March 25,2020

A Wellness Moment from Molly                         

Greetings! I have spent the past week pondering how I can help others at this uniquely challenging time. I have been a mental health professional for most of my adult life and my passion and focus as a therapist and life coach has been Wellness. So I have decided to share a Wellness Moment with you on a regular basis in hopes it will help to bring some balance, positive energy, and constructive coping skills into your lives as you navigate through our current situation.

What is Wellness? Simply put Wellness is a choice, a way of life, a process, a balanced channeling of energy. It is the realization and appreciation that everything a person feels, thinks, does, and believes impacts one’s health and wellbeing. It is the balanced integration of our emotional, physical, intellectual, and spiritual selves.

I am encouraging each of us to be mindful of these 4 aspects of ourselves each day and to be role models for our children, grandchildren and all family members. Below is an example of a balanced day:

Physical dimension: Take care of your body each day through good nutrition, exercise as well as getting good rest and practicing good hygiene. Use your senses by enjoying nature walks, gardening, bird watching or star gazing.

Emotional dimension: Help one another by encouraging conversations around feelings. Create an environment that encourages open communication about fears, frustrations, sadness, anger. Anxiety and depression are created by not having a place to express and process feelings. Take time to ask one another what they need emotionally. Don’t assume what your loved ones needs for we all deal with challenges differently. Take time to journal which is a very constructive way to process feelings.

Intellectual dimension: Keep your thoughts and attitudes positive and constructive. Keep your mind alive by learning new things, pursuing creative ways to express yourself, reading, and listening to how others work though their challenges. Do crossword puzzles, play scrabble, learn how to cook a new recipe.

Spiritual dimension: Take the time each day to honor that which is sacred to you. Practice love, kindness, respect, and compassion. This time is a great opportunity for us all to reflect and know what our core values are and to practice them.

REMEMBER TO LAUGH

"A PERSON WITHOUT A SENSE OF HUMOR IS LIKE A WAGON WITHOUT SPRINGS-
  JOLTED BY EVERY PEBBLE IN THE ROAD." Henry Ward Beecher

Humor helps us manage the rocks and the potholes on life's road.  It makes our encounters with these bumps smoother.  Like the springs of the wagon, laughter can buffer us and make the journey more enjoyable.

Humor is very important in my work and life.  I look for it, use it and try to create it with others. It helps me laugh at my self and, I hope, with others.  Although my work is often serious, if I couldn't laugh and have fun while doing it, I would stop.

Laughing, especially at ourselves, during a particularly difficult moment, can relieve the tension and be a reminder not to take ourselves so seriously. It's not that there aren't serious problems in our lives and the world-there most certainly are-but laughter can help keep things in perspective.

                                    Smile, chuckle, grin, giggle, guffaw, LAUGH!!!

Wisdom Is Avoiding All Thoughts That Weaken You

In preparation for my upcoming Wine Wit and Wisdom Event at which I will explore one of Dr. Wayne Dyer's 10 Secrets for Success and Inner Peace( Wisdom is Avoiding All Thoughts That Weaken You), I was struck by a piece in my favorite daily inspirational books, A Deep Breath of Life by Alan Cohen.
In this piece, For Your Own Sake, Forgive, Cohen reminds us of the importance of forgiveness if we are to find inner peace. He begins the piece with this quote: "Holding resentment is like eating poison and then waiting for the other person to keel over."
He goes on to say: "When we hold on to anger, hurt, or resentment, we only hurt ourselves. By withholding love from another, we deny it to ourselves. If you keep someone in prison with your thoughts, you have to sit at their jail door to keep them from escaping, and thus become a prisoner yourself.  To free another is to free yourself. When you give the gift of release, your spirit is healed."
I know that there are some behaviors that seem impossible to forgive, but if you want to live a life of wellness, you must understand that acid eats the container that carries it and be willing to care enough about your mind body and spirit to let all thoughts that eat at you go.
          Perhaps this affirmation will help you to stay in thoughts that strengthen you:

             "Lift all negativity, resentment, and sense of victimhood from my heart.
              I want to recreate my relationships to reflect only love, honor, and healing."

                                           I GIVE FREEDOM AND I AM FREE.

Namaste, Molly

WIPE THE SLATE CLEAN FOR 2019

“It is a new year; time to shine like the stars! This is a wonderful time for reflection, inner growth, and illumination.  Let’s keep in mind that at any moment, we always have the opportunity to choose love or fear. In moments of fear, we must remember the sun-it is always shining, even when clouds may be obscuring it for a while. Like the sun, the One Infinite Power is eternally shining its light upon us, even though clouds of negative thinking might temporarily obscure it. This year, may we continually choose to remember the Light.”      -Louise L. Hay

I invite you to enter 2019 with a clean slate. Remember that nothing in the past has any power to affect what you do now. You are an entirely new person, different from the person you were. This year has never been lived before and you have never had the consciousness you now have. You are setting sail on a great adventure determined only by how grand you are willing to think. This year think big thoughts to create miraculous results.

I also invite you to say this New Year’s affirmation aloud at least once a day for the entire month.

  “As I start the year, I focus on moving away from whatever has been holding me back.

        I declare that every negative thought pattern in my consciousness is now being cleared

        out and released. As I fill my mind with new, positive thinking, I take the first steps

        toward my bright future.!”

 

BALANCE

The goal is balance!
We need balance between work and play. We need balance between giving and receiving.
We need balance in thought and feelings.
We need balance in caring for our physical self and our spiritual self.

A balanced life has harmony between a professional life and a personal life. There may be times when we need to climb mountains at work. There may be times when we put extra energy into our relationships. But the overall picture needs to balance.

Just as a balanced nutritional diet takes into account the realm of our nutritional needs to stay healthy, a balanced life takes into account our need for friends, work, love, family, play,
private time, recovery time, and spiritual time. If we get out of balance, our inner voice will tell us. WE NEED TO LISTEN!!!

                "Today, I will examine my life to see if the scales have swung too far
                       in any area, or not far enough in some. I will work toward
                                                     achieving balance."

THE POWER OF POSITIVE AFFIRMATIONS

Sometimes I find it challenging to help clients understand the importance and the power of positive thinking and positive affirmations. After years of practicing positive thinking and knowing how powerful our thoughts are in terms of our mental and physical health, I too can sometimes get off base and fall into the trap of scary and sad thoughts. The trick is to catch ourselves doing it. I know that if I am feeling anxious or depressed or lethargic or unsettled, it is my body and spirit responding to the negative self talk. My red flags show up when I am just not being the person I intend to be. It is then that I get myself up and out around positive people, start reading uplifting materials, start expressing gratitude, and most importantly change my self talk. If we talked to a 5 year old child the way we sometimes talk to ourselves, I am sure the child would feel scared or hopeless or unmotivated and certainly less than. Make an intention to think positive thoughts, to let go of all negativity every day and to affirm regularly the things you want to be true for you. Remember that the body is the battlefield for the warfare in our mind, and truly love yourself enough to stop scaring and criticizing yourself. Affirm everyday I choose Joy! I am healthy and happy and prosperous! I surround myself with loving and caring people! I release patterns that no longer serve me! I love and approve of myself! I have a wonderful life! I am grateful for all the love that surrounds me!

Stay well and stay joyful!
Namaste, Molly

THANK YOU, LOUISE!

I was sitting in my office helping a client create her new positive affirmations and was sharing with her, as I have for 30 years, some activities from You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay, when I got a text from Heather. I waited until my client had left and then read the text informing me that Louise had left the planet peacefully at age 90. Instant tears flowed as I reflected over my life since Louise Hay became my mentor and inspiration. It was in 1986 when one of my interns did an activity that impressed me. I asked her where she had been taught that and she told me that she read it in a book  entitled You Can Heal Your Life.  When I left the office that day, I headed to the store where my intern had gotten the book and that day my life changed!
Over the past 30 years You Can Heal Your Life has served as the "workbook" for my clients.
Because I believe that self love and self acceptance are the foundation for mental and physical health and well being, Louise's books, lectures, and videos have provided me with amazing tools that help develop life skills that are life changing.
Louise Hay's personal story is amazing in and of itself. She truly practiced what she preached even though she did not get started on her counseling and teaching journey until she was in her 40's.
I was fortunate to have met her one day many years ago at the Bronx restaurant where we got to visit as colleagues, and because of the power of affirmations was able to tell let her know several years ago how much her work has inspired my work and the work of so many mental health professionals.
When Leo Buscaglia, another of my mentors, left the planet I promised to continue his Love work, and now I make the same promise to Louise. A promise to continue to teach, guide, motivate and inspire others to love themselves, to practice positive thinking, to embrace the present moment, and to understand the power of forgiveness in our personal and spiritual growth.
Louise Hay modeled unconditional love and believed we all have enough love in our hearts to heal the planet. It is time for us all to celebrate our hearts and to truly model the power of love. I close with her words from her book, Heart Thoughts, A Treasure of Inner Wisdom.
      "Dedicated to Your Heart: Our hearts are the center of our power. I have learned that we create easily and effortlessly when we let our thoughts come from the loving space of the heart. Claim your power now."

On September 14th from 5:30-7:00, I will be presenting a special Wine and Wisdom event at St. Martins Wine Bistro in Dallas paying a tribute to the life and work of Louise Hay. I hope you can join us. Contact me to make reservations. The price is $20 for my presentation. The happy hour menu will be available from 5-7 and you are welcome to stay for a wonderful dinner, dessert and coffee, cocktails etc. following my presentation.