Listening – To Yourself

Part of this blog is from a post I wrote several years ago. I wanted to share it again. I have been hearing a lot about listening to ourselves, especially during the times we are going through.

Listening, observing, witnessing, finding out how the person experiences what bothers them is what I do as a homeopath. I think I am a good listener, to others, but maybe not so good at listening to myself, hearing myself.

Are We Listening To Ourselves?

For me, sometimes, I am easily swayed or influenced by what other people say to me, or are doing. I need time afterwards to sift through, and process the information and energy of others. As a society, we are bombarded by all sorts of information, almost instantaneously and continually. From that we often think we need to be doing this or that, feeling this or that, comparing ourselves to others, and ultimately not being in tune with ourselves. We may not be listening to our own needs and wants, and who we are as an individual person.

Listening is not just with our ears. It is what we sense about ourselves and around us, and how we feel, inside. Our gut feeling.

Our bodies can tell us a lot of how we are reacting to a situation. Our thoughts tell us too. These reactions, responses and thoughts are often autonomic. We go to them immediately. Physically, we may get sick, which is a way of telling ourselves to slow down, to pause, to rest and to listen. Our head hurts. Our stomach grumbles and hurts. Our digestion may be off. A rash breaks out. We breath shallowly, maybe panting. Our heart beats faster. Our hands get sweaty. come down with a cold. We are not sleeping well. Emotionally, we may feel angry, fearful, shamed, irritated, annoyed, impatient, bored, unsettled or hurt. Mentally, we may have persistent thoughts that could be negative, almost looping around and around and around.

I sometimes think we may need to call ourselves on the phone, so we will actually listen to ourselves.

“Hey, Pam, I want to tell you this….”

Listening To Ourselves

• What am I feeling?
• This doesn’t feel right to do or feels right to do – about a relationship, a job, an opportunity, an event.
• Don’t know what to do further in this creative work, will wait. Now I know what to do! Took the time to listen.
• This person is doing this activity or has this belief. Is this something I want to do or believe in? Shall I go along with this person or not?
• Following a dream, a passion, a trip that you have always wanted to take.
• Should I? Shouldn’t I? (Shoulds are usually something to avoid.)
• My body is not feeling right. What is my body telling me?
• Time to rest, even if others are continuing.
• Am I reacting?
• The group is doing this, it doesn’t feel right to me.
• Even if this person is an expert, I will get another expert’s opinion.
• I am going to be quiet for awhile, so I can hear my voice, listening to what I am saying.
• Am I speaking my voice with other people?
• Am I speaking and hearing my own voice?
• What does my voice sound like?

Listening To Me

I do artwork. I have done artwork off and on for most of my life. When I talk about the process of doing art work, I say that I listen to the piece that I am working on, almost as if the piece is telling me what to do next, what color to use, what line to draw and more. When I think (I am pointing to my head) of what to do, it doesn’t work. When I let the art work tell me, it works. It is a feeling or sense to do this ________. Is this the art telling, or me telling me? Whatever it is, it is listening to that.

A Video With Oprah Winfrey And Iyanla Vanzant

Below is a video of a conversation between Oprah Winfrey and Iyanla Vanzant from the program SuperSoul Sunday. They talked about pausing, staying present, and using your own spiritual GPS, instead of doing what we always do. The video is about 1:36 minutes long. Enjoy.

https://www.facebook.com/SuperSoulSunday/videos/1765656943481818/?t=22

Homeopathy To Heal

When I work with a patient, I am witnessing what is bothering them. I often say, that the patient and I are witnessing them together. Witnessing is listening. I am listening to the patient. And the patient is listening to themselves.

I invite you to contact me if you or a loved one have a health issue that has not resolved. I work with people of all ages. I offer a complimentary 15+ Get Acquainted Call. You can contact me here on this blog or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com. I work with people both in person and virtually in and out of the San Diego, California, area. I look forward to hearing from you.

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Giving Space

This past week I was reminded about how space is given in the appointment when I see a patient.  Space to talk, to show, to express what is bothering them. Nothing had changed in this particular appointment on how I meet with a patient. I was just reminded of it. I felt and feel a deep respect and wonderment on how homeopathy can give the kind of space that a person needs.

My job is to witness what is bothering the patient. I have learned over the years to meet the patient where they are. To be flexible. Where they are now is where we start in the healing process, giving the homeopathic remedy that is similar to them at this time.

How Some Patients Are

Some patients are very factual in their telling of what is bothering them, relating numbers of tests, or not elaborating on how they experience their symptoms. This may be what they are used to when going to a health practitioner. Many times it is a physical symptom or a specific name/label/diagnosis that has brought them in for homeopathic care.

In addition to telling me about their physical symptoms, some patients talk about their emotional state. Often sharing a story, a situation, or a relationship that they are in now or were in the past, and how they feel about it. How it affects or affected them.

Some patients may not say so much about their physical symptoms. They talk more about the world they life in, their reality, feeling that something is not quite right about it. Often they will say, “This doesn’t make sense”, or “I don’t know what I am saying”, and continue to talk. This is what happened this past week with a patient. I have had people say “I sound crazy” or “This is crazy what I am saying”.

If the person is non verbal, such as a baby, they are expressing themselves in other ways than in words. Wherever the persons speaks from and however they speak.

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I want to mention again how homeopathy can be helpful when someone has coronavirus; for someone who has had the virus and is continuing to not feel well; and someone who may have had a reaction to the vaccine.

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I work with people of all ages who have a persistent and ongoing health issue and are not feeling as good as they know they could. Despite doing different healing treatments, they feel their health issue has not been resolved and have no clue on how to do so. We work together to get to the root cause of their health issue, and heal there.

I invite you to contact me here on this blog or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com. I have a complimentary 15+ minute Get Acquainted Call. I work with people both virtually and in person in and out of the San Diego area.

Listening To Yourself

Listening, observing, finding out how the person experiences what bothers them is what I do as a homeopath. I think I am a good listener, to others, but maybe not so good at listening to myself, hearing myself.

Are We Listening To Ourselves?

For me, sometimes, I am easily swayed or influenced by what other people say to me, or are doing. I need time afterwards to sift through, and process the information and energy of others. As a society, we are bombarded by all sorts of information, almost instantaneously. And from that we often think we need to be doing this or that, feeling this or that, comparing ourselves to others, and ultimately not being in tune with ourselves. We are not listening to our own needs and wants, and who we are as an individual person.

Listening is not just with our ears. It is how we feel, inside. Our gut feeling. Our bodies can tell us a lot: our physical reactions and our emotional responses. These reactions and responses are often autonomic; we go there immediately. Physically, we may get sick (really telling ourselves slow down and listen): our head hurts, our stomach grumbles, a rash breaks out, we breath shallowly, we come down with a cold. Emotionally, we may feel angry, fearful, shameful, irritated, annoyed, impatient, bored, or hurt.

I sometimes think we may need to call ourselves on the phone, so we will actually listen to ourselves. “Hey, Pam, I wanted to tell you this….”

Listening To Ourselves

Listening:

• this doesn’t feel right to do, or feels right to do – a relationship, a job, an opportunity, an event. This does feel right.
• don’t know what to do further in this creative work, will wait. Now I know what to do!
• this person is doing this activity or has this belief, should I do this or believe this too? Shall I go along with this person or not?
• following a dream, a passion, a trip that you have always wanted to do.
• should I? Shouldn’t I? (Shoulds are usually something to avoid.)
• my body is not feeling right.
• time to rest, even if others are continuing.
• am I reacting?
• what am I feeling?
• the group is doing this, it doesn’t feel right to me.
• even if this person is an expert, I will get another expert’s opinion.
• I am going to be quiet for awhile, so I can hear my voice, listening to what I am saying.
• am I speaking my voice with other people?
• am I speaking and hearing my own voice?
• what does my voice sound like?
• what is my voice saying?

Healing                                                                                                                                                 

To listen we need to be quiet, taking the time to be with ourselves. Going to a nurturing physical space, and a nurturing space within us. Honoring and respecting what we hear and what we feel. Being with it.

Listening is a muscle that we develop the more we use it. It is a practice. It is healing to listen to ourselves, and to be listened to by others, professionals and/or friends.

Are you listening to yourself?

I invite you to do so. And if I can be of any help regarding listening, and/or with homeopathy, I invite you to contact me here on this blog, or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com.

 

 

Using Skype For A Homeopathic Appointment

Last week I wrote about making a house call to see a patient. This week, I want to talk about using Skype for a homeopathic consultation appointment. In a way, it is like making a house call; you can see a little bit of the patient’s environment. I use Skype with patients who do not live locally to the San Diego area; patients who may not be able to come in for an appointment; or patients, who may live locally, but a house call is not feasible.

Using Skype

Mostly, I use Skype with patients that don’t live in the San Diego area. I have several patients with whom I work with this way. Skype is a free program, that one downloads from the internet. It is easy to use. You do need a camera that is either part of the computer, or you can purchase a separate camera that attaches to the computer. Skype has enabled people to communicate visually and audibly with each other from all over the world.

Important To See The Patient

As a homeopath, it is important to see the patient. I do quick check ins with a patient through emails, texts, and/or phone calls, but for the initial consultation, and for follow up appointments, seeing the patient is crucial.

 

When I meet with a patient, either in person or through Skype, I am listening and seeing what it is that bothers them. As the patient is talking, they will often use a hand gesture, move their body in a certain way, sit a certain way and/or be expressive with their face. These movements may come when certain words or descriptions are spoken or when they are sensing something within. All of this, their gestures and movements and their language is expressive of how they experience what bothers them.

As I have said in other posts, it is like getting into their world, hearing and seeing the perceptions and sensations of the person, and understanding their language. This is so whether they have a physical, an emotional, a mental, or a spiritual complaint/issue/symptom that brought them initially in for homeopathic care. It is finding out about the whole person. A homeopathic remedy is given that is similar to the wholeness of the person. This homeopathic remedy stimulates the person’s innate healing abilities.

This Post

I write this post because some of you who read my blog may not live locally to San Diego, and are interested in homeopathy for yourself or for a loved one. Skype is a very good way to have an appointment when there is a distance.

I would be happy to talk further with you on how homeopathy can be of help for you. Please contact me here, or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com.

 

 

Being With Someone

Can we be so unbiased that we can just be with someone and hear? See  who this person is? Can we quiet down our inner chatter? Not wondering what to do or what to say to this person, while we are listening?

Can we just be? Not letting our own feelings of discomfort come up, and then say things from that place, such as this is what I think you need, or this is what is bothering you, or I had that too, or this is how it was for me, or something something that we think may perk up the person, but it is really helping us. Can we just not blah blah? And instead, just be, even if we are uncomfortable?

I wrote about “listening through” in one of my blog posts. Click here to read this blog. Some of what listening through is being in an unbiased, open place as a listener. Doing this listening with a patient, with a friend, with the person who is in front of us. And to be just with them. Knowing, on some level, that we are separate from each them, and also not separate. Letting the person be, just be.

I had shared this video on my Facebook page of Oprah Winfrey and Thich Hnat Hanh talking in one of her Super Soul Sunday programs. I want to include it here on this blog for you to view. Oprah Winfrey and Thich Hnat Hanh talk about deep listening – to help relieve suffering from the person who is talking. It is compassionate listening. Through this kind of listening, Thich Hnat Hanh says that we learn about the other person’s perceptions and learn about our own perceptions. It is helpful in all kinds of relationships – personal, family, work, friends, between countries, and between those who have different beliefs.

 

 

This video made an impression on me. I would like to say that a similar compassionate listening is done in a homeopathic consultation, or at least that is the intention. To be a blank slate. To be an unbiased and open listener. It is hearing and witnessing the person’s suffering – physically, emotionally, mentally, and/or spiritually. Giving space. And being with this person.

The word homeopathy means “similar suffering”. The homeopath listens to the person’s suffering, to what is bothering them, and how they experience their suffering. Then the similar to the suffering is given in the form of a homeopathic remedy. This homeopathic remedy stimulates the person’s innate healing abilities. And they start to feel better and well.

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I would be happy to talk to you further. Let me know if I can be of help to you. Contact me either here on this blog, or through my website http://www.homeopathytoheal.com.

 

“Listening Through” To Really Hear What Bothers The Person

People come to homeopathy for all sorts of reasons. For physical complaints, like asthma, arthritis, digestive issues, headaches, menstrual issues, and allergies. For emotional issues, like fears, anxiety, depression, anger, and grief. For mental issues, like difficulty focusing and memory loss.  And for other concerns. Whatever the reason is that brings someone to homeopathy, it is always where the person is listened to, heard, and seen for who he is, and for what bothers him. Lately, I have been calling this “listening through”.

Not Being Bogged Down In The Story

Listening through. It is not getting bogged down into the literalness of what the person is saying, Not getting involved in the story, the specficness of the story, or the characters the person is talking about. Not getting involved in the emotionality of the story. It is rather, what is the story expressing? What is the sensitivity that this person experiences, that is expressed in this story? Someone may be talking about their brother-in-law, or their boss in the story. The person is really talking about himself. What is the sensitivity here, that is being expressed through the brother-in-law or the boss?

Hand Gestures

Listening through. It is also watching, observing and seeing where the emphasis of what bothers the person is being expressed. This is done often by hand gestures, recurring hand gestures. The hand gestures are showing that what the person is saying is important, that it is expressive of their state of what is bothering them. For example, a patient of mine, was talking about the pain she experiences in her hands, and as she was talking about it, she was making a hand gesture of tightly closing her hands together and then opening them up. I asked, what is that that you are doing? Tell me more. It is squeezing, she said, a sensation of tightening, tightening really tight, squeezing.

The gestures could also be facial expressions, or bigger movements, such as continually moving around in their seat or moving around the room. Another patient of mine, a young girl, crawled and crept around my consultation room, going behind the chairs, under the desk, and into the corners of the room.

All of these kinds of movements – hand gestures, facial expressions, larger movements – are expressive of the person.

Learning The Person’s Language

Listening through. It is also learning the person’s language, Deciphering their code. Getting to know their language, their use of words and their movements. What do they mean by the words and expressions they use? It is not interpreting. It is learning what the person means by the words or expressions spoken. That is why I often ask, tell me more about what this (word) means to you, or what is the experience or sensation of this “word” for you. I know what the word means for me, but I don’t know what it means for the person.

And some of what someone is saying will not make sense in terms of our every day use of language. The person is speaking their language, which is expressive of what is bothering them.

Listening Through

Listening through. Listening to. Listening openly. Listening without prejudice. Listening without judgement. It is listening to the person to understand them as an individual, and from that to give a homeopathic remedy that is similar to all of it. The homeopathic remedy stimulates their healing.

Healing With Homeopathy

Is there a place where you feel you are being listened through? That what is bothering you in your health is really understood and seen?  That is what homeopathy does. Please contact me here through my blog or through my website www.homeopathytoheal.com to talk further. I have a complimentary 15 minute Get Acquainted Call.