Tuesday, October 28, 2008

Welcome to "Your Metaphysical World" Blog







Welcome to Your Metaphysical World blog by yours truly. I'll start with a little about myself and then my hopes and ideas for this blog.

My background and why I suddenly got the bug to do this blog: I got my Master's Degree in psychology back in 1995 and then my Ph.D. from Nova Southeastern University in Clinical Psychology in 2002. I have primarily worked in non-profit organizations assisting underserved populations such as the uninsured and those with serious mental illness (ie., schizophrenia, bipolar disorder). I've worked with children, adolescents, and adults on an inpatient and outpatient basis, as well as those who were incarcerated. After doing this work for over 10 years, I went back to school for my certification as a professional coach and began doing career and life coaching. This was about two years ago and then a friend suggested I get acupuncture to assist with extreme nausea during my first pregnancy. While riddled with needles, the acupuncturist asked if she could do "energy work" on me. I had no idea what she was talking about but told her to go for it. That was my first experience with Reiki and it absolutely changed my life. I'll go into that in another posting, but suffice it to say that nothing has been the same since and I'm now a Reiki Master myself. I've spent the last year reading everything I can get my hands on concerning energy, quantum physics, and all other matters metaphysical. I wanted to have a forum where people could share ideas and information and thought this was a great place to start.

Blog format: I realize blogs aren't really supposed to have a lot of structure but I'm organized by nature so bear with me. I'm planning on posting about a metaphysical topic each week with some questions or exercises to do. I would LOVE feedback from you all, such as ideas for topics or structure of the blog. I will post some of my favorite metaphysical books, music, and movies, and would love to hear yours as well. I also believe you need to nourish the body as well as the soul and will post healthy recipes...and am always looking to try new ones to feel free to share.


So let's begin, shall we....the first question we will address is:


What is "Metaphysics?"

The word is a derivative of the Greek words meta, meaning "beyond," and physika, meaning "physical." It is the exploration of reality that transcends the mere physical world. This encompasses an enormous breadth of topics, such as the mind/body connection, the nature of consciousness and thought, spirituality, quantum physics, ESP and clairvoyance to name a few.

For instance, you tend to hear a lot of talk today about the mind/body connection and how linked they actually are. Something intangible such as an emotion like sadness or anxiety can actually cause biochemical changes in the brain (and vice versa), which can later manifest as real physical symptoms (i.e. the person under chronic extreme stress who has a heart attack). Or on a less extreme level, the person who has a fight with their significant other and then comes down with a migraine. So the thoughts we think can create actual physical correlates in the body. This not only has significant implications for illness, but also for healing. One of the best books I've read on healing and the mind/body connection is "Quantum Healing" by Deepak Chopra. I'll delve more into this topic in the future as well, as there is so much information out there.
While many of these metaphysical topics still seem somewhat mysterious to the mainstream (or even downright wacky depending on who you talk to), I firmly believe that science, especially quantum science, will one day be able to easily explain phenomena such as ESP. The science just has not caught up to human experience yet.......

Question of the week: Can you think of an example where you knew that your thoughts or emotions resulted in a physical problem of some kind? (You can even say the example is "someone you know." Really, I'm used to it.)

Inspirational Quote of the Week:
"The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.
It is the source of all true art and science."
- Albert Einstein