Explore Beyond the Usual By R.

. Rousseau Let it Get Cold As I was reading Cheryl Richardsons new book, The Art of Extreme Self Care, I was dealing with a few stressful situations at work. Her book came at just the right timeas do all my Hay House books. In my day job, Im a CPA Consultant and frequently involved in projects for public companies where the stress level can be palpable. Since the market crashed, management teams have been extreeeemely uptight and nervous not their normal, usually reasonable/rational selves. I understand it, but that doesnt always make it easy to work with and live through. Some days, it takes all that I have in my bag of spiritual magic tricks to keep me in a peaceful, focused frame of mind. Chapter Ten in Cheryls new book is called, Does That Anger Taste Good? She talks specifically talks about her experiences with people who took their angry mood out on her and how she had learned to be a good steward for her own, extreme self care. The suggestions and direction she provides in this chapter were certainly helpful for me at this moment in my life. I love where she recommends, Letting it Get Cold. She talks about her sister Kerri who has a sign in her office, Let it Get Cold. It reminds her to let things settle before saying something in the heat of the moment. Cheryl Richardson says, Sometimes the circumstances warrant an immediate response. Yet there are other timeswhen youre caught off guard and you feel blind-sided, or when you realize that your emotional reaction is exaggerated because an old wound had been triggeredwhen its crucial to step back and get centered before you blow your top and end up regretting your behavior later on. Last week was one of those weeks where I kept stepping in other peoples crap and had to try my best to Keep it Cold. I went to dinner with a good friend on Friday night looking for a little relief from the week, and he was in a bad mood. Hes never in a bad mood! He said, "Hey Robin, I'm really sorry about my bad mood. I'm just not myself today." Neither was I. I was hoping to find a little Extreme Self Care by enjoying a Margarita with friends. It was just not happening. Another day during the week, I talked to the daughter of an elderly friend and my eyeballs popped when she let me have it for no good reason. I had stopped by to see her 90 year old father who is dying. She was agitated because I bring him hot fudge sundaeswhich he absolutely loves. She said, He cant eat those. Sugar is bad for him! Blah, blah, blah. Someone forgot to tell her that when youre 90 and dying, passing away with hot fudge and a big smile on your face may be one of the best ways to check out. Then, I had a client who spoke to me abruptly and rudely, when I failed them on an audit test they couldnt pass to save their life. It wasn't my fault their internal controls were not working. Don't shoot the messenger. I ended the week by saying, What the heck is going on here?! What I know for sure is that when we attract negative energy, theres usually a bad vibe squatting in us somewhere even if we dont recognize it. I live by that belief and can usually crack the code with a little self reflection. Thanks to Cherly Richardson, I now

know that I can Let it Get Cold, instead of analyzing the problem to come up with an immediate solution. I can practice the Art of Extreme Self Care while the energy simmers. My cooling down process involved using Sandra Anne Taylors suggestion of Affirmation Saturation, which she talks about in her book, The Secrets of Attraction. Sandra says that, Affirmation saturation is an aggressive approach designed to deal with especially difficult problems and stubborn thought patterns. You begin by choosing (or creating) 50100 affirmations that address your own needs. Then, repeat them at least 5 to 10 times per day, until you feel your mood begin to change. She says that repeated affirmations are a thought-restructuring process which rewires the neurons in our brain. This allows us to develop more positive thought patterns and bring new, healthy beliefs into your daily consciousness and personal energy field. She says that by retraining our neural pathways protects us from neural hijacking, where we have a pattern of responding negatively even when we dont want to. She says, No matter how compelled you may be to engage in the old thought, you must be willing to continue the process of consciously changing your beliefs until you actually feel yourself becoming more hopeful, positive and optimistic. Something was obviously hi-jacking my positive energy field last week which I promptly evicted with some of Sandra Taylor's techniques. Ive actually been practicing some neural re-wiring for the last two or so years after seeing the movie, The Secret and reading numerous books on the topic of energy transformation. I have to say that when people are really nasty to me, the bite stings for about 24 hours, but Im able to snap back pretty quickly. I dont blame myself. I see if for what it issomeone elses bad day not the complete destruction of my universe. Ive even been known to tell people who disagree with my position that regardless of what they think of me, Im comfortable in my own skin. Thats not to say that it doesnt hurt when someone is nasty to me on occasion. It does hurt, but it doesnt take me long to jump back in the game and start affirming my value and self worth which puts my energy back into balance. After the three energy bites I received last week, I had to pull out my spiritual first aid kit and heal my energy abrasions before things got any worse. Next time things heat up, follow Cheryl Richardsons advice and Let it Get Cold. Give yourself time to re-energize your soul and re-affirm your value by practicing the Art of Extreme Self Care. Copyright Robin Rousseau 2009. All Rights Reserved.