Jump Start Your Career!

Choose to attend the San Diego Press Club's first event of the new year on January 16, 2010. 

I have been asked by the board of SD Press Club to help their members snap out of attitudes of doom and gloom  that their profession is going down the tubes.  I will be showing workshop attendees how to retrain their brain for success -- so that they can start seeing opportunities and creative solutions where they've been seeing only roadblocks and dead-ends.  

At this workshop you will learn how to turn your internal saboteur into a pep squad!  You will be guided in uncovering and changing your limiting beliefs, and unleashing your creative powers!  This workshop will be interactive and is geared for communications professionals.  Hope to see you there!

Details of Event: 
Time: 9:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.
Date: January 16, 2010
Location: Fleet Science Center, Balboa Park
Cost: Free to SDPC members, $20 non-members
To register, please email the San Diego Press Club directly: sdpressclub@cox.net

Science has figured out that repeated thoughts actually carve neuro-pathways into the brain. The thought becomes hard-wired into your brain. Think about it -- when a self-limiting thought is carved in like that, it doesn't just affect your thinking. It affects your entire physiology and determines how you act and react to the situations in you life. 

The GOOD NEWS is that you can consciously re-wire your brain so that your conditioned beliefs and attitudes support you, embrace positive change, help you feel empowered in challenging times like these.  And when you feel empowered? You come up with brilliant ideas, effective strategies, innovative solutions.


Join me at Warwick's Books in La Jolla, California on October 14th at 7:30pm and hear me explain how you can get "Back in Charge!" and start living your life by choice, no longer by automatic reactions that keep you stuck unable to reach your goals.

As I sit in my therapy and coaching office in San Diego's Carmel Valley, I acknowledge that at the end of my journey of writing books and producing a TV show, I have successfully rewired the neuropathways of my brain--no longer am I the panic-stricken speaker I was when I first began to public speak while doing a post-doctoral fellowship at San Diego's Mercy Hospital; no longer am I the doubt-filled writer that needed to leave San Diego to write her book without any distractions; and, no longer am I the intimidated and tongue-tied TV & Radio guest that I was during the first media tour back in 2006.  In my acknowledgment of this, I feel grateful that I am now in the position to work individually with others and help them break free from the limiting beliefs and attitudes that are blocking their efforts at achieving their goals.

Still on the Big Island of Hawaii, after an excellent seminar with Dr.
George Pratt--"Power of Energy." I am sitting on the beach listening
to David Hawkins' book, "Power Vs. Force," this Saturday afternoon on
Labor Day Weekend, and was struck by the simple and profound truth of the
following excerpt from the audio book, which I highly recommend
buying!

"... What we do to benefit life, automatically benefits all of us because
we are all included in that which is life. We are life. It is a
scientific fact that what is good for you, is good for me. Simple
kindness to oneself and all that lives is the most powerful
transformational force of all. It produces no backlash, has no
downside, and never leads to loss or despair. It increases ones own
true power without exacting any toll...."
Aloha,
Adrianne

On the beach at Kohala Coast Fairmont Orchid on the first day of the
Energy Psychology Seminar with Dr. George Pratt. In the photo, Dr. Pratt is muscle testing my new friend Joanne, after clearing an old negative pattern from her childhood that has been blocking her for years. Amazing stuff!

What is Energy Psychology?

Essentially, it is an emerging area of
psychology where anceint wisdom meets modern science. The work of Dr. George Pratt is an exciting blend of Cognitive Psychology and
Acupuncture. It offers an effective and efficient way to clear
anything off our brain's hardwiring that no longer serves us--e.g.,
those persisting negative thoughts & emotions that are the saboteur of
our goals. AND, this is why I am here -- to incorporate these
seemingly "too good to be true" new and effective tools into my Snap
Out Of It NOW! processes! I want to make it as easy and effortless as
possible for my clients to cleanse the old conditioning that no longer
serves them in order to wire in more positive and empowering thoughts,
beliefs, and feelings that support all they want to do, be, and have
in life.

Stay tuned! Today, I swim with the magnificent spinner dolphins of
Hawaii, who I anticipate may be my greatest teachers.
With an open heart,
Adrianne

Though many of us yearn for positive change and transformation, our conscious or unconscious conditioned beliefs may tell us that we really do not have the ability to become substantially different or better than who we have been.  Do any of these statements ring true to you?

• You can't teach an old dog new tricks 
• This is just the way life is; we have to accept it
• You have to be born in the right place at the right time to make it
• You have to get the breaks and the right circumstances to be successful
• You can't have it all.  Getting by is good enough
• Most of us just aren't cut out for greatness

Some of us firmly believe these statements to be true.  Others claim that they believe in unlimited human potential.  But when it gets right down to it, almost all of us honestly experience life in terms of one or more of the limiting statements above. 

Human potential is the hope, but life's limitations feel like the reality.

You may not ever say these statements out loud. You may even argue against them, using the positive self-talk of recent decades. But take a moment: In your heart of hearts, do any of those statements seem like the whole truth and nothing but the truth? Deep down, do you trust these "reality" statements more than the possibility of transformation? If so, these beliefs have been hardwired into your brain and will sabotage any personal growth program you begin--and probably have done so in the past.

I am not asking you to just believe and trust in the possibility of your own transformation.  Those limiting "reality" statements, like all conditioning, are hardwired in and need to be unplugged and rewired to release their power. ...  I'll show you how to do this in future chapters....

(Above is an excerpt from the fist chapter of, "Back in Charge!")

"Anyone can become angry--that is easy.  But to be angry with the right person, to the right degree, and at the right time, and for the right purpose, and in the right way--that is not easy."  -- Aristotle

My friend and colleague, Dr. George Pratt, writes in his book, "Instant Emotional Healing" (Broadway Books, 2000) that there are "no bad emotions."  (I really recommend you pick this book up on Amazon.)

I quote directly from the book: "There is no such thing as a wrong emotion, only the wrong amount of the emotion at the wrong time. ... Even emotions we tend to think of as "negative" serve natural and useful regulating roles in our overall functioning: Frustration, impatience, disgust, and anger can spur us into productive action.  Anxiety and irritability let us know when we've been pushing too hard and can remind us to slow down and relax.  Loneliness can lead us to a deeper understanding of ourselves.  Grief helps us heal from loss.  Guilt keeps us honest. ..."

I really like the way George and his co-author Peter Lambrou guide the reader toward heightened levels of self-awareness, assisting him/her in seeing that when they are aware of the "negativity" within, they instantly have the power to use it to their benefit.  And, if the negative emotion is no longer serving them, he shows the reader how to release it from their system entirely!

Train your brain to support optimal health, success, and well-being! 

In my KPBS-TV special, "Snap Out Of It NOW!," airing Saturday, August 8 (that's tomorrow night!) at 7 p.m., I will show you how to rewire your brain to meet and conquer life’s challenges.  

Be sure to watch and call in (Toll-free: (888) 399-5727) or go online and make a pledge to support KPBS-TV.  Please remember to reference my show, "Snap Out Of It NOW!"

Move over Dr. Phil – Dr. Adrianne Ahern teaches you how to rewire your brain to confront life’s challenges for greater success and wellbeing.

Feeling depressed, overwhelmed, frustrated, stressed out? Clinical psychologist Adrianne Ahern has a solution – Snap Out of It NOW!®. Dr. Ahern, renowned for her pioneering work in developing human potential, has developed a breakthrough methodology to help train the brain to support optimal health, success, and wellbeing. Ahern can teach you how to rewire your brain to meet and conquer life’s challenges.

In today’s uncertain economic and social climate, people want to relieve anxiety, regain control of their lives and find positive solutions, but many are bogged down by years of negative conditioning. The proven Snap Out of It Now!® method, developed by Ahern during her over 15 years of private practice and organizational consulting, integrates the disciplines of psychology, psychophysiology, neurofeedback, and personal achievement analysis. Dr. Ahern provides unique strategies and concrete tools to rewire the physiology of the brain so it works for us, not against us.

The negative conditioning of our brains controls us, and sends us messages that have emotional and physiological control over us – it’s a powerful force that holds us back – but we can take charge and rewire our brains to unleash its power in positive directions. Dr. Ahern teaches simple yet powerful techniques to train the brain to support what we really want in life – more fulfilling careers, optimal health, and satisfying relationships. Her method helps us identify and rewire negative conditioning in order to meet life’s challenges with confidence, reduce the impacts of stress, and experience more energy and joy in our lives. Ahern, a respected bestselling author and national speaker, follows in the footsteps of great motivational gurus such as Leo Buscaglia, John Gray, Suze Orman, and Wayne Dyer, by launching her national television debut in the public broadcasting arena.

Learn how to uncover counterproductive brain conditioning, snap out of mental mediocrity and unleash maximum potential. Snap Out of It NOW!® puts us back in the driver's seat, gives us the tools we need to face challenges with confidence, and provides the key to unlocking and rewiring the brain so we control it instead of it controlling us. Filmed before a live audience, the interactive, fun and engaging Dr. Ahern will teach you how to breakout and breakthrough to reach your goals and enrich your life!

Be sure to watch on August 8 at 7 p.m. on KPBS TV! Call in (Toll-free: (888) 399-5727) or go online and make a pledge to support Public Television in San Diego!

From distracted frenzy to focused relaxation!

I want to share something that I experienced today that was very exciting and had a particularly grounding effect on me.  I met with my friend and colleague, Dr. George Pratt, at his private practice office in La Jolla, CA (on the Scripps Memorial Hospital La Jolla Campus).  George, knowing that I just moved my home and office from Reno, NV to Del Mar, CA, suggested that I might benefit from a few energy techniques that he writes about in his book, "Instant Emotional Healing."   I eagerly accepted his offer and we spent the next 20 minutes doing some deep breathing, some unique movements with my hands, and some muscle testing.  I came into his office feeling pressured and tense due to the hectic schedule triggered by my desire to get settled "FAST," -- and I left feeling confidant, focused and relaxed.  Not surprisingly, I moved through my day feeling focused and filled with a sense of calm.

I want to recommend George's book to you if you are feeling overwhelmed, stressed, anxious or doubtful, fearful, and not living to your fullest potential -- or maybe your experiencing a transition that is setting off feelings of frustration and irritability.   Pick up a copy and let me know what you think!

As I move my clinical and consulting psychological office back home to San Diego, my friend, Renee, Process Improvement Coordinator for the Scripps Green Hospital and famous book artist from Escondido,  recommended a book that I should read as I prepare to return to working within the Scripps Hospital culture.  This book, "Why Hospitals Should Fly," not only defines the changes needed to arrive at a "culture of safety" within our country's hospitals, but it is a really good read! 

Get a copy today and start reading the story of St. Michael's, the fictional hospital used by the author, John Nance, to show what a culture of safety looks like in hospitals. St. Michael's transformation to a culture of safety should be the model for our hospitals today! 

I am reading this book as I want to understand the current challenges presented to healthcare employees as they face the enormous changes required in creating a 'culture of safety' within their own hospital.  Did you know that nearly 90,000 people die from hospital acquired infections along? (This is the number currently estimated by the CDC.)  As Nance illuminates for us in his book, the problem is not one of expertise or resources, it is one of relationships.

I look forward to reconnecting and working in collaboration with my Scripps friends, and doing whatever I can to facilitate this cultural transformation.



Wishing you focus, fitness, and flexibility in body and mind!

Adrianne

An exercise my clients find very helpful (use it myself, too!):

THE OBNOXIOUS QUESTION

Sometimes it's hard to stick to The Facts. Period. Especially in challenging times like these, circumstances seem to justify our reactions, our panic, anxiety, or anger – RIGHT?
The point is not whether your reaction is right or wrong, justified or not. The point is:
Does it really serve you?
Does it get you where you want to go?
Does it help you find solutions or feel good?
Does it really serve you?

I call this question obnoxious because when you're in the throes of a really delicious, impassioned, righteous ranting and raving session, it's very annoying to have someone stop you and ask it! Trust me, I know. Especially when you've got an airtight, provable case and you're certain that any court in the land would agree with you! You've been wronged and have dozens of juicy details to add to the story and your friends all support your position and . . .

BUT WAIT: … Does your response really serve you?
Is it helping you create the life you desire?
Is your worry and panic helping you find solutions to your business situation?
Is your righteous anger helping you figure out a new income stream? Is your frustration getting the work done? Probably not.

One of the most important aspects of freeing ourselves from negative conditioned reactions is making the decision to do so. Because the truth is that we have choice about how we respond to every situation. It doesn't matter whether our response is "justified" or not. The only question to ask is: Does this response truly serve me and my purpose? And once you've honestly answered that question, it is totally up to you whether you choose to hang on to the reaction or release it. Your choice. Always.

Depends on the Question

"Ask the right questions if you're to find the right answers."
Vanessa Redgrave

So many of us are focused on the economy and how it affects us personally, and those we love. We're all looking for answers. But, after presenting the first Get Back in Charge! workshop early this month, it occurred to me that what we really need to be seeking for ourselves is the right questions.

Once we take some deep breaths, release our anxiety and unplug from some of our negative conditioning, we discover that our brains have unlimited capacity to find positive solutions for us. But our brains will only respond to the questions we pose to them. If we ask ourselves, "How can I scrape by this month?" or "What will happen to me if I lose my house?” our brains focus on helping us only "scrape by" and remain in the cycle of worry and fear. But what if we ask, "How can I use this period, not only get by, but to create a new, more fulfilling life for myself?" Can you feel the difference?

I ran into this difference for myself several weeks ago. I had been stressing over various aspects of my business and asking questions like: How can I make this more profitable? How can I get to the levels of success others have achieved? What should I do if my public television show/new book/speaking career lose momentum? How can I get faster results? My brain offered plenty of answers to these questions – all of which added to my stress!

Finally in the middle of another anxious night, it came to me: The only question I needed to ask was "How can I serve others?" As soon as I heard that question, I felt a flood of relief. My brain offered up wonderful images of ways I had, could, and would serve others. I realized that all of the prior questions I had been asking were blocking me from seeing and experiencing what was really possible for me -- and what was really important to me. Those questions came from my fears, not from who I truly am. Now, when I focus my brain on that one question – How can I serve others? -- I feel calm, energized, creative and inspired.

So what questions have you been posing to your brain? Are they questions rooted in fear or from the best part of yourself? Are they small questions that assume small outcomes? Or are they the questions that tap the yearnings of your soul? Whichever questions you ask, your brain will not know the difference. It will offer up answers to whatever you ask of it. So choose wisely.

The participants of our first
Get Back in Charge! workshop took the first steps to asking bigger questions by working with old, negative conditioning and unearthing new possibilities for themselves. Some of their comments:

"I learned that I can choose my thoughts and beliefs. The only important question is 'Does it serve me?'" -Lynne

"I left feeling more compassion for the part of me that bought into false truths. I can choose something different." -Wanda

"I became aware of how much fear had shaped my perceptions. That if you think a situation is not resolvable, it isn't!" -Blair

We still have some openings for the San Diego Get Back in Charge! workshop on April 21st. If you have been negatively affected by the present economy, please join us. And please let friends and family who might benefit from this workshop know about it as well.
To register, go to www.GetBackInCharge.com

Book Launch Promotion - Take Advantage Today!

I know you are always being offered new books to enhance your life. My friend, Mike Robbins, is releasing a new book that I believe you will find valuable.

In his book, Be Yourself, Everyone Else is Already Taken, Mike teaches us simple yet powerful ways to be authentic in our relationships, our work, and our lives – thus leading to greater peace, passion, and fulfillment. He discusses how, "most of us aren't taught by our families or the culture in which we live to be ourselves and be authentic." His five principles of authenticity will empower you to be bold, to express yourself fully, and to live your life from a deep place of authenticity within you.

When you order Mike's book today, you will receive exclusive bonus gifts and recordings from authors that I respect like Michael Beckwith, Gay and Kathlyn Hendricks, Jack Canfield, Marci Shimoff, Mark Victor Hansen and many others. You will also receive, from me, an ebook and MP3 of my program, "Unlock Your Potential." More information and to order…


Wishing you focus, fitness, & flexibility in mind and body.
Adrianne


P.S. I can't resist offering a few more quotes I found about questions!

"In order for answers to become clear, the questions have to be clear."
Abdolkarim Soroush

"Judge a man by his questions rather than his answers."
Voltaire

"Questions structure and, so, to some extent predetermine answers."
A.R. Ammons

"Successful people ask better questions, and as a result, they get better answers."
Tony Robbins

Evolve

Dear Friends,

Some of you may have noticed that I took a sabbatical from writing this blog. (Others of you are saying, “Huh? She did?”) I did so because I was betwixt and between. My life was evolving a little faster than my ability to assimilate it. I found it hard to communicate from this nether zone. I was (am) not yet who I am to become—yet certainly not who I was.

Can you relate?

When we stay comfy-cozy in the “noun” of who we are, we are very clear about what story to tell. We are glib about our goals and aspirations. We can rate our accomplishments. We understand how our relationships fit into the scheme of it all.

But when we are in the “verb” of evolving, it’s not so clear. We feel the itch of new beginnings and the tug of past roles and desires. In my own case, I felt myself moving from author/clinician to speaker/trainer. “But what happens to my clients?! How can I continue my research? I don’t know how to speak to huge audiences! What if. . .? What about. . .? How can. . .? Can it possibly. . .?”

Do you remember that old Indiana Jones movie where our hero had to trust and step onto an invisible surface over a bottomless chasm? He intuitively knew that the invisible surface would support him. But all of his other senses screamed for survival. “Stay back!” they hollered. “You don’t know what will happen if you take that next step!”

Whether that next step for you is a life or death moment or merely a stretch in your comfort zone, how to cope? I offer you the process I am using during my own “not-terrifying-but-certainly-unnerving” evolution:

Acknowledge the unknowing—the feelings of fear, panic, disorientation, uncertainty
Focus on your heart center. Shift your focus to your heart center. Place your hand over this area of your body to facilitate your ability to fully attend to your heart center. As you do this, you are connecting with yourself and centering yourself in the moment.
Breathe with your heart. Imagine that, as you inhale and exhale, your breath is going in and out through your heart center.
Activate a positive feeling. Recall a positive experience that stimulates a feeling of caring, appreciation, joy, or gratitude, and breathe with attention to this feeling.
Listen – and trust the message. When you attune to your heart center, your broader wisdom comes to the fore. Trust it. Relax in it. Allow it to guide you.

(Some of you may recognize a few of these steps; one of the things I have done on my sabbatical is to spend some time in Boulder Creek, CA becoming a HeartMath Provider.)

Wishing you focus, fitness, & flexibility in body and mind,

Adrianne Ahern, Ph.D.
Performance Consultant, Keynote Speaker, and author of Snap Out Of It Now!
P.S. If you find value in this blog and wish to share it with others, please do so!