Sandra Ingerman - How to Heal Toxic Thoughts: Simple Tools for Personal Transformation

How to Heal
Toxic Thoughts

Other books by Sandra Ingerman

Soul Retrieval: Mending the Fragmented Self

Welcome Home: Following Your Souls Journey Home

A Fall to Grace (fiction)

Medicine for the Earth: How to Transform
Personal and Environmental Toxins

Shamanic Journeying: A Beginners Guide

Audio Lecture Series (produced by Sounds True)

The Soul Retrieval Journey

A Beginners Guide to Shamanic Journeying

Miracles for the Earth

Sandra Ingerman

New York/London
www.sterlingpublishing.com/kids

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Available

Ingerman, Sandra.

How to heal toxic thoughts : simple tools for personal transformation / Sandra Ingerman.

p. cm.

ISBN-13: 978-1-4027-4260-6

ISBN-10: 1-4027-4260-6

1. Spiritual healing. 2. ShamanismMiscellanea. 3. Thought and thinkingReligious aspectsMiscellanea. I. Title.

BL65.M4I43

2007 131--dc22

2006038789

4 6 8 10 9 7 5

Published by Sterling Publishing Co., Inc.
387 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016
2007 by Sandra Ingerman
Distributed in Canada by Sterling Publishing
c/o Canadian Manda Group, 165 Dufferin Street
Toronto, Ontario, Canada M6K 3H6
Distributed in the United Kingdom by GMC Distribution Services
Castle Place, 166 High Street, Lewes, East Sussex,
England BN7 1XU
Distributed in Australia by Capricorn Link (Australia) Pty. Ltd.
P.O. Box 704, Windsor, NSW 2756, Australia

Manufactured in the United States of America
All rights reserved

Sterling ISBN 978-1-4027-4260-6

For information about custom editions, special sales, premium and
corporate purchases, please contact Sterling Special Sales
Department at 800-805-5489 or specialsales@sterlingpublishing.com.

To my husband, Woods Shoemaker, and my parents,
Aaron and Lee Ingerman

To the children of the world now and in the future:
May we leave you a healthy and peaceful planet
to live on so that you may thrive

How to Heal
Toxic Thoughts

Once upon a time as the children were sleeping, a spell was cast upon the lands. When we awoke from the night, this spell had us believe that only what we could see in the physical world was real.

Under this spell, a magical, deep, rich, exciting way to experience life ended for all the children. For there is so much more to the world around us than what we can see with our ordinary eyes, hear with our ordinary ears, feel in our bodies beyond the sense of ordinary touch. And when we forgot this we forgot the magic of being alive.

As the veils between the seen and unseen worlds closed, children learned how to survive instead of how to thrive. They grew into suspicious adults who lost the ability to trust others as they forgot about the power of love. They learned how to manipulate others and to compete to get what they wanted.

But now the spell is wearing off. The adults who were once children are waking up and remembering the ways of the hidden world. And as new children are born, they come in and help the rest of us remember.

The time has come to wake up from the trance. Wake up now!

One night I had a very powerful dream. I was standing around a water cooler with a group of coworkers. We were sipping our coffee and talking. The conversation seemed to be cordial, but I became aware that some of the workers were sending psychic punches to the others. I could actually see these invisible punches striking people in the solar plexus, and it amazed me. I would say to one whod been punched, Are you okay? And then to the other, Did you see what you just did?

My dream made visible the invisible interactions of the hidden world. In waking life, exchanges like these are just as realand all too common. When we observe how people behave, there may not seem to be any hostility. We may see a smile on the face of someone listening to us. But what is happening on an invisible level? What feelings are we triggering in him or her through our conversation or our presence?

We are more than our bodies, our thoughts, and our past experiences. We also have an invisible dimension that we call spiritan aspect I like to think of as who we are beyond our skin. We cant see this part of ourselves, but together with body and mind it makes up our whole being. And every time we interact with others in a visible, tangible way, on the level of the spirit an invisible exchange of energy is taking place too.

Each of us plays different roles in these exchanges; sometimes we are the senders, sometimes the receivers. And when the energy is negative, it can do harm just as physical violence can. Look at some of the phrases we commonly use to describe our daily dealings and how they make us feel. How many of them are associated with violent acts?

Shes being pushy.

Hes invading my space.

I felt beaten down.

She was worn down.

He was kicked when he was down.

She stabbed me in the back.

The whole group was held hostage by his behavior.

She was looking daggers at him.

The room was filled with explosive energy.

I made a suggestion but I was shot down.

The energy of violence acts on an invisible, psychic level, but it impacts both our physical health and our psychological well-being. We simply do not feel well on any level when we live and work in an environment that is thick with negative energy. You have surely been in a room where the fear or anger was tangible. You know it doesnt feel good to be there. You already know how toxic thoughts can be.

Since 1980 I have been studying an ancient form of spiritual healing called shamanism. The practice of shamanism dates back at least 40,000 years and, some anthropologists believe, possibly more than 100,000. A shaman is a man or woman who reads omens, divines information, and watches for signs in nature, working in partnership with the invisible and hidden worlds.

Shamans have taken on many roles in tribal communities, acting as healers, doctors, priests, psychotherapists, mystics, and storytellers. Historically, the shaman was responsible for keeping the community healthy, divining food sources, maintaining balance between the people and the natural world, and performing ceremonies to honor birth, death, and other life cycles both in humans and in nature. Today, shamanism is still practiced worldwide, and in some indigenous cultures the ceremonies and healing practices have been passed down through the generations unchanged. In other cultures, the practices have evolved to deal with emotional and physical illnesses traditional shamans did not face, including the rise of certain cancers due to environmental pollution and immune-deficiency problems such as chronic fatigue.

In the past, shamans were the doctors and psychologists of their communities. Today shamans work in conjunction with traditional medical and psychological practices. They look at the spiritual cause of illnesswhat is happening on the invisible level. Lets say for example that you had a diagnosis of cancer and went to a shaman in South America; the shaman would look at what was happening to you beyond your skin, on the unseen level of the spirit. This spiritual diagnosis might explain that someone had sent you anger, causing your physical illness.