Posted by Paul on Dec 1, 2011 in Featured | 0 comments

Non-ordinary Advice to a Depressed Client

Letter to a Depressed Client Non-ordinary Advice for When Positive Thinking Isn’t Working I suspect that the fact that I have not heard back from you since our last session means that you are still quite depressed. I know that is a painful place to be. Your best chance for pulling out of this, I think, is to watch your thoughts. Like many other people, you developed habits of thinking and feeling when you were young. These undoubtedly helped you survive abusive situations, but now these unconscious...

Posted by Paul on Nov 17, 2011 | 0 comments

Five Ways to Ease Your Fea...

Five Ways to Ease Your Fears about Money At least 80% of all ailments are caused or worsened by anxiety. Practice these methods to ease your fears, calm your mind, improve your health, and stimulate more creative problem-solving. Choose Your Thoughts â€œIf you hang around the pigpen, youâ€™re going to get dirtyâ€. Our feelings arise from the thoughts we think most often. If youâ€™re...

Posted by Paul on Oct 18, 2011 | 1 comment

Where’s my Teacher?

Where’s My Teacher? Making Sense of the Search for a Path and Trustworthy Teacher Recently, I had a stimulating email conversation with M.C., a thoughtful young man from Australia.Â I think his questions are shared by many of you. So, with his permission, I share our conversation here with you. M.C.: Lately I feel like I have been caught up in the plethora of personal growth, health and fitness,...

Posted by Paul on Sep 30, 2011 | 2 comments

You Can be Right…or ...

You Can be Right..or You Can Have a Relationship Where is Your Highest Loyalty? Loyalty! It’s a high virtue, right? Well, of course it all depends on what we are loyal to. If you grew up in an alcoholic or some other variety of dysfunctional family, or if you suffered childhood abuse or neglect, you found a way to survive…obviously, or you wouldn’t be reading this. Perhaps you learned...

Posted by Paul on Aug 23, 2011 | 0 comments

What’s Addiction Got...

What’s Addiction Got to do with PTSD Q & A Question: When someone says they are addicted to some substance, etc, or that they feel out of their body, is that the same thing as PTSD? Paul: Addictions and the pain underneath them are almost always related to some kind of PTSD, in other words, an emotional wound or a past life-threatening experience. Some may think they their life was just fine...

Posted by Paul on Jul 29, 2011 | 1 comment

We Are All Norwegian

We Are All Norwegian Opening in a Painful World As with the Japanese tsunami in April, when something occurs as tragic and traumatizing as the Norwegian murders last week, I cannot remain silent about it in this blog.Â For one thing, such events bring the world into a collective awareness and grief. Worldwide, most with access to the news share in the terror, the tragedy, and the helplessness. For a...

Posted by Paul on Jun 29, 2011 | 0 comments

How the Monsoon Rains Came...

How the Monsoon Rains Came to Taos A Love Story by Paul Chubbuck After my big push this past month to get my free downloadable eBook finished (learn more here), I can’t think about any healing topics this week. However, from time immemorial, our ancestors, who had no therapists but did have pain and loss, gathered around the campfire or hearth and told stories…tales that reconnected them to...

Posted by Paul on May 23, 2011 | 0 comments

The Rapture

The Rapture We have another chance to choose The experience of unresolved trauma can be a kind of personal hell, with all manner of seemingly endless suffering and torture.Â In such cases, our minds are often not our best friends, haranging us day and night about the missed opportunities and poor choices we’ve supposedly made. Everyone in pain wants a “quick fix” which will separate...

Posted by Paul on May 9, 2011 | 5 comments

The Restoration of Magic

The Restoration of Magic Noticing magic and miracles can open your heart If you haven’t found something strange during the day, it hasn’t been much of a day. Physicist John Wheeler In Colorado, the Rocky Mountains do not begin gradually with rolling knolls, larger hills, and finally the real mountains, as with many ranges.Â They arise suddenly from the plains like a wall, which means that...

Posted by Paul on Apr 25, 2011 | 3 comments

Do your healing work, get ...

Do your healing work, get more sex! The Healing Journey is sometimes chaotic, but it has Huge Rewards. I made a colleague laugh this morning when he told me he didn’t have full registrations for the workshop he’s offering this weekend (and he does excellent work). I said maybe we need to copy America’s professional marketers. You know, “do your healing work and get more...

Posted by Paul on Apr 20, 2011 | 0 comments

I asked! Where’s my...

I Asked! Where’s my answer? 4 steps to getting answers you can trust The old saying goes, “when the student is ready, the teacher will appear.”Â But how do you getÂ ready? Most of us have pressing questions around troublesome life issues or unpleasant patterns.Â “Why don’t I have enough money for the important things?”Â “Why do I feel lonely?”Â ...

Posted by Paul on Apr 11, 2011 | 2 comments

How Will You Feed Your Sou...

How Will You Feed Your Soul Today? What practices will bring you what you long for? When it comes to practices, I have been as stubborn as anyone, finding difficulty meditating or doing the same thing every day at the same time. I remember around 20 years ago when someone tried to teach me a different way to breathe, I got all defensive, “So even my breathing is wrong? Harrumph!” Ironically,...

Posted by Paul on Mar 28, 2011 | 2 comments

The Kingdom of Shambhala

The Kingdom of Shambhala If you want to save the world, you’re not alone. I still believe we are capable of attention, that anyone who notices the world must want to save it. From Testimony, by Poet, Rebecca Baggett Several years ago I attended a live tele-cast in Telluride of the Bioneers’ conference.Â Paul Hawkens spoke with refreshing optimism about building a sustainable...

Posted by Paul on Mar 21, 2011 | 2 comments

Is it your time to roar?

Is it your time to roar? You are much greater than you know. The founder of Somatic Experiencing, Peter Levine, wrote a well-known book called Waking the Tiger. The title refers to a common experience of victims of trauma. During some past threat, they attempted to protect themselves but were defeated or overwhelmed. Afterwards, they may have become “frozen”, i.e. they lost some ability to...

Posted by Paul on Mar 14, 2011 | 8 comments

The previously scheduled b...

The previously scheduled blog has been pre-empted. How do we stay awake in a numbing world? I had planned this week to offer you a poem about the mysterious way we get what we really need from people, even though we often can’t see that until much later. But that was before a catastrophe devastated hundreds of thousands of lives in Japan and much of it was piped into my living-space, live and in...

Posted by Paul on Feb 28, 2011 | 9 comments

Lies, Damn Lies, and Stati...

Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics Statistics can Serve to Minimize the Real, Human Pain of Trauma I came across a CNN article recently entitled “PTSD in women may have genetic link”. Early in the article it states, “10% of women and 5% of men develop the condition [of PTSD] sometime in their lives.” It offers no supporting evidence or sources for these numbers. I instantly felt highly...

Posted by Paul on Feb 23, 2011 | 14 comments

You Have an Animal Inside

You Have an Animal Inside Your Body as a Conscious Source of Wisdom One of my teachers once said to me, “Always remember, Paul, that sitting across from you is not only a person, but an animal, and you have to try not to offend either of them.” Our bodies are animals…conscious beings and sources of wisdom. We can benefit greatly by learning to listen to that wisdom. Sometimes mere words...

Posted by Paul on Feb 6, 2011 | 1 comment

What Did You Call My Kid?

What Did You Call My Kid? Are psychiatric labels for children helpful or harmful? 20 million children in this country have been given psychiatric labels, often with a drug treatment attached. Shouldn’t we seek a different perspective when such a large proportion of our children are labeled with a “mental illness” and the stigma attached? This week my blog is inspired by a powerful,...

Posted by Paul on Feb 6, 2011 | 3 comments

If You Talked to Me Like I...

If You Talked to Me Like I Talk to Me, I Wouldn’t be Your Friend Question: Iâ€™m often angry with myself.Â I fail to live up to my expectations. Answer: Did you have highly critical parents or older siblings?Â Was there a lot of chaos, power-struggling, neglect, or abuse in your family when you were growing up?Â All children instinctively assume that such turmoil and pain was their...

Posted by Paul on Jan 29, 2011 | 0 comments

Wonder and the Invisible G...

Wonder and the Invisible Gorilla Where is Your Attention? Could anything possibly be wrong with your life which wouldnâ€™t be instantly and remarkably improved if you could experience â€œwonderâ€ today? Wonder is something we feel when witnessing something unexpected, when we are able to see it newly, or truly, without filtering or adding meaning.Â We observe it in an infantâ€™s eyes...

Posted by Paul on Jan 21, 2011 | 11 comments

Grandpa’s Little Win...

Grandpa’s Little Windows How a Story Grew My Brain My Grandpa ran a little store and post office in a tiny town in central Kansas. Â I have one particularly fond memory of him. The summer I was 12 and Grandpa was 83, Dad and I visited his store once when Grandpa wasnâ€™t around.Â My curiosity was piqued when I noticed pieces of paper on Grandpaâ€™s desk with windows of various...

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