Author Archives: Georgia Cammann

Mental Health Rides on Relationship… Eco-Psychology

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OK… so think about it… Hopefully most of us eventually figure out that to have a healthy, symbiotic relationship with another person, it’s necessary for BOTH parties to make a concerted effort to “water & feed the garden” so to speak. We have to put the necessary time into tending it or it dries up. If it’s just beginning to show signs of deterioration, you can start watering it again & you might be fortunate enough to see it sprout back to life but you wait too long & it dies at its roots & then it’s too late. For both parties to survive in it… they BOTH have to pay attention.

That’s also a perfect metaphor for our relationship with the Earth & Natural World. The last time I checked, this is where we humans get everything we need to have access to in order to survive… clothing, food, air, water, shelter… the basics. I always wonder how we can be so arrogant to think we can just go along continuing to systematically mow down the forests which contribute to the air we breathe & provide homes for creatures which provide so much & share our world with us… to genetically engineering our foods to look “perfect” on the outside & yet not only provide less nutrients but also create new allergies (think gluten)… to raising  animals in such inhumane, horrific ways  for our desires and uses or killing off those which we don’t care to have around…  to dumping toxins into our waters until a “good, SAFE” rule for our seafood is just not to eat more than “the suggested” amount in a given time-period. Is this what it’s come to?? Mankind has literally almost bitten off the hand that feeds it… a very delicate & perfectly balanced one at that. The list seems almost endless regarding the disrespect our species has shown for this planet in so many ways.

With all the current chaos within our communities here & around the globe, anxiety is more prevalent than ever. It’s at the root of many mental health issues which might not have come forward at all without that push. We have teens & young adults depending on medications like Xanax to cope instead of healthier ways like exercise, nutritious eating & learning how to get centered.

When we go against the natural balance of anything, we hurt ourselves as well. It’s a Universal Law based on physics. The ancient societies throughout time knew & lived by this wisdom, not only in relation to Mother Earth but also with themselves and others. We’ve forgotten how to connect with each other beyond our latest & greatest “devices”… to go deeper… to be curious. It also creates a society which is too “drugged” on many levels to take its own Power back which makes us ripe for the picking for those who have other agendas.

Spending even 15 to 30 minutes daily outside… feet on the earth… is immensely helpful in keeping us grounded & tuned in to a different set of priorities that SHOW us how to RESIDE IN THE MOMENT… to BREATHE… to have ENOUGH… to BE enough. This isn’t the place where anxiety flourishes. It’s the core of true wisdom which was here long before any of the rest of it.

                                              GET CURIOUS… REMEMBER…

Mental Health… So what’s in a label?

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Among the countless things I don’t know is one thing I’ve learned FOR SURE… life is anything but black and white… neat and tidy! It comes instead, in a spectrum of shades… often overlapping according to facts and perspective. The issue of mental health falls perfectly into this conundrum. We seem to have a need to define everything and give it a name. It makes us feel safer… more in control regardless of how far from the truth that really is.

The professional field of mental health has historically been broken in many ways. A diagnosis can only be as accurate and effective as the tools used to assess any given situation along with the insight and training of the psychologist and or psychiatrist making that assessment. Until recently due to a lack of funding and priorities, the human brain has not been studied beyond a certain point. The tendency has always been to view the issue from only part of our human spectrum which is only a slice of the entire pie. The reality is we’re all made up of physical, emotional, mental and spiritual bodies… each just as essential as the next and all connected and symbiotic.

Good therapists are worth their weight in gold but sadly those who aren’t seem to far outweigh them. This has been not my personal experience repeatedly but also mirrors the opinions of many friends and peers of mine in this field who have identified this as a real problem as well. Nobody in a healing profession can be effective unless they’re willing to also do their own personal work. People are often drawn to professions like these because of their own tough experiences and a sincere desire to help others. What they don’t yet understand however is we can’t help anyone else unless we’re willing to help ourselves first. When we know better… we do better. Knowledge gained through books and class-time is very different from wisdom. This is what we gain from going through the process ourselves. It shifts our perspectives and the way we deal with everything and everyone around us. Otherwise, it becomes just another way to avoid our “stuff” by focusing on someone or something else. That’s not empowering for either party!

Unfortunately, the propensity for life-long damage to someone who is incorrectly diagnosed or mishandled by the so-called “professional” they’ve sought help from can be heart-breaking. It certainly has been for me as I’ve listened to countless personal stories from clients and friends who have suffered the repercussions of being incorrectly diagnosed and labeled. They’ve all held the belief that they WERE their diagnosis… somehow less than everyone else… flawed… not worth having a joyful life or a healthy relationship. In every single case, they could not have been more wrong. NOBODY should go into the field of mental health unless they’re empathic and compassionate enough to see and understand the perspectives of those they are supposed to serve. The damage I’ve witnessed from ignorance on the part of the professional who should know better has left me many times with my mouth hanging open in amazement.

Learning to truly identify who we are at our authentic best requires letting go of the antiquated beliefs that keep us stuck, powerless and unable to see the bigger picture and truth of it. Becoming aware of the labels which hurt and shame so many and keep them hostage is something everyone of us can and should do. It also means having the courage to speak up when we hear or see someone doing something counter to that. At our cores, THAT is who we ALL are.

GET CURIOUS…. REMEMBER…

The Labels We Live With…

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Years ago, I worked in the fashion industry. At that age I was drawn to it’s fast-paced creativity and the opportunity for travel but as I began to learn more about why items were marketed the way they were, I began to get a broader understanding of the meaning a lot of people give to a name or trademark on a label and how we’re so often manipulated by that. The funny thing is… clothing as well as many other items are routinely produced using the exact same materials from the same manufacturers. The only difference between them as they hit the store shelves & public awareness are the “labels” put in place beforehand…. OH!… and the price! One may have the “high-end” name of a popular and pricey brand while another may have a label from a discount store at cheaper price. It’s usually referred to as “private label” in the industry. The unsuspecting public falls prey to being “slaves to the label”… giving their power away by spending more of their hard-earned money for nothing more than a tiny emblem and the belief that they’re somehow not enough without it.

Negative labels attached to a person, most especially early in life, form their own opinions and ideas about who they are as well as those of others suffering from the same skewed perspective. We all come as spirits into this life healthy and whole with the prior agreement and intention of learning what we need to progress in a bigger, higher picture beyond here. WE ARE NOT DEFINED BY OUR DISABILITES, ISSUES OR SHORT-COMINGS. These are nothing more than lessons and lessons they’ll continue to be until we “get it”.

We are so much more…                                     
 GET CURIOUS…. REMEMBER….

 

Recognizing Shame and Finding Grace

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african angel

Sometimes the best avenue for really understanding the value of something is to view it from the polar-opposite perspective first. “Dis-grace”…. When have you felt shame & embarrassment over not measuring up to someone else’s ideals? Although we need to be self-policing, I have continually met & worked with SO many people who carry such immense shame that was never theirs to own…often through entire cultural histories… always caused by abuse & a lack of respect & value for them as individuals, usually very early on. Their shame blinded them to their own value & ability to make better choices for themselves. I’ve always recognized it in their eyes.

The good news is at the end of each & every day, we’re our own jail-keepers. That truth allows us the opportunity to stand in our own Personal Power and re-define ourselves. As tempting as it may be to place blame for our decisions on someone or something else, we truly disable ourselves by not recognizing & accepting responsibility for our own “stuff” & allowing others to do the same. Our human mistakes are how we learn what we’re actually capable of & we remain stuck & disabled when we’re “rescued” from that… whether through good intentions or forced slavery. And yes… what doesn’t “kill” us, actually does make us stronger!

I watched African American adults in the South where I grew up for 10 years during the 60’s & 70’s, carry themselves in shame… heads down… shoulders rounded… adults unable to look me eye-to-eye even in my youth.  I was a 21-year old, blue-eyed, blond intern working with their children… the ONLY Caucasian in that entire, inner-city, elementary school. I also felt the sting of being treated by the staff there as not worthy of acknowledgement which I eventually realized in hindsight was just their shame manifested in another form.

I interacted with wonderful, loving Africans in Jamaica who carried great shame from their own slavery into their culture in so many insidious ways. Their people were only emancipated in the 60’s & in a more passive-aggressive effort to speak to their pain & anger over losing their freedom; they ceased to create their vibrant art during their enslavement. The poverty in which they live leaves them feeling very much “less-than” the many tourists & elite but very small upper-class there. They fear being judged & defined by it.

The energy work I’ve been involved in with various Native American, tribal communities over the years is yet another example of a gifted people who have been so lost in the painful issues that have plagued them for generations…alcohol, drugs, physical abuse, suicide, etc. They still hold great, intrinsic wisdom and insight through their DNA from their early ancestors but collectively they’re unable to see the higher vision of themselves through the lens of shame they’ve carried even though it doesn’t belong to them. It was put in place long ago when their way of life was crushed along with their spirits by the early settlers who took away their right to choose the life they had embraced & flourished in.

Enslavement of any kind robs humanity of its Self-Love & higher vision of itself. As Maya Angelou so simply & wisely put it… “When we know better…we do better.” Sometimes it takes some assistance from others who can hold up that vision for someone of who they truly are until they can see it for themselves. Every person needs to “see” who they came here to be… underneath the layers of painful “lessons” we all tend to collect in our lives. If we don’t discover who we authentically are, how can we really know our purpose? We ALL have one.

Because our thoughts so very much create our realities, learning to live in “GRACE” is profoundly important. Grace is not perfection but rather the ability to see the Higher…Bigger Picture of things so we can gain a more realistic perspective & then to “let go” and allow it not only for ourselves but everyone else. It is and always will be an inside job!

   “GET CURIOUS …. REMEMBER”

Finding the Freedom to be Who We’re Meant to Be

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A few years ago I was in the business of using design and color to invoke interest and feeling in various homes which were going on the market. I noticed a wide the variety of colors in the rich, abundant and beautiful woods in my neighborhood. The branches of the trees mottled with white spots that looked like randomly splattered paint and that vibrant, neon-green lichen especially caught my eye and my creative juices began flowing as I imagined using pieces of them in a variety of ways in my design projects. I thought to myself, “This idea will give me a nice, little, creative edge in my work!” The field of staging had become fairly competitive by then.

Then one day as I entered the Interior Design Center showrooms in downtown Seattle, I was surprised to see those same beautiful branches displayed just as I had imagined them! How could that be? There was no way they had copied the idea from me. I then began to see décor from the natural world more and more in a variety of stores and catalogs. I later came to understand it was the Universe’s way of beginning the push to re-connect mankind and Nature, something the majority of mankind had lost long ago. There was a Higher reason.

This phenomenon occurred many times, in many ways after this first realization and my training in the field of physics & energy allowed me to finally understand the dynamic at play in these situations. Just as we learned in school, everything is made up of energy. This also includes our thoughts and words… ALL of them!

There exists a field of collective consciousness which is fed on a continual basis by the masses. We each contribute to it but we also” receive” from it… usually without even realizing it.

This poses two important issues well worth our consideration:

1-      With this in mind, WHAT IF… mankind began to be more aware, disciplined & responsible regarding individual thoughts and words? It’s the Law of Reverberation in the science of physics… The energy put forth multiplies ten-fold and reverberates back again, continuing to expand ten-fold. That offers a whole different perspective for the individual and collective power we humans actually have to affect change instead of the hopelessness and helplessness we so often feel instead. Could it be that the problem was never about our Power but simply about seeing it from a different point of view?

2-      Our thoughts aren’t always our own. So how do we determine which are actually ours vs. someone else’s? The only way I’ve found for myself to recognize what’s mine is to continually work to get to know myself. It’s an inside job and what it lacks in simplicity it more than makes up for in personal benefit! I was continually “told” growing up I was” supposed” to be this or do that. Ahhh… those lovely expectations we all seem to get saddled with early on in life… I was presented with a variety of labels and beliefs leading me to assume I was simply a “genetic-sponge” destined to follow in the footsteps of my family members… for better or worse. Despite it all, I discovered my own truth. My authentic self… the person I truly came here to be… was none of those things at all. In fact, I’m much more than the sum of them all! Who knew?!

If you’re someone who really values the FREEDOM to be who you’re meant to be & to live your own life being true to that (maybe with a little adventure along the way to boot!…), this is an excellent place to take that first step.

To really claim our authentic selves, we have to first recognize who we AREN”T.

GET CURIOUS AND HUNGRY FOR WHAT’S INSIDE AND THEN GET READY TO BE SURPRISED & EMPOWERED!

Who Am I?

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Check out my blog where I’ll be sharing new perspectives on old issues. Stretching isn’t just good for our bodies!

I’ve always been one for looking outside-the-box for what isn’t always easily and neatly explained. My innate curiosity eventually turned into a quest to find answers and explanations for us as humans and as spiritual beings. At times this has required a certain amount of tenacity which eventually earned me the illustrious nickname… “energetic cowgirl” (boldly riding the dimensions in passion and truth”)!  Humor is it’s own form of powerful energy… What I’ve discovered along the way has been miraculous. I often say I’m never really surprised much anymore but I’m ALWAYS in a state of amazement and gratitude!

Most of what exisits in this Universe is unseen and our human perspectives are often the only things which need to shift or change to allow us to see it all. It must begin as an inside job… being hungry for who we really are… on an authentic level. Once we begin to see beyond the false layers & woundings we’ve been carrying around, we also begin to get a sense of our purpose for being here and believe me… we ALL have one.

I am a healer, teacher, consciousness activist & communicator, artist, writer , speaker & a shamanic warrior for empowering and supporting  Youth, Women & our Natural World. I’m also continually in the adventurous process of working to know my Higher Self. It’s never an event but rather a process and I encourage everyone to get hungry and curious about themselves and this amazing Universe we live in. Magic is real… it just doesn’t look like a rabbit being pulled from a hat!