Heal Your Life Workbook: Resources and Tools for Clearing Emotional Baggage so You Can Love Your Life

By Sharon Whitewood

The 'Heal Your Life Workbook' teaches three self-help techniques for releasing emotional trauma, anxiety and depression. The author, Sharon Whitewood, has developed an integrated process for this inner work and articulates this in a structured and organised way while also providing extensive resources for self-understanding and reflection. Journaling, Focusing and Meridian Tapping techniques are demonstrated, reliable techniques in their own right for resolving emotional baggage but together in an integrated process they are highly effective and fast for the individual working on their own or with an experienced therapist.

This is a self-help workbook which enables to reader to identify, tune into and release painful and debilitating experiences that prevent them from living fully and achieving their desires.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Balboa Press AU
• Release date: Sep 11, 2014
• ISBN: 9781452525570

Sharon Whitewood

Sharon Whitewood holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in human services, and worked in human resources consulting for 30 years. She is a Reiki master and an Emotional Freedom Techniques practitioner. She learned these techniques over many years to enable her to release and heal an early childhood trauma.

Book preview

Copyright © 2014 Sharon Whitewood.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced by any means, graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, taping or by any information storage retrieval system without the written permission of the publisher except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews.

Balboa Press

A Division of Hay House

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Bloomington, IN 47403

www.balboapress.com.au

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Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

The author of this book does not dispense medical advice or prescribe the use of any technique as a form of treatment for physical, emotional, or medical problems without the advice of a physician, either directly or indirectly. The intent of the author is only to offer information of a general nature to help you in your quest for emotional and spiritual well-being. In the event you use any of the information in this book for yourself, which is your constitutional right, the author and the publisher assume no responsibility for your actions.

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Thinkstock are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Thinkstock.

ISBN: 978-1-4525-2556-3 (sc)

ISBN: 978-1-4525-2557-0 (e)

Balboa Press rev. date: 09/08/2014

Contents

Acknowledgements

Introduction

Chapter 1   Setting the Context

Chapter 2   Beginning to Learn Techniques

Chapter 3   Journaling

Examples

Exercises

Your Reflections

Chapter 4   Focusing

Examples

Exercises

Your Reflections

Chapter 5   Emotional Freedom Technique

Examples

Exercises

Your Reflections

Chapter 6   Integration

Your Reflection

Chapter 7   Maps and Models

Reading List

References

Acknowledgements

As always with any written work, many people have influenced, contributed to and directly informed the work. This workbook is no different.

My particular thanks go to those who in following their intuitions, ideas and paths have developed these techniques. Their groundwork has already made a huge difference in many lives.

Dr Roger Callaghan whose development of the Tapping protocols has created an amazing tool that has helped many.

Gary Craig who in refining Roger Callaghan’s work into the Emotional Freedom Technique has created a technique both delightfully simple yet profound in effect. His generosity in making it freely available to people as well as creating fabulous teaching tools with his video series, has generated a profound movement in healing.

Gene Gendlin who in developing the Focusing process provided a means for people to find their own truth by tuning into their ‘felt’ sense and body wisdom.

To the many writers who provided guidance on the journaling process; Tristine Rainer, Ira Progoff and Kay Leigh Hagan.

I also thank my friends Karen Dawson and Katie Bestevaar for their reading of the manuscript, suggestions and most of all their positive feedback and encouragement through the challenges of writing and publishing.

To all my teachers with gratitude and love

Introduction

I have written this workbook for a simple reason. I want others to have access to these wonderful resources so they can do their own inner work to heal their hearts and live life to the fullest.

Many people don’t have access to counselling support due to remote location, costs and/or painful histories with the ‘helping’ professions. Many will have the capacity to manage their own development and practice, and so can use these tools to develop their self-awareness, capacity to learn and release painful experiences.

This workbook is also for people who want to work independently, and experience the sense of achievement in personal growth and emotional healing. Too many of us have lost confidence in our own knowing, and become dependent on professionals’ interpretation.

Depending on your own capacity and confidence, you may find it beneficial to develop a professional relationship to support your inner work, while continuing to use these skills and ideas by yourself.

True healing requires discipline and commitment either way.

These are resources and exercises that support your ongoing self-discovery and self-healing. Ultimately we must heal ourselves from the inside out; others may help, support and guide us but for true healing to occur we must take responsibility for our own emotions, bodies and minds.

If we do not heal from within, any physical or emotional improvements will most likely be temporary. Others may give us nutritional supplements or drugs, massage or Reiki treatments or help us work through the pain of the past. Only we can use discipline to practice a life that is healing and integrated of our minds and being. Deep changes happen, when we open ourselves and let go.

We are responsible. We choose or not. It is a journey of healing, growth and self-realisation. No one else can live it for you or tell you how to live it. There is no owner’s manual for operating this being that is you.

We live in a time of human history when there are more choices than ever before. Our parents and their parents did not have the choices we have today and may have become stuck in predictable patterns of living. We do have those choices when we seek out knowledge and apply it to ourselves and our life choices.

Though it is not always an easy choice, it is a great joy to live fully in each moment as we create ourselves anew.

Welcome to the journey of healing yourself.

Chapter 1

SETTING THE CONTEXT

Over the last couple of decades, through my own need for healing, I have found several tools and skills that I have used consistently to heal emotionally from childhood trauma and inadequate care. These techniques and processes, have