Q & A
Created on 09/19/2008Hello Everybody,
It's been a while since we updated this blog.
I will try to keep it regular but I will definetely keep it real too, so I will write to you only when I think I have something important to share. And as you know, that doesn't always come on demand.
Anyway, I've worked a lot lately, traveled, met some wonderful people, had enlighthenined discussions and beautiful experiences. I will post more blog entries very soon.
Today I'd like to try to answer some of your questions.
I appreciate them very much; there is so much depth and sincerity in them.
I chose only some questions today because I think they may resonate with similar questions many others might have.
Here we go:
Q:
It would be extremely helpful if you could perhaps show how this is done --perhaps recounting an actual case of how you managed to help one of your patients in achieving this. And even more enlightening if you could also tell of some actual case where someone managed to achieve it on his/her own.
A:
I completely agree it would be very helpful. In fact, this is one of my visions for Cliffhouse - to serve as a laboratory of sorts to examine real stories, practical cases, and to learn from what had been helpful in the past and look for new ways to heal and help. Confidentiality is my biggest question for now as I am trying to find the right way to share specific examples with you without any breach of confidentiality. In most cases, it is not possible though. I hope to find the right way soon, so I can share some fascinating things with you. There are also questions and stories that some of you sent to me personally. Even though I can't become your personal consultant, there are just different limitations for that, we can start a new page on this website ("Healing Room"?) where we can post different accounts, so others, including myself, can share suggestions for healing for each particular case. I will check with you before posting it to make sure it's okay to make it public. This is what I think about that part of the work so far. Please share your suggestions on how it can be done. I think together we will find the right format for posting personal accounts.
Q:
With my great surprise I see that it is not published a your third book. Im wrong, thinking that there should be a follow book to clarify important things already emerged in the other books?
A:
It would be nice to have another book clarifying the first two, I agree. But this is something I can't do by rational demand, mine or anybody else's. Writing the first two books was quite an extraordinary experience of its own. I really felt that I had little choice not to do it, so great was the internal pressure to write at that point. Even though my life journey has taken me through immense transformations since I wrote my books and there are stories in my life that would make fascinating accounts to share, I first need to complete those experiences on many levels and to make sense for myself out of the amazing, sometimes insane, but profoundly mystical things that I've witnessed before I can write about them. So when the time is right, I will emerge myself into writing the next book and I will give my best to it. Not yet. Maybe never. Maybe soon. Thank you for asking though. Meanwhile I will be writing for Cliffhouse.
Q:
I have a question. Many of the themes in these posts relate to themes in the previous two books “Entering the Circle”, and “Master of Lucid Dream”. However, to describe those themes, you are not using the same vocabulary that you did in the books. I wonder why that is?
A:
It's an interesting observation, I am not sure which terms you mean exactly, but in general I think it is correct. The style of my writing (or thinking) while writing this blog is different from writing the books. The books are written in a metaphorical language, while the blog is a more linear exchange of ideas. They don't contradict each other, different vocabulary doesn't change the underlying meaning, I hope. Even though I do want to find a "third way" of combining the metaphorical and the linear, I haven't found it yet. Suggestions?
Q:
I know someone who has a very serious sex addiction. I was wondering if you have had any thoughts on this type of addiction. It turns out he has been going to prostitutes for over 20 years!
A:
Very complex issue. As primal and simple as sex is, the complexity it can create in our behaviour is practically limitless. Since you ask about a specific case, this question relates to the first one, so part of my asnwer is in the first question. The other part is that with this particular addiction in general, as with any sexual dysfunction, the first step is to separate the primal from the complex. By that I mean to evaluate a biological function of a person, his/her needs, potential, history, etc. and then step by step sort out the behaviour attached to sexual functions, including beliefs, fears, traumas, expectations, etc. The pyramid of addictive behavior, especially after twenty years, is very strong and tall and there are many things that may be buried underneath it. But the question that comes even before all of this, what does this person want to do about his addiction himself? You are the one who asked the question. Does he want to keep building this pyramid, or break it down?
Q:
Olga, I have contacted you before. I tend to use alcohol as a sedative. End of a long hard work day - my job mentaly intense, all I want to do is shut down. I have trained in shamanic techniques & find I just cannot
progress when I have taken alcohol, not just in the evening when I fade out, but also the following morning. Is there anything that you can recommend to break this circle. When I don’t drink, I struggle to sleep & my dreams are vivid - ghosts, trapped, precipices, etc etc - quite traumatic. Thank you.
A:
If you want to we can post this question on another page ("Healing Room")open for suggestions from people who had dealt with similar challenges. What I said in my answer to the first question, all applies here. In general, it sounds more like a question about discipline than question about addiction for me. I would rephrase your question to "how can I restructure my life activities to feel more productive? And what does it mean for me to progress and to be productive? What do I need to bring into my life to struggle less and not to feel trapped?" Something like that, focusing on restructuring your patterns and then after it is more clear how to, keeping your discipline up to bring those changes on and take them in. We need to keep talking about it, there are so many people out there who can relate to your quest. Thank you for asking it.
Q:
In my first post (08/06/2008) one of my statements was that "I rarely feel vulnerable anymore". Since then, it has become clear to me that that statement is nonsense. I hadn’t realized how much inner pressure I felt to act tough (meaning I can handle anything) even to myself. In truth, I have a lot of fear not faced because I don’t believe I can handle it. I find that I am not ready to share those fears with anyone. I have been hiding them from others and some even from myself for a long time. I am very shaken by this realization.
A:
I think both things are true and it is a great realization. I think in your first post you talked about a genuine transformation you had and now with more strength available, you are ready to process more. The pressure to act tough exists for most of us (no kidding), but it is not directly responsible for us keeping most of our fears away. I think fears themselves are more responsible for keeping continuing hide-and-seek game with our mind. And when you say you are very shaken, I would suggest considering the possibility that it is not you, but your fears (who are not you!), that are shaken from the prospect of getting evicted from your mind. When you said in your first post "It has taken me a life time of work to accept my feelings of vulnerability. It is still an incomplete acceptance. Out of that has come a lot of personal strength. So I am very clear that being authentically vulnerable has astonishing power to heal", I take it as your truth. What is great about this dilemma that you bring out is that your life time is not over and you already are more aware than most about things you need to acomplish. And you already have experienced the strength and healing that comes with it. I think it is great.
Thank you.
Love,
Olga
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