The Tribune

NOELLE NICOLLS

Tribune Features Editor

nnicolls@tribunemedia.net

AN empowering message of ‘personal peace’ was delivered by keynote speaker Helen MacMillan on the final day of the Bahamas Crisis Centre’s Peace Conference.

Mrs MacMillan, a holistic healer and certified life coach, discussed new

strategies for healing from emotional stress and trauma.

“Step from a problem-oriented discussion into a solution-oriented discussion. That is a part of the shift. We need to start to speak about the ‘how.’ And people don’t know how. One of the things we need to change is the way we look at ourselves, life and each other,” said Mrs MacMillan.

The thoughts people have, statements they affirm, and questions they ask can all serve to empower or disempower an individual, said Mrs MacMillan, because thoughts and beliefs are creative energies that shape reality. They even cause physiological responses and disease.

Mrs MacMillan, who is also a physical therapist, said anger is one of the leading causes of inflammation in the body. She recommended as a “free anti-inflammatory”, letting off steam: taking a drive or a walk and screaming out loud.

“Our beliefs create our reality. Thoughts become things,” said Mrs MacMillan. An inanimate object such as a chair was once a thought in someone’s mind, she said. “It was a creative idea; someone acted upon the creative idea and made the chair.

“We are all creative beings. We are all creating every day in every moment. But most times we are not creating from a conscious place. We are running programmes,” said Mrs MacMillan.

For a child who grows up in an abusive environment those abusive patterns run like programmes in the subconscious mind and can be very detrimental, said Mrs MacMillan. Understanding how to identify and change those programmes by addressing the thoughts we feed our body is important in achieving personal peace, she said.

“With every pattern I break, with every piece I accept (about myself), I am freer, lighter, happier and healthier and I am at peace. When I am at peace I bring peace into my environment. I share that peace with others. They shift into that peace. And they take it and shift it forward. That is how one person can make a difference,” said Mrs MacMillan.

When experiencing stress or trauma, Mrs MacMillan said it is important to process the emotion of the experience. This process, while it can take minutes or years, is critical. Emotion travels around the body through an energy system that is as important as the circulatory system or the nervous system, said Mrs MacMillan. When an individual’s energy system is blocked, ‘you are less able to cope’ and to constructively create.

When someone is not at peace, an important question to ask to bring about healing is: “What is right about this idea that I am not seeing?”

Mrs MacMillan said it is difficult to find a solution to a problem from a ‘spot of disempowerment’, and although the answer is not always easy to find, asking the question is an important first step.

“Even when we are in the midst of the most horrific thing I have to trust there is something, there is some reason this is happening. If you can find that and if you can help the people who you are serving to find that, you are truly helping,” said Mrs MacMillan, who spoke to an audience comprised largely of service providers for victims of violence.

“First they get to throw a hell of a tantrum and then they need to take their power back. That is what you are teaching them to do. You are holding space for them to help them honour their experience, and then show them the bridge,” she said.