 A publication of the World Wide Essence Society |
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 by Connie Barrett This past March, the bulbs in my
front garden -- no doubt deluded by temperatures in the 80s and 90s --
collectively decided that they'd somehow missed most of spring and made up for
lost time,
shooting up so quickly that I could almost see them growing. This unseasonable weather didn't last. Temperatures dropped and forecasts even called for snow. I feared for the future of the flowers I'd spent many hours planting the previous November. A friend tried to calm me down. "Bulbs know about this kind of weather," she said. "They expect it. They can handle it." She spoke with absolute confidence, and I almost believed her. Then I went home and looked at the daffodils, even now budding, some nearly opened, and was again filled with despair.
Dead Flowers: A World ViewThen I removed myself from this mental turbulence, and observed what I was thinking. The monologue went like this: "Poor bulbs. The weather was warm, and they trusted it. They thought it was safe to grow, to bloom, and now the fickle, treacherous, vicious weather is going to take advantage of their innocent faith and strike them all dead."I wasn't too far into this before I realized that my feelings were only marginally about flowers. At this time I was doing some growing myself and developing a deepened sense of faith that what I wanted to manifest would happen. All of this positive thinking, though, was making me nervous.
Each day I woke up happy and optimistic, but all the while a small but
insistent voice of doom said, "You'd better watch
yourself. Don't get overconfident, don't get too relaxed. If you let
down your guard, if you trust too much you won't be
protected against the major disappointments which are sure to happen.
You know that nothing good can last, don't you?"
Believing is SeeingTo help the situation, I acknowledged that I believed this, needing to go no further than the front yard to find evidence for this belief. When we hold any strong belief, the outside world usually supplies us with support: Our beliefs shape how we see the world, what we focus on. Other people saw daffodils which would make it through the uncertain weather; I saw blackened stalks.I was experiencing a phenomenon which in holistic health care is called a healing crisis. This is described as a situation in which a condition gets worse before it gets better. On a physiological level, true healing involves releasing toxins from the system. In order for them to be released, however, they must first work their way through the body. The process of detoxification may briefly cause more discomfort than the condition being treated. Just as disease can exist on the spiritual and emotional planes (and usually does before materializing into the physical body) so healing crises can be of an emotional and/or spiritual nature. Sometimes when people begin taking vibrational essences (which work principally on the emotional and spiritual levels) they find temporarily that the feelings they want to be free of seem stronger than ever. Not only are the emotional toxins surfacing, but the individual becomes more acutely aware of their manifestations.
Healing BeliefsIn the case of beliefs, there is an additional aspect. We've all lived with certain beliefs for longer than we can remember (we rarely remember acquiring them). They may not have served us well in terms of our reaching our maximum potential, but they've helped us to struggle along. It's not easy to give up such old, reliable companions, especially when life without them feels like one without protection.All thought has vibration, and those of beliefs, being well-organized, are especially powerful. When they feel threatened with extinction they will arise to fight for their survival. Here's where many positive thinking programs get into trouble: You may be told to resist this assault, to repeat your affirmations ever more fervently. You may even end up feeling guilty or as though you haven't been trying hard enough if the old beliefs continue to erupt. If we look at this eruption in the context of a healing crisis, though, we see that it is part of the process of change and empowerment, and that resisting the surfacing of the old beliefs only inhibits their release. I suggest instead that you let it happen, keeping the following in mind (vibrational essences may be of aid to you in this process):
The world was a happier place once I recognized what was going on in my busy mind. And my flowers? The temperatures did go below freezing, but the daffodils, narcissi, and hyacinths thrived, each day filling the garden with more color and cheer.
Flower Essence Belief ReleasersWhichever ones are right for you may initiate a healing crisis; the ones I describe below can help to resolve it. These are all Bach Flower Remedies. They are also available labeled as English Healing Herbs. (see sidebar at right for other essence suggestions)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: CONNIE BARRETT does flower essence counseling for people and pets (including by email). Her website, Beyond the Rainbow, has many articles about flower essences and related subjects. She can also be reached by e-mail at rainbow@ulster.net. DESIGN CREDITS: Our editor Deborah Bier created these based upon a design from Owen Jones' 1869 "The Language of Ornament," courtesy of Art Today.
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The
emergence of so-called negative thinking doesn't mean you have failed in
the positive thinking department.
Recognize that this surfacing is, rather, an indication of your
success. 
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