CONTRIBUTIONS – 2

 

 

“Nothing is so strong as gentleness and nothing is so gentle as real strength”.

Ralph W Sockman (1889 – 1970)

 


 

Just stop

 

“Hey there, I dare you, just stop.

 

All the racing and chasing, the thinking and planning.

 

All the ‘when I’ve done this, I’ll fit you in when I can and’….just stop.

 

Then what? Well, that’s what I dare you.

 

The dare’s just to sit through the pushes and pulls of your mind.

 

You’re so busy doing, going and moving. Always working to try and find time.

 

I dare you to be kind to the small child inside who’s just rushing around and searching for love.

 

Trying to prove that  efficiency rules, that by being productive she’s enough.

 

But being busy is your form of laziness, lazy thinking and acting in haste.

 

Avoiding the real thing. The fact that the big win is stopping. Then seeing what you face.

 

So again, here’s the dare. Just stop, just sit there and quietly wait for your heart to be given a chance to speak for the real you.

 

To allow the deep healing to start. For it’s all very well and you’re trying we can tell, to find space to be still in your day.

 

But this invitation is to consider the notion of living a whole other way.

 

Starting from stillness, effortless emptiness. Trusting doing nothing is ok.

 

That in fact sitting back when you fully relax, a whole different time frame’s at play.

 

What if you dared to sit scared with no plan and just waited to see what came next?

 

You know you are safe, you are loved, you’re ok. Stopping could be your best story yet.”

 

By Alexis Sinclair 

 


 

“All that is required to realise the self is to be still.”

Sri Ramana Maharshi (1879 – 1950)

 


 

Dear Easton,

I am writing to you today to express my gratitude and thanks to your organisation for the help I have received.

 

More specifically, I would like to extend my appreciation to Paul Ansorge who since early 2019 has listened to my tales of woe. With a sincere and professional ability in offering the guidance I so clearly needed, Paul is also very adept at making one feel completely at ease, as if confiding in a long standing friend.

 

Over the years through talking to Paul I have learnt a tremendous amount about life in general, and without doubt even more concerning myself. A great ability in one so young!

 

I would like to extend my thanks to your organisation and also to Paul for his considerable expertise, without which I may not be in the position I am today, thank you both.

 

Very best wishes

 

Chris

 


 

“You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him to find it for himself.”

Galileo Galilei (1564 to 1642)

 


 

I started seeing Donella when I felt I was no longer able to cope and everything in my life felt too much. With her guidance, knowledge and support, I come away from each and every session learning something new about myself and with tools to help myself in a better way. Her style of support is empowering, insightful and compassionate.

 

From when I started The Reach Approach process I have a much fuller, kinder and confident understanding of myself. I am happier than I actually believed was possible and this is down to Donella’s work with me. I could not recommend her more highly.

 

Thank you Donella.

 

Paris Hawkins-Carr, London

 


 

“A scientific worldview which does not profoundly come to terms with the problem of conscious minds can have no serious pretensions of completeness. Consciousness is part of our universe, so any physical theory which makes no proper place for it falls fundamentally short of providing a genuine description of the world”.

Sir Roger Penrose (1931 – present)

 


 

Over the past year the Reach approach has made such a difference to my life. I was very depressed and after talking to Rupinder, I realised that I had not grieved for my father who had passed away four years earlier.

 

She helped me to come to terms with his loss by such a simple process really and I was so amazed how quickly it worked for me.

 

I didn’t realise that I also had other issues, which Rupinder helped me with so much. Her advice helped me cope and look at situations differently.

 

I am feeling like my old self again and I know that guidance from Rupinder and the Reach Approach will help me move on with my future and definitely look forward to it.

 

I cannot thank Rupinder enough for listening and giving me my life back.

 

Carol Bateman

 


 

“To be beautiful means to be yourself. You don’t need to be accepted by others. You need to accept yourself.”

Thich Nhat Hanh (1926 – present)

 


 

When I contacted the Reach Approach at the beginning of last year, I knew I was ready to start making changes in my life, I did not, however, anticipate that these changes would have such a positively profound affect. When I began receiving support – through contact sessions with the wonderful Rupinder – I was facing a lot of daily challenges and struggles. Suffering from bulimia, depression and anxiety, I could not see a way out and was beginning to believe that I was destined to be unhappy and feel unworthy and scared my whole life.

 

With Rupinder i began to look at aspects of my life, both past and present, so I could reach a place of understanding and then begin to apply and use Reach Approach methods that would help me to release my fears, build my confidence and live a healthy life that was free of anxiety and doubt. It wasn’t always easy and I had to be dedicated to wanting to change but day by day I slowly and surely began feeling better and more confident in myself. As well as gaining more self esteem and self-worth I, along with Rupinder’s guidance, also developed methods to cope when things began to regress. I couldn’t praise Rupinder enough and the Reach Approach for its developed, consistent and resourceful support, never pushing me but pointing me to the direction of reaching my full potential and helping me to realise how wonderful life can be

 

Anon

 


 

“The greater part of our happiness or misery depends on our dispositions and not on our circumstances.  We carry the seeds of the one or the other about with us in our minds wherever we go.”

Martha Washington (1731 – 1802)

 


 

Well what a journey it has been! I arrived at Jo’s having lived a life of mask wearing and low self-belief. We began exploring my childhood history, unearthing my sense of ‘lack of belonging’ and low self-worth. The 3 A’s said it all, yet I was just so relieved to be able to have some understanding of why I thought and behaved in the way I did. The use of Positive Affirmations has been a revelation to me…I use them every day!

 

One particular sticking point for me was my post-natal depression. Boy, how I had carried that around with me for 9 long years. After a session of light therapy with Jo, it finally shifted. This was a HUGE turning point for me and my journey of self-belief as a parent and as a person.

 

Dark room work was, on the whole, difficult and painful. I found it painful being with myself, something I had been running from for many years. However, Jo offered me a safe environment and trusting relationship to explore this and each week it became easier. Dark room work ensured my relationships around me changed for the better. I now have an ‘adult’ relationship with my parents and am more emotionally available for my children. My husband is also enjoying the more assertive me (to a point!!). I’m happy with me…I like me…I love me.

 

Finally, Jo and I embarked on ‘Lifestyle’. I have enhanced my nutrition, hydration and relaxation. I, along with my family, are reaping the rewards of what Reach has offered.

 

Jo, it’s been emotional … and so so worth it … thank you.

 

Nicole (UK)

 


 

“I am by nature a dealer in words and words are the most powerful drug known to humanity.”

Rudyard Kipling (1865 – 1936)

 


 

 

 

 

The caterpiller becomes the butterfly

l approached Reach back in May 2012, just after suffering from a hemiplegic migraine and ending up in hospital with stroke-like symptoms. l had suffered from severe migranes for over 12 years along with constant mouth ulcers. I had lived in a state of constant anxiety and stress.

 

I always felt like there was a dark cloud following me wherever I went. I moved home and city several times trying to escape from it, but it just followed me each time. After I returned from hospital I decided I would not live under this dark cloud any longer. So I called ‘Reach’ and was put in touch with a wonderful person named Jo. Together we began this incredible journey of changing my life.

 

After only a couple of months l began to see things in a new light, as though someone was switching a light on in my mind. Gradually over the coming months the dark cloud began to disperse little by little, until one day it eventually evaporated.

 

l had often felt like a caterpillar crawling around this planet trying to make sense of why I was here and constantly climbing up a huge hill. When, after about a year with Reach I began to slowly change my mind set, my thinking became more positive and my outlook on life and myself began to change.

 

Until one day I changed from being that caterpillar and became this beautiful butterfly! I finally became free to be me (at the age of 53) and begin to see the beauty in the world around me. l became free of migraines and mouth alcers, I changed not only my thinking pattern but my diet too, drinking plenty of water every day keeps the cobwebs away!

 

All this took place in just over 18 months, with the encouragement and support of a highly trained and dedicated Reach counsellor.

 

Thank you Jo.


Karen D (West Midlands)

 


 

“Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear”.

Mark Twain (1835 – 1910)

 


 

I am

I am the sum of all my parts
I am the light and the dark
I am the hidden and the stark
Naked and clothed
In truth and in lie
When I open, when I deny

 

My anger sits with my deep joy
Sharing the acceptance and the rejection
The dislike and the affection
The hatred and the love
All below and that above

 

These myriad of faces sit
Facing each other, all exist
Holding hands in sustained connectedness
Interlocked, transparent, no less
Deserving in their existence
Polar opposites held in balance
Fluctuating, transforming and reforming
Transitioning one to another in flow
I see them, acknowledge them and I know

 

I AM!

 

Joanna Pine

 


 

“You can avoid reality, but you cannot avoid the consequences of avoiding reality.”

Ayn Rand (1905-1982)

 


 

Dear Easton and Team

I’ve been volunteering my services in Eritrea for the last 12 months and your website has literally kept me sane. I’ve battled with feeling homesick and wondering whether I’m good enough to do what I’m doing. There are days when the connection is so poor and I’m unable to access the site and I really notice the difference. It’s not that I’m dependent on it (maybe I am), it’s just that it’s an invaluable support. I’ve particularly found the meditation and relaxation section of great help to me. I feel like I’m learning a new skill, one that is portable, which is really useful as I have to move around a lot. I’ve also found myself, even though I’m not qualified, trying to pass on the beauty and the simplicity of the messages.

 

I’ve been buying your calendars for many years now and they’re lovely. I think this year’s has been the best one with the monthly reflections, which have certainly helped me think about each affirmation more deeply. Another invaluable resource for me personally has been the bite sized insights. I think it’s great how so much insight and helpful instruction is packed literally into a few minutes and being able to download them for such a modest fee has been great. They are packed onto my ipod and have become good friends to me. You must be helping literally thousands of people across the planet to find inner peace. Thank you for helping me.

 

From A Grateful Traveller

 

Jason McAllister Eritrea

 


 

“A positive thinker does not refuse to recognise the negative, he simply refuses to dwell on it. Positive thinking is a form of thought which habitually looks for the best results from the worst conditions.”

Norman Vincent Peale (1898 – 1993)

 


 

 

My first year at university had been hell; I was determined not to have another year like it. I couldn’t work out whether I was really agoraphobic or claustrophobic as I couldn’t bear to be out of my room and I couldn’t bear to be in it either. It was torture. Even worse was pretending I was OK. After 9 months I just couldn’t do it any more. I collapsed one day and the charade was over; everyone would know – my worst fear had arrived. The sense of shame was awful. This wasn’t supposed to happen to me! I felt I’d let everyone down. I was the first person to go to uni in my family – how would I look everyone in the face, especially my Grandparents who were always overwhelmed with my achievements. The feeling of letting everyone down was as bad as the ache inside but I was incapable of addressing either. I just didn’t have the capacity – I’d used up all my fight.

 

8 months on from that awful time of complete fatigue and utter despair, I’m much, much better. The most healing for me was in being understood. The more I realized many others had shared this kind of experience, the more my shame faded. The love and support of my family was lovely but strangely it wasn’t enough. For a time it made me feel worse as I didn’t feel I deserved their love after letting them down. It was talking and reflecting that helped me the most and learning how to help myself. I’ve learnt so much in such a short time. Most of all I’ve learnt that there is no benefit in pretending because whatever’s wrong will overwhelm you in the end. Face your fears if you can – that’s what my work with Reach helped me to achieve and I’m so grateful! I will now finish my degree that had seemed impossible when I finally broke down. Thank you Easton for introducing me to The Story of Health; the concept has literally changed my life.

 

Claire Patterson

 


 

“I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.”

Thomas Alva Edison (1847-1931)

 


 

I’m a 49 year old Professor in a prestigious university and regrettably as I know I’m likely to be judged unfavorably by my superiors and peers my contribution is delivered anonymously. It’s terrible that such prejudice still exists for those who eventually find the courage to seek help. My journey still continues and I’m hoping one day I’ll not care how the world views me. For now I’m just so grateful to be over the anxiety and panic attacks; they were so debilitating. I’ve done a lot of creative visualisation and deep relaxation work in my sessions and used the CDs and MP3s frenetically. This has been a very powerful combination for me.

 

What’s also been helpful is the advice around diet and nutrition and understanding the importance of water in mental health and the role of breathing in the correct way. For the first time in over 20 years I feel I’m being myself. This mind-body-spirit and environment approach is so obvious and yet I’ve not come across anything offering this mix in this way. I highly recommend it to those who are quietly suffering and are unhappy with their lives.

 

Anon

 


 

“Try to learn something about everything and everything about something.”

Thomas Henry Huxley (1825-1895)