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How to Begin the Process of Change, by Jenny Mannion

(Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal.)

Simply hearing the word "change" can bring up resistance. We are taught from the beginning that change is hard, and we will sometimes resist change with all our might even if we know that what awaits on the other side would be much healthier for us. My goal as a healing practitioner, author, and mind-body mentor is to make change not only easy but fast and accessible for all. I outline it in more detail in my book, A Short Path to Change: 30 Ways to Transform Your Life, but wanted to give you a jump start here in what is needed to begin your journey. Below are ten tips to help you get started.

1. Be Kind and Patient with Yourself.
   As I mentioned, change will bring up resistance. Affirm to yourself you are safe and want the best for yourself and that it is safe to bring these changes into your life. Your ego will resist and try and keep you in that same space, because it is there to keep you safe. Know better! Know that you can move beyond that place, and that once you do—as long as you are moving in a direction that is in your highest good—the Universe will open up to support you. Patience is key in this path to change, as you might have what we conceive of as "set-backs." This is a part of the process, and as long as you remain kind and patient with yourself, you will ultimately keep moving forward.
2. Love Yourself.
   When I mention this to my clients, almost every person asks me how it is possible to love themselves. We are not taught to be kind and loving to ourselves; rather, we are taught to focus on other people. While being loving to other people is wonderful and important, we need to also treat ourselves as we would like others to treat us. We would not berate someone we knew was trying their best to attain a goal; we would support them, give them hugs, advice, and love, and tell them they could do it. The same is true with yourself. As you begin to become more present (more on that in the next step), self-deprecation will most likely come up. Love yourself enough to know you are indeed worth these changes. Claim your self-worth and self-love. Look at yourself in the mirror and tell yourself you love yourself and want the best for yourself. Yes, it will be very uncomfortable at first, but it gets easier—I promise!
3. Become Present.
   Begin to notice your thoughts. Are you repeating a lot of negative comments and thoughts to yourself? Do you believe what you are telling yourself? Sometimes we repeat negative thoughts and words that we do not even believe because someone else—perhaps even as long as a decade ago—once said them to us. Know that once we become present we have the power to change the way we are thinking to reflect what we want and what we are now. We do not need to live in the past or to worry about the future. We need to be present and begin to notice where we are now to even have an inkling of where we might like to go.
4. Learn to Forgive.
   Self-forgiveness and the forgiveness of others is necessary to move forward into positive change. If we are unforgiving of something that happened in our past, we are keeping ourselves tethered to it and are unable to move forward. If we feel someone has wronged us, and that that is why we are in the predicament we are in, we are labeling ourselves a victim—which makes us feel disempowered to move forward. Forgiving does not mean that you are happy with what occurred. Rather, it means you are no longer going to let it keep you from being present and ultimately creating the life and change you desire. There are tools to make forgiveness easier that I go into in A Short Path to Change, but for now just set that intention for forgiveness of yourself and others and visualize how that feels and how your life looks if that anger or angst was suddenly removed from your life.
5. Assess Your Influences.
   Take a look around you. With whom do you spend time? What music, media, and other entertainment do you surround yourself? Is it positive? Do you feel empowered after spending time with those people or doing those activities? Look around at your living space and/or office. Is it cluttered, or is it free and airy, thereby allowing energy to flow and more to enter? Starting to become aware of what influences your energy is key to owning what you will allow into your energy and setting healthy boundaries.
6. See Yourself as More Than Your Body.
   In A Short Path to Change, I go through exercises to get you to feel more connected and to experience each chakra. We are so much more than our bodies. Our bodies give us clues to our well being and what might be out of balance. Getting quiet and tuning in and acknowledging that we are indeed more than our bodies is a good first step toward feeling and knowing it. There are many ways to tune in, from meditation to energy work, and each is a tool to help you know and feel within every pore of your being that you are indeed so much more than your body. Begin with your hand on your heart and the affirmation, "I am much more than my body and am able to create lasting change," and see how that feels.
7. Gather Tools that Bring You Joy and Peace.
   There is no one-size-fits-all in growth and change. We are all beautifully unique, and because of that, different tools will work for different people. Know that even if a tool works today you might choose to use another or resonate with another at a later date; it is all fine. The only one who will judge your use of the tools is yourself. And we've already learned that we need to be kind, patient, and loving to ourselves in this process—no judgment needed! Examples of these tools include walks in nature, laughs with friends, meditation, exercise, energy work, writing, dance, educating yourself on something you have wanted to learn, and so many more. Each tool you gather supports you. If you fill your toolbox when you do have a challenge you will have a huge supply of tools from which to choose.
8. Process Emotions.
   Up to this point you may have been running on "auto pilot." As you begin to become present, emotions might rise to the surface and there might be a tendency to keep them down, as they don't feel good. Emotions are meant to be processed. Why are you feeling the way you are, whether you are sad, angry, upset, or disappointed? Our emotions give us clues so we can get to know our inner selves. Squashing them down or repressing them can cause dis-ease. Likewise, letting them take us away and being overwhelmed by them without looking at them does not help us to understand them or ourselves, either. The next time you feel a strong emotion, be it joy or fear, look at it and ask questions around it. Thank that emotion for signaling you and letting you feel so deeply.
9. Understand Fear and Worry.
   Fear and worry do nothing but hold us back and keep us scared about the future. Noticing and paying attention to what is surrounding that fear and worry is key. Understanding and also imagining more positive outcomes puts different energy into the Universe, and brings other possibilities into our reality.
10. Be Grateful.
    Be grateful for all you have and are, and for this journey. We have the power to change, and that in and of itself is something for which to be grateful. You are working on yourself and have that intention for positive change—another thing for which to be grateful. If we spent half the time we do berating ourselves on being grateful for ourselves, all we do, and everything in our life, just as it is—life would become magical. Gratitude is the most powerful tool for change that I know. Spending a few seconds or minutes each a day becoming present to reflect on what you are grateful for in your life and in yourself can make change appear effortless.

This is a quick list of how to bring quick and lasting change into your life. For more tools, tips, and exercises, please check out my book, A Short Path to Change: 30 Ways to Transform Your Life. I know change is possible, not only because I transformed my own life from one of sickness and disease to one of health and happiness beyond all measure, but also because I have seen countless clients of mine do the exact same thing. Be kind, loving, and patient to yourself in this process as you use these tools and give yourself tons of gratitude for each step taken.

Thank you so much for reading! I wish you all the best in your short path to change!

Article originally published in The Llewellyn Journal. Copyright Llewellyn Worldwide, 2016. All rights reserved.

I'm a professional psychic, and I am always trying to further develop my gifts. What I'm wondering is why I tend to become a thirsty psychic sponge when I least expect it. For example, when I go to my day job and I don't want to be in psychic mode, I seem to pick up things about my coworkers whether I like it or not. This happens even though I surround myself with a psychic filter or barrier, as I've been taught to do. For example, lately I pick up that a platonic male friend of mine clearly has more than just friendship on his mind. It has been overwhelming to pick up on his desires for me in the middle of the day while I'm at work. He is well aware of my abilities, and for that reason he has taken to avoiding me completely. I would never risk our friendship by telling him that I know about his fantasies about me, though I wish he would confess and tell me about his feelings. How do I shut myself off from this sort of input even after I've closed myself off from psychic impressions in general?

 - Deborah

Dreamchaser:

I'm glad you mentioned this barrier we psychics throw up when we're going about our day-to-day lives. I can just see it in people's faces when they find out what I do; it's that old, "Are you reading me now?" look. I want to put everyone's minds at ease: If you are socializing with a psychic, you are not in danger of being read!

There are, of course, messages or energy we receive that we can't control. If someone is dangerous, or if I need to be warned or alerted to something, that information will come through. Most psychics can tell when someone is lying. (I still chuckle that people even try to lie to me.)

We may be able to shut off the part of us that "reads" people when we are living our day-to-day life, but we can never shut down the part of us that receives, transmits, and responds to the energy that is all around us.

Every living thing gives off energy. When we walk past a tree, we feel the energy coming from that tree. When we walk into a room, we feel the energy of the person.

You are feeling this man's energy, and you have not yet found a way to shut it down. You have that whole "love thing" going on with him; love is the strongest energy and the strongest emotion. Love energy will affect every single person it comes into contact with.

So to answer your question, there is no way to shut down this type of psychic input. Very strong emotional energy from other people is not the sort of thing we can totally block out. The more enlightened and aware we become, the more energy we will feel.

I don't recommend you tell this man that you know how he feels and the fantasies he has about you, for I think that could be taken as a huge invasion of privacy. (It may also totally freak him out; I know it would be really freaky to me.)

If you like him too, you can just ask him to do something with you, or you can stand back and let him come to you when he's ready. You cannot, however, use your psychic gifts to help you covertly get closer to him, or the karma police will be kicking down your door.

If you don't share his interest, you can ask your guides, angels, and other beings, including God and the universe, to help you turn off as much of his energy as possible. You should ask for this help out loud, in a very simple way. For example, you might say:

"God, this energy is very uncomfortable for me. Please take away as much of it as possible so I don't have to suffer in this situation. Thank you."

I wish you peace with all your psychic perceptions.

*****

Astrea:

I'm a professional psychic too, but I never, ever read for myself! I don't trust my vision when it comes to my own issues or the problems my family members may be facing. I don't like to read for my close friends, either. I've never asked a romantic question for myself ñ I'd be too scared what the answer might be!

Even with these rules I've made for myself, sometimes things come to me that I would rather not see. Since I work alone, this happens most often when I'm at the grocery store, where I see into the lives of strangers even though I don't want to.

There is nothing you can do about those random people whose pain is so deep that it's going to come through to you no matter how hard you block it or how many psychic barriers you erect. People in pain have strong emotions, and if you're sensitive like you say you are, you'll pick up on them every time. The hardest part is to refrain from telling people if you have solutions to their problems!

When the person is someone you know well who is feeling love for you, it's another matter entirely. Your platonic friend does have feelings for you, and yes, he's avoiding you because he doesn't know where you stand. The feeling that something is breaking through your psychic barriers indicates that you need to clear the air with him.

If you've been reading for other people for any length of time, then you know how important it is to keep a professional distance and not get involved with those folks. If this man's feelings are imposing on you this way, then there is either something he wants from you, or something you want from him that you are projecting onto him. It could be that both of you are feeling something for the other, but you're afraid to speak up about it.

Since he knows about your abilities, confronting him won't take him by surprise. He knows you know and he's been expecting you to say something. My feeling is that one or both of you is married, and that's why you don't feel you should speak to him about this. (Another reason he's been avoiding you is because he doesn't want trouble.)

If you value his friendship, then you have to talk to him about all of this, whether anything can come of it or not. Remember, sometimes love happens when and where we least expect it. You may have some difficult decisions to make, but that's life. Discuss this together and work it out!

As far as shutting out undesired psychic input, I'm not sure that's always possible; sometimes you need to face some things you'd rather not know.