Peter Woodbury

Today in session, the theme of impatience came up and the fear that time is slipping away and that it’s getting “too late!”.  I hear this a lot in my work.  The personality, the ego, or the finite part of ourselves knows that time is limited. This creates anxiety and fear, and those are not two mind states are not adept at much creative thinking.  They actually control short term survival and short term thinking.  “Let’s survive this crisis”, is their best domain.  These aspects of mind are not designed to be dominant thought patterns.  They are great in a crisis but not really good for much else.  But we oftentimes get stuck in these thought patterns.  And they are self perpetuating in a way.  If we are convinced that we are in constant danger, then we better stay prepared.  But these mind sets take their toll on us mentally, physically and spiritually. They will run us down.

So, what is the alternative? Well, behind the personality, the ego and the finite self, is the individuality, the infinite part of ourselves or the soul self.  This aspect of us has very long-term thinking and vision.  This part of us always has been and always will be.  It realizes that a life is a mere day in the life of the soul. The soul self realizes that in this soul day or life, we are here to do a few things.  To do in a day what we can in a day.  In response to this, I talk about how much more important it is for us to tune in to the direction and worry less about speed.  Speed is of the ego.  Direction is of the soul. And there is actually no time, so if we stay in the right direction, we are actually already there.   Continue reading →

In a session today, we were talking about all that we try and get from the people in our lives…partners, kids, friends, family…and how often we are disappointed or don’t really get what we need or what we are looking for. The problem, it seems, is that they are also looking for something, and trying to get it from us, and they probably feel disappointed as well.

The conversation was about her partner and how cold he is, aloof and detached, a lot like her father.  She lamented why she kept finding emotionally unavailable men and why was that her curse.  We talked about this idea that there were all these emotionally available men over “there” and she just couldn’t get there and was stuck in the mud here with the cold fish.

Knowing her quite well, I pushed her a bit.  Is it possible there is another way to look at this?  Had her soul wanted her to work something out?  Had this pattern, initiated with her father, about being unlovable, needed to get resolved? “Well, why would I pick men that can’t love me thus proving to myself I’m unlovable?” she asked.  “How does that resolve anything?” “Well”, I said, “it’s a faulty premise and you consciously know that, you know you deserve love and you want to be loved.  So why then would you put yourself in this conundrum” – “I wasn’t loved by my father and now I pick someone like my father so that I can heal that wound, but he is just like my father and can’t really love me, thus I remain trapped”.   Continue reading →

I had a great time in Phoenix this past week. I gave my talk on “Many Lives, One Soul” at the Unity Church in Sun City.  And I didn’t see the runaway llamas. 🙂  Then booked appointments for the week.  The sessions went very well.  I’m so impressed with hypnosis.  If the individual opens up and can accept the suggestions, wonderful things happen.  I oftentimes talk about how I didn’t really like hypnosis at first.  You see, when I do conventional talk therapy, my mind is involved, all my education and experience come into play. I make a lot of choices and at the end of the day, I feel good about what has been accomplished.  But I feel it’s me that’s been doing the heavy lifting.  But with hypnosis, all I do is steer a process. I’m like a midwife.  I have no idea if it’s going to be a girl or a boy or triplets or a hysterical pregnancy.  I just guide a process.  I’m a soul sherpa.  I know how to get you to your soul.  Then you and your soul take over.  I say “yes” a lot, steer the person to feelings, guide, nudge, track time and bring the person back.  I don’t feel a real sense that “I” did anything.  It is not an ego building experience. It is very sacred and there is skill involved, but the greatest skill is in getting out of the way and letting the person’s own soul process unfold.  I have learned to love it!   Continue reading →