Is there one goal or dream that always seems just out of your reach? According to Jack Canfield, prolific author of the Chicken Soup for the Soul® series, emotional blocks can hamper your greatest intentions. However, in a recent Bulletproof Radio podcast episode (iTunes), Canfield shared a powerful technique to release blocks and usher in your greatest success. In fact, he thinks it’s so powerful that he’s teamed up with transformational coach Dr. Lise Janelle to write a book about it called, “The Heart Freedom Method.”
“Almost everything that’s blocking you happened between the ages of three and eight. Sometimes later, it could have happened to you when you were 18. Regardless, something happened,” explains Canfield. “Then you decided:
- This is never going to happen again.
- I’m going to avoid this.
- I’m not worthy of love.
- I’m not worthy of this.
- It’s not safe to talk about sex.
- It’s not safe to ask for what you want.”
Whatever conclusion you came to at that young age lingered in your body as an emotional feeling or block. It’s actually preventing you from moving beyond it to achieve the success you desire. So, in order to reach your dreams, you need to release what is not serving you anymore.
According to Canfield, the following technique helps 98 percent of people to release blocks — so that they’re gone permanently. If you can relate at all to not achieving what you deeply desire, use this exercise to help you let go of whatever is holding you back.
- Close your eyes and imagine a goal you haven’t been able to attain. A loving relationship, a successful career, financial stability, weight loss, whatever it is. When you think about that goal, what do you feel? What’s the emotion: frustration, resignation, fear, anger?
- Scan your body from head to toe. Notice where in your body you feel either a strong physical sensation, numbness, or pain. Pay attention to this sensation in great detail. Ask yourself: How wide is it? How thick is it? What color is it? Is it solid? Is it hollow? Is it wet? Is it cold or hot? Examine the sensation fully.
- Look for the deeper feeling. There is almost always a deeper feeling behind the sensation. Go back to the earliest time you can remember that same feeling. (Almost everyone goes back to something that occurred between three and eight years old.)
- Find out what underlies that feeling. Ask yourself: Where are you? Who’s there? Are you alone or with people? What are you feeling there? Is there something happening you don’t want? Is someone shaming you, sending you to your room, punishing you, or accusing you of something you didn’t do? Or, is there something you wanted that you did not get? For instance: attention, love, security, or protection.
- Make sense of the experience now. What decision did you make at that point in life that might still limit you? What belief did you take on? Go back into the experience as an adult and talk to that inner child with all the wisdom you have now. Come to terms with that particular experience. For instance, perhaps the experience was something you needed in your development to give you the compassion to do the work you do today.
- Go into the future and become your enlightened self. What advice do you have for the adult sitting in the chair who started this exercise? Take time to journal, meditate, or talk to a friend to process the experience. Then write a “cheat sheet” for yourself — a pocket-sized note card you carry with you — that details your goal and three ways your enlightened self advises you to progress toward your goal. I.e, “I no longer need food to comfort me during times of stress. My goal is to lose 10 pounds in 3 months. I will reach my goal by surrounding myself with supportive people who believe in me and my goal.” Soon enough, this enlightened advice will become the foundation of your manifest dreams.
