Vicki

www.vickibaird.com