Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I have a solution!

I've only just started listening to the CDs... to be honest I keep falling asleep before they're finished :rolleyes so I don't have much of an opinion - but I am used to listening to different types of meditation, Chi Kung, relaxation tapes etc, so I'm going with the flow )

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I have a solution!

Really? As an Aussie, I find the whole accent - mispronounced or not - irritating/distracting. BUT that doesn't mean I can't perservere to get the real intent happening. I think maybe we can all try to *use* the irritability factor as a way of measuring how well we go into the real thing - if it doesn't annoy you anymore, you must be doing it *right* imho :eek


Just edited this to maybe explain a bit more what I am thinking ... the real thing imho isn't James it is us and what we do with the tapes. James (I feel really strange calling him James when I have never met the guy ... just social inhibitions happening, I guess) anyway, James is just the conduit - the real work is what we do in our heads to make the experience real for us as individuals. Am I preaching to the converted??????? :rollin

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I have a solution!

Ha Ha.. this thread is really great!! :eek
I also hated the CD's! :rollin
BUT... (my theory) (warning: writing book)

My situation is that I usually drink of an evening to "calm down" after an extremely stressful day. Hmmmm: Anger?>D

Has anyone considered the whole situation of being a stressed out professional results in an adrenaline overload at the end of the day which makes us want to drink to relax??

I find personally that the result of trying not to drink can be a kind of 'hyper - irritability'. If I don't have my glass/s of wine I am just crappy & cranky with everyone!!!!

So as for the CD's : Yes!!! I am an irritable cow when I would rather be drinking & "mellowing out" in my old way with wine...

Bottom line is I'd rather be doing ANYTHING ELSE than listening to a 'relaxing' CD in my bedroom when I'm full of so much anger & adrenaline... and DAMN!!! If anyone's pronunication wouldn't get my GOAT!!!! GRRRRRRRR >:

However, my friends, I have realised my life will never improve if I do not find a 'way out' of this habit. I used to chain- smoke and I've now realised when I gave that up I replaced it with drinking. (The old "let's just take a minute to calm down" technnique.. puff.. puff... [convert to] swallow... swallow..)

It's taken me a long time to recognise it, but I really need to replace my stress 'coping' mechanisms!!!!!

Even though I was doing the supps and got rid of the cravings, I had not addressed my 'reasons' until spending a few months to fathom it all out. I had a lot of 'why am I still doing this' questions to figure out.

So, my latest theory is that I need to accept that I am in fact angry & agressive when I come home after work because I spent the whole day in high pressure adrenaline producing situations.

Instead of coming home, "trying to be nice" and "trying to relax" I am going to go to a gym and spend 45 minutes pounding something before I go home.

Hopefully then I will be able to go home and honestly be present without jumping out of my skin... read a story to my kids & go to bed myself. And hey! Might even listen to those CD's happily at last! (although I'm looking forward to the improved sound technology so the water sound's more lifelike!!)

Love to all.. (sorry for the book):rolleyes
Wish me luck with curing the HYPER-IRRITS
Great thread!
& Thanks RJ!!
MFM

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I have a solution!

To address a somewhat less incendiary part of this thread, the sound of the water (at least not personal:lol ), I have found that the sleep learning CD, which annoyed me greatly at first--sounded like water glubbing down a rusty old sink-- now actually does sound like a nice stream on a different CD player. I really enjoy it. I imagine a different player won't make a difference with James' voice and diction very much, but it made listening to sleep learning a whole lot nicer to me. Before I got the new cd player, I was just planning on listening to the subliminal all night.

Regards to all!
Kathy

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I have a solution!

Pounding at the gym is a good thing ... but it only increases the adrenaline. Maybe a Tai Chi class or summat instead and do the pounding earlier in the day? That is what I am planning.

Oh ... and learning to enjoy Chinese tea too.That is what my husband uses as a substitute drink. I like it when it is offered and the ritual of preparing it is kinda nice.

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I have a solution!

I just listened to the clearing CD after having been away a while. I know who his voice sounds like --- Donald Sutherland's in the original movie M*A*S*H.

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

I NEVER knew this would go on and on from my own rant.

BUT, I really felt I had to reply to you, Martian. Sorry I don't know your real name - I'm Cathy.

Like you, I come home pumped up from a high-pressure job. Unlike you, I've continued to smoke - always did both. This is day four without a drink. It stinks. I need to read the book again and listen to the CDs and read the board to calm down. I find that helps. I like Wombat's idea about drinking the tea - I'm having lemonade now. And I agree with her, maybe going to the gym to pound would raise your adrenaline even more. Or not. Could just make you exhausted - which in my case was another reason to drink - cuz you get that overtired feeling where you cannot sleep UNLESS you drink (I'm a wino too). I'm also an angry and aggressive person by the end of the day. Very Type-A personality, anyway.

I worked in HR once and a VP told me that (she was a drinker, too so who knows whether this is true but it sounds reasonable to me) people who are type A and work extremely hard and push themselves beyond the limit are also more likely to party-hardy.

I used to make lists as long as my arm of what I was going to accomplish EVERY DAY. I stopped doing that. I have settled for 3-4 things instead of 16. I try to sit down and breathe when I get home. I get some quiet time to myself. A half hour seems to be enough - sometimes, an hour, on a bad day. I have learned even in the last four days of withdrawal (and am taking vitas and some supps) that I have to stop RACING everywhere and go with the flow. When I find myself getting wound up over a slow driver in front of me, I just back off, sigh, and turn on some music instead of swearing at them. If my partner doesn't do something right exactly when I want I don't have a freakout. I just ignore it and let it go. So far that is working. I have a certain coworker who is also menopausal, like me, who I really cannot stand. And she cannot stand me. This is the last instance, really, of stress that gets in my way during the day. And of course she sits right next to me. And I can hear her complaining about me. I called over the wall on Tuesday, you know, I'm sitting right here. I can hear everything you are saying. And I went back to work, satisfied that I had let her know and that any person of reasonable conscience would have felt mortified, ashamed, or sorry ... any of the above. Still, she never apologized. I had to send her an email regarding work matters and she send back an email saying "thank you" (same day). I guess that was the apology. Instead of getting all worked up about it, I decided she was the one with the prob, not me. And so it goes. How long have you been off or are you moderating?

Good luck with the hyper-irrits.
Cathy

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: I NEVER knew this would go on and on from my own rant.

This thread is really interesting to me, because you have the Type A personality, and those are the personalities in my family who do NOT drink. They stay so busy, always doing, racing around, making lists, and coming home to work out, jog, and then make their list for tomorrow, then go to bed! Wow! I thought it was us who worked from home, who had too much time on our hands and were too laid back?

My sister is very Type A, but she will have ONE glass of wine, and then go on and on about how she will NEVER get everything done the next day on her list because she "drank".

Can you tell that I dont talk to her about this?

I wish I could be so productive!

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: LOL

Hey Kathy!
I'm so glad you brought that up! I also thought the gurgling water, both the creek & sea were too 'noisy'. I never considered it might be my 'playing' equipment that was at fault!!
I remember years ago (when the first walkmans came out) how a friend & i went to record water & wildlife noises in a nearby creek for a local theatre production. How amazed we were with the incredible quality of the recordings & impact of the reproduction on our audience!! I guess we had good quality speakers?
So it's hard for me to understand the gurgly drain sort of noise ya know? I'm not doubting the hypnotist knows what he's doing.. only.. "say no more" about the sound production.. Maybe we should all check our "playback" equipment for quality too?

And hey Wombat!!
I need to explain.. My theory on the adrenaline thing..
Many moons ago when I was a young thing expecting my first child I was taught some things by a wondrous active birth guru.. by the name of Ju Ju Sundin in Australia.
What she taught me is that FEAR creates ADRENALINE (the old fight/flight situation). The only way to move the adrenaline out of your body is to take ACTION!!

Adrenaline is a POISON that must not stay in the body!

Many people today are caught up in hugely stressful jobs where they are experiencing something similar to FEAR (only they don't recognise it and just call it "STRESS") This creates enormous amounts of adrenaline that is stored and not shifted out of the body.. as we are taught to CONTROL our emotions & keep em DOWN.
Many of us sit with a heap of anger & adrenaline without dealing with it most days.

In the context of a birth, we experience fear, pain & panic. We can overcome this state by taking some sort of action such as humming, rocking, dancing, visualising, beating, screaming, moaning, cracking jokes, taking a hot shower... whatever feels most comfortable... and by expressing or taking action we SHIFT the adrenaline and that brings the next wave of brain chemistry on which are HAPPY ones like seratonin & other natural opiates.. the things that get us through the crisis & make us feel high as a kite when we've achieved something!!

Well, I'm trying to apply that to my life.
If I've been going through heaps of crap at work & I'm full of adrenaline & anger, I figure I'll get rid of it with something like "pounding it out" at gym.. and SHIFT IT!!
I seriously don't think I'll create more adrenaline, but am attempting to release the buildup that my mad-stressful day has created.. and I usually find that physical exercise does leave me feeling relaxed afterwards.
and I do agree.. I love Chinese Tea.. are you referring to Jasmine Tea?

Hi Cathy,
Hmmmm... I guess it sounds like I'm also 'type A' although I've never heard of it!! I think I've burbled on enough for now.. but had to let you know I also race everywhere.
I'm so proud & appreciative that you are going well on the program. I'm not so proud of myself as yet, as I'm still trying to get my life into some sort of order.
I'm doing another moving house bout this weekend & starting a new job on Monday. But hope to be beginning my moderation plan on Tuesday.. will check in with Kathy's excellent moderation board!!

(thanks for letting me ramble)
Love to All
MFM

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: The work out thing

I wanted to respond to the gym thing... why not? This thread needed to be a bit longer.
Martian, you are definitely on to something. Just Do it! Be like the NIKE commercial (do you have those over there?) Seriously, after pounding the pavement, the weights, the treadmill, the pool, the yoga mat, whatever your fancy, it is proven that the endorphine rush is a high enough to sustain you feeling great. Last thing I'm gonna do after making my sorry a** run 5 miles is sabotage it all by cracking open a beer! No way! I've burned over 400 calories (and your metabolism stays up and keeps burning), and feel a great enough "high" that I'm not going to wreck it.
Before you stop reading this.... I WAS NOT A WORK OUT PERSON. MY HUSBAND IS AND HE USED TO DRIVE ME NUTS. I'd be like "oh please go to the gym, leave me alone so I can drink my wine". It sucks sometimes to get my mind in the right mode, but once you're there, once you're out there and doing it ,then once you get back...TRUST ME, you'll think twice about having an alcoholic bev. Aqua sounds good. Or gatorade!
AND while I'm there, I have all my great angry chic and motivational music on my nano. So that's MY hypno-ish time.

Less "verrrry niiiice" More "MOVE YOUR A**!!!!" and Missy Elliot "We Run This" ...that song cracks me up every time. Oh, and Hole "Violet"...crazy beeatch that Courtney Love...
Gooooooooood Therapy. Who wants my play list?? ha ha ha!!
:rollin :hat
Bec

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: The work out thing

Hey Martian and others ...

My theory about the gym? Truly great on a number of levels. Yeah the fight/flight thing happens but also the endorphins. And, there is this mental thing about 'doing something good for oneself'. That may or may not be related to the physical sensations.

Personally? I first used a gym to see how far I could push myself. I like pumping iron more than the cardio stuff, but that might be coz I am a smoker. I had some really good trainers in Oz ... whom I miss soooooooooo much here in HK, who devised a program for me where I pumped the iron, then had only 10 mins of intensive cardio stuff at a time in between.

Anyway ... the only thing I ever had to do was get myself through the door and these people took me over. I loved it and miss it so much because doing it on my lonesome is so hard.

No doubt though ... experts say rigorous exercise too close to bedtime is a bad thing. I was lucky enough to be able to do it at 4:00pm and so have time for the thrill to wear off. Sleeping was a major importance to me then. Now I am not working, it isn't so much so maybe I need to re-evaluate.

Anyway - you are inspiring me. I happen to be in a bad place at the moment ... coz of family issues mostly, so I really valued your comments. You have got me thinking about myself again, lol.

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: The work out thing

Ooooh ... the Chinese tea is not only Jasmine, though I love that. I have met this Chinese tea "guru" who has the widest range of teas I have ever seen. He prescribed tea for my son who experienced his first ever adolescent acne after arriving here in HK (partly brought on by the pollution, I am sure, but also stress) and it worked!

So we are exploring a whole lot of things. I haven't asked him for an addiction tea yet, but I reckon he will come up with a liver cleansing one at least when I finally get the courage to ask. I will let you know, OK?

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: The work out thing

Hi Cathy Rock!

Since you're menopausal, like me, you might want to also take a look at Christiane Northrup's Book, The Wisdom of Menpause It is quite helpful and affirming at some of the stuff that we are feeling. In normalizing these feelings, I think it definitely takes away some of the stress of feeling them!

Hang in there!

Hi to all the rest of you!

Kathy

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: The work out thing

Just a couple of thoughts on the irritability thing...I think that hyper-irritabilty is yet another one of the symptoms of alcohol withdrawal...:

I also have another theory, though, based on my own experience...and it's that when we're not drinking everything comes into super focus....suddenly I can HEAR more clearly, so noises seem really, really disturbing...and I can SEE more clearly, so stuff that upsets me (clutter, dirt, general hideousness) upsets me even more when I'm not drinking...I feel sort of "raw" or like I'm missing a layer of skin.... For me, I think alcohol acted in my brain as the equivalent of a "white noise" machine--or noise-reducing headphones--the fuzziness of my brain on alcohol and the general numbing of myself to external stimili made a lot of things more bearable...now that I'm abstaining, EVERYTHING is in sharp relief (and totally annoying) and, at first, that made me SUPER irritable!

The good news is that as time has gone by (46 days!!), my withdrawal irrits have disappeared, I'm becoming more accustomed to my new sound/visual environment and I don't feel so raw--in fact, life looks pretty good right now!
susan

[Guest]

Oh Pulleeze! These CDs are worthless! Can anyone relate?

Re: The work out thing

Amen, Susan--I got a little caught up in the menopause thing, but what you say is so, so true. I guess withdrawal AND menopause can be rather mighty adversaries!!!:eek :eek :eek Hang in there Cathy!!!

Hugs,
Kathy