Category: Health/Psychology

In today's world there are so many wonderful and inspirational books. There are books filled with stories of Divine intervention, miracles happening, special positive moments never to be forgotten and stories of incredible coincidences. They help make us feel in harmony with the universe. They help us fall asleep and have pleasant dreams. They often bring tears to our eyes, reinforcing an inner sense of wisdom that all is right with the world even when appearances say that is not so.

As we pass through the Seven Gateways to Enchantment again and again and become a true Enchanted Self, we see that life is all about living and then telling and retelling the stories of our lives to get the most positive juice from our stories. This often means taking pain and misfortune and turning it into meaning and even eventually a metamorphosis of pleasure.

Mentoring and learning from each other is much more that taking a course or explicitly giving someone advice or help. Almost every moment of every day when we are with people has the potential for becoming a mentoring or a learning situation. We talk, gesture, and involve ourselves in many ways with many people. The exchange can be uplifting, informative, reassuring, kind or it can be depressing, depleting, annoying, bothersome and more! I'm sure you can think of both some good and some bad times with other people!

If you’re Highly Sensitive, traveling can be quite a challenge. (For more information, see my article Are You Highly Sensitive?.) I adore travel, but new places come with higher levels of stimulation simply because they’re new. Plus, traveling often comes with expectations about sightseeing – a sort of stomp-’til-you-drop tourist mentality. As the summer months begin, here are tips to transform your travel experience.

The Enchanted Self teaches you how to access positive states of well being again and again. These positive states are unique to you and often reflect your interests, talents, and potential. I thought it would be fun to finally share with you some activities useful in helping you get in touch with your Enchanted Self. I hope you enjoy them and will let me know how they worked out by writing to me at encself@aol.com.

Who can control a smile sneaking across your face as you go outside on a beautiful spring day, suddenly finding your nostrils filled with a sweet aroma of fresh blooms, while feeling warm breezes against your skin, whispering, "No coat today."? Nature provides enchantment all around us in the spring. The birds sing, the flowers bloom, animals have their babies, new birds learn to fly. If you look high up in a tree you might see an exquisite bird singing loudly, full of life. It is as if nature gives humans an opportunity for enchantment all around. Yet, we often are indifferent, not responding spontaneously to the rebirth of spring. We seem to be, at times, equipped to live lives of misery brought on by ourselves. Many of us are able to generate a bad mood, put ourselves down, see our future as dark or today as gloomy. We have lost or never had the easy comfort and capacity to relax and enjoy life that a cat has on a sunny porch just snoozing and rolling over. We humans have to work at enchantment. Let s take a moment and look at the major components of this work called "enchantment."

In my years as a psychologist, I have come to believe that most people seeking psychotherapy are unhappy. This is not only due to earlier hurts and traumas, as well as present frustrations and problems, but because they cannot access earlier happy moments often enough. The unfortunate result is not being able to experience enough positive states of well-being. It is these unique states of well being that I have come to label "The Enchanted Self."

Do you often feel overwhelmed by your environment or the people around you? Has anyone ever called you shy, or worse: “too sensitive?” Do you care deeply about everything? You may be a highly sensitive soul, a person of deep empathy and high intensity, with powerful intuition, awareness, and intelligence.

Healthy Alternatives by Susie Cooper, NDBoard Certified Doctor of Naturopathy

Depression is a mood disorder which can be of short or long duration. It can have a variable degree of severity. Headaches, muscular aches, chronic tiredness and sleep disorders are just a few of the symptoms. Depression can also be triggered by medications or physical disease of another sort. Psychotherapy is the normal, orthodox approach to depression as well as prescription antidepressants.

At this time of the year, it's almost impossible not to contemplate what the ancients called the "wheel of the year." During the rest of the year, we may be aware that the progression of the seasons mimics the progression of our own lives, but at no time is this more evident than during the thirty days or so after the winter solstice.