Personal Growth Planet Blog

Have you ever wished that you could take a particularly painful memory from your past and simply erase it?

I have a few (or more) memories that, at times, I would love to be rid of. These are the images, feelings and beliefs related to events in my past that crop up and seem to ruin my whole day, week, month or even years.

Recently, I watched the movie “Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind.” It tells the story of a man and woman who met, fell in love, argued, made love, argued some more and then broke up.

By Amy Phillips-Gary

Sometimes there’s nothing better than a deep and cleansing cry. It can shake things up and clear out all of that stuff that each of us needlessly carries around.

As adults, many of us don’t give ourselves permission to cry.

Somewhere along the line the message was made known that crying is weak and “for babies.” This is especially the case for boys and men. But girls and women also receive similar messages.

We are subtly or overtly told that there is no room for crying in a successful, got-it-all-together kind of life.

By Amy Phillips-Gary

A young boy struggles to deal with his parents' divorce, the introduction of a new person-- his mother's boyfriend-- into his life, feeling left out and ignored by his older sister and an overall sense of loneliness.

This not-so-unusual scenario is the stage upon which the movie version of the beloved children's book Where the Wild Things Are by Maurice Sendak is set.

While the book hints at the difficulties the pre-pubescent Max is going through, the movie version (titled the same) expands and brings them to a level that can be downright uncomfortable for viewers.

The wild things that Max encounters after he sails off to another land personify his seemingly out of control emotions.

By Amy Phillips-Gary

“…It’s just emotions taking me over…” sang the popular 1970s pop group the Bee Gees.

I bet that just about every one of us has experienced a wave of emotions that seemed to literally take over.

It might have been fear or panic so intense that nothing else going on could be perceived. Or it could have been a surge of pleasure or happiness.

Our feelings can be pervasive. They can also make us sick or, conversely, support and promote health and well-being.

By Amy Phillips-Gary

Have you ever felt so angry, you could hardly see straight? Or maybe you were overwhelmed by fear and felt closed off and small inside. Perhaps, your brain seemed in a fog– it was next to impossible for you to think clearly….

We’ve all been there.

Whether it’s feeling mad, sad, afraid or even spacey, sometimes it seems as if we are stuck in particular emotions or a certain mood and we just can’t figure out a way to move through it and release.

Have you ever tried yoga in cases like this?

By Amy Phillips-Gary

What to do with your anger….

Come on. As mild mannered as you think you are, you probably get angry from time to time.

We all get angry occasionally– some of us more occasionally than others.

The question is do you tend to stuff down your anger in some deep, dark hidden place within or do you spew it forth onto anyone and everyone around you?

I grew up in a family of stuffers.