I am so grateful to be taking a class on overcoming negativity addiction. This class is teaching me that when I am triggered I have a choice; either indulge the addiction and remain unhappy, distracted and disconnected, or "vibeswitch" and catapult my life experience into one of joy, love and laughter.

It is my desire to share with you my recovery from overcoming this addiction and also teach you the techniques I am learning to switch to a higher & happier frequency. It is with a happy heart that I encourage you to join me in this journey. The class is taught by Denise Coates and Macha Einbender You can learn more and sign up here:

http://www.overcomingnegativityaddiction.com/

There are two very important keys that need to be put into practice on this journey:
1. Diet

What you put into your body creates the precursors for all your biochemicals so it is very important to be eating lots of live food. Clean and healthy cells create a healthy and happy person. I started juicing and eating salads 8 months ago and have never felt better! The book Raw Food Life Force Energy by Natalia Rose was the catalyst for me and I highly recommend reading it and applying the principles while doing the ONA Class.
2. Find a Vibe switching buddy (or posse)
Choose someone who you can call when you're indulging the addiction and they can call you in return. It feels good being supported and knowing that you can give support when someone else is in need.

Awareness of being Triggered  
The 1st step in this process is gaining awareness of being triggered. It is easy to tell when you have been triggered because your bloodstream gets flooded with biochemicals that create feelings of worry, anger, resentment, sadness, or defensiveness, lack, anxiety... you get the idea... Your mind and negative emotions take over and before you know it you are in a funk!

Hormonal and emotional shifts are normal as you change your biochemical frequency and body chemistry, realizing this helped me understand that I am literally changing my identity and that I need to be gentle on myself through the process.

Vibeswitching
Vibe switching is taking the awareness of being triggered, acknowledging it, and using techniques that change the feelings and biochemicals from negative to positive ones. It's important to switch the vibe within 30 sec. to 3 min. of the trigger to interrupt the pattern of the negative biochemical fix. Once you realize you have been triggered say to yourself, "I have been triggered," or "I am in my negativity addiction." This immediately gives compassion to yourself and the situation.

The first week after I learned about this process I found it easy to switch my vibe when small things would trigger me, and I started feeling happier and happier. Then along came "the big trigger test" and I have to admit that I bombed! After being triggered I felt my throat tighten up so much that it became painful for me to swallow. I was trying on shoes in the store and I didn't want to make a scene, I felt like crying but instead repressed the feelings outwardly but inside my body's negative chemicals were flooding my bloodstream.

Thinking I could deal with it later (denial), I put off switching my vibe, but I felt myself spinning out of control into my negativity addiction. It wasn't until 2 days later that I was actually able to switch my vibration frequency to a higher state. Boy did I miss the 30 sec. to 3 min. window- by a long shot. It is okay that I didn't do it perfectly the 1st time because this is a learning process and I know if I keep practicing the techniques I can raise my frequency to happy vibes quicker each time until it is the automatic response.

After muscling through 2 days of the funk I was led through a beautiful meditation by Macha at the end of the second class and I started to feel my heart open back up, my vibe switched to a higher frequency of love, compassion and gratitude. Feeling the soft gentleness of the meditation I finally allowed the sadness and grief to flow through me instead of becoming stuck inside and now I feel lighter, happier and more connected than before the trigger. After the clearing my heart actually felt a little sore from being closed for 2 days, but knowing there are all these awesome tools keeps me moving forward through this journey because after "the work" of vibeswitching I feel sooOo goOod.


I learned that I don't need to muscle through bad vibes and that I must be meticulous about vibe switching, even if I am in the shoe department, put the shoes down, go to the bathroom or out to my car and vibe switch! There is so much to be gained if I do. No outside force is necessary to get to a blissful happy state, just directing my feelings to pump happy biochemicals into my system. I love this!

Techniques for Vibe Switching:

1. Love & Feeling Compassion

Use this technique when feeling perfectionistic, resentful, separated, being hard on others or yourself, judging yourself, being separated, or when someone is unkind or mean.

 
First open your heart and feel love and compassion for yourself. Ask, "What can I do to be more loving and compassionate with myself?" Second give love in the form of a tangible act of kindness to another living being, either a person, animal or plant.

When my heart is open, I am happy and I feel high.

Giving is such a powerful vibe switch because it brings you out of an egotistical state and back to oneness and connectedness with everyone and everything. It feels very spiritual. It's best to give to someone who is easy to give to (i.e. a child), and at 1st someone other than who triggered you. Also, don't give out of fear, because you are expecting something in return or because you are people pleasing. Give to switch your vibe. Warning: Giving is also proven to build your self esteem, how does it get any better than that?

Recommended ways of giving to get you started: give a hug, donate $, shoes or clothes, pay toll or coffee for person behind you, take flowers to nursing home, walk a pet, fertilize a plant, send a card, or call a friend and ask, "What can I do for you?”
 
The day after learning the love and compassion vibe switch lesson I was hanging out in traffic with my husband when some firemen holding boots came around to the cars looking for donations. "You have got to be kidding me..." I started to think when I caught myself. "I am in my negativity addiction," I said out loud. " We gotta give!" My husband looked at me like I had lost my marbles. I'm normally very picky about the organizations I donate too, but soon I convinced him to hand over some dollars and we gave. The tangible act of kindness helped both of us switch to a higher frequency.
 
As we went about our day we became more conscious of opportunities to give. We visited a friend and showed up with her favorite drink, a hot cocoa, and that simple act had us all joy buzzing. I padded the tip at dinner and the surprised look on the servers face had me giddy inside! I gave extra time to a friend in need instead of shoo shooing him out the door. 

But the most profound change was the interactions with my children that night. Instead of being in my head and emotionally unavailable to them I was present and happy and they noticed and were calmer and more at peace. Ironically, the book my son chose for me to read him that night, The Giving Tree, By Shel Silvertein, had me in tears of joy, my heart is overfull with gratitude and happy biochemicals.


2. Having Fun & Being Silly
Use this technique when I am ruminating or in my story.  
 
Okay so I missed this class because I was having fun and being silly with my brothers over Labor Day weekend, but what I gathered about this class is that laughter and silliness are energetically compatible with our source energy. When we are in our NA (negativity addiction) we can vibeswitch by watching a funny clip, dancing, singing, anything to make us laugh. Laughter aligns the chakras, balances the nervous system, and releases happy biochemicals plus lots of other good things too. Sometimes when we have been triggered and this seems impossible, just being willing to laugh opens up the door to vibeswitching.

3. Acceptance & Surrender
Use this technique when feeling stuck, judgmental, not in the flow, feeling negative or uncomfortable emotions.
 
This technique is all about emotions and letting them flow. When you judge or resist an uncomfortable emotion that is when we get STUCK. When we process and let uncomfortable emotions that pop up move through us that is known as SURFING the emotion.

When we are being judgmental and saying, "This is good or bad," and "right and wrong," we are creating this dichotomy that energetically glues our frequency. I'm learning to cleanse from this negativity and as I do I become more compatible with source energy and in the flow. It is in this state I can hear the voice of my higher self. ONA class has taught me something very profound, something that reconnects me to my internal guidance system.

This process begins by becoming aware of feelings and emotions and how they are physically affecting you (my throat feels sore, I feel like crying, my stomach is tense...) Then taking the feelings and giving them space to be. You can put your hands where it feels tight or constricted and begin turning those feelings into white and gold light, or pixie dust, or return them back to the earth to be transformed (whatever works for you).

It's important not to judge the emotions, just observe them and then release them. Simply giving space for uncomfortable feelings dissolves them away. When we surrender we break through the emotion and it no longer has control over our actions. It is very important that we surrender to the present moment before we take action. If we act out before processing the trigger that is when we do something we regret, which leads to guilt and just throws gasoline on the fire of negativity addiction.

Before ONA I would go into denial and feel paralyzed or powerless by experiences that would cause negative or uncomfortable feelings, but not anymore! I am so excited because yesterday I was awarded a scholarship for a professional course that I have been drawn to attending and I almost didn’t apply for because of fear- this uncomfortable feeling, but I cleansed out the uncomfortable feeling and transformed it into light and love and I got accepted to attend this awesome course.

My husband and children are getting in on the action too. It’s common for us to say to one another, “Have you been triggered?” We are really helping each other out and working through and processing our feelings instead of stuffing them down and clogging up our energy systems. My sweet hubby Josh has been utilizing the ONA tools and has made huge strides in his personal practice. Thomas, my 7 yr old son is using the Surrendering technique to cope with back to school stress and anxiety. He will breathe and feel his stomach and say out loud, "No matter what I can handle it."

Maleia, my 9 yr old daughter was chosen for a gifted and talented class. We were 2 weeks into classes and she was distressed when I dropped her off at school and would have crying spells at night. This behavior was very out of character for her, she didn't like the class. After using the Surrendering to the present moment vibeswitch and processing our feelings and not judging the teacher or the circumstance simply realizing it wasn’t a good fit we were able to talk with the principal and get my daughter in a class that was better suited for her. No drama, no judgment or blame, just clarity and pure inspired action to get the result intended.

4. Gratitude & Contentment

Use this technique when feeling unfulfilled, unsatisfied or lack.

Your mind is the only thing separating you from BLISS.

Desires inspire, but when that desire turns into wanting, longing for, and lack it triggers a FOG of negativity that surrounds us. Being in a state of wanting without being fulfilled triggers a big dose of negativity. Using the Gratitude and Contentment Vibeswitch is getting out of the state of lack and getting into the vibration of having fulfilled the desire, or at least a willingness to accept that the feeling of fulfillment is enough. (We can choose to be happy without that thing too.)

I make me happy, happiness comes from within,

I am ok just as I am

Say to yourself, "One thing that is blessing me in my life today is ______", or " What am I grateful for in this moment?" In this euphoric state the outside world takes care of itself and gets better on its own. This process is a tornado to all that fog, it clears the air, and the energy, and also clears the passageways of the connection to your higher self. The tornado is connected to the solar plexus chakra and is the color of the big yellow SUN. I picture it like this cleansing tornado of light that attracts and vacuums up all negativity and transforms it back into golden light. 

I am satisfied, I am fulfilled, I am blessed.

Since both Josh and I are in the process of rebuilding ourselves professionally and financially this vibeswitch has been incredibly beneficial! Before ONA class I would cycle through "freak out" episodes where my mind would take me to the worst case scenario. What if.... we lost our home, or can't pay the bills, or buy groceries? Since learning this vibeswitch I have been recognizing when these faithless thoughts creep in and take it as a sign that, "I have been triggered." Then ever so gently I bring myself back to feeling gratitude for all the wonderful people, things and experiences in my life, I mean really feel it deep down in my bones.

Where once I would spiral into depression over these thoughts and overeat, or smoke I now just giggle to myself and remind myself that most of what I worry about will probably never happen!! As Denise teaches, "The present moment is really cool." I am now clear and feel more inspired and "in the flow" of my life and it's peaceful knowing that if one of the worst case scenarios were to happen that it is totally O.K., that I can handle it, learn from it and still continue on in ease and joy regardless of any external circumstances. I always have a choice to be happy by feeling gratitude and staying in the present moment. This is the most peaceful, joyful and happy that I have felt in loOong time. SoOo much gratitude for Denise, Macha and ONA class!!

5. Talking & Listening to Higher Self
Use this technique when the ego mentality takes over, the victim or judging mind.   


ONA Class has been so magical because as I learn about each technique it seems life hands me a lesson that week to work with pertaining to that particular vibeswitching technique, either through myself or others.  Well as I was on the call for this class I had someone show up at my door.  As the doorbell rang over and over I almost didn't answer because I didn't want to miss Macha's meditation.  But the bell kept ringing so I answered and standing before me was a person in need.  As we began talking every word that came out of this person's mouth was, "I am a horrible parent, I'm a terrible person, I can't do this, I hate that."  WOW Universe, really?  So me fresh off the call listened and then said, "Listen to how you talk to yourself!"  So I shared how to talk lovingly and afterward they said, "Yeah that feels better!"  YES it does!  The messages that we say to ourselves in our own mind are so important!!  What are you saying to yourself?

 How many times in a day does that chatterbox in your head say, "You aren't good enough.  You don't deserve that. Why does this always happen to me?"  When we are triggered and our ego steps in with destructive messages here is what you do: do not identify with the ego, realize that thoughts of judgment and poor me are programmed into the mind and you have a choice to repattern those thoughts to loving messages to the self. It is so important what you tell yourself! Be your own best friend!  LoOove yourself!! 

When your thoughts are judgmental towards yourself then start by talking to yourself really soft as you would address a little child or a baby, come from the place of your higher self.  "Oh... hunny... you are so sweet and beautiful.  I just love how you are so smart and that dinner you made was so healthy and delicious, you are such a good parent. Wow you work so hard, here, have a hug you totally deserve it."  


If your thoughts coming in are more of a victim voice you want to use the same technique only change your voice to be more motivating, like this, "C'mon darlin' you can do this, keep on going, don't give up.  It's your choice, let's keep moving forward, you can make it through this, you are worthy of your dreams." Don't be destructive or abusive to yourself, be encouraging.  When the victim voice comes in it is trying to sabotage you, don't let it!  Remember that you are a beautiful being of light and love and you can reprogram your brain with new neural pathways and that we have a choice in how we think and therefore how we feel.  

It's important to separate the voice of your higher self with the voice of your ego, so here comes the listening part.  Meditations, massages, yoga, and making love are a few examples of how to move into a listening state.  For me connecting to my higher self and listening through meditation in particular has been life changing.  When I quiet my mind I feel more centered and aware in my day to day activities.  I feel like I am making choices from a state of consciousness vs. out of reaction and habit.  In a meditative alpha brain wave state you can receive downloads from your higher self in the form of images symbols and music!  I know as I clear the channel and keep it clear it will happen more and more.  

 

As I diligently apply what I am learning to myself and not just intellectually think "yeah ,yeah, yeah, this great," but really apply the techniques the happier I feel inside.  It's interesting because I share what I am learning in class with others and some people take it and fly with it and some people say, "yeah yeah yeah that's great Jenn..." but they don't really feel it for realz.  I'm learning not to force my ways upon anyone, just sharing the info and if they take it great and if they don't then hopefully I have planted a seed, yet for me I want to feel it for realz. 

What I have learned has taken me out of my own personal funk and catapulted me beyond my expectations into a constant state of joy.  I'm not saying it has been all flowers and sunshine, I have been challenged and triggered immensely over the last 7 weeks of class, but underneath it all I have this peaceful calm and I AM HAPPY regardless of my circumstances because I have this reconnection to my higher self.