Healing VS Symptom Relief

In this video, Jim Fazio of Integrative Bodywork sits down with Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing Institute to discuss the topic of actual healing versus symptom relief.  All too often we focus on symptoms rather than true and complete healing.

Dr Canali understands that as you go through healing, you begin to learn how to interact with the pain and suffering you are experiencing.  It is a whole new body knowledge that takes us beyond just treating symptoms and finding temporary relief from symptoms.

As Dr. Canali notes, you hear people say that if it wasn't for what they had been through, they would have never become who they are at this moment.  When you're in the middle of the turmoil, despair, and agony, you just want it to go away, but as you heal deeper, you find that there is more to your suffering than you realized.  It is a deeper progression of healing.

To see the interview, watch the VIDEO or click the video image above.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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I Am What I Am

I am what I am as a result of where I have traveled from, but still not all I will be, until my future moments unfold.

#Potential

#Possibility

#Awareness

#Consciousness

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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What You Read and Watch Affects You

So often during the day we go through and preach love and acceptance to the world.  We talk about how we should all work together and be accepting (especially for the others in the world).  While that is a good thing, I think we might be missing something.  Let me explain further.

We tend to dismiss what we do while looking down our noses at others, gasping at what they write, create, or upload as a video.  We gasp at the news.  We gasp at the politicians.

However, we don't stop and pay attention to how we play a role in all of this.

What you read and watch affects you.  It impacts your thoughts now and into the future.  It impacts how you view the world and those around you.  It impacts so much of your peace and joy in this world.  It really does.

It really does...

Now I'm not saying to walk around with your head stuck in the ground, ignoring what is going on in the world.  With that said though, most of what you read online generally sucks these days and much of it isn't true.  The rest is so biased and slanted, no matter what source you use.

There is no reporting of fact.  There is no fair and balanced in any of the media. Sorry if that shakes the ground below your feet, but hey - that's about the only fact that has truth to it these days.

So when we glue ourselves to every tweet on Twitter, post on Facebook, or video that is uploaded, we are impacting our life of joy and peace so much.  We are often destroying the life we are meant to live when we can't step away.  When we follow every news pundit, news station and politician, we're giving our mind and body empty calories.

Consuming the garbage...

The more we spend our every minute consuming the garbage that is put out in the world today, the more we are robbing ourselves of something we need.  We can't have love and acceptance of others while filling up our belly on this garbage.  There is no value to it.

Plus, the more you consume this stuff, the more that is going to be put out on a daily basis.  Do you think that if people stopped watching this garbage and paying attention to every hateful and disrespectful tweet, that it would continue to come out?  The more you pay attention and watch and read the stuff, the more they do it.  If everyone got as wise as they think they are and stopped consuming all of it, things would change.

It really is up to each one of us to make a choice as to what we let into our lives.  No, you can't live being completely oblivious to what is going on, but too much of it takes up far too much of anyone's time these days.  We are so unconscious as a human population, that there is no wonder why the garbage propagates faster than a virus.

You can't control what others do, but you can control the choices you make and what you let into your life.  Don't say that you're for acceptance and then retweet and share everything that comes along.  You're basically no better than that which you despise.

We need people who are more conscious in life.  We need more people who truly walk the talk and have love and respect from deep within their heart.  It is more than mere words.  We need people who are aware, not following whatever is being said on their TV, in a tweet, or a video.  We've got to be better than that if we want this civilization to survive and  thrive on this planet.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Unsolicited Advice Gimmicks

So I was logging on to my Twitter account and I read a tweet someone sent me that made my eyes bulge out of my head.  I'm not going to name the individual because I do not want to give them any publicity for the way they tweet others.

The tweet said, "Shed Up To 16 pounds in 14 Days".  That's all it said, and it was tweeted to me directly.  Really?   Hmm!

Yes, I know - these automated direct messages and tweets that many think are how you market make my eyes roll 50 times around my head.  And yes I know...  they are so annoying and ridiculous, but...  that's not my point of this blog post.

I would hate to lose 16 pounds.  Maybe a few could be okay, but 16 would be a lot for me and ridiculous.  So, for someone to automatically think I need to lose weight without even knowing me personally, I really question their motives.

Yes, I know, people do all kinds of tricks and gimmicks on Twitter.  Giving unsolicited health advice like this is just plain wrong.  It is foolish to do things like this and could be harmful for people.  Of course, they most likely don't care because they are just trying to get you to buy something.  They are looking for a sale.  Who cares about the health of a person!

Weight is secondary to the mind body...

I don't focus on weight gain or loss.  It is secondary to what is going on within the body and our emotional health.  It is like putting a Band-Aid on someone who was in a car accident, and thinking you're doing something good.

I don't use my Twitter feed to promote gimmicks, and this person was obviously doing that in the initial tweet and in their responses.  More power to them if they think this is acceptable behavior, but I find it reprehensible.

You can't just go around throwing unsolicited advice to everyone thinking that this is okay.  There are other factors to consider, and these quick weight loss things are a joke!  Sorry if that offends anyone, but there are far too many weight loss gimmicks out there.  If they worked, they would never be needed again.

I do realize that many on social media don't care about facts and truth.  They just want to make money.  Making money at the expense of other people's health is less than human.  Find a way to have some respect about yourself or just don't do it.

Regardless of what others may choose to do, I refuse to partake in gimmicks like this.  If you think my Twitter feed and blog are about gimmicks such as this, you have completely misjudged the content I create. 

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Paradigms

This has been a subject near and dear to my heart for many years.  Way back in the late 1980's, I saw a video called "Paradigm".  In it, the discussion was about how people and companies that adapted moved on, while those that didn't often got lost in history.

Look at Kodak, a once major player that's been left in the dust by  digital cameras.  The paradigm shifted and I'm not so sure they kept up with the changing times.

If you're not too young, think back to the days of using carbon paper to make duplicates of something you needed to write.  I remember as a kid, that was some pretty fun stuff to play with.  Copiers were barely around at that time.  Printers and computers were nothing like we have today.  If someone would have said, "but carbon paper works just fine," that paradigm would have left them in history's dust.

That's a paradigm...

I heard a story about Thomas Edison wanting to "light" a town in Southwest Florida where he spent the winters.  The people were so scared of this new form of "lighting" that they would not have anything to do with it.  Of course, we look back and scoff at the thought that these light bulbs are so unsafe that we would never want them in our homes.  That's a paradigm!

At one time in the medical world, the paradigm was that washing hands was unnecessary. In fact, those that proposed the concept were laughed at.  Also in medical history, they thought that "blood" in the body or humors as they called it, was something you had to get out with the use of leaches.  We now know of course that blood is essential to our functioning.  It was a paradigm that fortunately went away.

Many things we believe...

There are many things that we believe as paradigms in our life.  While some of these beliefs can be helpful, all too often the paradigms get in the way of our discovery and awareness, thereby stopping our growth.  We get so entrenched with our paradigms and beliefs that we cannot see beyond where we are.

I see this in the world of religion, healing, and new age.  It is alive and well in the medical world.  We grasp on to that which has been regurgitated to us, but we don't go in and truly evaluate and challenge our beliefs and paradigms.  We end up holding ourselves back.  We end up holding others back that follow what we say.

Paradigms can be a good foundation to build on, but they should never be all that we see.  In order to survive among our own paradigms and beliefs, we have to challenge everything.  If it withstands the challenge through time, we have something solid to grasp.  If it does not, it means we need to look at our paradigms from another angle because we are most likely missing a key point.

Don't get locked into your paradigms.  They never serve you well.  Push yourself beyond what you think is true and right and all that there is.  Don't settle for what you've already come to understand.

Push yourself into the areas beyond that point.  This is what helps a human become all they can be and grow into a person that has much more potential.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Cultivating Your Mind And Body

We're living in a day of disconnect and numbing.  While we can do the new age speak and say words like the mind body, we understand far less than we think we do.  The mind body connection is much deeper than we truly go.

Just like planting a garden and growing seed, if you don't make a fertile place for things to grow, you will never harvest what you plant.  It will be as if you're going through the motions but doing things that truly will not help.

Cultivating your mind and body is how you go in and prepare your day for a day that can be productive and helpful in your growth.  It involves identifying the weeds and other harmful things to your life, where you can work to remove them.  It involves feeding and watering your mind body so that you give yourself optimal conditions to grow.

We fail to see the whole picture...

Too often, we give the soil of our thoughts the opportunity to grow, but we fail to fertilize and water our thoughts by connecting to the body.  We fail to see the whole picture of what we are doing, rather than just the plant that may be emerging from the ground.

Our mind body balance is critical to our overall health and outlook on life.  It can either help us find wholeness and wellness or it can be a source of deep pain.  Our mind body is where it all happens, but if we only focus on the mind and ignore the body, we're only halfway to the place we need to be.

The mind body connection means going into the cells and allowing us to feel and sense what is there.  It is not about creating a story from those moments, but just observing and being one with our mind body to notice what is in that moment.  The more we notice, the more aware we become.  The more aware we become, the more conscious we are.

It must come from deep within...

Awareness and consciousness that stand the test of time do not only come from the mind like many think they do.  Yes, you might have awareness or a conscious thought, but if you truly want it to be grounded to stand the test of time, it must come from deep within the body connected to the mind.

The body is such an important part of the mind body connection and it often gets missed.  We stay numb and disconnected because often times, there is far too much pain that we attempt to hide.  By hiding this pain, we are numbing our entire mind body connection and robbing ourselves of peace, joy, and true growth.

Once you realize that cultivating both the mind and the body is essential for wellness, you will see much more power in healing your own life.  You will experience a deeper world around you apart from the fears that are overblown each and every day.

If you want to know more, here are some good resources to check out because these people truly understand much more about the mind body connection and how it impacts every part of your life.  Do yourself a favor and learn to cultivate not only your mind, but your body.  The rewards it pays out will far surpass the fears that try to hold you back.

Resources

1. Breaking The Habit Of Being Yourself
2. Waking The Tiger
3. The Body Bears The Burden
4. Unified Therapy - Dr. Paul Canali

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Today's Post

Relaxing At The Ocean Video

Just a relaxing day at the ocean near New Smyrna Beach, Florida, out on the Canaveral National Seashore.  It's one of my favorite places to go to relax and be alone in nature, where silence is more welcome than the hustle and bustle of life.

I love watching the ocean waves and hearing the sounds.  I love hearing the birds chirp as they fly around.  Just an afternoon at the ocean can bring me back to feeling centered and happy and grounded.  I'm not sure what I would do if I didn't live near the ocean.

Maybe one day I can live right on the ocean and be able to get up, walk out the door, and dip my toes in the ocean water.

By the way, I do have a CD of Ocean Wave Sounds that I recorded near where this video was taken.  I play this CD all night long and it helps me to sleep more soundly.  I always travel with it because it helps cut out the noises in a hotel.

Listening For The Answer To The Question

Asking the question will bring you to the answer, if you are patient enough to listen.

Sometimes we demand to know what it is that we struggle with in life.  While we may ask the question, we are not often patient enough to listen.  It is in the listening where we will find the answers.  Sometimes listening is not only when we stop to hear, but also in how we take steps forward that feel right to us.

So, don't forget when you ask the question to be patient enough to stop and listen for the answer.

Other #MindBodyThoughts

My Healthy Green Tea Latte

A friend of mine introduced this delicious drink to me, and I thought I'd share it with those who read this blog.  I love this healthy green tea latte.

It is not difficult to make either.  I have a Nutribullet that I use which makes it super easy to do.  Best of all, it doesn't cost as much as a commercial latte beverage.

Now, I can't vouch for the specifics of the healthy part, but the ingredients I put into this are healthy in my mind, so I think it is something good.  The best part of it is that it doesn't have all that sugar that you would normally get in commercial beverages.

I'm really trying to cut back on sugar and by drinking this first thing in the morning, it helps me set my tastes and desires for food so I'm not wanting as much sugar.  Plus it feels soothing to me and I like that, because it helps me take the edge off of stress that seems to show up in a day.

Here's the ingredients

• 1 Coffee cup of Water
• 1 Handful of Cashews
• 1/2 Teaspoon of Royal Matcha Green Tea Powder
• Small amount of Cinnamon
• 1 Tablespoon of Honey

Here's how I make it

1. Place the cashews, water, cinnamon and Matcha Green Tea Powder in the Nutribullet.
2. Grind everything up good.  I usually shake the Nutribullet container and then run it a few seconds more.
3. Place the mixture in a small sauce pan and add the honey. (Hint:  I put the honey in a spoon that I can leave in the pan and as the honey warms up, it comes out of the spoon.)
4. Warm the mixture up slowly for a few minutes, to the desired temperature
5. Pour it into your coffee cup and enjoy

I buy the organic raw cashews at Costco and they are much cheaper than if I buy them in Publix or a regular store.  The Royal Matcha Green Tea Powder comes from Dr. Mercola.   I use organic honey that I get at Target.

Of course, the Nutribullet I have is by far one of the best things I've ever bought.  Sure, I have my Blendtec blender that I use for whole food smoothies every day, but for things like this, the Nutribullet just cleans up easier.  It is less mess!  It is simple to use!

If you do your research on the Royal Matcha Green Tea, you'll see just how healthy and beneficial this is to your body.  It is the high end tea, but using a half teaspoon in this beverage recipe makes it not as expensive.

Thanks Marie for sharing this with me!

    

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Trauma and Reactive Responses

I had posted an earlier blog entry on this topic and a reader asked me to clarify this.  So, I thought I would explain more what I think this quote means from the book by Daniel Siegel, Parenting From The Inside Out.

I'm stating this from my own knowledge and what I see in it, not as a professional may view it.  I just wanted to be clear on that point.

See Blog post on Reactive Response 10/26/09

When we go through experiences in life, whether it is trauma and child abuse, or just difficult situations, our life becomes filtered and framed from those experiences.  They become a big part of who we are.  They shape how we view life and the world around us.  They become how we see everything.

Through healing, your focus is on reclaiming those moments and bringing back who you truly are deep inside.  Often, this is buried as a result of the trauma or experience without the individual even recognizing it is buried.  Each traumatic experience cements over our true self, and until we start to chip away at what is buried beneath the layers, what we have become on the outside is who we are in that moment.

Stuck in reactive responses...

As a result, we're stuck in these reactive responses.  I see reactive responses as how we deal with situations based upon the self that has been altered because of the traumatic experience.  It is automatic and happens in the subconscious mind, most likely as a way to survive in that moment of horror.

When a situation gets too difficult to deal with, the brain goes into protect and survive mode so that we can keep functioning.  Its goal in my view is to keep us alive and functioning at all costs.  So, if it has to bury something deep within our mind, it will do it.

Our choices after those horrendous moments, though, are colored and filtered and judged based upon what we know or we think we know up to this point in life.  It is reactive in that rather than dealing with the current situation as many might do, we're dealing with it as a result of our past experience.

We rob ourselves of so much...

If we continue down the path of reactive response, we rob ourselves of so much.  However, I believe that no matter what we've been through in life, all humans tend to be reactive based upon their life to that point.  We truly see things in the way we were taught or shown, or what we observed.  It provides the foundation and basis for our current and future moments.

For me, if I hear the loud bass thump sound coming from a car or a source around me, it immediately makes me want to silence that sound or person in any way I can.  It is a reactive response because it draws upon a very horrible moment in my childhood where I couldn't stop the screams of my kittens being killed.  It is an automatic response that has shaped me into who I am in this moment.

I'm not saying I can't change this reactive response in myself.  I have really worked on it and am doing much better, but nevertheless it is still how I respond.

Now, I can focus on saying that I will train my mind to react differently.  Unfortunately when these moments such as the example I described show up, the response has already happened before I can consciously think about doing anything different.

I go deep into healing work...

Instead, I go deep into the body part of healing work, and work to allow that horror of that trauma to come forward and out.  It happens little by little, piece by piece.  I do not believe it is something that you can truly heal in the blink of an eye.  When it is that difficult of a past experience, it takes time for the mind and neural pathways to release and rewrite.

With reactive responses, our choices now become measured on past experiences, whether we want to always acknowledge this or not.  If each one of us looked deep within, I think we would all see that - but with horrible experiences and trauma, none of these things are easy to observe.  The fear, anxiety and despair come up rapidly when we try to expose them.

Learning to deal with reactive responses is not about desensitizing you to what happened.  I think that only buries things further.  It may possibly be helpful in the immediate short term, but if you don't work to dive deep into the cellular memories of this through bodywork such as Unified Therapy, you're only masking the situation.

We all react to current events based upon our past.  It is in awareness, growth and consciousness that we come to more fully know who we are from the deepest levels within our mind and our BODY.  What the mind stores, so does the body.  What the body stores, so does the mind.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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I Love You But

All my life I heard this familiar statement: " I love you but", followed by some reason or statement.  It was almost as if their proof and reason why the word "but" was included held validity over you and anything you would say or think.

These days, I see "I love you but" statements and I cringe.  Most of the time no one realizes they are using them.  Many are so numb and disconnected that it becomes normal every day talk from one person to another.

In many ways, the "I love you but" statement comes when you don't agree with someone else.  In a way, I see it as passive aggressive.  It is like saying either get in line with my way of thinking, or just know that there is something wrong with you.  Sure, we don't come out and say that, but this statement strongly implies it.

Often I've heard the statement "I love you but" being used to bring a child in line and get them to act a certain way.  This is one of the main ways I heard this used growing up.  It doesn't matter if the behavior is wrong, it is there when someone feels it is their responsibility to control another.

In churches, it is common to say, "we love the sinner but hate the sin" and to me, this is just another iteration of the "I love you but" statement.  You can't hate what makes up a person and still fully love them at the same time.  You can disagree but you either love the person unconditionally or you don't.

People need others that love them without conditions because when they know they are accepted, it is then they can flourish.  When they are being controlled and manipulated and trampled upon, it is then that they wilt and die.

Too often we think we know what is best for others, yet we have not walked in their shoes.  We think that they have to subscribe to our thoughts or we cannot love them completely.  Love does not place limits on anything.  Love is freely available and given in its purest form.

There is just far too much judgment in this world, and to only dole out love when it is convenient for you is not only disrespectful to the other person, but to yourself.  If you only love people when they meet certain conditions, I can almost bet that they will show you what they want you to see, not who they really are.

Let's try having unconditional love for one another.  Let's not just make grandiose gestures that we do.  Let's not just go out and scream it to the world that we love one another.  Instead, may our words and actions align together and may those around us, innately know that they are loved.  May they know that it is more than mere words stated that are cloaked in judgment.

And if we can't even bring ourselves to unconditional love for another, let's at least try to show some respect.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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I Don't Stop Where I'm At

When my life stopped because I was paralyzed, I thought my entire world had ended.  I couldn't take care of myself.  I could not feed myself, not that I wanted food anyway.  Talking was almost impossible unless you count getting a word out every few minutes as normal.

I wanted to give up.  In fact, my body tried hard to give up.  I had seizures from the Conversion Disorder.  I struggled to keep myself awake.  The rest of the time I was either a zombie or asleep.  It was a terrifying ordeal considering the day before it started, I was up and running around just like everyone else.

In those days, there were no support groups to ask how to come out of this because the internet was barely a thing at the time.  It was in the early days of CompuServe and Prodigy and AOL.  It would be many years later before I would meet someone else with Conversion Disorder.

Of course, by this point in my life, I have healed so much and have been able to do much more than anyone ever thought I could.  In the early days, they didn't expect that I would make it, much less function normally and go back to work.  I proved them wrong.

I don't quit trying...

How did I prove them wrong?  I adopted the philosophy that I have always lived by in my life.  I don't stop where I'm at and I don't quit trying. 

I will turn my world upside down if I have to and I'll challenge anything that someone thinks is what I should believe.  I'm not one to just accept the situation I am in.  After all, when I was paralyzed, I didn't know if I would ever walk again at the time.

It took me saying I'm going to find my way through this while leaving no stone unturned.  I knew I had to keep looking for how to heal myself, because the doctors at the time didn't have a clue.  There was a way, but I had to let go of what I thought worked in my life to find out what did.

I had to let go...

I had to let go of everything that was my life up to that point.  I had to let go of what my family thought I should do and what friends thought I should do.  I had to walk over the edge of the cliff and take the leap so I could find the path before me.

By not stopping where I was and pushing into the unknown, I found my way through it, step by step.  I didn't hold on to labels.  I didn't hold on to the diagnosis.  I started to search for all that physically helped me and resonated with me.  I started to search for all that felt right, even if I could not see a difference in the early days.

I had to turn every stone over...

It was through letting go of all I was holding on to that I discovered the things that got me to walk again, talk again, and begin functioning in life once again.  None of it was easy.  None of it was immediate.  None of it was anything anyone could tell me to do.  I had to find the path forward and I had to turn over every stone until I saw where I could take a step.

Healing and experiences in life can be pretty daunting and challenging.  Sometimes they work hard to take us under.  As hard as it is to do, we do make the choices in how we proceed.  Many times, the choices seem limited and nonexistent, but they are there.  The process of finding them is where the healing begins.

I thought the odds of me recovering from what I went through were zero.  Yet, in the depths of despair and taking my last breaths, I decided in my mind that I was going to fight and come through this.  It was a difficult time and the choice to fight and find my way through was one of the hardest things I have ever had to do.

Don't stop where you're at.  Don't think this is the way things will always be.  There is far more than we are aware of in this one single moment of time.  I do not accept any condition I face now as if it is the way things are.  I've learned that I have to give that up in order to find myself.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

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Psychic Development – Where do I start?

(by A Happy Medium, Amanda)


Rumi says it best – “Let yourself be silently drawn by the stronger pull of what you really love.”

For me that silent pull comes from mediumship and being a messenger for spirit. I’m truly amazed and honored to have the ability to provide so much help and closure to other people. Every reading is an adventure. You never know what is going to come in.

You may have had gifts for mediumship and psychic work all your life, or you may just be wondering how you can start to develop these gifts in yourself.

I tell people that not using your intuition is like deciding you don’t need one of your legs. You have one leg that you can hop around on, so who needs two? All of us have intuition and the choice of whether or not we use it.

I was doing a Facebook live broadcast the other day over at my Facebook Page  (shameless self-promotion), and I asked the audience what they wanted to hear from me in a blog post. Someone commented that I should talk about my journey specific to my own development. That would be a long story, and we’d be here for a long time, so I’ll keep it to the Cole’s notes version.

I have always had the knowledge of my own intuition. As a child, I would see entities and spirits. Of course, that was traumatic and I shut that down in myself at a fairly young age. Throughout my life, I felt drawn to mediums in particular, and there was a little voice inside my head that would say, “I can do that!” As life tends to speed along at breakneck pace, I didn’t pay a ton of attention to it, but I always knew I could ask for help and help would arrive. It was always very clear when I was going on the wrong path. I would hear the advice in my head and change course. I also can remember some definitive quantum moments (when spiritual time and linear time meet) through the course of my life.  Anyway, it was when I got pregnant with my son in 2012 that my journey really got serious.

If you had told me back then that I would be as successful a medium as I am now, I’d be incredulous. I don’t think I believed I had it in me back then to have the type of confidence to welcome people into my home and read them.

Here are a few steps to Psychic or Spiritual Development:

1. FIND A MENTOR
   This is important. Dr. Wayne Dyer used to say, “When the student is ready, the teacher will appear.” This was very true in my case. I met my mentor in November of 2012. I had some unfinished stuff that I needed to resolve around the death of my grandma, and I finally took the initiative to find a medium in my area. I looked at a few sites, and the first one that popped up looked quite welcoming and I emailed and booked a reading. I went for the reading and low and behold, that person is now my mentor. She has been for the last 5 years. She is incredible. Honestly and truly, I thank the Universe every day for her, because without her, I wouldn’t be where I am in this journey.
   
   In choosing a mentor, it’s important to find someone who you really resonate well with. This person is the person that YOU choose to walk this path with you. This person will guide you in your spiritual pursuits. You want to make sure that they are genuine and have your best interest at heart. You also want to make sure that they are worth their salt as a medium/psychic/whatever. Get a reading, ask questions, check references if you choose. I didn’t have to check references with mine because she is just fantastic and I knew off the hop that she was the right teacher for me. When you are ready, ask the Universe for the right teacher and they will appear for you. Trust me on that!
2. SELF WORK
   Before you start wading into other people’s lives and trying to help, you need to make sure that your own life is in order. I spent 3 years on self work with my mentor before I proceeded on to reading others. It’s really important that you take the time to look through your own closet and put any skeletons to rest. Now in saying that, please know that I am not perfect and I still struggle with some things as they arise, but by doing all the self work I have done, I’m much better equipped to deal with challenges, setbacks etc, since I can see things in a different way and I really think I bring that to the table in my interactions with my clients.  Be prepared to go within. This will involve a lot of quiet introspection and meditation.  You need to learn how you communicate with Spirit, whether you hear, see, feel or whether it’s a combination of things. You need to get clear on how you receive guidance, how you ask for it, and the ability to distinguish positive energies from negative ones (a hint is that negative entities often use flattery to get your attention!) Anyway, self work really continues through your career as an intuitive, but it’s one of the primary steps before you start reading others.
3. LEARN, LEARN, LEARN
   Become a sponge for spirit. Listen to and use your mentor for advice. Read everything you can get your hands on. I started with some of these:
   
   
   • You Are Psychic by Debra Lynn Katz
   • Ask And It Is Given by Esther and Gerry Hicks
   • Be Your Own Shaman by Deborah King
   • Lightworker by Sahvanna Arienta
   • The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz
   • You Can Heal Your Life by Louise Hay
   • Ask Your Guides by Sonia Choquette
   • Peace Is Every Step by Thich Nhat Hanh
   • Wherever You Go, There You Are by Jon Kabat Zinn
   
   These are just a few of the books I thought of off the top of my head that were important in my journey. Be sure that you get a good cross section of topics that interest you (clairvoyancy, clairaudience, self development, healing, etc.)
   
   
   
4. PRACTICE, PRACTICE, PRACTICE
   This is important. Someone said something on the internet one day about how much you read and how much you practice. If you don’t practice the things you are reading, you can’t really expect a ton of development to take place. You need to commit yourself to practicing what you are learning, otherwise you can read all the spiritual books in the world and not develop at all.
5. INVITE MORE SPIRITUAL PEOPLE INTO YOUR LIFE
   Ask the Universe to bring more people into your life that believe in this stuff and will support you. You are not crazy! You’d be surprised how many people there are out there walking their own paths as healers, empaths, mediums and psychics. You are certainly not alone and there are a lot of people out there who are happy to help and support you. Heck, they’re glad to invite another spiritual person into their life to help and support them as well. I often picture the world as a black and white photograph where people are wandering around with their heads down. Every now and then a person walks by in full technicolor with their head up looking around and waving emphatically at other technicolor people. We love to meet and support each other.

That’s a good start for your own development. Try it out and let me know how it’s going. Don’t give up and don’t let anyone’s judgement dissuade you from your path. I want you to know that you are loved, you are divine and you are deserving of all the best life has to offer at this moment, as you are.

Take care until next time!


-    Amanda (Metaphysical Musings.Wordpress.com)

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Amanda is a regular columnist on Mind Body Thoughts.  She writes A Happy Medium monthly column.  This article is written by Amanda.

To learn more about her and see all her other articles, go to Amanda's Page, A Happy Medium.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly and Amanda

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Silenced Victims

Perpetrators of incestuous abuse must silence their victims in order to keep them powerless and allow the abusive behavior to continue.  Many survivors carry memories of raised voices inaugurating a cycle that led to their being sexually exploited. In adulthood if they speak loudly, they feel as though they are being abusive.  If someone else raises his or her voice, the situation feels dangerously out of control.  (pg 152, Victims No Longer by Mike Lew)

Hate Disguised As Love

Hate disguised as love is still hate.

Far too many times in a day, I see people act and state they love and accept everyone.  However, their actions and social media postings do not back up what they say and do as proof.  We can say we love others, but when we portray the actions of hate out into the world, we're decimating our statements of love.  Love is more than just saying that you love others.  Love is truly showing it through our actions and our lives.  It becomes who we are, not what we preach we are.  Let us not preach love unless we are willing to show love through our actions from deep within our hearts.  Be authentic with your statements of love.  The world will notice.

Other #MindBodyThoughts

Pushing The Limits With Compassion

Most of the time, I tend to ruffle the feathers so to speak.  Yep, I push the envelope with what I write and tweet and share on social media.  I try to do it with compassion, but I really want people to think and think deeply.

Far too many times we're in this mind-numbed state in our world.  Reality is often not reality.  News is often not news.  What we see and hear in a day is not necessarily authentic or real or legitimate.

We tend to swallow up stuff that matches what we believe and feel and think about rather than allowing ourselves to be challenged beyond our comfort zone.  We often get to a point where we are comfortable with where we are and we make the choice to not push further.

I often think of the pioneers from the wild west days.  If they would not have been adventurous and challenged their own safety, think of where we would be today.  It took them leaving behind everything they knew and everything that was familiar to discover some pretty awesome potential.  Yes, it came with many pitfalls, including death.

Since we were given no owner manual when we were born, the only way we learned to walk was by trying to take a step.  It is said that walking is nothing more than controlled falling.  If we would have sat there in the safety of the floor and not learned how to walk, we would have limited our life in so many ways.

Challenging beliefs in history...

If you look back down through history and see some of the horrendous beliefs that were held centuries ago, we can probably be very happy that we challenged thoughts and ideas and belief systems.  If not, we'd still be trying to drain the "humors" (blood) out of people thinking it was bad stuff inside of them.

In this day and age, we buy into the flashy snake-oil salesman and while they may be giving us nothing more than an elixir, we think it is the most healing thing we have ever seen.  Okay, maybe that moment is need to discover the next, but if we continue to drink the elixir, we'll probably not discover all that there is to discover.

Easy to become complacent...

It is easy to become complacent in life and subscribe to that which backs up our belief systems and thoughts and paradigms.  However, when we do that, we put so many limits on ourselves in what we can become and where we can go.  Unfortunately, it is all part of the human experience.  What you do with it though is a choice you make every minute of your life, even if it is unconscious.

So many of our modern day healing paradigms don't serve us fully.  We repackage them and regurgitate them, but we really don't take a hard look at the truth within them.  We come up with a verbage that convinces others, but in all reality, many things don't pass the challenge test.

I write from my experience...

When I write, I write to challenge these beliefs, thoughts, and paradigms.  Many times I am challenging them within myself or I have come through those challenging moments.  I write from my experience and through experience I share what I've learned and what I see.  Sure, I'm not perfect either - the thing is, I don't stop where I'm at.  I keep pushing forward.

If what I write or share pushes your buttons, it isn't meant to be specific to anyone.  What I write comes out of my own struggles and frustrations as I try to make sense of deeper things in life.  I'm not content with portraying the world around me as positive.  I'm more interested in helping to open up someone's awareness so that the world becomes more than just positivity.

If you have read my blog for any period of time, you'll know that I don't stick to the safe, feel good subjects.  I'm usually on the outer edges pushing people (coaxing people) to think beyond what they know.  I dislike belief systems and paradigms because while they may give you the box you need, if you're not careful, they will prevent you from seeing what it is you don't already see.

Pushing the limits with compassion - that's where I try to navigate.  It is where the most growth and potential energy sits.  It is where we learn to come alive as a human being discovering more of our fullest potential.  When we arrive at that moment, if we gaze into the horizon, we'll see that there are more worlds and lands to discover.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Can You Be Authentic And Positive?

I see a lot of people preach happy thoughts.  Now I'm going to qualify that and say there is nothing wrong with happy thoughts.  However, here's the big "but" of this concept.  Can you be authentic and positive?

No, I'm not saying do you think you are authentic when you show your happy face and positive life to the world.  I'm asking if you are truly authentic.  Before you answer, "well of course I am," let me make a request.  Read through this entire post.

You see, I've got personal experience with this.  Growing up, my life was one miserable crap day after another.  I was beaten, molested, mind controlled and brainwashed on a daily basis from the time I was a baby until I went to college.  It was nothing easy that I went through.  It was pretty darn intense and I still to this day wonder how I survived.

The good thing is that I did survive and heal so much in my life up to this point, including Conversion Disorder.

But, here's the kicker...

Everyone that knew me thought I was one of the happiest-go-lucky kids there was.  I was always smiling.  I was always positive.  I never shared any of what was happening in my life because if I did, that could mean the ultimate ending punishment. 

No one thought I had a care in the world.  They thought things came easy to me.  Many were jealous.  Yet, they didn't see within the doors to my life.  They didn't know I was being horrendously abused every day.  I kept that in.  The smile is all they saw.

Sure, many don't like to hear the gory details of what I have went through.  In fact, most have never heard the whole story because I doubt many people could get through the first page of what I went through.  It is just too much and too intense for most.  You lose people quickly when they read or hear it.

Yes, I see through them...

The first thing I usually get though when I share stuff, is they look to some meme or happy thought or feel good practice.  Their uncomfortable - I get that.  Yet, most of the time it doesn't do much for me other than just know it was too much for them.  I see through the words that are spoken and written.  Yes, I see through them.

When I came out of the hospital from being paralyzed and going through the Conversion Disorder (and almost losing my life), my friends were shocked when they found out.  I still remember them saying, "you - you're the one out of our close group that had it all together it seemed".  Yep, I was pretty good and fooling everyone in life including myself.

I was living a lie...

I was positive, but at the expense of my own life.  I was on my last breaths in the hospital.  They were trying to bring me back to life.  The positive almost took me under.  Yet, I was not being authentic.  I was living a lie.

Most people I have ever seen live in numbness.  The numbness takes away their authenticity.  No, I'm not saying what most people do is necessarily wrong, they just haven't found the way out.  The positive "SOMETIMES" can cover up the pain inside.  Sometimes it is a way of standing strong in spite of all that has happened to them.  I get it.  I've been there.

It is when you decide to make a different choice and learn how to be authentic that your life changes.  Awareness has fertile grounds to grow and the more aware you become, the more conscious you are.  It is a choice.  We make it every day whether we realize it or not.

Being positive can help...

Yes, you can be positive and yes, it can be a very good thing.  In fact, being positive can really help you through some of those rough and difficult moments.  Just don't stay in the numbness where the positive acts as a wall between you and your authentic self.  We as humans and trauma abuse survivors are pretty good at covering up things by any and all means necessary. It's called trying to deal with the stuff that happened when it is anything but normal.

If you tell me that you are positive and authentic, I'll probably roll my eyes a little.  The reason is - it is a daily process and if you think you've reached the ultimate point, open your eyes and look a little further.  You'll see there is much more than this one moment you've achieved.

I'm pushing and challenging...

Yes, I'm pushing and challenging with these words, but it is the number one social media pain killer that I see.  Everything has to be so positive that people give up their authenticity.  People suffering need to know you understand what it means to walk through the fire with them, not that you will just try to turn the fire hose on the ashes.

So, are you positive and authentic or is your positiveness masking and numbing pain you wish to not see.  It is okay either way because it is the choice you're making in the moment.  Just don't let that choice stop your further development, awareness and healing.  There's more out there.  Keep grasping and reaching for it!  See if there are other choices that you can make.  Explore them!

Yes, it is possible to be positive and authentic, but...  I think we often live the illusion that we are.  We need more authentic people in this world.  We need those that have truly woken up, not just reciting the rhetoric in social media.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Do You Listen Or Do You Hear?

Today, I saw a tweet on my twitter feed that I thought was very good.  It is about a subject that I think is at the heart of many of our problems in this world.  If you've read this blog for very long, you will have seen me discuss this topic. 

Yet, it seems like what I write barely moves the needle.  Maybe I expect to much with my words.

All too often we act as if we are listening to others, but are we truly doing this?  Do we actually listen like we think we do, or are we just going through the motions.  Do we listen or do we actually hear those around us?

If you're staring at your smart phone while someone is talking and nodding your head, you're probably just going through the motions and not truly listening.  If you're thinking about how you need to respond back to the person you are listening to, then you are truly not hearing.

If you think that everything they are saying is wrong or inaccurate or misguided, you may be listening, but you're not hearing them.  If you're calling them all kinds of nicknames and labels, then you're barely listening and definitely not hearing them.

If you're waiting to get off the phone as quickly as you can, you're not hearing them.  Sure, you may be listening to what they say, but your mind is elsewhere.  If you're thinking about a million things other than what they are saying, more than likely you're not hearing them.

The most successful people understand the difference between listening and actually hearing. pic.twitter.com/ghcOAmyhs5

— Steve Keating (@LeadToday) March 29, 2017

So often we are busy in our own minds.  We're focused on the 50 million tasks that we think are extremely important to our day, crowding our mind out from truly being connected to the moment.  We are so focused on the latest political story or social media post and how we need to respond, but we've forced our minds to be too busy to comprehend what the mind body connection is.

There is so much noise in our day and if we don't stop and take a step back, we get wrapped up in it to the point where our minds are just too busy to hear other people.  When we get so wrapped up into all the things that we think we must do, we become too busy in our minds to hear others.

If you really take a hard look at yourself, what are you really saying to others.  Are your mind, body, and actions really saying that you are not only listening but hearing the other person?  Is that really true about your life and your presence in this world, both in person and online?

Or - are you so busy in your mind that your presence only takes up physical space, but you're absent in the mind body connection and so you're not there hearing other people?

There definitely is and we don't do enough hearing. Too many are too busy in their own minds to actually hear https://t.co/7GoR0hoEy6

— Don Shetterly (@mindbodythought) March 29, 2017

Hearing others involves an active participation with not only some body behavior, but with your mind and your heart.  Hearing involves true listening where you fully engage and don't become distracted by things that really dish the person you are with at that moment.  Hearing involves being there in that moment with that person as if they are the only thing that is present.

Hearing means that you're listening with your heart and trying to understand.  You're trying to connect with them and show them the respect that they deserve.  Hearing means that you're functioning on a more conscious level, rather than just going through the motions.

Test this out today and see what you're doing.  Are you truly listening or not? 

Become present with your behavior, not just a puppet to it.

People need others to really listen to them.  Kids need adults to listen to them.  Be someone positive in the world by doing more than listening.  Be the one that hears others by staying consciously connected in your mind body.

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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Monkey Led Man to Food, Water And Shelter

I love this video for many reasons.  The title of the video is "Lost Tourist Survives Nine Days In The Jungle, Says Monkeys Helped". It is a video from National Geographic and I love following them because they put out some great content.  Apparently this guy wandered away from his campsite and they searched for him for over a week.  While they found him dehydrated with bug bites, the guy says that Monkeys dropped fruit and led him to shelter and water every day.  Now if we humans could treat the animals of this planet in the same way they treat us, we would have a much better world.  See the short video.

Homeopathy Help For Cuts And Scrapes

(by Natural Healing Gal, Marie)

My next favorite Homeopathic remedy is Calendula Officinalis also known as English marigold.

I learned more about Calendula when my sister was visiting many years ago, and her children got sunburned. She asked if I had any Calendula Gel. I was not aware of the gel, so we quickly went to the local health food store to pick some up. It worked so well, I tried it on myself the next time I got sunburned…I was amazed at how quickly the burn subsided and my skin turned from red to tan!

Just yesterday, I realized my hands were getting dry (I tend to wash my hands a lot) and the skin cracked on my finger. It stung like a paper cut whenever I touched anything. I put a band-aid on it with a little calendula gel, and today the skin is mostly healed.

My sheltie Maya slipped and fell while running agility one day, and got sand in her eye. It was irritated and red. I dissolved the pellet in water, put drops in my own eyes first to be sure it would not sting, then I used it on her. It worked beautifully, her eye cleared up so fast! 

You can find Calendula at most health food stores in two forms, topical gel or pellets. It is soothing, has antiseptic properties, and stimulates the immune system. (see places to purchase this below)

I use a small amount of the gel with every bandage or band-aid I use;  just enough to cover the wound.  Broken skin, cuts and scrapes, even if they look infected, heal very quickly. A little goes a long way, and I have had my tube of gel for quite a long time!

Along with Arnica, this is another great remedy I keep in my home and in my travel first aid kit. 

National Homeopathy Center

“The English marigold is a cheerful, annual plant with deep orange flowers that open and close with the sun just like Bellis perennis, the common daisy, another of homeopathy's great healers. Calendula has been used herbally for hundreds of years in the kitchen and the sick room. The old herbalists advised that the dried flowers be added to broths in order to comfort ‘the heart and the spirits...’ Homeopaths and home prescribers are well aware of Calendula's healing benefits as a topical preparation in tinctures, creams, and salves. Fewer people know, however, that Calendula is also useful as a homeopathic remedy—potentized and prepared by a homeopathic pharmacy. In this form, Calendula is indicated for lacerated, suppurating (i.e., pus-filled) wounds—especially if they are extremely painful and if the pain is out of proportion to the injury. It promotes rapid healing and prevents infection.”  (Dee Babicke, HomeopathyCenter.org)

  Warnings And Cautions

1. Please remember--Calendula gel (ointment or salve) is used topically only!  
2. I have found that the gel does not work well on rashes! I tried it once or twice on a rash I had, and it was incredibly uncomfortable, as it is prepared with other ingredients. Always try a tiny bit on a tiny area first, if it is soothing, then continue on the rest of the area.
3. If you make up your own 30c Calendula remedy with ONE pellet in 4 ounces of pure water (for preparation details, see my post on 1/9/17 -- Starting with Homeopathy) you can take it orally, use a spritzer to spray it on topically, use it as a mouth rinse to heal and prevent infections, or use it as an eye wash for eye infections.
4. Do not use any gels or ointments internally or in your eyes!

About Homeopathy

Here is a little more general information about homeopathy:

It is recognized by the World Health Organization, which says it is the second largest system of medicine used in the world today.

Homeopathic remedies are used to trigger the body’s own natural immune system to heal itself. The remedies are highly diluted substances from the plant, animal and mineral kingdom.

Here are some tips from the National Center For Homeopathy (NCH) for general homeopathic use:

• Homeopathic remedies come in many different "potencies" or strengths. 6X, 6C, 12X, 12C, 30X and 30C are safe for home prescribing with each being stronger homeopathically than the previous one. Lower potencies tend to need more repetitions than higher potencies to get a healing response.
• Higher potencies, such as the 200C, 1M, and 10M, tend to work faster and are useful for more serious complaints, such as bad burns or head injuries with concussion. For the typical home prescriber, however, using the lower potencies is recommended.”

Places To Purchase Calendula

1. Califlora Calendula Gel (1 oz) - Amazon
    
2. Boiron Calendula Officinali Pellets - Amazon
    
3. Homeopathy First Aid Kit - Natural Health Supply

Marie - Natural Healing Gal

Website:   (www.mikamar.net)

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Marie is a regular columnist on Mind Body Thoughts.  She writes the Natural Healing Gal monthly column.  This article is written by Marie.

To learn more about her and see all her other articles, go to Marie's Page, Natural Healing Gal.

Check her page out to see the Medical Disclaimer

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly and Marie

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
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Chronic Stress Affect on Body and Mental Health

This is a video interview that Jim Fazio did with Dr. Paul Canali of Evolutionary Healing on March 29, 2013.

We all know that stress is not good for our body, but as Dr. Canali discusses, chronic stress does affect the body and our mental health.  New healing paradigms attune our attention inward and deal with not only the mental aspects but physical sensations.

Emotions are not something that are purely in your head.  They are physical body states.  Anything that you can feel, you can re-regulate or change.

Most people are afraid of what they feel in their own body whether it is disease, illness, anxiety, depression or other things.  The immediate response is "please doctor, take it away."  Most are not necessarily interested in how it got there or how they can take it away.  They just want it gone!

Now we are realizing though that to make long term changes, one must be brought into that point to interact with what is going on within the mind and body.  Because we are so afraid of what we are feeling, we tend to numb and disconnect, rather than go in an interact with the physical body.

Listen to the entire video interview to learn more.

Exercise Is Good For The Mind And Body

We all know it.  We all think about it.  Yet, we as a collective people don't get enough exercise in.  It continues to show up through health issues like diabetes, high blood pressure and other things.  While the solution might seem simple, often we get too busy or we lose our motivation to exercise.  So, Corey The Orange cat is back to remind us that exercise is good for the mind and body.  It is one of the best things we can do for ourselves. 

Other #MindBodyThoughts

I Often Hate My Name

I know, you're not supposed to feel this way.  I realize my name is my vibrational marker in this world, but oh - what I wouldn't give to change it.  In fact, I almost did change my name but got cold feet.

You see, I was afraid of what my family and my friends would think if I changed my name.  It is probably the one thing that held me back from doing this.

Growing up, my Dad used my full name starting with my first name of Donald as a way to indicate he was pretty angry at me.  If I heard it, I cringed.

I knew what was coming and there was no escaping it.  The more you tried, the worse the punishment.  It didn't matter if you had really done nothing wrong.  It only mattered that he needed someone to blame for whatever it was he was upset about in that moment.

On top of it, my dad loved nicknames.  I was a small baby at birth and so they nicknamed me pee wee.  I can't actually believe I am even writing about any of this.  It feels shameful and humiliating to me.   Even though I had to endure this at home, I tried my hardest to not get names attached to me in school.

One day in Kindergarten I took a new plastic truck to school for show and tell.  My dad thought I needed to put my name on it even though there is no way I would have let that toy truck out of my sight.  We didn't have many toys in the first place.  The name he wrote on the bottom of it in big black letters - PEE WEE.  Talk about making your stomach turn flip-flops all day.

I also remember hearing my dad pound his fist on the table and scream,

"we're family and we will be proud of our last name. We will love one another no matter what or I will make sure we do."  

He preached the last name as if it was something great.  I cringed in these multi-hour tirades he would have where you had to sit at attention and listen to him intently or he would keep going longer. 

He was so proud of the last name and it sucked to me.  To me, it stood for sexual and physical abuse.  It stood for mental manipulation, mind control, thought control and no freedom.  It stood for anything but love and respect like he demanded that it did.  He is more than welcome to be proud of it if he wants, but it has a devastating effect on me.

There are many more things that have happened where I just hate my name.  My full first name, Donald, was used as a weapon.  It was not one of respect or love or compassion.  When I heard it used, my fear went "oh oh... what did I do wrong now?"  This was immediately followed by dread and fear and anxiety which happened almost every day it seemed.

Now at this point in my life, I made sure I had no kids.  My siblings had daughters so there is no chance they will pass our family name on.  I had no kids, so effectively it stops with me.  I cannot think of a better way to win over what my dad did to me than deprive him of passing on the name he was so proud of when I was a kid.

I don't know if I will ever get to the point I love my full legal name, but if you meet me, there's a good chance, you'll hear the first name I go by now and you would have to ask me what my last name is.  I don't readily give it out.  I don't readily use it.  I want nothing to do with the last name.  If you call me Donald, you're probably going to get ignored or get an angry response.

It is difficult to deal with this part of my life.  I know the vibration of our name means a lot, but it is a source of pain that I have to live with for the rest of my life.  I may still change it yet, but now that I've got music and books out, that may get more tricky.  I know it will follow me until the day that I die and I wish it wasn't so.  Even if I changed it, the name is still attached to me and that sucks!

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Blog Post And Images (c) 2017 by Don Shetterly

• Permission required before any part of this blog post is reprinted, reworded or used in any form. 
• You are welcomed to share the LINK to this blog post.  

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