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Practical Steps to Enchantment
Practical Ways to Bring Enchantment into Your Life
By Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein
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.
1. Relax and let your mind drift backward in time. Give yourself permission
to drift back through your memory to a younger age. Let your intuition be your
guide in choosing an appropriate age. Once you have chosen an age, imagine yourself in
a room in one of the homes of your childhood. Look at the furniture, the colors of
the room. Can you smell anything, any aromas of food cooking, or any other odors?
Can you hear any noises, perhaps people talking? Is the television on? What show
might be on? Can you look out the window from where you're sitting? What do you
see?
Jot down all the positive thoughts and feelings that you associate with this
memory on a piece of paper. Then make a list of all the talents and positive
capacities you had as a child. Thank about how you could link your positive traits from the
past forward to your present life.
Don't get discouraged if you need to make changes in your present life.
Changes can be positive, and there is always a way that you can successfully change, even
if it is a little bit at a time.
2. Next, let's do an exercise geared to building your self-esteem, a
necessary attribute to your Enchanted Self. Think about five positive statements that
you can make about yourself. For example, you might say, "I am a most courteous and
helpful person," or "I am always there for others, or "I can be trusted."
Later on today, write down your five positive remarks about yourself. Put
this piece of paper in your wallet or in your pocketbook. Read it to yourself at least
once a day, for a period of one week. After a week, give yourself a mental hug, or
some other form of congratulations, to emphasize to yourself how great it is that
you have these positive traits. We all need practice in confirming what is good
about ourselves. Seeing yourself in a positive light is a critical step in living a
life of Enchantment.
Some of our best pathways for
enchantment come from the hopes and dreams that we had as children. Relax, and let your mind wander back to a time in your life when
you were eager and excited about life. For example, perhaps you were a Brownie or
a Cub Scout, and you imagined yourself becoming a Girl or Boy Scout some day,
winning every Scout badge possible. Or maybe, because you like nature, you often
imagined yourself climbing high in the trees. You may never have actually done these
things, yet now you can still remember the good feelings that you had either actually
doing, or thinking, about these things.
Rather than holding on to the disappointment or anger that may have come
from unrealized dreams, think about three things that you can do as an adult that
could result in your having some of these same positive feelings.
For example, perhaps a course in rock-climbing might help you get back in
touch with the fearlessness you felt as a child when you imagined yourself climbing tall
trees.
Or perhaps it is now time for you to sharpen your skill at some sort of
craft, and enter a competition. Or maybe its just time to order a gourmet-cooking
magazine, and to have the pleasure of looking at someone else's recipes.
As adults, we don't always need to be a winner. It's enough just to enjoy
a hobby or an interest. One of the gifts of Enchantment is that you can make a variety
of decisions about yourself, sometime choosing to be highly competitive, while
at other times you may choose to be a spectator.
Whether you relax by blowing bubbles, or by wishing on a star, fishing, or
roller skating, the magical yet obtainable ingredients of Enchantment lie within
each of us, waiting for you to practice them an to apply them, again and again. Give yourself permission to feel good again, by recognizing the true strengths and
value you have as a unique human being. Welcome to your Enchanted Self!
Dr. Barbara Becker Holstein , originator of THE ENCHANTED
SELF®, a method of
bringing delight and meaning into everyday living, invites
you to view her new line of ENCHANTED WOMAN products, downloadable e-books, and free
gifts at
http://www.enchantedself.com .
Chat with others in Dr. Holstein's e-group,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/encself/join
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