~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The Empath Connection Newsletter
Information for Empaths and Highly Sensitive People.            
AUGUST 2008

 
     It's your friend Michael Smith, and welcome to the August 2008 issue - which is packed with information and ideas to make your life easier as an energetically sensitive individual. 
 
 
FLYING THROUGH THE NIGHT
WITH MESSAGES FROM YOUR DREAMS! 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
If you're interested in learning more about yourself and how your Spiritual and energetic antenna operates, focusing on your dreams is an excellent place to start.  The messages contained in the Dreamworld will help you decode and demystify the language of Spirit and help you make sense of the often curious energy you experience in waking life.   

As an empath or sensitive person, you're probably already a huge dreamer!  Empaths tend to be the mystics, sages, philosophers, and tend to have an intuitive understanding and natural connection to Spirit.   The language of Spirit speaks in energy and feelings, not words.  It speaks to us in wispy images, vague impressions, and little snippets of feelings and sensory perceptions.

Do you want to heighten your dream awareness?  The answer that I hear consistently from my inner power coaching clients is a strong yes!  

If that is the case for you, then it may be helpful to realize that Dream Wisdom is something that comes directly proportional to a) the strength of your intention and b) the strength of your actions. 

if you already are able to remember your dreams, give yourself a pat on the back!    Only about 5 percent of individuals regularly remember their dreams.  For the rest of us, it's a skill that takes perserverance and hard work.  Your dream "muscle" will get stronger with intention and especially with action.

Every night we have an opportunity to connect with our Highest Selves, our Guides, & our Guardians.  In order to connect with those sources of information, we need to make an effort and show Spirit that we mean business! 

Over the last 15 years of dream study, I've discovered some effective and simple techniques for helping to cultivate Dream Wisdom.  You may want to try some or all of these suggestions.  With that in mind, here are some concrete action steps and behaviors that will help you on your quest.

1) Just before sleep, voice your intention to remember dreams.  It is helpful to repeat the mantra out loud with your voice.  Using the voice helps to energetically program your cells to carry out your wishes.  This is one of the most effective ways to "program" your mind to remember dreams. 

2) Create a dream altar on a table near your bed.  On the dream altar, place a dedicated dream notebook, several pens, and have a flashlight or convenient lighting source.  I have found that placing a quartz crystal on the altar will help raise the vibration and help you tune in to the Dream frequency.

3) Date your dream journal entry before you fall asleep each night, as this will help produce an expectation to remember. 

4)  If you do not mind the intrusion into sleep, you may want to set your alarm clock to wake you at a specified point during the night.  If you are worried about waking a partner, drinking several large glasses of water prior to bed may be another way to assure you will awake (and help you to remember).

5) Establish regular sleep routines.  This means starting your night of sleep in the same position every night, as well as going to bed and waking at the same time.  Do not eat heavy meals before bed as this will interfere with your sleep cycle.


6) Upon waking, gently probe your mind and pay attention to bodily sensations.  If you don't immediately remember, stay with a feeling, and follow it deeper by asking the feeling to be amplified.    Specific recollections will often be triggered by focusing on vague feelings and sensations.  If you're in a different physical position that you were while dreaming, try shifting your body back into that position.  This will often be enough to trigger recall.  If you cannot remember an image or event, stay with even the smallest feeling, try to make it larger, and it often will trigger a memory.  
 
7) When you write down your dreams, include as much of the sensory impressions that come to mind - colors, images, sounds, tastes, people's expressions, settings, feelings, and emotions.    

8) If you do remember a dream, especially if it's in detail, make sure to write as much as you can.  If you're sleepy or feeling lazy while awakening (common), then just use your willpower to bust through that.  Even though you are groggy and tired when waking, it's worth it to write as much as you can before you forget.  Here's some text, verbatim, from one of my more amazing, and yet frustrating, dream journal entries.  It sounded like I had a near death experience.   At the top of my journal, I had written the words "I actually died." 

"I drifted away.  Things were then neutral and then sped up very fast into a vortex of life recall.  Every memory of my life happened very fast.  I was in awe."

My current reaction to reading this past entry is "that's it?"  WHY DIDN'T I WRITE MORE?   Probably one of the most amazing dreamstate experiences I have had, and I DIDN'T WRITE MORE?   This vague entry highlights the importance of taking those few extra seconds while still sleepy to be as specific and detailed as possible when writing our dream visions!

9) Some persons have reported that certain dietary supplements (e.g., lecithin, melatonin) may promote memory and dream recall. Please consult with your health care provider before starting any supplement or diet program. 

10) Check out the International Association for the Study of Dreams.   It is the best source on the web for the promotion of a social/societal focus on dreaming.  I joined ASD in 1996 and have attended past conferences, which are exceptionally fun and stimulating!


 



 

WAYS TO BE POSITIVE AND FEEL GOOD ABOUT YOURSELF 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
1.  Life is a process, not an event.  It's a journey, not a destination.  Acknowledge yourself for having made it this far and surviving all the ups and downs!

2. Have dreams, set goals, establish priorities.  You will always receive what you ask for.  What is it that you are asking for?  If you don't know, shouldn't you spend some time and clarify?

3.   Ask yourself how you can be better - a better friend, a better lover, a better son or daughter, a better human being.   Ask yourself, even after a success, "how could I have done that even better?"    Risk-taking dreamers fail but never accept it.   Never quit, never accept mediocrity. 

4.  Every action, and every thought comes from one of two places:  Love or Fear.   Where are your thoughts and actions stemming from?   If they are stemming from fear, how can you change them into a God-based Love consciousness?
 
5.  Don't react to anything!   If you react, that means you have given your power away.  Neutrality is sometimes the most helpful place to live; more helpful than being positive or negative.  To help you find your neutral center, imagine a strong Light energy running from heaven down through your body and into the Earth.   When chaos or negativity challenge you, be like a tree, roots firmly planted in the Ground, and sway with the wind instead of being thrown off your center.     And remember, you don't have to be optimistic or happy all the time.   You can instead choose to remain neutral.  Try it the next time you feel an obligation to be the strong one or the happy one.   Empaths have got those skills down!   Why not take a break from all that work!  Just BE and experience YOUR NEUTRAL CENTER.   Imagine yourself as the Buddha or sensai - unmoving, unflinching, calmly seeing and experiencing the world.  

 
 
Learning from the 12 Steps:  
Surrendering to Who we Are
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 
I just got back from a vacation out in San Francisco.  While there, I had the awesome experience of attending an AA meeting with a friend who is in recovery.  While I have been to meetings before, I was again struck by how helpful and relevant the program of AA can be to those with an inherent empathic nature
 
The first step in most 12-step programs is "we admitted we were powerless over the addiction -that our lives had become unmanageable."
 

Looking on your own experience of coming to terms with your empathic nature, how relevant is the above statement for you?
 
Part of my own empathic "recovery," if you will, was accepting that I was powerless over how I was created.   It led to a surrender, a realization that I must stop fighting my sensitivity, for my own sanity.  (Most of the
first lesson in the downloadable Empath Toolkit Series talks about how this helps). 
 
Much like an alcoholic's nervous system craves alcohol, an empath's nervous system is made to absorb & transmute energy. There's nothing you can do to change that.   Acceptance that you are powerless over your empathic nature goes a long way toward healing, especially when you realize most of the pain you feel is not yours!
 
I would love to hear your thoughts on 12-step programs and how this may apply to your empath nature.   Do you know of any 12-step programs being used for empaths?    What do you think of this idea?  If so, I'm sure the rest of our readership would love to know! 
 
And if you've never gone to a 12-step meeting, call and find out about an open meeting in your area.  





 
TAKE AN INTUITION RETREAT! 
 
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
My friend Max Highstein is a very good intuitive counselor.  Like myself, he works with clients to go beyond a simple psychic reading or intuitive impressions.  He helps you strengthen your own inner guidance and wisdom. 
 
He has one of the best intuition development programs on the market (besides my own upcoming Toolkit seminar releasing on Sept 3, 2008!).  It's so good, he's now featured at www.dailyom.com as their intution expert, alongside names such as Neale Donald Walsch.


Intuition Retreat is a great program.   Check it out here.  (I do have a stake in this!  I receive $12 for every sale).





THE EMPATH TOOL KIT:  Audio Seminar Lesson #2
DEBUTS ON SEPTEMBER 3, 2008!


"FULL SENSORY INTUITION:  
Using your Body as an Oracle to Connect with Spirit and Reveal Tangible Answers to Life's Questions."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I am again excited about the release of the next seminar in the Empath Toolkit series.   Thank you all for your amazing, amazing comments about the first seminar.   If you haven't yet downloaded the first seminar,
you've got 2 more weeks to download before I take it down for good.    (All seminars will eventually be available together in one complete package - likely in Spring 2009).


 Here's a preview of what you'll Learn in the 2nd Seminar:

* How to connect to your Guides, Guardians, & Spirit to receive answers to life's questions.
* Why "channeling" is not as mysterious as it sounds.
* How to channel your Highest Self through creative expression.
* How to tame the Ego, quiet the mind, and eliminate mental chatter
* How to invoke and use your Body as an Oracle.
* How to understand symbols, the language of Spirit, and create your own symbolic language so that your spirit guides can better communicate with you.
* Precognition:  How to properly ask for and receive knowledge of the future.

Again, be watching your inbox in 2 weeks for a short announcement of the release of this seminar along with an abbreviated newsletter.




 
HUGE SALE AT THE EMPATH STORE!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

NEW PRODUCTS AT THE EMPATH STORE!
Quartz Crystals, White Sage Smudge Kits, Crystal pouches, & Tourmaline Specimens -
all discounted & on sale for newsletter subscribers!   


EMPATH POWER KIT
The empath power kit is designed to amplify the aura using a specific combination of 10 stones & herbs with healing vibrations that absorb negativity and ground to the Earth.    ORDER YOUR KIT FOR $24.99


GEM ELIXIR SUPER CLEARANCE! 
Through a homeopathic effect these elixirs are able to align your bodies subtle energies to the vibrations of a healing stone.  

 

 




SHARE YOUR IDEAS!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

How do you like this newsletter?  Have you found it valuable?  If so, I would love to hear from you.

 
If you have something you'd like to submit to the newsletter, a great idea, an essay, an article, please let me know and I'll be happy to consider it for inclusion!

And remember, I offer INNER POWER COACHING for an introductory fee of just $35 for 50 minutes.  Learn more about INNER POWER coaching....


Until next time, keep smiling, keep moving, keep praying, and KEEP CREATING YOURSELF!


Onward!

Michael Smith, Ph.D., NCC, RPP.






 
 
 
 
 

















































 

 

 
 

 

Sign up for the Empath Connection Newsletter,
You'll also receive Dr. Smith's FREE E-course,  
"Passionately Stalking Inner Power."

  Primary Email:
Email privacy guaranteed. 


Home             
About Dr. Smith
            
Classes & Workshops
   
Contact