October 2023 – Allison Biel

Robert Snow

Indianapolis Police Captain Robert Snow, for a dare, went to a past life regression specialist. Sceptical, he did not believe in reincarnation and doubted if he could be hypnotised, so he did not expect to experience anything at all. To his surprise he saw clear scenes of himself as a 19^th Century portrait painter and in one especially vivid experience saw himself painting a woman with a hunchback in a green dress.

This experience set him on a quest to find out who this painter was that he saw in this past life. First, he analysed the audio tape of his regression and noted down all the facts and details that could be researched. There were 28 in total.

Second, if he could find the painting, he would know who the artist was. As an experienced policeman he thought he would find this painting in just a few days. But days turned to weeks and then to months. A year after his regression, while on vacation with his wife, Melanie, in New Orleans, he visits an art gallery in the French Quarter. While there he saw the portrait he had been looking for.

He explains what happened next, “For the next several minutes, I didn’t move from in front of the portrait, but instead continued closing my eyes to see again and again the scene of me painting this very portrait in my studio, and then opening my eyes to see the actual finished portrait. The situation began to feel surreal, more like a very vivid dream you wake up sweating from, a dream you have to keep telling yourself over and over again was only a dream”.

He began to doubt himself, “Finally, even though I knew with absolute certainty that this was the same painting I had seen while under hypnosis, I convinced myself that stumbling onto it by accident was simply too bizarre to be true. I toyed with the idea for a few moments that perhaps I’d had some kind of stroke and just thought I stood in front of this portrait, when in actuality I was in a hospital bed somewhere or maybe even in a nursing home. After giving this possibility a few moment’s consideration, I realized how very desperate I had become to find a rational answer for what was happening. But desperate or not, things like this just didn’t happen in real life”.

Then he reflected on his good fortunate, “What were the chances, after all the months of systematic searching, that I would just happen onto the painting like this? What were the chances that Melanie would just happen to want to go to New Orleans, and that we would just happen to visit this gallery, just when they happened to have this painting for sale?”

It turned out that the artist was James Carroll Beckwith (1852 to 1917). An American landscape and portrait artist, he had painted the likes of Mark Twain (American Writer and Humourist) and Theodore Roosevelt (26th President of the United States).

Captain Snow was able to research Beckwith’s life from various sources including a diary Beck had left. Of the 28 specific details he had documented from the regression, he was able to verify 26 of them. Snow states that the evidence he has compiled would stand up in court. He documents this evidence in his book, ‘Looking for Carroll Beckwith’, published in 1999.

I am an award winning Past Life Regression specialist. If this is something you are interested in then contact me.

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Cartesian Questions

Do you struggle to make decisions? We make many decisions without consciously thinking about it. But what if you have a big, important decision to make? Perhaps about your career, lifestyle, family or something in your work life. Cartesian Questions can be used to evaluate a decision, action, strategy or proposal.

The French philosopher, scientist, and mathematician, Rene Descartes (1596-1650), came up with just four questions that might help. Descartes is widely regarded as an important figure in the emergence of modern philosophy and science.

The core of his Cartesian logic is a set of four simple questions that are useful in evaluating any action or decision. They are:

What would happen if you did X?
What would happen if you didn’t do X?
What won’t happen if you did X?
What won’t happen if you didn’t do X?

Initially these questions may seem repetitive, but they are effective in helping us to understand the consequences of decisions and actions from a much better perspective. They also challenge you to think about things in new ways that you may not have done before, thereby providing fresh and valuable insights.

It’s also a way to loosen up our model of the issue as we begin to examine the limits of our assumptions. I think Albert Einstein (German-born theoretical physicist) put it very well when he said, “We can’t solve problems by using the same kind of thinking we used when we created them”.

These questions can be used to explore an issue by helping to:

Find new solutions and resources.
Get a deeper understanding of what motivates the client – what values are in play and what really matters.
Identify secondary gains (the benefits to the client of staying just as they are).
Identifying limiting beliefs and other areas where they can self-sabotage.

These questions can also be used in a business setting to evaluate an action, strategy, decision or business proposal. It can be used to explore the various consequences of a particular course of action realistically.

Positive Affirmations

I thought I would talk to you a little about positive affirmations or self-affirmations as some people call them. I use them to keep my spirits up and to keep focused on what matters and I thought I would share this with you.

These affirmations are positive reminders or statements that are used to encourage and motivate yourself or others. Affirming yourself may seem a little odd at first as it’s a lot easier to affirm someone else than it is ourselves.

Phrasing the affirmation correctly is key. You can’t convince yourself of something that is not true or you don’t truly believe. For example, telling yourself “I’m financially abundant” when you feel broke isn’t going to make you attract money.

According to Lisa Legault, Assistant Professor of Psychology at Clarkson University, New York “Self-affirmation is the process of reminding yourself of the values and interests ‘that constitute your true or core self. It’s taking stock of who you are and what you care about. You can think of it as mindfulness of the self—without the I’m wonderful component of self-esteem”.

So, rather than trying to convince yourself that you’re beautiful when you don’t feel like that, self-affirmation encourages you to think positively about the important things in your life, like your family, career, or hobbies. This means reflecting on things that you know and believe are good about yourself and your life.

This is closely related to the ideas of positive thinking and self-empowerment. So, fostering a belief that a positive mental attitude supported by affirmations you can achieve success in anything.

There is no golden phrase or one size fits all affirmation. It has to speak to you and be deeply meaningful for you. As Florence Scovel Shinn (New Thought spiritual teacher and metaphysical writer) put it, “You will be a failure, until you impress the subconscious with the conviction you are a success. This is done by making an affirmation which ‘clicks’.”.

More specifically, an affirmation is a carefully formatted statement that should be repeated to one’s self and written down frequently.

So, Wayne Dyer (American self-help author and a motivational speaker) said, “My favourite affirmation when I feel stuck or out of sorts is: Whatever I need is already here, and it is all for my highest good. Jot this down and post it conspicuously throughout your home, on the dashboard of your car, at your office, on your microwave oven, and even in front of your toilets!”.

One of my personal favourites when things seem to be going against me is, “Everything is happening for you, not to you”. But it’s important that your affirmations are meaningful to you, so give some thought to your own. In the meantime there are lots of site on the internet that provide lists of them to get you started. This one lists 417 of them!

Meteoropathy

I wrote recently about how weather can affect your mood (meteoropathy). Given that we have had such an unusual summer I thought I would expand on this and look at some specific effects. A 2019 animal study suggests drops in atmospheric pressure, for example ahead of a storm, can stimulate the production of stress hormones. This in turn can sensitise nerve endings and explains why some people’s chronic pain becomes worse.

But high temperatures can also increase your stress levels. Research from 2018 links higher temperatures to increased agitation and anxiety. Warm, sunny weather can improve brainpower by making you feel more open to information, boosting your memory and improving in attentiveness, if you have ADHD. It can also make people more tolerant of financial risk.

Evidence suggests people are more likely to attempt suicide in the spring and early summer. It’s not understood why, but there are some theories:

More sunlight exposure and solar radiation may prompt a shift in neurotransmitter levels.
Rapidly rising temperatures could trigger a mood episode, particularly for people with bipolar disorder.
High pollen counts may prompt inflammation in the brain and worsen mental health symptoms.

For most people, weather has only a minor effect on mental and physical health. For example, Jennie (South Korean Musician) who said, “My style varies on my mood or the weather of the day”. However, for about 30% of people, shifts in weather can cause symptoms such as trouble concentrating, insomnia, irritability, migraine and pain around old scars or injuries.

Major depression can occur at any time of year. However, symptoms can be more frequent during colder weather. According to an Eastern European study of nearly 7000 participants, you’re more likely to have depression symptoms during November and December, when the temperature falls below 32°F (0°C), when the wind speed is higher than on previous days or if it snowed within the last two days.

Research from 2020 also suggests that people with bipolar disorder and a history of suicide attempts tend to have greater sensitivity to weather and have more severe meteoropathy symptoms. Episodes of depression occur more frequently in winter, while episodes of mania occur more frequently in spring and summer.

It’s been found that individuals in both mild climates and harsh climates had much the same reactions to heat exposure. Research from 2017 has also linked the rising temperatures of climate change to increasing levels of violence globally. As temperatures increase, stress, impulsivity and aggression rise. And these can also then play a part in more frequent collective violence, like riots and wars. This is also true of interpersonal violence, such as assault, homicide and sexual assault.

If you suspect you might be sensitive to weather changes, consider these tips:

Keep a mood journal so you can track how different weather patterns affect you.
Monitor the weather forecast so you can prepare low-stress schedules for difficult days.
Stay inside during harsh weather. If your home doesn’t have heating or air conditioning, you may want to visit your nearest emergency warming or cooling centre.

Meteoropathy usually lasts for a few days and disappears once the weather changes. If any mental health symptoms you experience do last more than a day or so, or keep you from doing the things you usually would, you may want to contact a healthcare professional for more help. They can help rule out any underlying conditions and offer more guidance on treatment options.

Breathing

I thought I would write a little about breathing. You probably give very little thought to it as it’s an automatic reflex. But knowing a little about it and how to use it can be very beneficial. As Hugh Ross (Canadian astrophysicist,) said, “An adult human can last 40 days without food, a week without any sleep, three days without water, but only five minutes without air. Yet nothing is more taken for granted than the air we breathe. However, not just any air will do – it must be exquisitely designed to meet our needs. Too little oxygen in the atmosphere will kill us, as will too much”.

When we are stressed, anxious, frightened or angry, your breathing becomes low and fast. Your breath will come from higher up in your chest. When you are more relaxed, breathing will be slower and deeper and come more from your stomach area.

Deep breathing is good for us in many way. And being mindful or paying attention to our breathing can be used to change how our minds and bodies are reacting to a situation. Deep breathing will help you to stay calm or return to feeling calm and relaxed in a stressful situations. Other benefits include pain relief, increased energy, lowered blood pressure, improved circulation and a clearer mind.

I am going to outline a couple of breathing techniques that we can all (including children) benefit from. The first is balloon and candle breathing which involves slow, full breathing in and out to relax the body and mind.

Sit on the floor with your back straight and your legs crossed. Or if you are sitting in a chair, put your feet flat on the floor.
Breathe in deeply through your nose. Filling your lungs like a balloon.
Imagine a birthday cake with all its candles lit. Blow them out with a strong constant breath through your mouth.
Repeat for a minute.

The next technique is called Breathe in, bubbles out. It’s a great way to slow down your breathing and calm yourself.

Take a deep breath in through your nose, filling your lungs.
Hold your breath for a couple of seconds.
Imagine blowing bubbles with a bubble wand / stick. Blow slowly and steadily out of your mouth.
Repeat this three to five times.

Many people find these techniques very useful in their everyday lives. Being aware of how you are breathing can inform you about how your body is reacting to a situation. You can then use these methods to help calm yourself or clear you mind.