Help. I'm Trapped in My Own Mind and I Can't Get Out!

• Do you feel as if you have painted yourself into a corner? 
• Does your mind keep you trapped in a perpetual spinning motion?
  
• Do options seems to have flown out the window?

You are not alone. So many of my clients feel that they have run out of alternatives. Together we discover ways to find the key to the self-imposed prison.

As an adult, you spend about 95% of your time living in your back brain in an area called the CIA or Common Integrative Area. This is where fear, pain, fear of pain, fear of fear, judgements and negative reactive patterns lie. It is the part of the brain that holds you back and allows you to repeat habits and destructive behavior. At one time or another you have said aloud,

"Why am I doing this? I know better!"

Yes, perhaps you know better. So now what? How do you stop the repetitive patterns that block productive movement forward?

• Stop for a moment and allow yourself to brainstorm options. To access the "big picture" located in your right brain hemisphere, block off your right nostril and breathe through your left nostril only. Keep paper and pen available as ideas start to flow. This simple breathing technique keeps left brain hemisphere's editing blocked for now. When you are ready to take the new options and make them happen, block off your left nostril and breathe through the right nostril only. This allows you to have access to left brain hemisphere's manifestation ability. 

• 
   When your thoughts feel out of control, the mental chatter becomes unbearable, your head aches and you keep going over the same problem repeatedly, get the Bach flower essence White Chestnut. This will quiet the mind and lead to tranquility and discernment. Put four drops of the flower essence in water or under your tongue several times a day. Feel the
  difference. 

• If you want more help stepping outside of the box and stimulating productive thinking, get yourself the book and set of cards called, Creative Whack Pack by Roger von Oech. These tools have been used by business people, educators, artists, scientist, students and more. An example of what one card says: "What would Walt Disney do?" Hmm. It is certainly a different way of looking at things.

•  Consider using a creative and logical, whole brain, technique called mind mapping. This technique was developed in the early 1970's by Tony Buzan as a tool to help people take notes and it has become a wonderful problem-solving tool. Two of Tony Buzan's books are: The Mind Map Book and Use Both Sides of Your Brain. Another book to consider is Mindmapping, Your Personal Guide to Exploring and Problem-Solving by Joyce Wycoff. A mindmap looks like this:

•  One of the best and quickest ways to identify and release the blocks that are keeping you from moving forward is with muscle testing. This is a biofeedback tool that allows for access to your body wisdom. The only real source of information about you, is you. Sometimes you have to bypass your conscious mind and go to the root cause of a problem.