When was the last time you have been honest with yourself? Truly honest.
As we live our lives, we are constantly making choices based on how we feel. Some of these choices are courageous and come from a place of love, some of these choices come from a place of fear, and don’t reflect who we really are. When we make choices from a place of fear, or “I am afraid of”, our mind has a way to find so many excuses to justify our behaviours. We create these little stories in our head that will validate our choices. And we can go on and on until we are really stuck in situations we never really wanted in the first place or stuck in an emotional challenge that can prevent us to move forward. Then we are forced to self reflect on our choices and why we created situations that don’t feel aligned with our essence, our truth. We may be confused, and frustrated but deep down we know that is preventing us to be greater than who we are. We are afraid of our light, and magnificence. Who am I to really think that I can be better than this? Am I allowed to think that way? Is there anyone who can validate my choice according to my highest good? If you pause a minute here, you can see that those thoughts are keeping us small. We will probably end up recreating the same experience over and over again. What if we can operate from a different place or different programming than the one which is limiting us? Is there a magic formula, or a potion that will help us to be unstoppable? There is one magic formula: It’s you. It’s you being honest with yourself. It’s you being aware of all the limiting beliefs that you have accumulated along the years. In order to start creating more honesty and to face what we fear, what makes us uncomfortable, what make us feel hurt, you can start by asking yourself: What am I afraid of? I am sure we can all make a long list here. And, next time you will have an emotional response, ask yourself: What am I afraid of? Ex: I am afraid of being rejected, I am afraid people will see who I really am, I am afraid to feel weak, I am afraid about my feelings, I am afraid of trusting people….. ( add yours to this list). Depending on where you are in your human growth, It will require some courage and bravery. It will require compassion towards yourself. It will create more discomfort than you expect. Actually the more discomfort you feel, the more space you create for transformation. The transformation comes from who you become being courageous and honest with yourself. It comes from the realization of your limiting beliefs. It comes from the resources you can start to tap in to transcend yourself. I’ll be honest with you, I have done a lot of self-development work, a lot of healing, and a lot of growth, and I can still find myself hiding being honest, or not confronting myself with my fears. This is probably why I felt drawn to write about the topic. I can recognize that each time I have been in vulnerable places or situations, the transformation was there too. I can recognize that it never ends, that this is a lifetime practice. Being honest with yourself is also being able to allow yourself to go with your own timing or own agenda. I don’t believe we can be raw, wild and vulnerable all the time. At least this is my experience. It comes as waves of transformation, growth, and healing. And when you feel the waves coming in, that’s the time to be really honest with yourself and to give yourself a push up towards more light, truth, and light. There is one thing that has helped me in the past until now. When I feel these waves coming, I don’t resist anymore, I allow a space to feel and heal. I talk less, I really dive into feelings. I reflect. Then I remind myself that I always have a choice: 1/Opening and expanding my heart or 2/Closing my heart. I believe that life is about expanding our heart, opening up to love more and more without any fears. Being honest with yourself is to start recognizing that we can open or close our heart. That we can live towards the light or stay in our limitations. That we can be courageous or fearful. That we have a choice in every situation. Being honest is making progress even if they are small. Being honest is always doing our best to live our life according to what really matters the most for us. My invitation to you is to answer these questions : -What really matters for you? -What’s the one thing you want to accomplish in your life that would really be a heart opening experience? -What would you want to be appreciated for? Then how can you honor and honest to your answers in your life?
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Is everything looks like what they really seem to be?
I learned that in Relationships, there are many layers for the reason we behave with others. I use to argue a lot with my first wife, not really understanding how to stop it. Sadly, it became the only for us to connect. WHAT"S REALLY BEHIND ANY FIGHTS AND ARGUES? It's probably not what you have in mind. It has almost nothing to do with the things you are arguing about. Fighting is about a lack of affection, respect, love, power, care, or a combination of those. DO YOU WANT TO STOP FIGHTING? When we fight, we believe a story that we made up about a situation, and we believe it's the truth. ex: Because If I feel you don't care about me, it must be true. if it's not true, what am I am being left with? I need to feel sane, so I fight and try to be right. There are few things to understand: -When we fight everyone wants to feel that they matter. That the other person will respect what you are going through. -We want to be able to share how we feel and why, whether it's justified or not. - We want to feel acknowledged, and feel that the other person has the ability to validate our feelings and appreciate our own experiences. There is an opportunity to reflect it. What if you create space in the conversation that everyone feels heard, and not blamed? Wouldn't it be great? The first thing to do is to shift your perspective from reacting to reflecting. The only way I know is to be able to share your experience instead of blaming. Ex: When you do ... , here is how I feel. It has nothing to do with you. It's just my experience. This is how I feel, and I take responsibility for how I feel. The other person just has to listen and acknowledge you. There is nothing to agree with or to fix. Once your experiences are acknowledged you feel sane, and validated. Suddenly, there is no need to react, but to reflect and to be able to bring compassion for the other. This is an opportunity to stop reacting, and start reflecting. Both you and your partner have to acknowledge that this is a process that will facilitate a conversation instead of going to the daily routine of blaming the other. Like every process, it has to be practiced over and over again until it becomes natural. The minute you will stop practicing, you will go back to your old habits. Are you committed to stop fighting? As a reminder, no one likes to be judged or attacked. By sharing your experience there is no place for judgments anymore. You both take responsibility for your own experience and just have to be there to support each other. The second step would be to add some request to your partner in order for him or her to support you. Knowing that a request is not mandatory. You have to let your partner free to accept or not to access your request. When you make a request, if the request is not accepted, you have the capacity of letting go and find peace. ex: I would really appreciate if you can tell me when you are not able to commit to a task you said you would do it. it would make life easier for me, so than I know what has to be done. ex: I'd like to share what happened for me at work. I need to complain. Please just listen, don't judge or comment. All I need is to get it out of my chest. Thank you. In case your partner refuses to accept your request, and you feel rejected, frustrated or upset, you fully take responsibility. It's an indication of a hurt or a wound that hasn't been addressed and healed. You are dedicated to do the inner work in order to let it go. As the opposite a requirement is a non-negotiable. Only you know where is your limit between a request and a requirement. When a requirement is not honoured, there are some consequences that can lead to making decisions. A requirement reflects a boundary. This process is life-changing. It opens up a space for understanding, compassion, and appreciation for one another. It creates support and a deeper connection. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca Here it is! We are in 2019. Are you ready for it? Do you know what you want for the year ahead?
I don't like resolutions. Resolution is something you want to do, you know how to do it, but you don't. In my experience, it never works. The most important is to be aligned first with what you want to achieve or experience. This is a perfect time to reflect and regenerate. What do you want? What is your focus? What was this past year like? What do you want the next one to look like? Now I want to share with you a script that you can follow to close 2018 and start 2019 with intentions: Script: Set aside at least 15 minutes to really think about what you are calling in for this coming year, and fill out each of the following prompts with your intentions for this coming year: One thing I loved about 2018 was… One thing I learned in 2018 is... One thing I’d like to do to better my mental health is... One thing I’d like to do to better my emotional health is... One thing I’d like to do to better my physical health is... One thing I’d like to learn is... One goal that I’d like to achieve is... One way I’m going to participate in my community is... I want to do all of this because... Then, What do I really want to experience more? What would it feel like to already have it? Once you are clear, imagine yourself at the end of 2019, having a conversation with a friend telling them how blown away you are that everything you wanted to experience has manifested in your life. tell them details about it. Feel the conversation. Feel the energy of it and hold it in your heart. This feeling you can recall it at any time. Hold it. Choose one or several words to describe the energy. Let me share my intentional words: "Vitality- Focus- Discipline" Now don't get attached to any outcome, just live your life through that energy and intentions. Show up in your life with self-respect and self-care. Do your best every day and recommit the next day. Finally the most important is to commit yourself to growth more than anything else. If you are interested in numerology, I have read a few people saying that 2019 is a year of GROWTH! So here we are. May you find Love, Peace of mind and Joy along the Journey. Happy Growth! What is a Conscious Relationship? A new paradigm for deep connection.
We all have been struggling in Relationships. Who says it was easy? Nobody ever taught us how to be in a healthy relationship. We learn on the go. We all agree that the old paradigm isn’t working anymore. More than 50% of marriages end up in divorces. People are unsatisfied, unfulfilled and don’t know how to make a relationship work. There is a gap between our experience and what could be an ideal relationship. This is a huge opportunity to reflect on our belief system and move towards conscious love. It’s actually a great thing. What exactly is a conscious relationship? It's a romantic relationship in which both partners feel committed to a sense of purpose, and that purpose is growth. Individual growth. Collective growth as a couple. Growth that makes the world a better place. It’s not anymore about one partner to fulfill all our needs and to complete us or to save us. Each partner is consciously responsible for its own happiness, and for its own triggers. We are committed to doing the inner work in order to grow and evolve. Our partner is here to love you and support you no matter what we are going through. The dynamic is totally different as there is no need to blame or judge the other The intention is growth. The relationship strives towards something much greater than immediate gratification. The relationship becomes the journey of expanding your heart, expanding love and connection, and resolving conflicts within yourself. Our partner is part of our team with unconditional support. There is a power of bonding when we witness the evolution of our partner especially when he becomes a better human being. In a conscious relationship Love is not the final destination, it’s the fuel for the journey. Vulnerability and freedom are at the core of the relationship. The path of conscious relationship is a choice Let me share with you a few principles about Conscious Couples: 1. The couple is not attached to any outcome rather than growth It’s a different way of experiencing relationships than what’s written in Fairytales., and it goes against what the society has been sacralized. The conscious couples understand that no one can fulfill all their needs. This has created such a big disconnection in relationships especially when we make it mean that either our partner makes us happy or they are not a good partner, or worse, that there is something wrong with us. It’s just unrealistic. We cannot ask anymore our partner to act a certain way or to be who we want them to be. Otherwise, they repress themselves to please others and they become a shadow of who they are supposed to be. And inevitably the relationship become a trap where we feel small, powerless and confused. The only exit is to break free. Do we still want to cage and trap ourselves anymore? 2. Both partners are responsible and own their wounds. We understand that we all have wounds from our childhood and past experiences. Those wounds will get triggered inevitably. We choose to be responsible for how we feel as we understand that no one else has the power to make us feel anything. If in certain situations, I feel rejected, I assume that the rejection was already there before my partner did anything. I have now an opportunity to create awareness, understand, heal and start to make new choices. If I start to make new choices, I behave differently, then I start to feel different kind of emotions I am used to, and then I create a different experience. Most of us still believe that relationships should only feel great, and when bad feelings surface, we assume that something is wrong. What we fail to see in this situation is that issues are not caused by our partners; they’re caused by our beliefs and past experiences. Everything is based on taking responsibility for how we feel. No blaming and victim role anymore. When you take responsibility for your wounds we can start to heal and dissolve them. Taking responsibility gives us the power to choose our experience, and reflect on what is it that we truly want to experience in our life and relationships Taking responsibility is the key to be in our full personal power. 3. We have permission to feel and internal processes are recommended. We create a space to share our feelings and desires without making it mean anything. We are committed to letting the other person be who they want to be and to have their own experience. We may not understand or not relate and might be triggered but we still acknowledge the experience of our partner. We hear them. We validate their freedom and their uniqueness. We are in total empathy without the need to advice or fix anything. This safe space becomes a space of healing where you can surrender yourself. There are no judgments. Healing is the journey of expanding your heart. The more you heal, the more you can express yourself at a higher level of consciousness with a heart wide open. I also want to emphasize the great respect that we create for each other by holding this space of expression. The respect comes also from the authenticity of what we can share. The only option is radical honesty: revealing parts of ourselves that are hard to share and letting our partners do the same. This leads to feeling known, seen and truly understood — a combination that will automatically enhance your love. Isn’t it what we are all looking for? 4. The relationship is a place to practice love. Love, ultimately, is a practice. A practice of acceptance, being present, forgiveness, and stretching your heart into vulnerable and uncharted territories. Love is sacred, and therefore you have to connect to your own sacredness and the one of your partner. The Relationship becomes sacred. Love is a journey and an exploration of yourself. Love is part of your identity, it’s in your DNA. All we have to do is practice being grounding in love. We don’t let your emotions taking control of your life and your relationship. Whatever we are going through, we are committed to staying in a place of love. You are committed to choosing love over fear, over doubts, over triggers, over pain, and over the hurt. The couple embodies Love as a fuel for their journey. And through their devotion and practice, love shows up in their lives and relationship in ways they would’ve never imagined before. One of the secret to keeping the relationship alive is to value growth more than anything else. We choose to thrive through expansion. It won’t be easy because growth is going to uncharted and uncomfortable territories, but it creates a unique bond and connection that keep the Relationship worth it. It maintains a natural feeling of aliveness, authenticity, freedom and deep love. There are many more principles for Conscious Relationship especially in term of communication. Those 4 ones are just the 4 pillars. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca WHAT YOU DO AFTER WAKING UP IMPACTS YOUR DAY more than you think.
Most of us, including myself, we have the habit of checking our phones, checking email, going on social media. Instantly we are going into a reaction mode. We send our brain the signal to be alert and react. This has an impact on our physiology and our level of stress. Did you know that when we experience stress, our immune system shuts down? When we are in reaction, we let our emotions to take control of what we do. In reality, it disconnects us from reality and we end up feeling powerless. Then we get trap into a circle. I am sure anyone can resonate with that. We all have experienced it. Everything needs to start from the inside. That's the only we can choose how we want to feel and stay in our power. Ask yourself: What do you want to experience during your day? I started to change my habits and make a new morning routine that helps me to ground myself and to choose what I want to experience during my day. It has a huge impact on how I work, how I interact with others, and how I avoid distractions. My level of clarity has increased, and I more creative. Isn't it wonderful? I DARE YOU TO TRY: No excuses. Don't tell me you have kids and everything else you need to do... If you don't take time for yourself, how do you want your brain or body to support you? I listed below everything you can do to change your habits and get a better morning and daily experience. Choose 3 from the list and start tomorrow: - Your morning starts the day before. Go to bed earlier. Make sure you have enough sleep to recover and heal. - Make your bed - Start by saying Mantras or affirmations before you get out of bed ( Mine is: I have everything I need). - Meditate or sit in silence ( 5, 10, 15, 20...min) - Write in your Journal. - Set some intentions for your day based on what you want to experience. - Go to the gym, spinning class, or run. - Go to Yoga, Pilates, Tai chi... - Do some stretching at home (10 min is enough) - Practice your favourite yoga pose - Practice one-minute silence with your kids before breakfast and ask them to set one intention. ( make it fun and playful) - Practice being grateful. Take the time to feel. - Light a candle or incense, or switch on your diffuser with essential oils. - Breathe: This is the best tool I know to tell the brain you are safe. - If you feel stressed or anxious: Breathe, and ask yourself: Am I in Danger right now? - Laugh with your kids. - Hug your partner. Tell your partner one thing you love about them, and what is it that you wish them for their day. - Recall the energy of love. - Sit and Visualise your day in your mind: rehearse your day or a goal that you want to accomplish. -Nourish yourself with Healthy foods: All Organic or Natural. -Drink water - After your warm shower, activate the vitality of your body with Coldwater, start by 10s, then 20s, then 30s. Breathe during the process and believe you can. - Hug and encourage yourself. - Smile - Listen to Music - Dance Now the Dont's: - Don't look at your phone until you are ready to go out. - Don't answer emails until you are ready to go to work. - Don't turn on Tv - Don't watch or listen to the news - Don't start any argue - Avoid sugar. Are you ready? All you need is to start with 5/10 minutes a day. Practice, over and over until you find the ideal routine that feels good for you. If your schedule is tight, you just need to wake up earlier ( which means going to bed early). How would you feel if you start a routine that supports you? It's time to regain Strength, power and vitality. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca 5 THINGS TO PRACTICE and TO IMPROVE the QUALITY OF YOUR LIFE: 1- Practice Kindness: Any kind of kindness towards family members, strangers in the street, colleagues at work. Kindness increase your level of compassion, and your capacity of being of service to others. 2- Practice Gratitude: If you start to trade your expectations for appreciation, you will start to focus on every little thing in your life that makes you feel good. You suddenly shift your perspective to be present for beauty, what's working in your life and increasing the level of positivity. If you can really practice feeling grateful you will attract miracles. Close your eyes, and really feel that gratitude in your body. As you start to feel it imagine a energy expanding to every cells, to every part of your surrounding. Practice this feeling and recall it few times a day. 3- Practice Compassion: Compassion starts with yourself. When you start being committed to yourself and your growth, you don't need anymore to be harsh or judge yourself. You can see yourself as perfect though the lens of love. You can show up every day of your life with the intention of being your best. Knowing that your best is not same today as tomorrow. Every day you can recommit yourself, and show up as perfect 4- Practice Laughing: Laughing is good for your soul, for your spirit. It helps raising your vibrations, and entertain and expand the "feel good" feeling. Your energy gets higher and you attract more laugh. This is one of the best therapy ever, and it costs nothing. You can learn how to laugh at yourself. 5- Practice Learning: The minute you start learning, the minute you stop growing and evolving. Your brain needs to be stimulated. You need to learn new things and create new neuro pathways in your brain. Otherwise you are on a closed circuit brain, and you will end up recreating the same experience. Your future becomes predictable. I can add many things to the list, but it's definitely a great start. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca 10 THINGS TO CREATE HARMONY AND CONNECTION AT HOME
Most people reaching the end of life recognize that it was the relationships in their lives that mattered the most in the end. It wasn't their career, or hobbies, or finances; it was people and the connections that they most cherished. We are now living in the era of technology where everything goes fast. In the work environment, we are expected to do more, to thrive, and to excel at what we do. We work long hours to prove to everyone that we are worthy of trust and even greater responsibilities. However, what is the impact of this on your personal life? What are the consequences when we get so busy, or continually caught up in the illusion of busyness? When you go home after giving everything at work, how can you then be fully present for your responsibilities and family? It can be so easy to get lost and caught up in this common pattern that leads us to be ourselves disconnected and ultimately disempowered. Like most of us, any of my clients have experienced this and as a result, they have come to face issues and struggles in their relationships. If I may share my own experience, there was a time in my life where I found myself unconsciously falling into the trap of being busy. I wanted to avoid getting into conflicts at home, so I would focus more on my work convincing myself that I had no other choice. I made up stories that my work was more important than my relationship, and I started to believe them. I stopped looking for a better time management to improve schedule. At that time, I was not aware of all the consequences, and impact on my relationship. There is a definitely a fine line before it gets out of balance. Fortunately, you have the power and the choice to prevent it. My invitation to you is to reflect on how you can become more in tune with both you and partner’s needs, and create a new experience. Take what you need from this article and practice. Commit yourself to daily practice. Here are 10 things you can invite into your life to create balance and harmony between your work your and love life. 1/Set clear boundaries When you are at work, you focus on work. When you are not at work, stop working. When you are at home, you focus on what’s happening at home. Separating your two worlds can be a stress reliever. Remember, ultimately it is you who sets the terms of your life, so don't be afraid to choose what you truly want to create and have the courage to set those reasonable boundaries for your workplace. Take some time before you go back home to breathe, and to clear your mind from all your day. A 5 min or 10 min breathing exercise in your car, can help you reconnect yourself in the present moment. When I go to yoga my teacher tells me that I have everything I need and that I always have the strength I require. Breathing as a main practice in yoga allows me to reconnect with this strength. If you take time to reconnect with yourself and be present, you set clearer definitions between work and home. Take at least 2 full hours to recharge, reconnect and appreciate your life at home. 2/Create a clear vision and statement to define the shared values of your relationship. Without a doubt, you’ve got to define what is important to you as a family, and you’ve got to make that the most important priority. What values are most important and why? This is something that you both want to define together as a couple. What kind of family do you want to be? What kind of partner would you like to be for each other? We don’t usually take time to create a vision aligned with our common values. If you haven’t asked yourself those questions I would encourage you to sit down with your partner, and to get real about each other and what do you want to create together. What do you want to experience for now and for the future? What is home representing to one another? As you get clear, you will be able to find ways to honor your vision daily. Maybe you can print your statement and have it visible to see it every day. Or you can create an altar that reminds you what’s important for both of you. How would you honor each other through your daily life? Keep it simple and authentic. 3/Few rules for home that you might want to apply Home is your ultimate sanctuary in the world. You have to protect this sanctuary at all cost. Everyone needs to feel safe while at home, and happy to come back. - No phone, laptops or tv in the bedroom. A bedroom is a place for intimacy, nourishment, connection, and rejuvenation. - No arguments or fighting at home. If for some reason one of you gets triggered, or upset, just let it go. You can tell your partner you got triggered, and calm down. You always have the option to take time to reset and calm. You can support each other in this process without any judgments. As a good reminder, your triggers are your responsibility. - Agree to a time once a week outside the home, where you can talk about those upsets. This time is created to talk how you experienced life at home for the previous week. In this space, you just listen to each other, acknowledging each other feelings without trying to justify yourself, wanting to be right or fix anything. You express, you listen, you acknowledge, and you move on. - Decide together what do you want to experience at home? Love, Connection, Joy, Peace, Laughter. Choose your experiences and set intentions. Where intention goes, energy flows. Talk with your partner and remind each other of the experience you want to share when one of you feel disconnected. - Create rituals and stick to them. Devoting some time to these rituals can strengthen the container of your relationship. 4/Choose your words The words we use are very important and influence our state of mind. “Busy” for example is a disempowering word and gives the impression it is beyond your control. How about you rephrase and choose a different one? Instead of busy, maybe you can say, “I am really focused when I am at work.” Instead of saying, "I don’t have time, you say, ”I am looking for ideas to get more organized I can get to do everything I need to". Instead of saying "I feel stressed from work," learn to say,"I am so glad I can disconnect from work when I am at home." You get the idea. The way you think creates your experience. 5/Practice Self-Care Make sure at some point in your week, you are your priority. Having one hour or two just for yourself can make a huge difference in your week. Do what you like to check in and replenish yourself, meditate, practice a sport or book a healthcare session. If possible repeat that twice a week. Or make it a daily practice, 10 minutes a day for yourself, and do something you love. It can be anything: a good laugh, listening to music, reading a book, or going for a walk. Practice the practice, and make sure to put it on your calendar. No excuses. It is as important as anything else. You go to work even if you don’t feel like it. You take care of yourself even if you don’t feel like it. Be gentle with yourself and others. 6/Quality time vs Quantity In my experience, It’s never about the quantity. Quality is one of the keys that creates a long-lasting relationship. Make sure that you are fully present with your partner, and focus on appreciation. Practice centering yourself from a place of love and respect for your partner. Be curious, creative and look out for things that can make the relationship exciting. Don’t settle into a routine. Create new experiences together. You also want to make sure that you have something you do together at least once a week. It can be anything: going to the market to buy healthy foods, going to the gym or yoga, going to see a movie. Have fun being together. Be silly! Quality and appreciation together create a better connection. 7/Get organized Don’t get yourself caught in being overwhelmed. Make your life easy. Schedule, organize and ask for help whenever you can. Practice, review and re-organize until you find solutions that work for you. From hiring a cleaning service or having meals delivered to your doorstep, or hiring a personal trainer so you can create more time with your partner doing something else. Anything you can think of that you don’t have to do yourself, will get you great support and open up more room for quality time. It doesn’t have to be every week if you are on a tight budget. 8/ Trade your Expectations for Appreciation. Expectations are one of the killers in relationships. If you expect anything from your partner other than who they are showing up as right now, you expect them to be someone else. Let them be who they want to be. Don't make any assumptions that they know what you need. Trade your expectations for appreciation, and focus on the positive and on what’s working well in the relationship. Make a list of what you are grateful for. Make a list of what you love about your partner. Instead of complaining about what you don't like, talk, and share more about what you love. Show unconditional support no matter what. You are on the same team no matter what. If you disagree, look for a third perspective (neither hers or his). 9/ Forgive and Move on. Never go to bed annoyed or upset, it affects the quality of your sleep and your next morning mood. Clear up anything with your partner before going to bed. The idea is not to be right or to complain. It’s more about expressing, clearing, forgiving and moving on. If you have something to say, just say it with love, understanding, and compassion. Never play the game of "being right or wrong", as there is never a winner. That’s the game for an ordinary life, as opposed to living an extraordinary life. An extraordinary life is living the life you want and living it powerfully. Remember, until you learn all the communication skills between men and women, you are allowed to make mistakes, as long as you learn from them. Be gentle with yourself. Don’t make it mean anything about yourself or your partner. Be forgiving. 10/ When everything falls apart, Change your perspective. When the relationship feels it's falling apart, you need clarity. The only truly empowering option here is to seek for a new perspective. Talk to a friend who is supportive and listens to you, not someone that tells you what to do. Voicing can help you understand your thinking process, and you can begin to lessen the heightened emotions and start to gain perspective. Don’t believe anything you think. Question your thoughts, and see which ones give you an opportunity to change your perspective. Let go of any negative or limiting thoughts. Seek for solutions, rather than focusing on the problems. When you focus on the problem, you recreate the energy that created the problem. Rephrase your words, and thoughts in a direction where you feel connected with yourself and love. As you practice the art of changing your perspective, you will create miracles in your relationships, and in your life. The list of things I suggested is just as a starting point. There are many other ways if you seek for them. Find what works best for you. Focus on growth and co-creating in your relationship, as opposed to being dependent on each other. Do your best and trust the process. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca I had a conversation last week with a woman who is going through a breakup but really wants to get back with her husband. She believes that they can both make it work, with effort and communication.
One of the first questions she asked me as a Relationship Coach was: Are you pro-marriage? I immediately answered her: I am pro-happiness, I am pro-personal power, I am pro-responsibility, I am pro-freedom, I am pro-love, I am pro-peace. I believe in Marriage, and I believe in Divorce. I am certain she asked me this question because I have been divorced three times, and she may I have thought that I would encourage her to stay separated based on my personal experience. However, there is no right or wrong answer. The answer is different for everyone. My three marriage and three divorces are just the way I have experienced my life and relationships so far. Getting married was everything I wished for when I entered into a serious Relationship in the past and I was craving to create a family. Getting divorced was everything I wished for when I lost my personal power in relationships. I realized that I was a people pleaser and I was focusing my energy on everybody else but me. I had created some co-dependent relationships and handed my partners the responsibility for my own happiness. Did I wish to get a divorce? Certainly not. At that time, it seemed it was the only way for me to get back my confidence, my personal power, and my freedom. My personal path was that I needed to be on my own to reconnect with my deepest self, and take responsibility for my own happiness. I could have made different choices and stayed in the relationships. Divorce at that time just felt right for me. Regardless of whether you are in a relationship or going through a divorce, I am focused on getting you to a safe place of awareness so that you can regain power, strength, confidence, and clarity. You remain empowered with your own decisions. Whatever decisions you make, I support you 100%. I just want to make sure that you are aligned with your values and the life you want to create. I have helped people to overcome the emotional challenges of divorce. I have helped couples improve their relationships and communication skills so they could experience a new way of being in a partnership. In this way, they could create a safe space to co-create instead of being co-dependent. I have helped individuals understand their personal dynamic, patterns, and beliefs so that they can break free from their past stories. They have transformed the way they relate to themselves and have gained, a new level of awareness in relationships. Some of them have chosen to get back with their ex, some of them have decided to try something new. Everyone and everyone's experiences are unique. Every situation is different. I believe the only way to know what's best for you is to strengthen the relationship you have with yourself. The key is to overcome your patterns and triggers so that you can get a better understanding of your personal dynamic. Once you have that awareness, you are able to make new choices and have the clarity to choose what's best for you. This new awareness has the power to impact and shift every single relationship you have. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca Forgiveness.
What is forgiveness? How can we possibly forgive what has hurt us in the first place? How can free ourself from hurt, and pain? Forgiveness is a commonly misunderstood concept. Forgiveness is the ultimate act of self-care and self-respect you can have for yourself. What is it exactly? In my opinion, forgiveness is being at peace with yourself and others. Being at peace with your life's circumstances. Being at peace with your life's experiences. FORGIVENESS IS ANOTHER WORD FOR FREEDOM. In order to be forgiving, you need to be in a place of love and compassion. Whatever mistakes or bad choices you did in your life, you did your best. Beating yourself up will not make you feel better. Just let it go, and move on. First because what happened in the past doesn’t exist anymore. The past is done. Your present is far more important, because you need to make choices and move forward. Do you want to make those choices from a place of guilt, regrets, anger or from past traumatic experiences? I am assuming the answer is No. You want to make new choices based on your power, based on your joy, based on what feels right now. There is no place for anything else than love. Fill your body, fill your mind, fill your heart with love and decide to move on. This is a decision to make, and only you can decide when it’s the right timing. You will come to this conclusion eventually no matter what. Start to forgive yourself, embrace and honor your mistakes as insights and as meant to be. Infuse compassion, love, self care, self love and move on. Then it’s easier to forgive others, because you can step into their shoes and feel their hurt. That being said, being forgiving has nothing to do with accepting what happened, and how you have been treated. It has all to do with letting go, and moving on. Guess what, when you let go, you create more space for your life, for your family, your kids, your relationships, for everything that matters in your life. You create new possibilities. Being at peace will come from the experience of letting go, and surrendering. Most of my clients always start by telling me: I am not ready to forgive him or forgive her. They are under the illusion that their anger give them some sort of power. And they imagined a plan for revenge. After few sessions, they start to realize that they need to let go in order to have a great relationship with themselves. So if today, you think you are not ready to forgive, it’s totally fine. Get use to the idea, and maybe start a new inner dialog with yourself. There is always a time when we feel so much stuck in dramas, stories, and pain, that we have no other choice to believe that there must be another way. And the good news is when you will be ready, there will be this new way available for you. Forgiveness starts with yourself. "Healing has its own timing" Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca STOP THE BLAMING PROCESS ! TAKE FULL RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR LIFE Here we are again, on how the divorce makes us feel bad about everything. On how we become judgemental, and start to blame others about our own insecurities. This is not my fault, he or she did that…...my parents did that, my sister or brother make me feel that way, etc… We always find someone to blame. Does it make you feel good about yourself? Maybe, but this is an illusion. It’s too easy to think that you are not in control, and that there is some other power taking control over you. This is not the case, and deep down you know it. You are under the illusion that everything is separated, that you are separated from others, from yourself. You are under the illusion that it’s you against the world. You are under the illusion that you are not responsible about how your life unfolds. Do you really want to feel sorry about yourself? I am assuming the answer is no. The only reason I know it, it’s because we rather want feel good that feel sorry. Taking responsibility is accepting somehow, that you have your part in what created of your reality, and circumstances. What if you start taking 100% responsibility for your life, and start to create the life you want. Would that make you feel empowered ? You are not separated from anything, you are whole and complete, and perfect as you are. You are born with love and everything you need within yourself. Taking responsibility for your life will connect your power within. Start another dialog with yourself: I am in charge of my life, and I have the power to create anything I want despite my circumstances. So what is it that really want and why ? Who do I want to become? What do I want experience in my life? What do I need now in order to move forward? Reflecting or regaining your power back is far more important that to be annoyed that your ex is late for taking the kids or anything else that could happened (and the list is long , right?) and that you have no control of. So what is your power? What is your spirit? What makes you feel alive? What makes you feel excited for? How do you connect to your intuition? What would make me feel good ? Take some time to write the answers of those questions, and reflect on them and see how you feel about it. This new dialog with yourself is a shift of perspective that will give you more clarity. If you can’t answer right away to these questions, it’s ok. There is no right or wrong answers, only the answers that matters to you, and will support your growth. How would you feel right now if you already know all the answers of all the questions? Then you can take responsibility for your happiness, and for the way you feel. Only you have the power to be happy, to be present, and to create a new experience of your life. The only way to create a new experience, is to change the way you think, the way you behave, the choices you make and the way you feel. Would it be amazing to feel in charge of your life and happiness? Leave all the stories and excuses behind you, and start now to experience of a new way of being yourself. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca STAY IN PLACE OF LOVE
I would like to share with you a perspective that can shift your life forever. It shifted my life. I know you feel hurt, angry, resentful, betrayed, guilty, and so much more…..the pain is sometimes unbearable. We don’t understand why. We want let it go, but we hang on to it without knowing why, thinking, this is what it should be. We are addicted to our suffering. Let’s go backward, and remind ourselves when we met for the first time, our future partners. How do we felt? What was possible? What is it that we really felt attracted to? How do we fell in love? How do we decided to create a family? This was the time of love. You were in love of the person you probably hate the most today. Did you stop suddenly to love them or did it happen over weeks or years? It doesn’t really matter, the love was there once. Love is a powerful energy, and we don’t stop loving people on clapping our hands. There is actually no separation between the energy of love, and the love that we are. What if you could connect to that place of love and feel compassion for your companion and yourself. What if you could hold this love, embrace it and honor it. What if you could use this love to support your pain. We can’t live our life from a place of fear and anger forever. So what do you choose now? What if you start to believe that anyone involved is hurt even if they are already moving on with their life. Cause the truth is that everyone is hurt. We all did our best. Some of us better than others. Some of us cover the hurt by moving on quickly, some of us will be angry, some us will completely shut down…..Everyone has its own way to process, and there is nothing to judge. Choosing to be in a place of love doesn’t mean you are agree with what happened, or on how you have been treated. But over the circumstances you choose love, cause deep down this is who you are, this what you seek for. If I may share my personal story. My first two divorces, I always felt angry, resentful, wanting to be right, blaming, fighting for everything. Wanting some sort of justice, on how dare you treated me like that? What good did it give me ? Nothing, just more hurt, more pain, more sadness, not only for me but also for everyone involved. I lost time and energy on trying to convince myself I was right. So when everything fell apart unexpectedly the third time, I started to question myself, about this pain and hurt, and made the assumption that finally it had nothing to do with my ex wifes, or my circumstances but that pain and hurt was already there from my early childhood, and my emotional imprints. All was happening was only because the way I felt about myself, only because of the stories I made up about myself and what happened to me. All my triggers in the relationship were only a projection of my own struggles. It was meant to be. I had to go through that in order for me to live what I am supposed to live from a place of love. So what you hate the most in your partner, has something to do with you. Hard to believe, but true. So I decided to change something and to become someone else, and decided no matter what that I will stay in a place of love for my own sake and healing. Love heals everything and everyone. This is the greatest blessings of my life. Then, I had the opportunity to reinvent myself and to work on the most important relationship in my life: the one with myself. My happiness doesn’t depend on anyone else than me. I am responsible for it. I felt it was time to “ Walking home” and be who I was supposed to be, that I could use my light and my power to inspire others, with care, love and respect that we all deserve. I chose love to make peace with myself. I chose love to be compassionate with myself. I chose love cause it felt finally right in my guts. Was it easy? Sometimes yes, and sometimes not. I had to catch myself when negative thoughts were coming. I hold onto my decision, and found any ways possible to stay to that place of love until it felt so good, and so right. My wish for you is that you can find that place of love within yourself and that you start to shift your perspective on the circumstances of your life. Infusing love in your life will give you many blessings and opportunity to heal faster. It is the only way to take care of yourself and your future. It will impact everyone in your life. That being said, that doesn’t mean you have to agree with everything. That will give you the strength to finally find your boundaries, and to respect yourself. Love will help you find what works for you and what doesn't. Love will help you find what makes you feel good or not. I CHOOSE LOVE, I CHOOSE CONSCIOUS LOVE over, and over again. What do you choose now? Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca Feeling overwhelmed is part of the routine when you divorce. You can go from one emotion to another without having time to process. The roller coaster is “on” most of the time. One of the question that everybody asks me is: How do I control my emotions? This is it, you don’t control your emotions because they have a lot to teach you about how you react. If we were to rephrase the questions it will be: How do I process my emotions? The pain or the hurt comes from the way you react to a situation, not from the situation itself. The way you react to your divorce is more important and significant than your divorce itself. To make it clear, the way you react has nothing to do with your divorce. Your emotional imprints are talking out loud. Your triggers are talking out loud. Your self-limiting beliefs are talking out loud. Your blockages are talking out loud. You only get triggered by the way you have been programmed to react. Mostly based on early childhood and emotional imprints. This might be a new perspective for you at the moment, and I want to invite you to be open to the idea. The good news is, this is the perfect timing to connect to all emotions arising. You can aim to understand more about yourself. In order not to prevent you from living the life you want. Remember, everything that happened in your life, it's an experience. It has nothing to do with who you are. We tend too much to identify ourselves with our experience, or stories. You must be able to learn from your emotions. You must acknowledge them and not hide them. This is another opportunity to get to know you. Ok, Eric, what do we do when you feel sad? When you feel angry? When you feel lonely? First, don’t make it mean anything about yourself. Don't create more stories than you already did in the past. It’s ok for me to be…………..(fill with the emotion) Ex: It’s ok for me to be angry. Breathe and acknowledge the emotion. See in which part of your body it’s connected. The body can store any of your emotions for years if they are not processed. Become an observer of your own emotions, and start a new inner dialog: What is the positive intention behind……..(fill with the emotion) What is it that I have to learn from………(fill with the emotion) Whatever comes to your mind is fine. And if nothing comes, it’s totally fine, you don’t have to answer any questions. The more important is to start the inner dialog that will shift the way you think. It’s the repetition of the dialog on a daily basis that will bring answers on its own timing. The breathing is also one of the most powerful tools. You can use it at any time of the day and especially when you get triggered. Breathe deeply and slowly. Inhale through your nose filling your body and belly, exhale through the mouth. You can imagine filling your body with positive inspiration. You can imagine releasing in the exhale what does not serve you. If you allow a space for your emotions to be present and to be felt with no resistance, most of the inner work is complete. You process the emotions and then release them. Then you can focus on the next crucial question: What it is that I rather want to experience now? Keep breathing. The more you connect to your emotions, the more you connect with how you rather want to feel. The more you will be able to shift your energy in a place of possibilities. The more you feel comfortable with the way you feel, the more you can make some new agreement with yourself. You are now able to transcend some limiting beliefs, and old habits. As I love to say, it's a practice that you can start now. Start to accept the way you feel as a catalyst, as a teacher, as a way to go through your life's experiences. Don’t let your emotions define who you are. There is no need to identify yourself with the emotions. Processing your emotions is a great starting point to heal. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca Practice self care and Feel good.
What I am going to share with you is very simple. It helped me a lot. In my recovery process after my last divorce, I decided to focus myself on a daily basis on what would make me feel good. I had to redefine what is it that makes me feel alive, that makes me feel good, excited for. Once I had an idea, I would just dive into it. I would make sure that I will do it everyday no matter free time I had. Listening to music, watching a good movie, read a book of my favourite author, watching humoristic videos on youtube, going to Yoga, being in nature, planning a trip….It was a way of focusing my attention on something positive. The more you feel good, the more you want more good. The more you shift your vibration energy, and the more you connect with a part of yourself that has a tendency to hide when we face challenges. No matter how sad, or angry, or hurt, I would make sure to practice ‘THE FEEL GOOD FEELING’ on a daily basis, even if I didn't feel like it. I knew it would shift my energy. I would also make sure that I would have some ‘Me Time”. Sometimes doing nothing, sometimes reflecting, sometimes just appreciating what was good in my life. When you practice the sense of FEEL GOOD FEELING, you start being to feel amazing. I would focus first on what would make me feel good, and will choose my social life based on that feeling. I would make myself a priority, more than being selfish. The question “ Would that make me feel good? “ was always there whenever I had to take a decision, or take actions. This practice combine to being in a place of love, will give you a great sense of self care, self compassion. This will relieve weight on your shoulders. You create a new safe space that would give you comfort and more confidence. This space will open up more possibilities in your life. You become more connected with being grateful. Focusing on what is good in your life, rather than what is missing. I made that quote mine:Tony Robbins “ Trade your expectations, for appreciation”. I would literally drop any expectations of any sort, and shift my mind on appreciation. I would breathe every morning on what I was grateful for. When you practice gratitude, you are in a place of love, and you shift your mindset to beauty, and infinite possibilities. I invite to reflect on what makes you feel good? And how can you incorporate it on your daily life, first as a practice, and then as something natural and necessary to take care of yourself. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca THE EXPERIENCE IS ONLY THE EXPERIENCE. I would like to point out that we have a strong tendency to believe that we know precisely who we are. That we control our experience by being certain of who we are, when in fact, a vast part of “who we think we are” has been programmed a certain way from our early childhood and as a result begins to be the subconscious track that plays in the background and becomes the script for how we ought to behave, and how we feel others ought to behave. We are under a spell called, “We will tell you what to do, what you should do, and who you are allowed†to be”. Through no fault of our own, we have largely been living under the influence of our parents, our teachers, our school environment, the places we lived, our culture and society, the expectations of others...etc. I truly ask you to consider the question, “Are we really who we think we are”? Or can we conclude that these old beliefs are no longer serving us, and it’s time for us to soften, and to begin to let go, understanding that something more evolved will come to take the place. If we are not careful to be aware, we will fall again into the trap to firmly identify ourselves with our story, our circumstances, our beliefs on what’s possible or not. We will again make the mistake of creating our identity solely based on the circumstances of our divorce, with the sense of repeat failure, or any other dramatically limiting stories we are telling ourselves. So it’s time to break the spell. Statements: "I am not my past" "I am not my stories" "I am not my divorce" "I am not my pain" Everything we live is just an experience. It is not us. And this experience is simply how we have happened to have experienced our life. There is nothing to judge about how life has unfolded for us. There is no one to blame; not even ourselves. So therefore, our experience does not define our identity. Our experience only helps us to uncover who we really are. Every experience is an opportunity to get closer to our true self, identifying our unconscious beliefs, breaking the spells of our childhood, and breaking our past emotional imprints. My experience of life is an opportunity to break free. Deep down we already have everything we need to live fully. The human experience is a way of unravelling ourselves. That begs the question, “If I am not my experiences, who am I really?” I am who I become overcoming my challenges ¨breaking old patterns living my experiences and sharing my truth. I hope you are starting to see how this is a wonderful opportunity to begin to focus on what we really want and to go after it, with an open mind and curiosity. It’s the perfect time not to let our challenges get into the way on how we really want live our life. Isn’t it amazing? You can reinvent yourself day by day. So, Who do you want be? In summary: The experience is just the experience. It doesn’t define who I am. ● Consider that your thoughts create the way you feel. ● Consider that the way you feel create your behavior. ● Consider that your behavior create your experience. ● In order to change my experience, I have to change believing in who I thought I was, and be open to infinite possibilities. What kind of thoughts support the person you want become? Reinventing yourself is about choosing the thoughts that feels right and good for your growth. Choosing the thoughts that feel right in your heart. And it starts now. If you knew you couldn’t fail, Who would you want be? What would your life be like? Take some time to envision it, and see how you feel about it. You may want take some notes here. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca I don't take anything personally anymore, and this has been phenomenal in achieving lasting change and a greater joy in my relationship with myself and with others in the world.
I am truly amazed on how making this agreement with myself has shifted my entire life and made me free no matter what others have to say or think. I just wish I’d grown up knowing that! You probably know the feeling. Don Miguel Ruiz, the author of the book THE 4 AGREEMENTS explains it so well: “Whatever happens around you don’t take it personally. Nothing other people do is because of you. It is because of themselves. All people live in their own dream in their own mind, they are in a completely different world from the one we live in. When we take something personally we make the assumption that they know what is in our world and we try to impose our world on their world. Even when a situation seems so personal even if others insult you directly, it has nothing to do with you. What they say, what they do, and the opinions they give are according to the agreements they have in their own minds… Taking things personally makes you easy prey for these predators, the black magicians. They can hook you easily with one little opinion and feed you whatever poison they want, and because you take it personally, you eat it up…But if you do not take it personally, you are immune in the middle of hell. Immunity in the middle of hell is the gift of this agreement” Let me ask you a few questions: Do you ever feel rejected? Do you ever take seriously what people think about you? Do you ever take decisions in your life based on what people might think? Do you ever get triggered by someone’s opinion? Only a very few people don’t. We all have been in those places where we don’t feel free or empowered, just because we have not yet gotten in touch with the voice of our Inner Self. It’s time to break free especially when you are in the process of divorce, because everything will be a minefield, and there will always be a reason to take things personally. Be forewarned that the anger and the fear will take over and make it worse than usual. Take a moment, and think about it: How would your life be if you decide that the opinions of others has nothing to do with you? What would your life look like if you never took anything personally? What a revolutionary concept! What freedom you could experience your days with! All you really must do to master this concept is to make a new agreement with yourself. Once you’ve done that, love will take control over you and will make you feel belief that every decision is yours. You may want focus on experiencing more freedom, more free will, more responsibility for your actions. Ask yourself, “If I break free from other’s opinions, how would I feel?” Focus on that feeling when you want do something, make a decision, or clarify a situation. Practice this new agreement every minute of your life until you start to feel empowered by your own choices. Practice it over and over again, until it flows into your mind, spirit and soul. Mastering this agreement, you are on your way to freedom and healing. You will feel responsible for your life no matter happens around you. You will make clear choices based on what matters to you and according to your values. You will master of being aware of what is important to you, and why. Each decision makes it clearer, and you feel the power of your free will. By the way nobody loves being judged or told what to do. Act the same way with others in your life; let them be free of their decisions without being judgemental. We are all on our own journey and deep down we know what’s best for us. When you practice this agreement, you give permission and inspire others to do the same. You stop putting yourself and others in a box, and you stop relating to them through the lens of their past. You let everyone choose what they want and feel empowered by what led them to their choices. Isn’t it powerful and beautiful? When we are liberated of other’s judgements, a whole dimension of possibilities opens up and this is the beginning of a complete new experience in your life. Practice, Practice, Practice over and over again. Nothing ever happened over night. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca Without a doubt, divorce makes you feel uncertain. You don’t want to change everything in your life because you spent so many years to building it.
This change makes you feel worry about the future. You are in a place of not really knowing if you are strong enough to go through this experience. Indeed you are. And you will discover your power along the way. Like anything, you must crawl before you walk, and walk before you run. That is the journey. Part of the process of the divorce or break-up, leads us first to a place of being in shock, and in a place of denial. We strongly resist the circumstances of our lives. And the more we resist, the more the pain grows, the more we feel hurt, sad, and lonely, like a never-ending process. We very quickly feel completely overwhelmed by our emotions. Everything is amplified. Believe it or not: You are exactly where you are supposed to be. This is hard to imagine at the beginning, and you may be tempted to think, “If life were fair and if I was indeed worthy of love, how can I possibly begin to believe I am sentenced to feel this level of pain, for a reason!!?” I was there too. Exactly in your shoes. Let’s stretch your mind and let me give you another idea. How about a new perspective that I discovered for myself. So chances are , everything until now has lead you to this moment in your life where everything is falling apart, and you just can’t take it anymore. Please know that this is the exact place where you have no other choice but to trust life and to trust that there is something better. In this state, and as quickly as possible, you will want to choose to surrender yourself. When I first heard this English word “Surrender”, I felt relief without even knowing exactly what it meant at that time. Though a great amount of consideration of this word and its concept I had the sudden overwhelming understanding that I had been in resistance about everything in the past so far in my life, and was trying to force things to happen even though I realized I had no real control of anything. So I hit the ground on my knees, and having given up control entirely, I was asking for help, praying to The Universe (you can call it Love, Intuition, God, Nature or anything else that feels right for you): “Please help me to find courage, strength, and hope!” One thing I knew so clearly at this point; I wasn’t sure anymore about anything in life. That was the beginning of my surrendering process. Lost and humble I started to breathe with intent and listen to meditations for 20 minutes every morning and every night, to get myself in a place of calmness and surrender, and connectedness believing that there was a higher power that would help me soon. It was a great way to take care of myself, and to be in action. That was one of the greatest blessings I experienced, and one of the most powerful catalysts I have ever felt in the journey of healing and becoming strong again. Surrendering made me feel immediate relief. I could focus on getting better and not blaming myself anymore. As an added miracle to this process of Surrendering, I started to attract things that would made me feel better, such as: the right book to read, connecting with someone on social media that would share just exactly the right words or sentiment I needed to hear, or discovering an inspirational movie, or meeting someone who really touched and inspired me. In the decision to surrender it truly felt like the Universe was guiding me to the right places, the right moment, and so on. I learnt that Miracles happen when we shift our perspective. In fact, a miracle is just a change in perspective. What a great concept to integrate. It has been a constant reminder for my life. I believe the process of surrendering cannot be taught, you can only experience it by putting your faith in a higher power, whatever is you think the Higher power is, based on in regards to your personal belief or faith. Call it Your Inner Intuition, God, The Universe, Spiritual Energy, Love, Gaia, Nature, humanity, etc. Whatever concept fits for you. And then you will feel the shift, the connection, and the guidance you are looking for will come. This concept is a very real and very powerful one and can also work for you to bring about transformation and change. Though do be sure not to have any expectations on how the guidance and transformation will show up. Our experience is unique. I like to think that the experience we most need will show up in the perfect way and in our best interest for healing. Surrendering is giving up on your former belief system, giving up on any negative thoughts, giving up on how everything you think should be, giving up on you trying to control, and giving up on what you think is impossible. It is giving up on you being right or wrong, is giving up on your deepest fears. Surrendering is also giving up on any meaning you intend to create about your life’s experience. Surrendering is one of the most powerful gifts you can offer yourself. Go ahead and find your own experience of surrendering. Take a few moments to integrate that concept. What would your life be about if you stopped trying to control everything? What would your life be like if you knew that everything happens for your own best interest? What do you need right now to feel relief? What other thoughts would support the idea of you surrendering? Those questions are seeds you plant in your subconscious. Whether you find the answers or not, it doesn’t really matter. What matters the most is to change the dialog you are having with yourself. You will find your own powerful questions, and your own powerful answers in the right timing. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca As much as it deeply hurts us to do this, we often can’t help thinking somehow that there is something wrong with us, and that must be the reason for everything we experience in our life. Often an endless cycle of thoughts begins:
“What did I do wrong?”, “Why did I fail again?”, “How this is happening?”, and “Why couldn’t I do anything this time to make it better?”. We feel like a failure to ourselves; ashamed, angry, and guilty. We dream that there is a way of making this thing go away and somehow start to feel better. If only we could fix this. Indeed, this is normally the default place for our thoughts to go in the circumstance of our life. As a way of thinking, we focus on our circumstances and therefore, guess what? We make it mean something about ourselves. It failed, therefore I am a failure. Some examples of the voice you can hear running the show in the background of your mind are frequently: I am weak, I am not loveable, I don’t deserve to be happy, I am a failure, nobody can possibly care about me and my flaws, I am a terrible person, I am rejected. The list could be infinite, but I’m certain most of you can relate easily. Now I am telling you something very important, so do pay attention here, even if you are not yet a firm believer: THERE IS ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU. Here is the truth: You did your best and so did everyone involved (even if it’s hard now for you to imagine). We are human beings, and we make mistakes. We learn from our mistakes, and we make more mistakes. And if we don’t get to the point where we understand why we did what we did, we end up creating the same situations over and over again without being even conscious. We get caught in our mind with our thoughts, patterns, and habits and we identify ourselves with them. We become who we supposed we think we are, who we think we can’t be, who we think deserve to suffer. All of that inner thinking we have is based on our circumstances. It fact we identify ourselves with the pain we feel because the human being is addicted to suffering. Isn’t it that awful? Our circumstances run the show most of the time unless we change something. If we start to change our perspective and take every mistake as an opportunity or a blessing to learn, grow and to get closer to ourselves, things seem to shift and we begin to feel lighter. I am proof of this very concept! There is nothing wrong with you, or me, or us, or them. We are always doing our best. So whatever happened in your relationship, the most important step is to drop the story about what you make it mean. And by ‘story’ I mean that inner dialogue; the judgments and meanings that you have formed to justify everything about how you are right. Begin to seek this shift out right now. Because there is no such meaning about you being a bad person or any other story you are telling yourself. This is just what it is. Beating yourself up will just entertain the idea of failure. Your circumstances are just your circumstances, and nothing else. Don’t make it mean anything. In my own experience, finally accepting that there was nothing wrong with me gave me instant relief. I didn’t need to be fixed in any way, I only needed to accept my experience as it was, and get something out of it. I had to remind myself of this concept from time to time, but finally gave me the courage to begin to feel better. If you can begin to melt a bit and begin to warm to this possibility, then you have already won a huge battle with your wounded Self, and have made a huge step in reclaiming back some of your sense of worth. All you must do is start having a compassionate conversation with yourself. I would encourage you to start right now with this statement that begins to loosen our hold on the judgments, and start to lean towards the powerful and transformative power of compassion and love: THERE IS NOTHING WRONG WITH ME. I AM ALWAYS DOING MY BEST. I AM LOVEABLE AND WORTHY OF LOVE Close your eyes for few seconds, and repeat those words out loud or mentally, until you start to feel better. You may have to do it again and over again. Remind yourself this statement every day, until it becomes part of your belief system, part of who you become. Don’t have any expectations on how it’s supposed to help you. Just trust the process. You may be surprised to find that currently, you are in a state of feeling resistant or frozen to even allowing these words to take effect and to soften you, but have trust these are the words you are to choose to listen to from this day forward. They have a power. You may design your own powerful words and statement to get closer to the idea, that there is truly nothing wrong with you. The power also comes in the repetition and the commitment you can make towards doing this simple practice every day over the next week, the next month and ideally the months following that. Remind yourself every day, as a ritual in the morning, or at night until it becomes part of your belief system, part of who you are. I would highly recommend writing this statement on a piece of paper and put it where you can see it every day. If you find yourself other more personal or fitting powerful words or statement, I‘d love to hear them and to incorporate them if my next update’s article. Here are some examples some of my clients have shared: - I am perfect as I am and create the life I want. - I am whole and complete and free of any of my circumstances. - I am not my circumstances, and I am beyond powerful. - I am kind and open to the possibility to break free of my circumstances.- I am the love that I am and therefore use love to rise above from my circumstances. - I am worthy of love and change my thoughts accordingly. - I am loveable and have power over my life. - I am free of any judgments. Take notes here and create your own statement based on feeling good and empowered by reading it out loud. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca I was very touched by a blog post I read recently. Amy is going through a divorce. She is courageous enough to express with authenticity her journey. Whatever her process thinking is, she owns it with responsibility without blaming anyone else. She knows she has to heal the wound that causes the Guilt. Guilt is part of the Divorce process. We can feel guilty for everything, as we judge ourselves constantly. Feeling guilty is part of the healing process. Don't make it mean anything. Feel the guilt without any resistance and let it go. Eric Bensoussan
"Two days ago I told my ex that I wished our children had never been born. And in that moment, I meant it. Let me be very clear – I LOVE MY CHILDREN. They are amazing; kind, smart, loving, and a pain in the ass when they want to be. I grew them for fuck’s sake! I adore them. I really do. But sometimes, there is a resentment and a confusion around parenting that creeps in, and the guilt that goes along with this is nothing short of horrific. So, in that awful moment, as I sobbed my way to work, I was thinking that maybe my life would be somehow easier without them. Erase the children, erase the guilt. Wishing my children would disappear is a selfish thought born of denial and insecurity. It’s me, projecting my sense of self-worth onto 2 people who didn’t do a damn thing to deserve this. This divorce, this hurt, this major shit-show of a broken childhood. Any of it.(It’s not my fault, it’s not my fault, it’s not my fault). I know that I feel this way at times because of the single hardest thing for me to deal with as far as this divorce and my ‘new trajectory‘ goes, is the bone-deep guilt I feel over breaking my kids’ hearts. I do not know how to settle this within myself. Sure, I see them, and they are happy and thriving. They are still their silly selves and the acute trauma from last fall after their dad left has eased. But my guilt remains; steadfast, not budging, in my heart and in my gut. It makes me feel physically ill. All I EVER WANTED was an intact family. I never had that as a child. And now my kids won’t have that either. My inner 9-year-old is hurting badly. Again. It’s grief. I am grieving as a wife, as a mother, and as a little girl who thought she had the life she always wanted. Jesus. That is a lot. No wonder this is lingering. When they are with me, there is a constant unspoken reminder of a missing piece. I feel off-balance, off-kilter, and longing for the family unit that we once were. I struggle to be present with them because they are a constant reminder of my own shit. My hurt, my loss, my guilt, my confusion. When they aren’t with me, I can ignore that. Do my own very, single thing. I am redefining my life. I am rediscovering who I am. I am trying to rebuild myself outside of my role as a mother. I got swallowed alive by that role. And I harbor resentment toward my kids because of that. Again, not their fault. When I feel as though I wish that they had never been born, I am also struggling with this fear that no one will love me if I have 2 nearly grown kids. We are a package deal and that is not for everyone. I am responsible for 2 human beings aside from myself. Who wants to take that on? Sometimes I can barely take care of myself. If they didn’t exist, I could feel my feelings and my hurt and my upset whenever I wanted to; whenever I needed to. When I have them, if I am struggling emotionally, I have to push my feelings down as I don’t want them to worry about their mom. I have a ‘game face’ – everything is sunshine and happiness when they are with me and sometimes I just don’t have the energy to sustain that. Do I show my emotions to them? Of course, I do! I just can’t share the depth of those emotions during the times when the hurt and the fear and the ache is so primal it brings me to my knees. No one sees that. That is mine and mine alone. Okay, enough of this shit. I want to tell you about my kids. Sam is 9. He struggles with anxiety and his own sense of self-worth. He is an amazingly smart kid and loves with a sensible caution. He is an introvert and a highly sensitive person. He loves bugs, Pokemon, reading, and his family. His laugh is infectious and when he gets going, we are usually laughing at him laughing than whatever made us laugh in the first place. He doesn’t like to cry and he has a hard time feeling his feelings. I worry about him. A lot. He looks just like his dad. Ellie is 7 (soon to be 8). She is an empath and has a huge heart. I am constantly amazed at the depth and clarity with which she is able to express herself. She is a smart, kind, quiet, child. She loves with a reckless abandon and has a dry wit and silly sense of humor. She is a fierce friend and hero-worships her older brother but also stands up to him with a newfound confidence I am thrilled to see. She looks a lot like me. I cannot imagine my life without them. Their love, their hugs, their laughter and their tears.I own this resentment and this guilt, hurt, heartache, and confusion. It is mine and mine alone. And I will beat it just as I have beat the other shit that comes up. One day at a time. The Guilt Of Divorce. " Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca Behind every divorce, there is a story, a story you created. What do you make your divorce mean about yourself? Is it a true story or a biased one?
We create stories that will justify everything about why it didn't work. And then most of us start to roll across the broad spectrum of emotions. Here are some examples of stories we made up:
The list can be long, and I am sure, you can either relate or add your story to this list. Now I want to give you a new perspective. The story you created, and the meaning you added to your divorce, has nothing to do with the situation. Let’s explore more. Nobody enters into a marriage, thinking that one day it will end. It's supposed to last. Relationship is a "skill" that we can master. Yet, we've been raised thinking that relationships should come naturally. And there is nothing to do about it. We believe that love is enough to make it work. When relationships get difficult, we can’t figure out why. Part of it has to do with our unconscious beliefs around marriage and love. What we think is possible or not. We believe that love itself is enough to make it work. The minute our partner does not meet our needs, we start to feel that something is lacking. We don't understand that no one can be responsible for our needs, and happiness. We are under the spell that our partner is here to make us happy. When everything falls apart, we take it personally and make it mean something about ourselves. We start to blame our partner, and ourselves. We feel we have no control of the situation and we can't fix it. Everything you think happened, was already there anchored in your beliefs system, created by your thoughts and emotional imprints from childhood. Your marriage was only a playground for your stories and triggers. You were under a spell on how everything should be, based on your subconscious stories from the past. The reality is what was missing in your marriage, was already missing within yourself. You may not see it that way for now, and I don't blame you for it. Though this new perspective can help you to change your inner dialog. You can create a better story that will help you taking responsibility for your life. You can choose how you want to feel about it. You can create a new story that empowers you. Change the way you think, and deepen the love and the relationship you have with yourself. If you want to make things better, you have no other choice but to drop your stories. Face the reality of what is. The way you experienced your life is just an experience, and this is not who you are. There is no need to identify yourself with your circumstances. Everything uncovered is what needs be addressed within yourself to grow, and evolve. It’s a necessary discovery self-work if you are looking to improve your future relationships. You can change your old story into an opportunity. And reinvent yourself from a place of self-care and self-responsibility for your happiness. This is the beginning of you, reclaiming your personal power, strength, and confidence. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca The first emotional stage of a divorce or a break up after the shock, is often the denial.
We don't want to believe that the impossible has become possible. We often feel a sense of failure and shame, that will bring sadness and suffering. When everything in life falls apart , we have a great tendency to resist. We don't want to admit that we can't control anything that's happening in our life. We'd like to think that we can stop the bleeding and the pain through sheer resistance and denial. The reality is however: the more you resist the circumstances of your life and what's happening, the more you have no control. You will always attract what you are resisting to. You create a counter-productive energy that keeps coming back to you. It's painful, it hurts, and we experience difficult emotions such as shame, guilt, anger, resentment and more. We begin to create thoughts that will contribute to the resistance, starting by blaming ourselves, and leading very quickly to blaming others. What good does it give us? Nothing. It still hurts. Somehow you feed the beast that you want get rid of. We all know that as a human being, suffering is part of our life. As much as we want to be positive and consistently experience happiness, life has a way of throwing us some challenges. What if you start now to accept the process? What if instead of resisting, and being triggered towards anger, blame and frustration, you start to accept how you experience your life. The first step would be to just tell yourself: This is just the way I experience my life for now, and the experience is not who I am. I don't have to like the experience, I just have to go through it the best way possible. What can I learn from this experience that I don't already know? The second step is to accept that everything that is happening in your life, is supposed to be that way. What if you could have faith in life and start to believe that this is a transition time that will lead you wherever you are supposed to be. You will soon start to feel relief, and the experience somehow becomes less painful. Accepting your experience of life, is the beginning of healing and walking the path that brings you closer to your higher self. The experience doesn't define your identity, or who you are. The experience brings you closer to who you really are. Challenges bring transformation, and transformation brings you confidence in what you would never thought to be possible. All you have to do is to let go, and surrender to whatever the experience is. You observe the discomfort, and the pain, without the need of making it mean something about you. There is no meaning other than the experience itself. Who you become through the experience is what matters. Each experience will heal somehow what you need to heal. There is a big opportunity to peel the layers of your personality to get closer to your joy. I believe acceptance brings us more self-love and compassion. Acceptance is the only way to work on the most important relationship in our lives, the relationship with ourselves. Practice acceptance every day of your life, and practice again, and again, until it feels right for you, and becomes a habit. "The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance" Nathaniel Branden. Do you have a comment, question or an inquiry? What support might you need? I’d love to help you! I get many notes and emails requests and I do read every single email that comes through. To get in touch, please feel free to email me at info@ericbensoussan.ca |
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