Scratch #2: Erasing "it" from existence ?

Yesterday I became an Access Consciousness Bars Practitioner having trained under the watchful eye of Ben Calder, at the Centre for Integrated Health, Shrewsbury, & it feels great ! 

So why did I do something I hadn't even heard of a month ago ?

Well having met Ben Calder* at the Centre for Integrated Health a few weeks ago, he started talking about the range of events & services that were run out of the centre. However, I was curious when he mentioned one event in particular, something entitled "Money is not the problem, you are" offered as an introduction to Access Consciousness (but more about them in a minute). So in the spirit of trying new things, I decided to go, listen & learn. 

It was a great evening with lots of two way interaction & comments as well as me offering a story about something that had happened to me recently. In order to illustrate a point, of my limitations being the problem......Ben  asked me more about this & the conversation ended with me being "dared" to do something & offer photographic proof. So having accepted the dare, a few days later, I wore a designer dress all day & during that time, I visited a local hotel to meet someone about grief recovery, into town to pick up some tape, my son's school & last but not least my local butchers; this is where the fun really started as I told them the story about the dare & asked them to be part of it, which not only made them laugh, but absolutely made them want to do it......so Grenville took a photo of myself & Jason which then got downloaded & forwarded to Ben....... 

What was the point of this exactly ?

Well it was to prove to me that I was initially talking myself out of buying an expensive dress that made me feel amazing, then having convinced myself I should have it, that I should keep it for best, which meant the possibility it would never see the light of day again. When questioned by Ben about how the dress made me feel, I replied that I felt amazing in it..... & so Ben then challenged me to think why I wouldn't I want to wear it & feel like that every day ? So that is where the "dare" started & he indeed proved his point......to the extent that a week later I put the dress on again for work & felt fabulous all day ! 

So having engaged initially, I was keen to know more about Access Consciousness & particularly something Ben had mentioned in his talk.....having his "Bars run", which was going to be the subject of another talk a week later. So I decided to go & experience it first hand; again not only was it fun, but it made me feel great......so why wouldn't I want to have more ? This is exactly what I did, but this time I enrolled on the course to learn how to do the Bars & now I am a certified practitioner. Yeah ! It was a great day which I shared with Ben, his lovely mum Anne & 7 other lovely ladies who were all fabulous.  

So what is it all about ? 

So for those of you who don't know what the Bars is yet.......

"the Bars are 32 points on the head where you have stored all your thoughts, ideas, beliefs, considerations, emotions and attitudes that you thought were important in any lifetime. When you have your Bars run, its like hitting the delete button on your computer" Access Consciousness ® 

Erase & Reset ?

My experience so far (bearing in mind it only happened yesterday) is that it felt amazing lying there & receiving, then gifting to another lady, so I am telling everyone I know about it. The Bars is something that everyone even children can learn to do & helps people to connect with one another as it is very much a "hands on" practice, so families can do it for each other. Whilst I will be encouraging my family to explore this & learn if they wish, my aim now is really to practice & have fun with my newly learnt skill. To me this isn't the end of something, it is only the start, making me more aware & seeing what else is possible. So I will end this post with a question which I find myself asking more & more....... 

"How does it get any better than this ?" 💗

Contact details for further information:
* Ben Calder: Integral Patterning & Kinesiology: http://bencalder.co.uk/

Scratch #1: Starting from "Scratch" 

In June 2017, I met an amazing lady called Phyl Edmonds₁ who is a Certified Grief Recovery Specialist & although I had an idea what this might be, little did I realise it was going to have such a big impact on my life. 

Having initially approached me at a health & well being event at work, Phyl told me her story & I responded by spontaneously bursting into tears as I realised she had touched a raw nerve within me. Sometime afterwards & a few conversations later, I decided to not only go through the Grief Recovery Method, but also to train as a Specialist myself, in spite not having any experience in counselling or therapies, as Phyl believed my "life" experience was something that would carry me through.

She was right, the course was amazing & having qualified along with all the other ladies, I realised that Grief Recovery was something I could do & believed in. Why ? Because after 30 years of searching for something like it & having been through countless counselling, therapy, mindfulness & meditation sessions, the Grief Recovery Method allowed me to finally let go of the grief I had inside; it was something I had only ever dreamt about & almost given up hope of finding, but the impact on me & my family has been profound. 

Almost instantly I became more energetic, happier, content & peaceful which my family noticed over the following days. I felt so elated, I wanted to tell everyone I met, how wonderful the Grief Recovery Method is & what it had done for me. However, although I was determined that the training I'd done would not go to waste, especially having rashly bought several books and a large banner, I did wonder how to make Grief Recovery a reality, when I had never done anything like this before ?

Grief Recovery Practice 

Fortunately Grief Recovery UK, had alot of the answers, providing session plans, marketing material & good advice on how to get started. Initially Phyl suggested that I should tell everyone I knew or met about Grief Recovery, which I did & although there were a few raised eyebrows when I told people what I was doing, their responses were almost entirely positive. So far so good, but given that word of mouth is not the only method of spreading the word these days, I was advised to get onto social media & set up an account & a Facebook page. The problem was I knew nothing about how it worked, so to begin with I just sat watching what was posted & by whom.

As I didn't know what I was doing, I decided to look for someone to help, which came in the form of "Girl Friday" Debbie Wales₂ a lovely IT lady who came & gave me a crash course in social media. She sat with me & not only told me more about how Facebook worked, but also what tools to use & how to find like minded people. In addition, Phyl continued to help steer me in the right direction in terms of setting up practice sessions to try out how it would feel to deliver a 1 to 1 programme & a friend kindly offered to be my first pilot, so I could feel what it was like to be a specialist first hand.

Spreading the Word

Having made a list of people to see & may be offer talks locally on Grief Recovery, I went to talk to people I knew such as the local vicar, my medical practice & a few others, but pretty quickly I realised that it was a slow process getting round to talk to people. At around that time Phyl had been telling a national Sunday newspaper her story which was subsequently printed & made me decide to ask how she had gone about it. Phyl kindly put me in touch with Carole Henderson at Grief Recovery UK & PR lady Maria, who I later sent my story to.

Within a few weeks of seeing what was out there, a message came back that a feature on promoting good mental health was being planned & they wanted to use my story. I was shocked & excited when I learnt that it was Good Housekeeping magazine who were planning an issue for February & they wanted me to do a photo shoot with two other ladies. I accepted the offer, mainly to illustrate what the Grief Recovery Method could do & highlight the work of Grief Recovery UK who were promoting it. Three months later, my story featured in the magazine which was then available nationally with friends in other countries also wanting to see what all the fuss was about.

Having always hidden in the background & not wanted to admit my problems to myself let alone anyone else, at first the attention I received was a bit of a shock, but having let my grief go, I was able to embrace it because it was a good news story people identified with. I had told the truth about how I felt & finally it felt good to just enjoy the ride. Whilst I did contact the local press & radio during this time, nothing came back & so I kept on talking to people & highlighting the article which has now been replaced by the March edition.

Finding a Venue

After the excitement of appearing in a national magazine, it was time to return to focusing on getting a group pilot off the ground & having looked in vain locally for a venue as well as failing to attract people when I offered it from home, I started to feel like this was too much of an uphill struggle. Fortunately for me, help came in the form of Kinesiologist & local entrepreneur Ben Calder₃ at the Centre for Integrated Health. He introduced me to an amazing world of complementary therapies as well as a place where practitioners could hire to see clients. Result !

Ben has been a fantastic adversary & has given me lots of support in finally setting up my pilot, which has involved doing a blog in order to get the word out there to people about Grief Recovery. So now I have a group pilot starting on 9th March & between now & then I will continue to prepare as well as talking to people about Grief Recovery.

So now what ?
Well although this is the end of the initial chapter of my story in setting up as a Grief Recovery Specialist, the work (& my journey) carry on. If nothing else, my experiences to date have only sought to emphasise that there is a way to not only feel better, but help others in the process & whilst it isn't all plain sailing......if nothing else my experiences to date have taught me to above all.....

Believe !

Believe in the power you have within you to change things you are not happy with & want to do something different. Believe in yourself, because if you have the hope of finding a better way, it will come to you..... I just hope it takes a little less time for you than it did for me !

Thanks for reading & please join me again soon.....  💗

Contact details for further information:
1. Phyl Edmonds: Certified Trainer & Grief Recovery Specialist: E-mail: phyl@griefrecoverymethod.co.uk & also www.tgrm.co.uk
2. Debbie Wales: "Girl Friday" IT Web & Business Services: www.girlfridaywebservices.co.uk. to view her portfolio & see why clients recommend her.  
3. Ben Calder: Integral Patterning & Kinesiology: http://bencalder.co.uk/

Welcome to my new blog "Scratch" !

Have you ever taken on something & then later wondered  why you did that ? 

If you have, you might identify with this blog which is essentially about exploring new things & starting from "Scratch". This is because having let go of all the pain & grief I have carried around with me for so many years, I was left with a big "hole" in my life where that grief once was. However I see this very much as a positive as it allows for new things & new possibilities to come into my life. So now I am actively starting to create a new & better me, who is not weighed down by all the troubles of the world, but one who is happy, curious & not afraid to try something new...... especially if it is fun !

So where to start ?

Whilst Grief Recovery & becoming a Specialist was a key turning point for me, this experience has taught me to never give up hope of a better way to feel. Consequently I have taken this quite literally to heart & started trying lots of new things I have been interested in or curious about, but never quite had the nerve or time to try......with one of the first being social media ! 

Having avoided this like the plague for so long, I was encouraged by Grief Recovery to  create a profile & whilst I just watched to begin with, I have since jumped in with both feet. This set me thinking about my journey & documenting it on a blog, but what to call it ? Initially I was stumped for a name......but having asked the question once, the word “scratch” came into my mind as if from nowhere & the more I thought about it, the more it seemed to fit with the range of thoughts I was having. 

So I started writing down any thoughts & phrases that came to mind as well as me looking in the dictionary to see what definitions I could find & this was the result, with some thoughts & a few questions.....

• "Scratch the surface to see what lies beneath" so what might be the real story you are keeping it hidden from view & why ?
• Making your mark like creating a blog which is making a virtual or even temporary mark.
• "Starting out from scratch" recording what is it like to start something new & you have never done before….
• "Having an itch that needs to be scratched" when something irritates or in my case, fascinates you so much you keep going until "relief" comes & the annoyance or novelty subsides.
• A human behaviour performed regularly & often without thinking. something which may be automatic, but not necessarily correct, may be you are scratching for a reason you are not acknowledging ? 
• To erase something & may be scratch it from existence....... ? This may be anything that no longer is correct, relevant or serves you......so why keep it ?

Whilst the initial posts I create are likely to focus & relate to my own experiences so that I can start to appreciate how far I have come, I've no doubt I will be sharing other stories & influences that I like & feel create a more interesting & diverse mix of things to read. 

In closing, I would like to invite you to join me for part or all of my journey which is really a "voyage of discovery", because I have no idea where it will lead ! So if you have time or may be another itch to scratch, I hope you will return to share it with me ? 💗