Tag: Veerle de Bock

Aspects of life

Physics and Reality – A Map for Human Potential Part 2

Veerle de Bock

Physics and Reality - A Map for Human Potential Part 2

How does classical physics affect our lives, our physical body and personality? Author Veerle De Bock explores how it gives us access to our greater potential.

In the first article of this series we explored Quantum Physics and how the Universe is a field of endless possibilities that surrounds and permeates all matter and all living beings. We also discussed the Quantum Hologram that stores all the information that exists within this field allowing many different realities to be available to us in any given moment. Finally, we looked at how all of this is organised to create our reality in this very moment – right now.

In this article we will explore how classical physics relates to how we live our lives, how we make decisions, how we act and react and, how we see our reality. We will look at how the magic of gravity and Newtonian Mechanics influence our physical body and the fascinating way that Electromagnetism shapes our reality.

Classical Physics and Our Physical Body

Our physical body is the vehicle that transports us through our life’s journey. It is with us through all our life-stories and helps us keep track of those stories along the way. Let’s look at what classical physics can teach us about how our bodies pack the stories away. In particular let’s look at the roles played by gravity and the laws of Newtonian mechanics.

As we all learned at school, gravity is what allows us to stay on the ground and not fly through the sky as helpless objects.

Here is an example of how gravity can help store a story in your body.

When I was 30 weeks pregnant with my son, I started having premature contractions. My son also experienced these contractions from inside my womb.

He was a tiny baby, too young to be born but, nevertheless, something around him was contracting – we can imagine that, for him, it felt as if something was pushing him out of the safety of my womb. It must have been terrifying; it must have felt really unsafe! His whole system would have retracted trying to stay enveloped in water and completely weightless – he wasn’t ready to experience gravity.

Later, as an adult, his body still contains this story of unsafety. He is skinny and does not allow gravity to have much effect on him; it seems as if he floats through his life rather than actually grounding himself anywhere.

Newtonian Mechanics, on the other hand, concerns the relationship between force and motion. Electricity is a good example of a force that follows Newtonian Mechanics. Our nervous system transmits messages through our bodies using electrical impulses. An example of how this affects the body is the way in which our nervous and muscular systems work closely together. Electrical currents from specific areas of our brain send messages to our muscles telling some to contract and others to relax. This harmonious interaction allows us to reach out, walk, dance, stand still and engage with others. All our muscles work through the laws of Newtonian Mechanics, applying force and evoking motion in many different ways.

Another story, this time about my eldest daughter, shows the connection between Newton’s Mechanics and our physical body.

As a child, my daughter felt like a princess, she was the first child, and perceived herself as the centre of the world. And when she was 18 months old, something changed her world drastically – a little boy was born. She was confused, she didn’t like it and it made her feel a bit tense. The electrical messages from her brain towards her muscles were more in favour of contraction. When she was 4 years old another brother came along. She no longer knew how to make sense of who she was, so she contained herself a bit more and her muscles got even tenser. When she was 7 years old she got a little sister as well. At this age, she began to define herself in relation to her siblings. She felt so responsible for them that her muscles tensed still further in order to give her a strong container in which to hold all the duties related to that huge responsibility. As an adult she looks well-shaped and demonstrates an ability to hold herself together and take care of the many expectations of the outside world.

For all of us, there is this ongoing interplay between our physical body and our personality. Our personality is composed of everything that we experience, feel and think. These experiences, feelings and thoughts are vibrations that follow the laws of electromagnetism.

How Electromagnetism Shapes Our Reality

If you break the word down into its two component parts it is clear that electro-magnetism is the combination of electricity and magnetism. So, an electromagnetic field is created when an electrical current engages with a conductor that has magnetizing properties.

To put this in terms of the human body, electrical currents move through our spinal cord and nervous system, through our heart and our brain and through each of our cells while our body acts as a huge conductor which generates an electromagnetic (or energy) field around us. This electro-magnetic field is tightly connected with our physical body and cannot exist without it. In spiritual literature this field is called an ‘aura’ – not everyone can see it, but the laws of electromagnetism tell us that it is definitely there.

Research into electromagnetism and the body has so far been limited to brainwaves (or electromagnetic activity in the brain). Scientists have discovered, by measuring this electromagnetic activity that brainwaves are affected by aspects of consciousness such as peace, anxiety, thoughts and higher states of consciousness.

So, how can we extend this knowledge to our whole energy field?

As we have seen, our energy field is located around and inside our whole body, our brainwaves contribute to it, as do the electromagnetic fields generated by our heart, spinal cord and each of our cells.

When we experience feelings and emotions our attention is drawn to the front of our body and energy field. Think for a moment about how we express our feelings and emotions: we say “my heart is broken” when we are very sad and we have a “gut feeling” when something feels right. The heart and the gut are both situated at the front of the body.

On the other hand, trying to figure out how something makes sense to us brings our attention to our head. Concepts and beliefs about how the world is, are mostly perceived in the upper area of our energy field.

Actions bring our attention to the back of the body and energy field. When we experience stress and busy-ness, we perceive tension in our neck and shoulders.

Finally, higher states of consciousness bring our attention to the whole of our being. A blissful state we often feel in our whole body.

Our personality is a complex whole of all our beliefs, concepts, thoughts, feelings, emotions, our will and our higher states of being. All of which are present in our energy field as electromagnetic vibrations.

Our energy field does exactly what it is meant to do and offers us a way to interpret reality. This interpretation is based on the stories that have happened to us and around us and is coloured by the collective cultural and social beliefs that surround us (you can read more about this here).

To illustrate how this works, let me tell you another story. One day I was giving a lecture and was inviting a lot of comments from the audience. In order to really capture all the contributions, I needed to slow the process down, so I started to listen reflectively, repeating each comment back before writing it down on the flipchart. The interaction felt truly alive and I experienced pleasure in my body, my heart was open and I felt joyful. My thoughts confirmed that I had a right to exist, that what I was doing was meaningful.

Then, all of a sudden, one of the students got really upset and accused me of not listening to her. In that moment, I experienced a tension around my heart. I felt sad. My thoughts were trying to make sense of what was happening. I blamed myself for not being careful enough.  I was no longer in control of the situation and felt powerless. I believed that I had to be perfect in order to regain control of the situation.

Conclusion  

Classical physics reveals a great deal about who we are and how our actions and reactions unfold and it is through these revelations that we discover how the electromagnetic (or energy) field inside and around us can only exist through our physical body.

Gravity, Newtonian Mechanics and Electromagnetism have much more to offer us than simply storing our stories and offering us a limited reality but in order for them to reveal their magic we need to understand their interplay with Quantum Physics.

The key part is the awareness that we need in order to be able to change any of our actions and/or reactions.

Everything is connected through an amazing field of endless possibilities and we can choose between a variety of possible realities that can organize our day-to-day life.

Our souls obey the laws of Quantum Physics and have access to this astonishing field of endless possibilities.

So fascinating!

In my book Becoming What is Changing: Exposition you can explore more about the extraordinary possibilities to shape our energy field and our personality.

The third article of this series will reveal how to play with our astonishing human potential, bringing all the laws of Classical and Quantum Physics into our daily reality.

All your comments are amazing energy vibrations and very welcome.

Veerle
29th January 2014

Veerle de Bock

VEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and, since 2007 has helped many trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’ that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:

http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging

Aspects of life

Physics and Reality – A Map for Human Potential Part 1

Veerle de Bock

 

photo part 1 physicsHow can Quantum Physics affect our daily life? Author Veerle De Bock explores ‘the field of endless possibilities’ that surrounds us and permeates our bodies.

Physics is a map that can assist us as we navigate through our lives; delivering us insight and understanding into our fascinating life in this physical body. This map helps us become aware of our astonishing potential and the endless possibilities that exist in the ‘energy soup’ that surrounds us.

In this 3-part series, we will examine the different sequences (or categories) of this map and how they relate to our daily life.

  • In part one we will look at quantum physics
  • In part two we will explore electromagnetism, Newtonian mechanics and gravity.
  • Finally, part three will explain how magic resides in the connection between Quantum Physics and Classical Physics.

I invite you to embark with me on this fascinating journey as we ask, what is Quantum Physics? How can the different definitions within Quantum Physics affect your potential in your daily life?

The interesting sequence of Quantum Physics

Nobel prize-winning physicists know, beyond doubt, that our physical world is one large soup of energy, which is organized in a specific way.

In the world of quantum physics, nothing is solid. Creation in the Universe happens continuously through flashes of energy that come in and out of being in milliseconds.

In order to understand the sequence of quantum physics, we define the Zero Point Field (see the work of Steven Hawking), the Quantum Hologram and Quantum Superposition (see the work of Edgar Mitchell) and Morphogenetic Fields (see the work of Rupert Sheldrake) and, look at the inter-relationship between them.

The Universe, a field of endless possibilities

The Zero Point Field is the almost unlimited, ubiquitous energy source (or essence) that permeates and sustains all matter and all living beings – it is everywhere.

This amazing Field points to our interconnectedness – to how everything in the Universe is linked.

In spiritual terms, the Zero Point Field is often called ‘the field of endless possibilities’ and is considered to be the source of all our ideas and dreams as well as the essence of who we are. Nature is an ongoing resource that allows us to experience the endless possibilities that lie outside of us in our daily life. There are many examples. You can perceive them through simply gazing into a cloud-filled sky, through connecting deeply with a tree, through sensing the mountains or perceiving even a single flower.

This Zero Point Field is also present inside of us, at our heart. An easy way to connect with it is through our core qualities – those qualities that define who ‘you’ are (empathy, love, integrity, intelligence, purity, endurance, clarity, etc.). Our core qualities are our ‘essence’, the same essence that makes up the field of endless possibilities.

Essence relates to our potential. As spiritual beings (or souls) that incarnate to the human realm in order to experience and progress on a personal path while also offering something to the world, we engage with the Zero Point Field, both internally and externally in order to perform our tasks.

Information Storage

Within the Zero Point Field resides the Quantum Hologram – where all the information present in the Universe is stored. No experience, story or emotion is ever lost in the Universe; all the information related to any of our experiences is carried forward within the Quantum Hologram.

Holograms store three-dimensional images of information using interference patterns that occur between the waves emitted by two particles. This explains how there is a fluidity in the Universe – nothing is solid.

This fluidity makes sense of the different time relationship that exists at a quantum level. The hologram not only contains what has already happened, but also everything that will emerge in the future. This is a fascinating idea, because it offers us the possibility of making another choice; to change what is happening and to access the field of endless possibilities.

What is the practicality of this knowledge? How can a Quantum Hologram affect our daily life? Our soul has this amazing Quantum Hologram at its disposal to help it achieve its task on Earth.

If our life task mainly involves finding safety within ourselves then the Quantum Hologram will provide us with many different stories, emotions and events that all are related to safety. Someone shares a story with us that describes harsh circumstances and, suddenly we perceive anxiety about something that happened to us, an accident resulting in physical injury that could unfold.

You can read more about how the Quantum Hologram relates to the smallest events in our lives in my earlier article, Whatever Happens is Useful.

Different Available Realities

While the Quantum Hologram contains all that has ever happened and is yet to happen in the Universe, Quantum Superposition is the phenomenon that organizes all these available realities. These Superpositions contain every possible version of existence and history. They explain how, the moment we give our attention to one possibility (or Superposition), all the other possibilities collapse, thus becoming temporarily unavailable. So, when you give your attention to a specific story from your past that is stored in the Quantum Hologram, that Superposition becomes your reality – you live your life ‘now’ as if the story is happening ‘now’.

Here’s an example. On a recent trip to Zimbabwe, I arrived at the airport in Harare to find that there was nobody there to pick me up. I perceived anxiety. I had never been to Zimbabwe before and I was completely alone with nobody to take care of me. In that moment, I gave my attention to an old story from my childhood in which I was too young to care for myself, I felt alone and unsafe. Life was harsh. This reality became mine as I stood in Harare airport wondering what to do.

Slowly, I became aware, I breathed deeply in and out and gently let go of my old story.

My friend Maaianne was supposed to be at the airport to pick me up and unfortunately, we hadn’t exchanged cell phone numbers. I continued breathing deeply in and out and, as I relaxed, I remembered that Maaianne’s cell phone number was at the end of all her emails. As I tried to make contact with her I started to enjoy the warmth and the bustle of the people around me and I began to feel safe within myself. At that moment I didn’t know which reality would become mine – I was open to several possibilities.

At that moment, my reality was not yet organized; this brings me to another phenomenon in Quantum Physics.

Organizing Principles

The various available realities are closely related to the existence of Morphogenetic Fields – underlying energy fields within the larger Field of Endless Possibilities that act as organizing principles, giving form to various levels of reality.

For example, each disease process has its own Morphogenetic Field that gives it its form in the physical body. 

And let us stretch this concept a bit further. You and I also have our own Morphogenetic Fields which give form to our own personal individuality – to that which makes us uniquely ‘us’. Our personal Morphogenetic Field contains our soul, with its unique purpose that gives rise to our intentions for this specific incarnation. Within our Morphogenetic Field we make use of all the available realities to create an actual reality for ourselves in this moment using the stories, emotions and experiences from the Quantum Hologram.

Conclusion

Quantum Physics is a fascinating way to access your potential. In order to make sense of what is happening to you and around you, to understand who ‘you’ are and your unique mission on Earth, your soul acts through Quantum Physics.

This amazing field of endless possibilities is an ongoing resource to constantly renew and redefine yourself. It offers you hope for the future, not a hope based on old beliefs and patterns but a hope for new, as yet unknown, possibilities or realities.

Quantum Physics shows us that the world is not the hard and unchangeable place it may appear to be. Instead, it is a very fluid place, continually creating, using essence from the field of endless possibilities.

So fascinating!

In my book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, you can explore more about our human potential.

I hope I have conveyed to you the beauty and excitement of experiencing Quantum Physics in your daily life.

Part 2 of this article series will explore how Classical Physics relates to our physical body and to our personality.

All your comments are amazing energy flashes and are very welcome.

Veerle
15th January, 2014

Veerle de BockVEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and, since 2007 has helped many trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’ that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:

http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging

Aspects of life

How our Childhood Stories can Bridge our Soul’s purpose

Veerle de Bock

Our childhood Stories define who we becomeAwareness is closely related to how well we understand our inner make-up. Author Veerle De Bock shares five developmental steps that can help this understanding.

Throughout childhood, a great deal happens to us and around us. We pack these memories away inside of ourselves as stories that help define who we are. These stories become our beliefs. We act and feel according to our beliefs.

Our inner make-up reveals the connection between all these different beliefs and our soul’s purpose. It’s fascinating to look at the contents of our stories in order to reveal our beliefs and gain a greater understanding of who ‘we’ are.

The combination of our personal process and our life’s task compose our soul’s purpose. The stories of things that happen to us or around us match the personal process we want to achieve. These stories make our issues clearer for us. We are able to free the gifts specific to our developmental stage. These gifts strengthen the unique life task that we have to fulfil for the world.

In this article, we will explore our inner make-up through our childhood development. I will show you five developmental stages that we all go through and connect each of these stages with its unique beliefs. The stories that underlie each belief are unique for each of us.

Developmental Stage 1: the need for safety and security

This stage lasts from our stay in the womb until the age of 6 months. As a baby we need the safety and security that we get through bonding with our primary caregiver and from having our basic physiological needs met – food, warmth, comfort, rest.

The experience of unmet physiological needs creates a lack of safety and a feeling of insecurity. These are the beliefs we harvest:

  • “I’m not wanted.”
  • “Life is unsafe and harsh.”
  • “I have no right to exist.”

As adults we still have a part of us that defines itself through these beliefs and their underlying stories.

In order for this part of us to grow, we need to be able to create that safety and security inside of ourselves. When we have achieved this, our stories can then change.

We enter this physical realm as spiritual beings, and it is hard for us to adjust to our physical bodies. When our spiritual Self feels safe, it is able to incarnate. Then, our gift can surface as an ‘embodied spirituality’. This is a connection with the spiritual world that is lived through our body. We are able to live the sacredness in our daily lives.

Developmental Stage 2: the need for approval and recognition

From the age of six months until the age of two, we start to develop a sense of self. As a young child, we discern our sense of self by exploring what we like and dislike.

When we experience a lack of approval and recognition at this age, it creates insecurity about our likes and dislikes and therefore about our sense of self. At this stage, we collect beliefs and associated stories about humiliation and shame:

  • “I will be humiliated.”
  • “I am evil.”
  • “I am not important.”
  • “I will be ashamed.”

As an adult there is still a part of us that is defined by these stories as long as we, consciously or unconsciously, seek approval. When we allow this part to find recognition from within ourselves, we are ready to allow our stories to shift automatically. We begin to enjoy our own company. Our gift becomes pleasure, sensuality and life force. We radiate aliveness. Our pleasure is inspiring.

Developmental Stage 3: the need for control and power

Between the ages of two and six we develop our ego and, as our ego begins to relate to our sense of self, we learn to make sense of ‘who’ we are.

During this stage we explore our inner authority and strength.

There is a natural need at this stage to control the environment and exert power over others – and if we don’t, we feel powerless. Because of this dynamic, we gather beliefs and stories that define a part of us that either experiences feelings of self-importance or worthlessness:

  • “I need to be perfect in order to be in control.”
  • “I am powerless.”
  • “I am superior.”

In adulthood this power dynamic continues to pop up. This young part of us can grow when the older ‘us’ holds space for it to experience its inner strength. Our gift becomes a balanced inner authority. We no longer rely on an authority outside of us. We are able to fight with grace for what is really important to us.

Developmental Stage 4: the need to give and receive love

Between six and twelve years old we move into relationships with other human beings. As adolescents we engage in an amazingly rich palette of relationships.

These relationships are exquisite tools through which we can explore our stories. Other human beings reflect back to us our beauty and our challenges. We learn through those relationships and we can get hurt and feel rejected.

Our beliefs and the underlying stories we collect at this stage are related to betrayal and distrust:

  • “I am unlovable.”
  • “If I love, I will be hurt and rejected.”
  • “It is safer to stay on my own.”

As adults, we still carry this adolescent part within us when we are afraid of being hurt and consequently hesitate to reach out and connect with others.

When the older ‘us’ is able to deeply love and accept this insecure part of us, it is able to grow, thus enabling  its gift for the world – love and compassion, real contact and undefended moving out towards the other.

Developmental Stage 5: the need to speak our truth

From the age of twelve onwards we start to express our truth which is the result of an inner process of assimilation and integration. This unique truth is how we express our unique quality in the world.

We ask ourselves how our truth will be received by our family and peers. Sometimes what we hear back from our family and peers does not resonate with what we know to be true.

We collect beliefs and stories of how we block our creative expression and hide our truth:

  • “My truth is not okay.”
  • “If I share I will be humiliated.”
  • “My inner truth does not fit with what is happening around me.”

As an adult, this part of us has difficulties creatively expressing and making sense of what is happening around us. We must hold space for this part to learn to trust.

Our gift, at this stage, is our ability to assimilate and integrate what we perceive and to take responsibility for our stories.

Closing thoughts

‘We’ are a wonderful resource. We are amazingly sophisticated human beings and each of us is a kaleidoscope of unfinished business, partly integrated steps and amazing gifts.

As we move through our childhood a part of us moves on to the next step while, at the same time, another part is very often defined through the beliefs and stories that belong to the previous stage.

Each of these five developmental steps focuses on a specific need. Our experiences of unmet needs are the stories that we gather at each stage and, as adults we learn to gently and lovingly care for these younger parts of ourselves. When we are able to hold space for the needs of those younger parts, they are able to show us the gifts they bring to the world.

Our unmet needs connect us with our soul’s purpose; they are the basis for our personal process and become gifts that are able to strengthen our specific life task in this world. These gifts are related with our developmental stages.

My book Becoming What is Changing: Exposition looks at our inner make-up in more detail. In it, I offer you maps to unravel your personal process and your personality.

I hope this article has helped you gain insight into the magic of ‘you’ and your amazing soul’s purpose. Please leave any thoughts, insights or reflections in the comments box.

Veerle de Bock
10th December 2013

Veerle de Bock

VEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and, since 2007 has helped many trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’ that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:

http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging

Aspects of life

Why Everything That Happens Affects Everything. Part 3.

Veerle de Bock

 

Whatever HappensYour strong emotions can become your fertilizer. ‘100% responsibility’ is the catalyst, says author Veerle De Bock, to create space for all of ‘you’. 

This is the final article in a series exploring how whatever happens is useful. Not only is this true on a personal level, it also affects the ‘being’ of your organizations.

The first article looked at how paying attention to simple events in the moment – ‘now’ – and ‘witnessing, asking and experiencing’ offers us doorways to other realities.

In the second article we examined the value of the stories people share with us as an opportunity to expand ourselves. We looked at how we can learn to assimilate our own hidden stories and end the vicious cycle of defining ourselves through them.

In today’s article we will explore the gift of our strong emotions. We all can recall moments where emotions seemingly appeared out of nowhere to overwhelm us and take us over. Something triggers the emotions and they surface without a conscious thought.

Often our mind tries to make sense of the emotion and comes up with a rational explanation after the fact. The truth is that our minds are unable to control our strong emotions when they are triggered and these emotions can often affect the flow in our personal lives and within our organizations.

All of our emotions are available within the quantum hologram of the Universe and we are able, in any moment, to make any one of them our reality. This happens when a circumstance ‘now’ triggers (or reminds us of) an emotionally loaded story that happened in the past. In an instant, anxiety, anger, sadness, fear happen to us. We are not consciously choosing an emotion, our emotions just occur through living our life. Mostly what happens is that the other realities immediately collapse and we become anxiety, anger, sadness, joy or fear. The other realities are ‘unknown’ to us as we are taken over by the strong emotion.

But what if we could keep these other realities available without rejecting the reality of the emotion we are feeling?

This is the secret gift behind our strong emotions. This is how they become our fertilizer.

How can we access the gift in a strong emotion?

  • We start with the triad of ‘witnessing, asking and experiencing’. We curiously ‘ask’ and allow the ‘experiencing’ to unfold. When we are sad, anxious, angry or hurt that is precisely what we experience. We witness, without judgment and gently connect with the story attached to this strong emotion. In the story we meet a younger part of us.
  •  We hold space for this younger part of us. We apply ‘100% responsibility’. This simple, magic, healing tool connects us deeply with this young part of ourselves. We hold this young ‘us’ with a lot of empathy, love and acceptance. We say we are sorry for all the circumstances that triggered this young part of us. We ask for forgiveness and end the conversation when we feel ready, with gratitude for this possibility for healing.

‘100% responsibility’ is basically about engaging love and taking unconditional responsibility for whatever happens, both outside and inside of you. Taking unconditional responsibility is using four simple sentences: “I love you.” “I am sorry.” “Please forgive me.” “Thank you.” You can read more about this magic tool of ‘hundred per cent responsibility’ in Joe Vitale’s inspiring book of this old Hawaiian healing method. (Joe Vitale and Ihaleakala Hew Len. Zero Limits. The Secret Hawaiian System for Wealth, Health, Peace and More. John Wiley. Hoboken, NJ, 2007)

To illustrate this process in action, I invite you to join me on my journey. I am in a Bed & Breakfast somewhere in the Flemish Ardennes. A lovely part of my country with a lot of magnificent forests. Yesterday evening I left the Flemish part of the Camino, or Way, of St. James to reach this B&B.

At breakfast I look over my route for the day – the paths I am going to follow over the next few hours. I notice how the route will take me through several big forests and I instantaneously perceive that I feel anxiety. I don’t know what to do and at the same time I realize that I am in charge. If I want to stop now, I can do so. I can take a bus or taxi and return home. I am puzzled.

The process of ‘Witnessing, asking and experiencing’

I ask myself, “What is here ‘now’?”  and notice how my thoughts make my anxiety worse. I let go of my thoughts and sit with an open mind.

I experience a tension in my heart region, moving to my throat. My breath is shallow and my heart beats rapidly. I feel nauseous.

I witness how I have no idea how to move on. I wait and stop myself from ‘doing’ anything.

I become aware of how the anxiety is an emotion that belongs to a much younger part of me. This younger me is very scared and her story is that the world is harsh and unsafe. She is triggered by the view of the huge forests waiting for me on my walk. By following this simple process I can create a distance between the anxiety this younger version of me is experiencing and the bigger, older part of me.

Holding space for this younger ‘me’

Later on, when I am alone, I surrender and I suddenly remember the tool of ‘100% responsibility’. In the moment, I hold the scared, anxious, younger part of me in a lot of love. I am patient and wait until I can feel her. I say I am sorry to create such scary conditions for her and I ask her for forgiveness. When this process feels complete, I thank her.

I leave the safety of the B&B and start walking. Soon, I arrive at the first forest. I keep on applying ‘100% responsibility,’ making sure my younger self feels safe and I notice something strange happening. It feels as if the trees are sending gentle energy to me. I feel safe.

It is my intention to try and avoid one of the huge woods and reconnect with the Camino – the sacred path I left yesterday evening. However, things do not unfold as I intended and a bit further on, I arrive at the wood anyway, in spite of my best intentions. I take a deep breath and start to walk. Again, it feels like the wood is holding me in a safe container. So amazing!

I am still a bit vigilant, but not really scared. I walk and slowly start to enjoy each step. My needs for safety are met, effortlessly and gently. I feel safe within myself and I love the company of ‘me’.

By taking 100% responsibility and by asking, witnessing and experiencing, my anxiety became a gift. I was able to accept the reality of the anxiety while, at the same time, paying attention to the moment ‘now’. As a result, more realities stayed open and available to me and, within this, I was able to meet a young part of me and offer her a healing response. This ability to create safety inside of myself is an enormous gift.

The triad ‘witnessing, asking and experiencing’ allows you to pause and simply ‘be’ with your emotions. You do not try to change what is happening, but simply accept whatever emotion you are experiencing in this moment ‘now’. By doing this, you allow the story behind the emotion to surface. This is a story of a younger part of you.

100% responsibility is the magic tool enabling you to turn your emotions into fertilizer. The adult ‘you’ engages love and takes unconditional responsibility. True healing unfolds and the younger ‘you’ can access its unique gifts.

We reach the completion of this series of articles, an ongoing invitation to simply meet whatever happens with a ‘how fascinating’ attitude. Trust that there is a quantum hologram in the Universe holding all that ever has happened and still will emerge – events, stories and emotions.

In my book Becoming What is Changing: Exposition you can discover how to create space for the strong emotions present in the ‘being’ of your organizations.

I hope you are inspired and when ready will leave a comment.

Veerle de Bock

22nd November 2013

Veerle de Bock

VEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and, since 2007 has helped many trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’ that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:

http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging

Aspects of life

Why Everything that Happens Affects Everything – Part 2

Veerle de Bock

Whatever Happens

Any story people share with you may offer an opportunity to expand yourself. Author Veerle De Bock invites you to assimilate your own hidden stories.

This series of articles invites you on a journey to explore how everything is connected and affects everything. Whatever happens in your life is useful – whether it is a simple event that passes unnoticed or it’s something you do notice but miss the underlying richness of possibilities.

In part 1 I introduced the fascinating triad ‘witnessing, asking and experiencing’. We explored how, by extending our awareness, we are more able to pay attention to the moment that is happening ‘now’. We discovered how a simple event such as stumbling on a stone can become a doorway to another reality, which was previously invisible to us. If you missed this article you can read it here.

In today’s article, we will look at the importance of paying attention to the stories that people share with you. Each story – whether complex or simple, emotional or rational, spiritual or down-to-Earth – is part of the ‘quantum hologram’ described by physicists. In this quantum hologram all these stories are related – connected with everything that has ever happened in the past and everything that might still emerge in the future. This is the physical law behind my encouragement to pay attention to the stories people tell you – if other people’s stories are connected to our own then we can learn from them.

People share their stories with us all the time but how can we learn from them?

  • We apply the ‘witness’ to really listen to the story. The witness becomes an external process where we completely receive the storyteller without ‘doing’ anything or acting upon the story. This open and non-judgemental listening creates an environment in which the storyteller can feel able to share his or her story.
  • The ‘asking’ is an internal process where the story we are being told merges with our own stories. We can gently ask ourselves the simple question: “What is here ‘now’?”
  • The ‘experiencing’ is the internal process of integration through which we become able to perceive pain or other physical sensations, emotions, feelings and thoughts. Often our deeply hidden stories are touched and released as energy moves through us.

To illustrate how this works, I invite you to join me on my journey along the Flemish part of the old pilgrimage path, the Way of St. James – one of several paths across Europe that converge on the cathedral in Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, northern Spain.

I have been walking all day as I arrive at a Bed & Breakfast. During the evening the woman who hosts the B&B shares with me a story of her childhood.

She was the youngest of two girls and many times she felt blamed, humbled and spited by her sister. She is convinced that her role was to be the scapegoat in order for her sister to feel that she was important and of value.

This memory is still vivid and hurts because what happened passed unnoticed by her mother and sister.

I sense how this story represents huge humiliation for her.

This is how I moved through the triad:

Witnessing

As she shares her story, I witness this lovely woman. I notice that my first impulse is to feel sorry for her and judge her sister and mother. I tend to perceive her as a victim and as a consequence I feel I need to do something in order to save her.

I breathe, and notice that when I am able to listen deeply and completely receive her and her story, something happens: a connection appears between me and this woman, with the story she is sharing and with what is present in the moment ‘now’. My awareness becomes more all-inclusive and there are fewer boundaries between us.

Asking

Later, when I am alone, I wonder why she decided to share this story with me and I observe that there is a particularly strong energy attached to it. I stop and ask myself, “What is here ‘now’?” I gently stay here ‘now’ with this story and wait – with no effort, no struggle, just the purity of curiosity.

So fascinating! How does this story of humiliation relate to me?

I have no clue. And yet I know that there is a deeper hidden meaning, a link to a reality not yet visible for me.

Experiencing

I have a headache during the night, with lots of pain in my body and tension in my neck. I keep on relaxing – breathing deeply in and out. I am patient and wait, my heart is open and I let go. This is truly ‘experiencing’ the energy of my own stories in my sacred body. My stories related to this woman’s story. I allow the energy to move through me.

Eventually, I fall asleep and have many dreams. I only remember parts of these dreams and nothing really makes sense. However, in the morning I suddenly begin to receive more clarity.

I realize that nobody is humiliating this lovely lady any more and yet she continues to be defined through her story of humiliation.

My body recognises this humiliation and releases a great deal of energy. I feel more alive.

Through the story this precious B&B host shared with me, my own deeply hidden stories related to humiliation were touched. Old stories that unconsciously still define me. It’s an amazing insight – I had no idea I was still humiliating, confining and restricting myself.

What is true for me is true for you as well. When we learn to listen to the stories that people share with us in a new way something miraculous happens, we access our deeply hidden old stories. We are able to let go of these old stories, thus ending a vicious cycle of defining ourselves through them.

Something special happens then, and our reality becomes expanded as we gain access to much more of ourselves.

My book Becoming What is Changing: Exposition talks about how ‘witnessing, asking and experiencing’ can heal, not only yourself at a personal level, but also whole organizations. Many different stories function as the material for applying this fascinating triad. If you want to find out more, you can do so here.

Does something of this article resonate within you? Do you have a story to share? Please leave a comment; I would love to hear from you.

Veerle de Bock
14th November 2013

Veerle de BockVEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and, since 2007 has helped many trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’ that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:

http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging

Aspects of life

Why Everything That Happens Affects Everything – Part 1

Veerle de Bock

Whatever HappensTo be in the ‘now’ we must ’witness, ask and experience.’ Author, Veerle de Bock discusses how this fascinating triad offers a doorway to other possibilities. 

So much occurs, within us and around us, all the time. Most of the time, what is happening passes unnoticed and what we do notice is often not seen as a possibility – whether that be another choice, a broader perspective or insight, or even a completely new reality.

You could imagine the Universe as a giant biocomputer and all these amazing possibilities as the hard drive. You are the software and can apply your amazing potential to experience, integrate and assimilate everything that happens.

In the Universe, everything is connected and affects everything. Physicists describe this as a ‘quantum hologram’ that contains all that has ever happened in the past and all that can possibly happen in the future. In this quantum hologram all the different realities are available. This physical law lies behind my invitation to see everything that happens in your life as useful.

Even if only one single possibility becomes our reality there are still many other possibilities available in the quantum hologram of the Universe. The link towards those other possibilities lies in what happens in the moment.

In this article, I encourage you to pay more attention to what is happening ‘now’, in this moment. I will introduce you to a wonderful tool – ‘Witnessing, Asking and Experiencing’.

I invite you now, to join me on one of my walks. The rhythm of walking makes it easier to open your mind and let go of preconceived ideas and concepts, which will help  you to be more open to what is happening ‘now’. A walk always confronts you with many events -both foreseen and unforeseen, obvious and less obvious. Walking, metaphorically, represents our journey on our life path.

What happens this time is something very simple. Most of the time it passes unnoticed.

I am walking on one of the Camino paths that cross Belgium and converge on the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia in nortwestern Spain. The Camino, or Way of St. James is a pilgrimage route that has a special attraction to me.

I stumble over a little stone on the road. How fascinating!

I curiously ask myself: “What is here now?” There is no attachment, my mind is open. I perceive the purity of curiosity. I gently come back here, to ‘now’. There is no effort, no struggle.

This curious ‘asking’ invites in me the ‘experiencing’. I perceive a little pain in my right big toe, where I hit the stone. I wait, and allow more to unfold. There is a tenderness in my heart region, moving up to my throat. I feel a bit insecure. I am patient, and slowly I perceive more and more energy moving through my body, my legs become alive and so does my pelvis. I feel how my mind is still open, and gently my heart also opens. I am here – ‘now’.

Now I am present, the ‘witnessing’ opens – I look around me and see the environment, I see the houses, the people, the cars, a few trees, the road.

I simply witness, I do not judge myself or anything around me. I am not influencing what is happening and yet I am deeply connected with what happens. My awareness is all-inclusive and boundless.

So fascinating

My reality (and focus) was fixed on arriving at the end of my walk, I lost sight of all the other realities that surround me.

I notice how I forget to see and perceive what is around me when I am glued on getting to where I’m going….. Wow! Amazing!…. I guess much of my life is about getting to where I’m going …. What about the road? Even if it, literally and metaphorically, guides me through cities, suburbs, factory areas, along highways, brick-built walls and a variety of fencings.

I laugh with myself. This little event of stumbling over a stone suddenly stops me in the moment and asks for my attention. There is a doorway to many more realities in the moment ‘now’. I perceive my body, the environment and the interaction between my body and the environment.

Is that familiar to you? How often do you forget to see what is happening ‘now’ and only strive to reach your goal?

If we want to explore the ‘gift’ in any event, we need to pay attention to what is happening ‘now’. But, how do we ‘pay attention’?

Let’s have a closer look at this precious tool of ‘witnessing, asking and experiencing’.

  • ‘Asking’ is a dance between the inner process and the external event that is happening in the environment. It engages with the self-created boundary between inner and outer. It is a curiosity about “What is here ‘now’” You can try asking yourself this question with whatever happens to you and get a sense of how it allows you to arrive here – ‘now’.
  • The act of ‘asking’ prompts us to ‘experience’ what is happening in our body. It leads us deep into our sacred bodies and often extends to a variety of expressions – sensory, emotional, mental and spiritual.
  • Once we are ‘experiencing’ the sensations in our body, we are then able to acknowledge where we are through impartially ‘witnessing’ what is happening ‘now’. There is no judgment; we simply notice what is happening. We do not do anything; we just allow whatever happens to unfold.

Awareness is closely related to our ability to ‘ask, experience and witness’. This amazing triad is a treasure for our ability to love what is. The triad is of great assistance on our life path and the more experienced you become at using it, the more you will receive until finally it connects you with Source. In other words, you connect with the quantum hologram of the Universe and you receive access to many more realities at the same time.

The three aspects of the triad are closely related and intertwined. Each experience can bring forth the question “what’s here now?” and at the same time invites the witnessing.

Are you ready to explore this further?

Remember, you are the perfect software to engage with the Universal biocomputer of endless possibilities. Whatever happens is useful and can become a doorway to another reality that is invisible in the moment. Our tool to become aware of the moment ‘now’ is this amazing triad. ‘Ask’ enquiringly, ‘experience’ intensively and ‘witness’ without prejudice. Through applying this fascinating tool, even the simplest events make sense in the astonishing scene of life.

Paying attention to what is here ‘now’ is a basic ingredient of our personal transformation work but it also affects the ‘living organism’ of organizations and has the ability to create a happy satisfying and continuously growing workplace.

If you are interested in finding out more please subscribe to this blog. You can also explore these ideas further in my book Becoming What Is Changing: Exposition.

I would love to hear your comments, experiences and/or questions so please leave them in the comments box.

Veerle de Bock
8th November 2013

Veerle de BockVEERLE DE BOCK is a physician, healer, facilitator, trainer, coach and author of the trilogy, Becoming What is Changing. She spent nearly three decades of her life as a physician specializing in geriatric care, including a 21-year career as department head in an Antwerp regional hospital. In 2003, she began her study as an energetic healer, teacher, process facilitator and supervisor at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and, since 2007 has helped many trainees to master these same skills. In 2010 she was trained in the practice of Dynamic Facilitation by Jim Rough, which she now incorporates into her workshops and training sessions. In 2012 she decided to devote her work exclusively to writing, facilitation and coaching. That same year, she devised a new integrative practice of facilitation she calls ‘Guest House Facilitation’ that helps teams learn how to listen and utilise both the inner and outer processes within their organisation, to see it as a dynamic and living organism, and to reconnect to its intrinsic purpose and intention. Her book, Becoming What is Changing: Exposition, is the first part of a trilogy aimed at managers, team leaders and responsible employees who wish to bring this kind of transformation into the workplace, so they can create an environment where people are happy, satisfied and continuously growing.

Contact Veerle about the book, or to discuss coaching/facilitation for your organisation at:

http://www.chancestochange.com

http://twitter.com/VeerleDeBock

http://facebook.com/BecomingWhatIsChanging