Recently I was interviewed on the telesummit Overcoming Anxiety and Depression with Ande Anderson addressing the management of depression and anxiety. Although I’ve been a clinically trained psychotherapist for many years, my specialty is not working with people who have chronic, long term mood disorders. I do however work with people whose emotions are compromised by continuing to live a life they’ve outgrown. If you stay too long in a what I call a defunct life, the pressure that builds from the soul to move on can translate into what I coined in 1990 as a ‘LifeQuake’: the birthing pains of the soul waking up to the next level of its evolution.
So what is distinct about the depression and anxiety that can come with LifeQuakes and how should they be treated by the professional who is working with such a patient or client?
1)There is an onset. You can clearly remember a time when your work life was stimulating or other parts of your life enlivened you so the stark contrast doesn’t feel familiar.
2) The work you’ve been doing leaves you drained but when you go into nature, your energy picks up or doing Yoga or Qi Gong at the end of a work day refills your tank. Your work and/or relationships may leave you feeling depressed but there are activities that do bring your energy up.
3) People who are part of groups that you no longer feel an affinity with also drain you, especially when they are discussing the philosophy of that group such as a religious organization, sports team, or 12 step recovery program.
4) Your dietary needs change. For example, eating a vegan diet if you’ve been on that program for a while may now not provide enough protein or the reverse. Eating a lot of animal protein in your diet may weigh you down. Because a LifeQuake is a rebirthing process of the soul, the body that houses the soul may be going through an evolutionary process that requires different food to nourish you now.
5) What people care about on social media or in the news begins to feel strange, like you belong on another planet. In a dark night of the soul, the ego-based identity you’ve been operating from begins to die as it withdraws from an old life and begins a journey toward the soul. A numbness to one’s outer life can take over. Clinical Depression can look like this too but the call here is not to take anti-depressant meds although amino acids that address mood can be very helpful. What alleviates this kind of Depression is time in meditation or contemplation within yourself. There are also guided meditations that can help to connect you with your soul and your soul purpose during your Dark Night. In the products section of LifeQuake.com, I offer a CD of guided visualizations, my book in downloadable form, and if you join the LifeQuake Soul Purpose Tribe, you get the 7 week audio course that takes you through how to manage the seven stages of repurposing your LifeQuake.
The key here in distinguishing a LifeQuake from a mood disorder although they may feel the same is to listen. Take the time to deeply listen to your body and pay attention to what I call divine coincidences – a synchronicity in which your soul is magnetizing events from your outer life to guide you. If you choose to not go the pharmaceutical route to manage your emotions, it will be easier to remember your dreams. Ask for direction before sleeping and then write down what you remember in the morning. The Dark Night of the Soul has the potential to birth you into a more authentic version of yourself, especially if you work with your disowned emotions at this time. What may feel heavy can become the very stuff that creates a more radiant version of yourself if you open to the light from the universe. This is the alchemy of leaded consciousness into the golden mind.
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
The music industry would have us believe that romantic love is what it is all about Tony Bennett singing “ It’s that time of year when the world falls in love…”
There are years when the typical holiday movie are not the best inspiration. Sometimes it is the people who serve us unseen are the ones to inspire us to make the most of holidays when we cannot be with loved ones, buy the gifts we would love to share with our peeps, or even have the weather that most reminds us of Christmas.
I have often written in my newsletters about my Italian grandmother and as the holidays approach, she is once again in my thoughts as someone who taught me to love not just my family, but the people we don’t see. My grandmother was left a widow at the age of 34 with four children, a fourth grade education, and no life insurance. She had never worked outside the house and didn’t speak English. She got the only work she could, in a candy factory. Of course it was an Italian candy company, Barricini Chocolates.
As a child, I never thought about the actual work my grandmother did of standing on an assembly line eight hours a day, five days a week for almost thirty years. I just enjoyed the thrill of getting a big box of assorted chocolates from her at the holidays.
What was amazing was that in spite of having to take a low level blue color job at the age of 37, she never complained. She was actually very cheerful, so I imagine that those chocolates she helped to convect were made with as much love as her fabulous cooking was at home.
All over America, there are people serving us that we don’t see. They work in factories, they clean our hotel rooms and our homes, and they work in restaurant kitchens to name a few. Many of these people are immigrants grateful to have jobs, albeit in some cases, illegally. In the 2002 film, Dirty Pretty Things, a hotel maid talks about the people like her that no one sees. What we now know statistically is that the people most at risk for communicable illnesses ( after the obese and elderly) such as virulent viruses, are the working class.
At this time of year, there is much talk about the Christmas spirit and handling our stress while preparing for the holidays. My message for this holiday season is to spread love not just to your family and friends but take the time and connect with the people who serve you in restaurants behind the scenes, department stores, hotels, etc and bless the invisible people who made all the things that allow your car to function, who made your favorite cut of meats and fish, and even the refinement of ingredients like flour, for home baked goods.
Let’s remember to bless the invisible people who serve and make our lives work every day doing mundane tasks that would drive most of us insane if we had to do them for even a week. Take that extra second to spread it in the most unlikely places and direct a loving intention through your eyes to those who are visible like the valet guy… wearing a mask all day, your waiter… wearing a mask all day, the grocery clerk, … you get my drift.
Yes, this is the season of love. Making a connection to everyone, the food you eat, and most importantly to yourself will most definitely create a change in how we do this season. Enjoy the holidays, Italian style by spreading love through your attention, appreciation, and the twinkle in your eyes.
Happy, joy filled Holidays!
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
There is no question that our world as we’ve known it is in upheaval. Just as earthquakes produce chaos and breakdown in structures sitting on big fault lines, so is true with the foundations of our relationships. Just as your career may be in transition, so perhaps are your present relationships. Where are your faulty beliefs affecting them?
Part of the process of cycles ending is that as things are deconstructing. Your life may look like chaos and crisis. If you are married or in a relationship, it can become exponentially stressful if you are spending a lot of time at home together. So what do you do to avoid your partner having a contract “hit” made on your life?
Don’t stop exercising just because you’re depressed that you lost your job or work is down. If you are getting bored with doing the same old routine, try something new. If you’ve been running on the treadmill or at the park, try including yoga twice a week. Not only does it reduce stress but it will in time make your body much more flexible. A flexible body leads to a more flexible mind. A flexible, calm mind is less reactive to your partner, not to mention more attractive than a couch potato body.
Replace coffee and black tea with teas that feed your adrenals rather than stimulate them such as Holy Basil (sometimes called Tulsi) tea, licorice root, or mucuna pruriens (which can also increase your libido). Substitute coconut sugar with honey or refined sugar. Increase your magnesium intake. Most people living in western civilization are magnesium deficient. It is a critical mineral for our bones for sure, but our nervous system needs it to thrive as well. A calm nervous system can minimize the crisis response to this upheaval. You will find yourself less argumentative with your partner if your body is balanced even if the outside looks like total chaos.
Meditation or guided visualizations (the LifeQuake Repurposing Guided Meditations) can be extremely beneficial to moving through a LifeQuake that allows for you to awaken to the new level of your evolution without tremendous resistance to letting go of the old life. It can be a useful tool in your stress management tool box if you take time at the end of meditation to ask yourself in a heightened alpha state, how to handle any challenges you are experiencing with people in your life.
Examine your beliefs about receiving help from your partner. You can’t ask for support, be it financial, emotional, or physical if you aren’t first comfortable with receiving it.
Explain to your partner that you need to change the definition and expectations of your relationship. You may need more alone time. If you ask for it, you don’t have to get it by picking a fight and alienating your spouse.
When we are in transition, we often feel a loss of identity and self worth. Find new ways to feel valuable besides your career such as being a more supportive partner. If you have more time now, write little notes to your significant other letting them know how appreciative you are for your relationship and their love for you. Do things for your partner that you didn’t have time to do when you were working in your old job.
Get out and donate your time to a charity. Giving back to others transforms you from one who is going through a change to one who is a change agent for the world. This level of generosity attracts opportunity to you and moves you into discovering your vocation of destiny. When we are passionate about our work, we are passionate in our relationships. Yes, altruism can be sexy! If you choose to use this time to awaken a new version of yourself, the most authentic version of your relationships have to emerge as well. That is how LifeQuakes birth new versions of humanity itself, one relationship at a time…
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, astrologer, career coach, and the author of her new book, The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval, 2020 Wheatmark Publishing
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
Change.
What feeling gets evoked when you hear someone suggest that you need to make a
change? For most people, some level of anxiety. We want the world to change, we
want our neighbor to change, or perhaps it’s our spouse and children. Yet,
often when we think about making changes for ourselves, a trigger goes off that
change will mean loss.
We
are in a time of massive accelerated change and the mandate for evolving is
exactly tied to the degree that each of us can adapt to these changes. More to the point, can you execute
restructuring those places in your own life that are outdated?
One of my career – coaching clients was a business
owner who owned airports. He reached out
to work with me one month before society as we have known it forever changed.
He was miserable. He had outgrown what had been a very fulfilling career. And
then the pandemic hit and suddenly he wanted the business back. The usual 120
cars per lot went to 5. Every day he had
to make decisions that involved change. He had to lay people off who had become
like family, institute new policies for the skeletal crew, etc. Yet, when it
came to facing changes in his vocational destiny, he became paralyzed with
fear.
One
of the unusual aspects of my work as a career coach is that I use astrology to
assist my clients in preparing for change. In the 25 years that I have been
studying the biochemistry of mastering healthy adult change, my question
continues to be, what is it in the make up of the kind of individual that
allows them to make timely changes more easily?
By observing my clients over these many years,
I’ve been afforded an empirical study of astrology. Here’s what I ‘ve
discovered: Einstein was right; it is a mathematical universe. We are each born
into a unique, mathematically –precise relationship with the planets in our
solar system. Like us, each planet has a vibrational frequency. At the moment of our birth, a matrix is formed
on the etheric body that surrounds our physical bodies. This matrix contains
the interchange of these frequencies so as the planets move through their
orbits during your life, you are affected by them in accordance with your own unique
blueprint. We are not just affected by other people. The galaxy itself is
interacting with you every day.
My
ability to predict change may appear uncanny but it is not based on some mumbo
jumbo magic. The Astrological Research
Foundation has been compiling data for many years on the efficacy of what are
called transits to your chart. For
example, people born under the sun signs of Aries, Libra, Cancer, and Capricorn
or who have major planets in their astrological chart in those signs have been
experiencing massive identity shifts for the past several years. For many, this
has shown up in the form of a major crisis. However, we are all experiencing
massive shifts because evolution is demanding it.
If
you do not have a naturally intuitive sense of your destiny and an ease in
making timely, massive shifts in your life, it will indeed show up as a dramatic
crisis. Fortunately, it is possible to have a context for recognizing and
holding these massive changes and a specific way of preparing for them in terms
of what to do and in what time frame to do it. With such tools, you can
minimize the drama and maximize the potential for stepping into a new life
design that is more authentic to the person you are meant to become.
This
is what astrological information can give you – the context and a time table
for the occurrence of major potential events.
The unprecedented alignment of Jupiter, Saturn, and Pluto in Capricorn has been predicted by many astrologer including myself for several years to bring about the deconstruction and reconstruction of society. I published my first book The LifeQuake Phenomenon: how to thrive not just survive in times of personal and global upheaval 10 years ago ahead of it’s time to prepare and awaken people to the importance of mastering timely change before it is too late. As history has shown us, great sociological rebellions took place in the 60’s that forever changed the landscape of American life with a conservative president in the oval office. Once again, we are being called to examine our values. This time it isn’t specific to women’s freedoms, civil rights, or gay liberation. It concerns all of us.
Are we willing to sacrifice our creature
comforts to save ourselves or will we stay addicted to fossil fuels, GMOs in
our food supply, and other pollutants to our environment? Can we make a
paradigm shift away from that which merely gives momentary pleasure to one that
engenders true joy? Is there a solution that involves change that we can all
get behind?
Although
it is helpful to have personal astrological information that can assist in
preparing for change, the ability to implement these outer changes before they
hit critical mass begins on the inside first, so here are some suggestions for
practices that can stimulate inner bliss:
Develop some kind of morning daily meditation
practice even if it means just reading inspiring uplifting materials.
Get into nature and connect with the natural
world. It will quiet your nervous system and make it easier to hear guidance
regarding your next move.
Eat organic foods and minimize the intake of
any substances that hyper-stimulate your brain and overwork your adrenals like
caffeinated beverages. Hard to listen to your spirit when your nervous system
is in high alert.
Cultivate your relationship
to the dreamtime. Before sleeping, ask for direction on any change you are
considering. Record your dreams in the
morning and then contemplate their meaning.
Sit quietly and breathe into
the anxiety. Call in radiant light right into the place in your body where you
are feeling the most intense emotions. Just keep allowing yourself to receive
the unconditional love from the universe.
In spite of these uncertain
times of massive life and global transitions, you can thrive in the uncertainty
and discover what is essential to your true growth and happiness. This is the
nature of evolution now. Change that brings joy – now there’s a movement I can
get behind…
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career and transitions coach, futurist, and the author of the updated and expanded 10 year anniversary edition now called The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval. She can be reached through her website: lifequake.com or by calling her office at 310-890-6832 and someone will get back to you.
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
In April of 2020, a UN study reported that 81% of the world’s workforce of 3.3 billion people has had their place of work fully or partially closed because of the outbreak.
According to the managing director of the IMF ( International Money Fund) Christine Lagarde, “Today, we now project that over 170 countries will experience negative per capita income growth this year.”
She added: “In fact, we anticipate the worst economic fallout since the Great Depression.”
Your mind has to steady itself in the face of words from the media such as job loss, divorce rate, foreclosure, catastrophic and pandemic illnesses, climate disasters. These are all the heavy words that are drenching the airwaves and, at times, putting Americans into an even deeper depression. Many people are justifiably worried and have found themselves glued to media reports, desperate for the first sign of hope on the horizon.
Today’s world is saturated with the fear of a collapsing economy, political divides and individual issues that have led to a petrified collective nation and global crisis. On a daily basis, every person is battling both internal and external forces that have the power to consume them with negative and depressing viewpoints that have recently become embedded in our American psyche. Nothing reaffirms these fears more than the loss of a job, something that most of us identify ourselves by.
We are in a time when businesses are not only going under en mass but the very nature of society is being restructured. How we play sports, educate our children, and where we can travel with safety may be extremely altered for some time to come and that includes entire industries disappearing or for example, the airlines, severe layoffs.
It may look dismal if you are the one who has lost your job. What I know from having been both a psychotherapist and career coach through three, yes, three economic upheavals in the last 30 years is that it can be an awakening into a career transition that becomes a vocation of meaningful purpose, not just a job. I’ve witnessed it with my clients and workshop attendees first hand.
The sense of reawakening that can be connected to being in the unknown (as scary as it is) can bring not only positive change but soul rejuvenation, even during what seems to be the most disparaging of situations. I’ve seen in my practice and through interviewing hundreds of people while writing my book The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval that those who resist change and neglect their spiritual needs find themselves paralyzed with fear and it can have damaging effects on their bodies. Increased reliance on addictive behaviors is often used to numb out the overwhelming emotions we begin to feel during times of chaos.
Much like our homes and offices, the soul becomes muddled with accumulated garbage.
I believe that getting rid of life’s mental and emotional clutter are necessary first steps for moving to a healthier spirit and a more complete being and on the macro level, lead to a cleaner world, globally. If you’ve recently been the recipient of a proverbial pink slip or your business is in transition, here are 7 tips to get you back on your feet again (saved the most important one for last):
Taking an inventory of everything in your life that is defunctional or obsolete. Suddenly, many “needs” will become needless wants. When we refuse to shed what is outmoded, defunct, it then leads to dysfunctional patterns of behavior.
Creating small changes where you can see improvement immediately. Say, you want to become a writer. Write a letter to the editor about some issue in your town you feel passionate about. Set a goal to send out a minimum of 10 resumes each day. Celebrate your small achievement.
Getting rid of dead weight. Is a relationship holding you back from the new career of your dreams? Pay attention to what kind of people make you feel lighter to be around. Give yourself permission to spend more time with those who expand your well – being and support your positive changes.
Eliminating habits that are not providing constructive outlooks and outcomes. During times of stress and chaos, we frequently turn to bad habits. Whether yours is social media addiction, online shopping, alcohol consumption or over eating, these addictions are clearly not going to help you find a new career!
Cutting out news that only makes you feel fear. What sells newspapers and news shows is the same thing that sells horror flicks. Unfortunately, revving your adrenals in the evenings especially, will also cause insomnia.
Find a myth or fairy tale to identify with that empowers you to experience yourself as a hero or heroine. I happen to love Jack and the Beanstalk because it teaches you to believe in your dreams even when those in your family think “your magical beans” are a pipe dream. This can be the first step in re-telling the story of your life so that it reflects a courageous journey.
The most important tip that makes the six above even possible to act on is a practice of checking in with your emotions every three hours. I call it “The Emotional Pulse Check.” Set an alarm on your phone to go off and remind you. Take a breath. Now, what are you feeling and where in your body are you holding it? When fear comes up, do you feel it in your gut or your heart? Some people carry it in their shoulders because change represents more responsibility than they want to take on.
The key is to direct your breath down into your body right into where the emotions are surfacing rather than trying to numb them out. When we surrender into our bodies, the pain gives way to intuition. There’s a reason the expression, “trust your gut” is around. When your guts are not enveloped in anxiety, you are able to listen more effectively. The breath slows the nervous system down and makes it more observant to your outer world. This allows you to pay attention to the synchronicities I call divine coincidences guiding you toward your new purpose. Sometimes, those divine coincidences come in dreams.
I knew that a massive transition was coming in 2020 from my dreams, so 2 years ago, I began updating my first book The LifeQuake Phenomenon for a 10th anniversary release this year. I renamed it The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval.
Although one definition of phenomenon is a miraculous event, I wanted people to get the spiritual meaning of a LifeQuake and to inspire those who cannot work with me in person or through Zoom programs to know that miracles are possible even in the midst of great upheaval. Further, it is possible to find your life’s calling amidst a time of global economic contraction too, if you have the right psycho-spiritual tools and the courage to dream bigger than your history.
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
The planet that rules cars Mars is going retrograde soon. Statistically, the rate of car accidents go up during Mars retrogrades and for people in the midst of LifeQuakes, even more so. Recently while being interviewed on The Aware Show with Lisa Garr, I shared having had three car accidents myself within a 6 day period and what it meant for me. I’ve also certainly referenced it in my keynote speaking. I realized however, that although I go into more depth about the symbolism of car accidents in my book The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval, I haven’t discussed in greater depth what they can symbolize in my blog. Judging from my clients who come to me in the midst of LifeQuakes, it seems to be a common experience that most people don’t register as an early symptom.
Have you ever had a dream where you are the driver of a car and the brakes go out at high speed or you are a passenger and the driver is navigating recklessly all over the road? The first of these can mean you feel your life is out of control and moving too fast. The latter can mean you feel that someone else is in control, recklessly in the driver’s seat of your life.
Cars in dreams often symbolize how we are moving through our lives. In the second stage of one of my client’s LifeQuakes, he received four parking tickets in a two – week period and then his car brake disengaged while parked and rolled into the street. My interpretation of this was that he was over parked in his life and needed to move on from a career he no longer wanted. Like life transitions, career transitions can feel overwhelming.
In my case, I needed to leave my marriage and was hit from behind three times to push me forward. You really know you need to move on when you think the answer is to stop driving and then get hit while you’re a passenger in the back seat of someone else’s car! This was the third and final experience that got me to realize I was holding onto a life that was over.
In big cities, people are very identified with their cars. A car accident can represent a structural change. When a person incurs a back or neck injury, they see a chiropractor unless it requires the medical intervention of an orthopedic surgeon. The opportunity that seeing a chiropractor during a time of great transition provides is that you have to get off “the hamster wheel” and lay still while someone re-aligns your neck and spine three times a week for six weeks. The combination of this pause and restructuring can be used to contemplate the meaning of your accident and what it is trying to tell you.
I would suggest that any illness can be used to turn inward and ask what the function of this is for your life. Besides car accidents, I have found that when I’ve had the flu or a head cold that kept me in bed, I would do this little exercise, but you can do it anytime. I submit, that even if you begin having symptoms indicating a more serious but acute condition like a virus, this exercise can enhance your immune system.
Imagine there is a beautiful ball of green light three feet above your head. Breathe in this light through the top of your head. Focus its energy on your neck and spine if you’ve had an accident or are in pain there. If your chest or head are congested, focus the light there. For five minutes, just breathe a warm, golden light into your body and then bring your awareness to your heart.
Breathe the light into your heart. Now, once you feel a little peace and quiet there, imagine a spiritual guide that you either see or feel the presence of. Ask the guide this question, ” what do you want me to know right now? What is the next step I need to be taking in my life? Ask for a symbol. And then listen patiently for the guide to give you an answer. It may come immediately or it may come at a later time when you least expect it like in the shower.
When you are back on the mend, you will now be more awake and pro-active. The key to no longer needing wake up calls like car accidents and illnesses to make you pause and reflect, is to develop a daily practice of turning within and asking this question of your heart: what is my next step, just for today? And then act. Taking action from your heart builds trust from practice, but everything comes from your decision. It is all you need to know, because it is all you can do next.
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, life transitions/career coach, futurist, and speaker. She works with people all over the world by phone and Zoom classes. drtoni@drtonigalardi.com
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
Why do we fear change? Freud once defined neurosis as an unconscious conflict between two opposing forces. The American people want change from our government and, yet, the biggest fear in the majority of citizens is the fear of change in their own lives.
Well, people want change management to be out there. They want the government to fix our economy, provide a cure for pandemics, and rebuild the education system. However, what we also know is that to exact a tipping point of real change in America and across the world is for every human being to live sustainably: eat between 1800-2000 calories, get in 30 min of exercise, and spend at least 15 min a day feeding your inner spirit.
When we demand of ourselves that which we expect of the “powers at be” who run our country, we have a chance to change the world exponentially. But giving up old habits, addictions, and just plain fear of the unknown is not an easy task for most people. We are being called to work with our fears not just one day at a time, but one moment at a time.
As 2020 progresses and the media touts the statistics on how many people are unemployed and sick ,with messages that induce fear for the future, it does not inspire the individual to do their part.
So, the real change comes in having the courage to speak out for a different reality in the face of the collective neurosis and speak it daily. If you work with your own emotions and clear out the anxiety rather than self medicate, then and only then can you meet the call to action everyone is talking about. When you take on your own fears and make changes in your own life, you not only liberate yourself; the whole world is freed.
In 1990 I developed a pioneering, evolutionary body, mind and spirit change technology called The LifeQuake Resilience Method for helping people transform the fear of change, discover and create the life they have always wanted and then become an agent for positive change in the world. It resulted in a book called The LifeQuake Phenomenon in 2010. In 2020, I published the tenth anniversary of that book that is an updated, expanded version of that book called, The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval. In it, I share the new neuroscience of change mastery and the stories of people I interviewed who had been through LifeQuakes and emerged with a new life purpose.
I invite you to share with me some changes you want to make that can change the world. We can do this one person at a time… drtoni@drtonigalardi.com
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
“Cherish your visions and your dreams, as they are the children of your soul; the blueprints of your ultimate achievements.”
Napoleon Hill
The topic of this week’s five minute tips is “Vision”.
In the best of times, many people find it difficult to aspire to a life that means risking whatever financial security they have. In the past year, as we are facing this “economic contraction”, people have become even less available to their deepest dreams as they focus on their health.
Not surprisingly, this has led to the skyrocketing of addictive habits to numb the boredom, discontent, or anxiety attacks that are triggered from staying in a life that one has outgrown.
When we have come to the end of a cycle in our lives and we don’t look within for how to create the new chapter, crisis hits to force us into reconstruction. Although LifeQuakes often take this form, they dont have to. The birthing pains of entering crisis driven transitions ( aka LifeQuakes) are eased by actually using the emotions of a cycle closing to discover your dream destiny. Here is one technique you can do before getting out of bed for just five minutes.
With your eyes closed, set an intention that you will notice throughout the day, activities you engage in, people you meet, anything you read or observe that interests you. Experience yourself noting it and then writing it in your journal, note app or if you have a landline and are at home, call your cell phone and record the observation. At the end of the day, before going to sleep, scan the day and note the intensity of what you found of interest ranging from mild interest to excitement or inspiration. Keep these observations in a notebook or on your computer and do this every day that you are able for three weeks.
At the end of three weeks, you will have compiled enough experiences that elicited the opposite of discontent and other fear based emotions. Now, spend five minutes a day holding the intention for a new blueprint of your life that contains these feelings. You don’t have to know what the new chapter is meant to look like. The beginning of creating the life of your dreams is at the feeling level, so use the material from your life now that evokes joy naturally without food, alcohol, or other addictive distractions.
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
In the opening chapter of The LifeQuake Miracle: Awakening to Your True Purpose in Times of Personal and Global Upheaval, I wanted to share with you,the reader how sociological and environmental crises occurring on a grand scale are directly linked to your personal psychological, health, and career crises, and are in fact, catalysts prompting each of us to evolve in our own lives and as a global family. In describing our collective chaos in evolutionary terms, the reader is reassured that they are being pushed toward greater crisis resilience and adaptation to accelerated change.
The concept of a “LifeQuake” is introduced as the emergence of the self into its next level of evolution, accompanied by inevitable birthing pains. In its first- stage subtleties, a LifeQuake often goes unrecognized. Telltale signs include boredom, restlessness, and irritability. What is misunderstood, if not totally overlooked, is that these are symptoms of an outgrown life, not evidence that you are cracking up! You are merely operating ‘defunctionally’, not dysfunctionally. Not surprisingly, this is when resistance to change is strongest. We’re not uncomfortable … enough yet. Without understanding this phenomenon, it may be hard to identify that these symptoms signal the dawn of a more authentic life and higher level of consciousness if you have a roadmap that addresses all aspects of you – body, mind, and spirit.
Through a questionnaire that has been given to thousands of people over the years, this chapter helps readers identify which stage of their LifeQuake is operative. Then it reviews the impact of Stage One on lifestyle, workplace, relationships, and health, while providing tangible strategies for mastering change, and developing resilience in the midst of crisis driven transitions in each of these areas.
How to start building a new ‘faultless’ foundation when the old one starts to crumble is described and accompanied with an explanation of the building elements for that stage.
In Chapter One, the building elements are Keen Observation and Listening. Each chapter contains a toolbox section with practical exercises to assist in transitioning into the next stage. For example, the toolbox exercise in Chapter 1 is called LIGHT, CAMERA, ACTION (a guided meditation to start your day).
As with all heroic journeys, there are distinct tasks that help with developing change mastery. At the end of this chapter and those that follow, these tasks are shown as bulleted checkpoints summarizing each leg of the LifeQuake journey. These are meant to be guide posts not judgmental criteria for how well you are doing.
On her new website, LifeQuake.com, Dr Toni is offering free guided visualization tools for this stage as part of signing up for her newsletter. There will also be other tools not shared in the main site, in the membership section of the site that are not in the book.
The concept of a “LifeQuake” is introduced as the emergence of the self into its next level of evolution, accompanied by inevitable birthing pains. In its first- stage subtleties, a LifeQuake often goes unrecognized. Telltale signs include boredom, restlessness, and irritability. What is misunderstood, if not totally overlooked, is that these are symptoms of an outgrown life, not evidence that you are cracking up! You are merely operating ‘defunctionally’, not dysfunctionally. Not surprisingly, this is when resistance to change is strongest. We’re not uncomfortable … enough yet. Without understanding this phenomenon, it may be hard to identify that these symptoms signal the dawn of a more authentic life and higher level of consciousness if you have a roadmap that addresses all aspects of you – body, mind, and spirit.
Through a questionnaire that has been given to thousands of people over the years, this chapter helps readers identify which stage of their LifeQuake is operative. Then it reviews the impact of Stage One on lifestyle, workplace, relationships, and health, while providing tangible strategies for mastering change, and developing resilience in the midst of crisis driven transitions in each of these areas.
How to start building a new ‘faultless’ foundation when the old one starts to crumble is described and accompanied with an explanation of the building elements for that stage.
In Chapter One, the building elements are Keen Observation and Listening. Each chapter contains a toolbox section with practical exercises to assist in transitioning into the next stage. For example, the toolbox exercise in Chapter 1 is called LIGHT, CAMERA, ACTION (a guided meditation to start your day).
As with all heroic journeys, there are distinct tasks that help with developing change mastery. At the end of this chapter and those that follow, these tasks are shown as bulleted checkpoints summarizing each leg of the LifeQuake journey. These are meant to be guide posts not judgmental criteria for how well you are doing.
On her new website, LifeQuake.com, Dr Toni is offering guided visualization tools for this stage as part of signing up for her newsletter. There will also be other tools not shared in the main site, in the membership section of the site that are not in the book.
Click this link and get your copy of The LifeQuake™ Miracle.
About Dr. Toni Galardi – aka The LifeQuake™ Doctor
Dr. Toni Galardi is a licensed psychotherapist, career coach, speaker and author. Dr Toni coined the term LifeQuake in 1990 to describe “the labor pains” of a soul rebirthing into the next level of its evolution. The LifeQuake Phenomenon was coined in 2009 to describe the interface between the individual and collective evolution of our species.
