15 Jun The Emotional Breakthrough That Changed Amy’s Life

When I attended my Lifebook session, I had vague ideas about what to expect. As I went through the week, it became clear this was exactly what I needed in my life. I had many breakthroughs… some I didn’t even realize I needed! These shifts in thinking have made all the difference in the past 6 weeks.

I will never be the same.

I am happier, healthier, more loving and more loved.

I am more deeply connected with myself and others around me.

I am richer, wealthier and a more patient and fun parent.

I have done numerous things with relative ease that I thought would always be a struggle for me.

One aspect I have struggled with for years lives in the Emotional Category. I didn’t even know how to put it into words before Lifebook, but I can now…

I didn’t have the skills to get through frustrations successfully.

When things would happen in our family dynamic that brought disappointment and resentment, I would let it build inside of me. I knew this wasn’t leading to my happiness and I knew it wasn’t healthy. In fact, I knew that over the years as these feelings built up, it could be devastating to my family and my health.

Then, [Lifebook’s] Emotional Category presentation changed the course of my life.

It sounds dramatic, and it was!

From that very moment it has changed my home life – it is peaceful now. It has changed my ability to feel happiness consistently. Before I lived most of my days in frustration – a sad truth I admit. Since then, I live most of my days in happiness. And the times I do get frustrated, it’s like baby-frustration compared to the big hairy monster it used to be. I can quickly and easily deal with it and continue on my way, living happily.

If you had told me I could EVER get to this place, I would have thought it was the best miracle, the best gift I could be given. If you would’ve told me that it would happen at this time in my life, I wouldn’t have believed you – I’ve struggled daily with this for years and have gotten nowhere. And if you would’ve told me that all it took was somebody saying one simple concept, you would be ridiculous in my eyes. But thank goodness it was true. It did happen. And it was that simple. I have never looked back and I never will. Living here is too good!

The idea Jon shared is this…

When you feel a negative emotion, listen to it and learn from it. Just like physical pain, negative emotion is there to tell us something. So, listen to it and learn from it. Negative emotions grow and get louder because they WILL be heard. We’ve all experienced this. And so in order to deal with them we must LISTEN to them and learn from them.

And then the second part is to DO something that makes you happy. It usually is something totally disconnected from the situation at hand – like going on a walk, playing the piano, yoga, doing a craft. Any activity that I always enjoy doing is great to insert here. So, listen to the negative emotion, and create the good emotion.

I used to swim circles in negative emotion and not know how to climb out of that murky goo. I used to think that I had to focus on a negative emotion and try to resolve it in order to get over it. I used to think that if I didn’t resolve my negative emotion, I was just being a doormat. It turns out that I was being my own doormat. Sure, I may have been standing up for myself to others by acknowledging that I was frustrated, that my feelings mattered. That was a step forward from where I used to be.

But I was prisoner to my negative emotions, I was stuck in them.

Now I realize that when I listen to and learn from what my negative emotions are trying to tell me and then do something that makes me happy, I am free and I am happy. I am honoring myself by allowing myself to be happy. In this I acknowledge and realize the issue is still there. I just choose to set it aside while I take time to be happy, knowing that I will deal with it in small manageable bites. I won’t try to choke the whole whale down at once, especially in a bad mood. It wouldn’t work anyway. Life is to have joy.

Spending my time and efforts in a negative space is not where I am meant to be.

I recognize I am part of a family, which means I do not have sole control of what things happen. We are all part of the soup-pot that makes up our home life. That is both joyous and frustrating depending on the situation. The problems and issues didn’t get created overnight and they won’t go away or get resolved in a single sitting. And they especially won’t get resolved by staying in a negative emotional state and focusing on the frustration. But that is the warped way I was trying to deal with it. By doing this simple two-step formula, I honor and respect myself and others – and I FEEL happy while doing it!

At the outset, this was a life-changer for me. I put it into practice immediately and saw instant feedback that this was the way I wanted to be. I was able to get out of my funk quickly and continue on with my day happily, where before it would take me a day or more of spiraling downward and into a dark place, so difficult to climb out of. As time goes by and I notice the cumulative effects of this, I am left in awe. I feel as though I am watching part of my Life Vision unfold before my eyes.

For a long time I have wanted my home to be the hub – the center of our lives where friends and family want to come. Where they gather and enjoy each other. I want my kids’ friends to feel welcome and safe here. I want our friends to enjoy great food, great music and great company here. I want my life to be filled with these memories.

But for years I knew this was an impossibility because I didn’t have the ability to climb out of my funk. And no one wants to invite friends over when Mom is the depiction of a droopy wet rag! This has been weighing on my mind and I’ve been feeling guilty about it as I watch my children get older, the years pass by and I couldn’t pull myself together. What an unhappy cycle.

But NOW. Now in the space of 6 short weeks since realizing this fantastic skill, we have laughed more, played more, had more friends over, had extended family gatherings. My relationships with my husband and children are even better because of it.

We’ve had more company over in the last 6 weeks than we have had in many months combined. And this is all during a 6 week period where we have been putting in herculean efforts at work to grow our practice on a large scale.

And what’s the cherry on top is that I have been happy and relaxed while doing it! No joke.

This is what I saw in my 5 year Life Vision exercise and it is already HAPPENING.

This is monumental for me because this is what I desired with all my heart but I couldn’t get there after trying so hard for so long. I am on my way, and enjoying every beautiful step in the journey.

So, THANK YOU JON! Thank you Lifebook! And thank you to this VIP Lifebook Community for the wisdom and insights we share that profoundly help us experience joy and abundance.

Amy Livingstone