CHAPTER 3
THE THIRD SECRET – Make
the PowerShift
Dr. Emery begins this chapter with a quote from Dr.
Jonas Salk, “The intuitive mind will tell the thinking mind where to look next. ”There are times when the problems
we are trying to solve become just too over-whelming.. We just don’t seem to have the creativity or the decision-making
ability to come up with the solutions to these dilemmas. This is the time when Dr. Emery suggest the need
for what she terms a PowerShift, a change from our usual thought patterns and a way to create a channel for new
thoughts and ideas. There are eight steps involved in achieving this PowerShift. They are: Issue, Centering, Receptivity,
Imagery, Deciphering the Image, Incubate, Go Deeper and Implementation.
A PowerHunch Tool to helps guide the reader through the first
three steps in which she describes many techniques on how to relax, center yourself and therefore to open ourselves
to whatever comes to mind. We may enjoy a moment of morning and evening reflection, taking time for letting go
of intrusive thoughts, contemplation, finding a water retreat, or just breathing. By following some of these techniques
our intuitive mind will start sending the imagery we will need to help solve our issue. A good point to remember
here is that this does not have to be a visual imagery. The “image” can come in a variety of ways. Once we’ve achieved
an image the next step is to decipher it. This is achieved by letting our minds free associate with as many things
possible that have to do with the image. When the correct association pops up we’ll get the AHA! experience and
we’ll know that we’ve gotten the correct intuitive information.
The images that our intuitive mind sends to us won’t always
seem to make sense regarding the issue at hand. If association doesn’t immediately help then incubation, may be
the answer. Incubation is letting your intuitive mind “sleep on it. ”Dr. Emery says to just take a break
and go on with our daily life and eventually the answer will show up. Usually when we least expect it to. There
may also be times when the complexities of the issue will lead us to want to get more from the image than the initial
association. This is when Dr. Emery suggests to go deeper. She suggests that in order to accomplish this
task we must let one word in the association process trigger another.
Now that all the primary steps have been followed, it’s time
to create a solution. This is accomplished in the final step, implementation. One might also invite others are
invited to help with implementation. As with all the exercises and techniques Dr. Emery stresses that journalizing
experiences is very important in the learning process.
CHAPTER 4
THE FOURTH SECRET – Fire
Up Your Creative Juices
In this chapter Dr. Emery wishes to show the link between
intuition and creativity. She states that “intuition is the impulse for the creative act. ”Both channels work hand
in hand in opening a channel where one helps the other to flow more freely. She details the many ways in which
creativity manifests itself other than through the artistic channels. There are times when we block our creativity
and in so doing we block our intuitive sense. Some ways that we can help become unblocked include break through
the fear barrier, make a judgment adjustment, endure creative confusion, shift your perspective, have fun and think
outside the box.
In overcoming the fear barrier she gives us examples of two
different approaches. One client uses imagery and another one uses the technique of turning all her negative statements
into positive ones. Each client was able to build on their technique to reach a successful un-blocking to their
creativity. For those times in our life when we have been told we can “never be this” or “never do that,” Dr.
Emery suggests using what she calls the judgment adjustment. We’ve grown up thinking certain things about ourselves
and in order to regain our creative selves we must first correct our conditioning.
During the times when all creativity seems to have stopped or
when there’s absolutely no input, Dr. Emery cautions us not to panic. She says that we should remain in this
confusing space and try to hang on to the confidence that creativity will return. She feels that sometimes the
struggle is a very vital part of the process and we shouldn’t make ourselves crazy when we find ourselves in this
state of confusion. Another way to open a creative channel is called shifting perspective, where we take our self
out of the current arena and do something completely opposite: If you’re standing, sit; if you’re sitting, stand.
If this doesn’t get the creative juices flowing then the next step, having fun, may be called for. Go somewhere
different or special, enjoy yourself doing something you haven’t done in a long time, and be silly. Take the seriousness
out of life for a while and try to see the world as a kid again.
The last tool in unblocking creativity is thinking outside the
box. This technique deals with coming up with solutions that are completely different from the way we normally
think. One technique, turning it around, involves shaking up your regular routine and habits. Another, turning
it inside out, suggests that we change the way we respond to certain situations. If we always respond to the same
problem in the same way, then coming up with a different response may actually help solve the problem. The third
technique, brainstorming in a group, is when several people come together and free-associate anything that comes
to mind in order to solve the problem. This may lead to a whole new way of seeing the issue.
The Fifth
Secret – Learn From Your Dreams
Dr. Emery begins this chapter with examples of two people
who had similar types of dreams, but where the interpretation
for each person is very different.
She believes that we are the dream experts in our lives
and that we really don’t need any interpretation books to help
us to understand how to use our dreams for solving the problems
we face each day. We
need to be able to remember our dreams because they are a direct
link to our intuition and then we need to learn how to figure
out the meaning that will be specific for us.
Dr. Emery believes that all the information of the
universe is in some huge data bank and one of the ways we are
allowed access to this information is through dreaming.
In this chapter,
there are six steps that she uses to help us become familiar
with the intuitive dreaming process.
The first step involves learning how to access the wisdom
that comes to us in our dreams.
Dr. Emery provides several examples of how we can be
helped by this wisdom. Dreams
can be used to solve problems, guide us to a better career, help
us through relationship struggles, foretell the future and give
us a heads up to potential trouble.
She then describes the process that she teaches in the
second step which is how to interpret our dreams.
She suggests that there are two ways of solving the dream
mystery. The first
is by taking the dream at it’s literal face-value meaning.
An example is given of someone who asked for the answer
to his problem to come to him in a dream and then he describes
how that dream answer came to him as clear as a bell and very
specific. In a
PowerHunch tool she shows us how we can program ourselves to
have a literal dream. Dr.
Emery says that giving yourself a suggestion before sleep and
making sure you also suggest that you will remember the dream
will help with this process.
The second way of
interpreting involves using the symbolic meaning.
This type of dream is a little trickier to interpret but
the important thing is to remember the interpretation will have
significance to each person uniquely.
Through writing down the dreams you have or relating them
to someone else, the meaning sometimes can appear to you in a
“flash.” The
third step is called the DreamShift process.
This is similar to the PowerShift process in Chapter 3.
First give the dream a title, become centered and
receptive, identify the major symbols, interpret these symbols,
engage the symbols artistically, and implement your dream
discovery.
Dr. Emery follows
these steps with an example of the DreamShift process by using a
dream that was sent to her by a client and taking it through
each step. She also
suggests the need to practice interpreting what your symbols
mean to you personally and provides an example of how to go
about it. The 4th
step involves turning negative dreams into positive ones.
Dr. Emery says it’s easy for us to take a symbolic
dream that’s filled with a lot of negative symbols at face
value. She lists
several ways of turning these symbols around to their less
frightening and more productive meanings.
She calls these steps the Silver Lining:
Peace, The Silver Lining:
Hope, The Silver Lining:
Compassion, The Silver Lining:
Forbearance. She then describes how one client, who was frightened of a
dream that seemed to warn of her death, was able, through the
steps listed, to find a true interpretation of the symbols in
her dream.
In the 5th
step, Dr. Emery deals with pre-cognitive dreams. She describes some of her own pre-cognitive dreams that
proved to be warnings that she later ignored and regretted. Dr. Emery also gives examples of the positive ways in which
one can be helped by a pre-cognitive dream.
One way is by being allowed to say a good-bye to a loved
one who has passed on. She
quotes Edgar Cayce who said, “Nothing important ever happened
to an individual which was not first processed in a dream.”
In the final step,
Dr. Emery discusses the way to invite a dream to visit.
She says you must first set your intention, create your
dream environment, record the dream in your journal and follow
the DreamShift process. At
the end of the chapter Dr. Emery gives exercises that help in
remembering, interpreting and using dreams to access our
intuitive wisdom.
PART TWO
– Living an Intuitive Life
Chapter 6
– Vision – Seeing the Big Picture
One of the ways we can use our intuitive wisdom is by letting it
help us “see” the possibilities that surround our lives and
affect our decision-making.
The trick is to be able to free ourselves enough so we
can hear our intuition when it speaks to us encouraging us to
see the bigger picture, inspire us to action and motivate us to
persist through all obstacles.
Dr. Emery lists examples as to how to use our intuition
in a visionary way. She developed a PowerHunch Tool to help us create a vision to
inspire our hidden talent.
She also suggests using the technique of daydreaming to
help us gain visionary skills.
This is especially useful if you have trouble remembering
your dreams. Another
technique called Visioning: Step by Step is described as the
process of using both sides of your brain in order to supply the
vision. The steps
in this process are: clearly
describe your vision, list the things that motivate you to
achieve your vision, describe what your vision will provide for
others – who needs it, why-, state what will happen if you
abandon your vision and finally, what is at stake?
The Power Hunch
Workshop exercise takes you through all the steps listed in the
chapter as a practice for using intuition to help us become
visionaries.
Chapter 7
– Danger or Opportunity – Knowing When to Risk
As we become more confident and skilled in learning to
live by our intuition, taking the risks involved in everyday
living becomes a less fearful task.
Dr. Emery has a definition of a risk-taker: “One
who is like a sky-diver who confidently leaps into the unknown,
but has the skills it takes to stay alive and enjoy the ride.”
The skill in this case is our intuition and by using the
PowerHunch principles we can become very adept at taking the
danger out of any risky situation.
The first step towards risk-taking is making the “leap
of faith.” Dr.
Emery gives examples of situations where people had to listen to
what their hearts (or intuitive centers) were telling them
rather than what their logical minds knew. She suggests in her PowerHunch Tool that leaps can be taken
in steps. We need
to let our intuitive self guide us by sending us images,
feelings and symbols. Centering
is again another tool that allows us to keep ourselves focused
when we start to feel overwhelmed.
Dr. Emery feels we should look at the many changes in our
lives as exciting challenges and let ourselves “ride the wave
of change” instead of becoming engulfed by it.
We can use our intuition to help in any of our life
situations, one of which would be in sensing the danger that
surrounds us. As we
learn to be guided by intuition we find that we will always be
alerted to a bad situation in some way.
In the PowerHunch Tool, Dr. Emery says that learning to
read your bodies own danger signals is imperative.
She illustrates this with an exercise that can be
practiced.
Messages come to us in many ways.
That’s true also of the information we receive when we
are about to take a risk. When
deciding to make a change in a career, relationship, etc., it is
helpful to look for and to ask for clues.
Messages will come to us as a powerful hunch, a flyer
that comes in the mail, a dream and in many other ways.
Dr. Emery says that programming a dream can be a very
strong tool to use when deciding to take a risk.
One of the riskiest things we do is to take on a life
partner. We are so smitten when we are in a relationship that we cloud
our intuition. It’s
important in both personal and professional partnerships that we
remain centered and trust to our intuitive feelings to help us
make the correct decisions.
Sometimes we can want something so strongly that we start
using our wishful thinking and confuse that with true intuition.
Again, stepping away from ourselves, centering,
breathing, calming, can help us to know the difference between
true intuitive wisdom and a fear barrier or a wishful thinking
barrier.
Dr. Emery stresses that nothing works right when we are
out of balance. Keeping
body, mind, heart and soul together are a very necessary part to
the successful use of the intuitive process.
She believes very strongly in the use of play to help
accomplish this. By
taking some of the seriousness out of a situation, we may be
able to see the solution more clearly.
As we become more attuned to the intuitive process we can
trust our bodies to be what Dr. Emery calls, “an intuitive
antenna.” She
relates a situation in which one of her clients uses the
PowerShift exercise to decide whether or not to take a risk.
The PowerHunch Workshop focuses on exercises on how to
make our bodies become an intuitive antenna.
Chapter 8
– Timing – Being in the Right Place at the Right Time
Timing is everything is the focus of this chapter of Dr.
Emery’s book. The
trick to knowing intuitively the right timing for success is
learning how to tell if you are acting according to your quiet
intuition or your rash logical mind.
To this end, Dr. Emery has come up with a way for us to
develop what she calls our “intuitive timepiece.”
Again, in order to develop this skill, she suggests being
able to center ourselves so that we can hear our intuition
talking to us. Through
client examples, she shows the different types of intuitive
timepieces there are. One
used the image of a clock, another an hourglass and a one even
used a bar graph in order to help them determine the correct
intuitive timing.
According to Dr. Emery, there are three times in our life
where knowing “the right time” is extremely critical.
They are when making an important decision, implementing
a major change and reaching out to another person.
In trying to decide whether or not to get married, a
client first has to bypass her fears and through the use of
breathing exercises, center herself.
She then asks herself a series of questions the answers
for which come to her in a variety of ways.
She received environmental, visual and audio clues the
interpretation of which led her to not only her decision but the
reason behind her indecision in the first place.
In making certain decisions regarding timing, such as
should I change my job, Dr. Emery uses visualization as one of
the tools in getting the timing right.
She suggests playing with different types of yes or no
imagery so we can get used to seeing what works best for us.
The main point that comes up in deciding what time is the
correct time to make a major change is that most of the time,
the issue of change comes during an already stressful time in
our lives. It is
extremely important that we use the PowerShift technique in
order to put ourselves into a completely relaxed state, the
better in which to be able to listen to our intuition.
The PowerHunch Tools and Workshop at the end of this
chapter take us through the steps that allow us to find and use
our “intuitive timepiece.”
Chapter 9
– People Smarts – Enhancing Your Relationships
What area of our live is more complex than the one
dealing with relationships?
It becomes, therefore, one of the areas in which
intuition can play an extremely important part. Dr. Emery explores this use of intuition in dealing with
social relationships, family and coworkers.
The most difficult part of using imagery that’s sent
through our intuition is in knowing how to ask our self the
right questions. Dr.
Emery gives examples of just how to do this in the PowerHunch
Tools. She tells us
how to successfully weave our way through the minefield of our
social relationships using our intuitive wisdom with the tools
she provides.
Another way Dr. Emery uses to help us tune into those
around us is through a telepathic bond.
We all have some examples of having received that “all
of a sudden from out of nowhere” urgent message to call home.
This is an example of a telepathic bond.
Her suggestion is for us to learn how to use this not
only in emergency situations but in order to help us determine
the needs of the people we love.
The place where we work is very often where we spend most
of our time. It is
very important to be able to understand the inner workings and
the needs of those people who inhabit this environment with us
on a daily basis. Dr.
Emery again takes us through the visualization process and the
PowerShift techniques in order to help us become more aware, not
only of why a coworker or boss may be irritated but how to use
our intuition to help them out of the situation.
She then discusses how the use of intuition can help us
in many workplace situations, such as, dealing with support
staff, coworkers and hiring people.
Chapter 10
– Finding Balance and Healing
Dr. Emery uses the example of a child falling down and
having its boo-boo kissed by mom or dad to illustrate balance
and instantaneous healing.
Her feeling is that we can give each other this same
treatment through the use of intuition. Through the stress and tension of our daily life we become
out of balance. It
is very important that we work to bring our self back into
balance. She
suggests using a technique outlined in chapter 3 titles
“learning to be quiet.”
Learn how to manage time so there is time to just stop
occasionally and be quiet. Dr. Emery gives and example of a client using the PowerShift
technique to help her manage her time problem.
Another way to manage time is to create priorities.
Dr. Emery uses the KISS – Keep it Simple Sweetie (you
were expecting something else?) anagram to help make the point
about priorities. There
are many times in our life when we create more “to do”
situations than we really need to.
All work and no playtime take us out of balance and leads
to an unhealthy body and mind. We all lead stressful lives but as Dr. Emery suggests we can
use our stress to motivate or debilitate us.
Our bodies communicate to us when we are not successfully
dealing with the stress in our lives.
We get sick. Dr.
Emery gives the age-old advice of getting plenty of rest,
exercise and eating a balanced diet.
She goes one step further in discussing the importance
that breathing has in our overall well being.
She gives a breathing exercise that helps us see where we
are holding our tensions and how to let it go.
We can also bring imbalance to our selves through the
kind of thoughts we have. It
is important that we examine our negative way of thinking and
use our intuition to help shift these images to positive ones.
Our emotional issues also play a huge part in what
stresses us. Dr.
Emery suggests we use guilt, fear, criticism and resentment as
blocks to our physical well-being.
We need to use our intuition to get rid of all these
hurts and resentments in order to allow positive feelings to
come through
Dr. Emery also discusses the importance of using our
spiritual self to find our place in the world.
She says that during our low spirit times we stress
ourselves over the fact that we seem to have no reason for being
here. When this
happens, she reminds us that we should think of all things as
being cyclical just as nature itself.
We wax and wane and what feels hopeless at this moment in
time, can through a strengthening of spiritual beliefs be just a
tiny break in our spiritual nature. Dr. Emery then describes, through PowerHunch exercises, many
ways to help us find our place in the world.
By keeping all the parts of ourselves in balance, we can
then begin to heal ourselves.
She says that we need to be careful about which words we
use in our daily situations since they can have a powerful
effect on our health. She
gives an example of one man who had chronic foot pain and could
find no medical explanation for it who realized the way he
referred to problems with his family is that he was unable to
“put his foot down.” After
this realization, his foot became better.
In a PowerHunch Tool, she describes a technique used by a
client to help discover the reason for a throat problem where a
cure came from a dreaming mind.
The example she discusses came from the book, “The
Intuitive Heart,” by Henry Reed.
Finally, Dr. Emery sums up the entire purpose of her book
that is to give us all the techniques we can use in order to
live an intuitive life. We
have all received the gifts and talents to be able to do this
and through her suggestions and exercises we can become the
people we are meant to be, successful in life, work and family.
