From the Hand Analysts eyes, the hands reflect the preferences and capabilities of the owner of the hands.  Like the cardiologist reads the heart waves, the dentist reads the gums in the mouth and the baby reads fear on her mother’s face, palmists read the hands and decipher the owners likes and dislikes.  

Take a look at your open palm at eye level, with fingers extended.  Notice the mountains erupting from the palm. They form pads on the hands. In Palmistry, these are known as Mounts. The highest mountains or Mounts tell me about your preferred behaviors and interests.  For example, if you have a full and protruding Jupiter Mount (Mount under the index finger on the top of the palm – see hand map) you will be inclined to lead, influence, and wield some level of power.  You may have people ‘following’ you because of the successful use of your trigger finger.  On a bad day you may become tyrannical and dictatorial. 

The hand map shows the general areas for the Mounts and their very basic associated descriptions.  With a full Moon Mount you are imaginative, dreamy, mystical and intuitive.  These are all characteristics that support being creative; maybe even a story teller or fictional writer. 

Flat Mounts on the palm are normal.  Sunken Mounts tells me you might feel limited in that particular aspect of your character.  For example, a sunken Moon Mount would indicate that mysticism, imagination and day dreaming may not be of interest to you at this time.  The condition of the Mounts can change over time as your inclinations change over time.

Blisters, cuts, bruises and warts point out life occurrences depending on the zone of the hand they are located.  At the simplest level you can say, “I feel cut off from my imagination right now” when there is a cut across the Moon Mount.  As with life, there are deeper meanings which support our personal development.

Feel free to email me at kay@handfactor.com if you have a question.  I’m available for 30, 60 and 90 minute hand readings in person or over the phone.  We’ll look at what the Mounts on your Palms have to say about you.  Your Soul’ code will also be deciphered from your fingerprints.  This is an opportunity for deeper awareness and clarity on your life journey.

 Think of your life as an academy award winning movie. You are the creator, writer, director, producer, editor and STAR of your life-movie.  Become more empowered by watching, responding, rewriting and acting with words that will bring you an Oscar.

 Let’s begin by observing the words we use. Out of routine, we often repeat the same words and phrases. Where did these words and phrases come from? Family, friends, bosses, TV, and society can greatly influence the vocabulary in the scripts we recite. It’s important to look at the words we rehearse so we can see if they are taking us closer to or farther away from our goals, personal power, and ultimately our life-movie-mission. Our words reflect thoughts and feelings that not only touch us, but others in remarkable ways.

 Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote “Imitation is suicide”.  To live a genuine, optimum life, take some time to reflect on this. If we don’t take charge of our words, thoughts and feelings someone else surely may.  Are you acting out someone else’s script or your own? 

Here are four steps you may find useful for your film-making.

  Step 1:  Watch.  Be aware of the words you articulate. If you’re not speaking, reflect on the thoughts you’re thinking. Our brains contain mental-highway neuro-systems paved through habituation.  Ask yourself ‘who’ authored my screenplay? In this moment your thoughts and words come to you based on the scripts written in the past. 

  The first step in making a change is to be curious; notice what you’re doing, saying, thinking and feeling. No change can be successfully made without awareness. Awareness requires being conscious. You’re moving between unconscious and conscious acts. Notice the feeling in your body when thinking or speaking associated words. Your body is an excellent indicator of what is working and not working for you.  Observe the responses in your body as you say to yourself the following words and phases:

 - Taxes 

- Purring kitty

- Petting a golden retriever puppy 

 - Winning $250 on the nickel slot machine 

  What’s happening in your body when you think these thoughts?  Just notice the feeling. When does it feel good, peaceful or uncomfortable?  Can you feel it in a particular location in your body? Does it feel heavy or light?  Do you feel a pain anywhere?  Do you feel a sense of peace and relaxation? This is where you freeze frame.  Momentarily freeze or stop your life-movie. Sit with the feeling. Acknowledge the feeling. This is about immediately recognizing your feelings as they occur in your body, so you can accurately choose your course of action. 

  Step 2:  Respond: In responding you are making a decision. You are deciding to accept, enjoy, honor, change or cut what you noticed. No one else is making the decision for you. You are managing the entire movie set. If someone else is doing the directing, remember, you hired that ‘someone’. After saying “Taxes” you may have had a sensation, then decided to respond: “I hate taxes” or “taxes don’t bother me.” You have choices; not to pay, how to pay and when to pay.  Do you like the current scene in your movie or do you want to edit and rewrite? 

  Step 3:  Reframe - What is reframing? It is looking at a situation differently, seeing it differently, maybe for the first time, and exercising our choice in words for the situation.  During a reframing process ask yourself, “Does this thought or word lift me up, do I feel better, more joy and peace, or does it take me down, do I feel uncomfortable? Feeling ill at ease guides us toward reframe! If the thought doesn’t take us closer to our ideal scene, we can change it.

  With taxes, for instance, we can coordinate with an accountant to have the precise amount deducted from our income so that we never owe money on April 15. In movies, the camera and lighting directors create their art by shooting from different angles and using spotlights for focus. In reframing, we focus on words from several angles to see which one is best for the movie.

  Step 4:  Act - It’s now time to act. The cameras are ready to roll, in accordance with your script and direction. You may be in the mode of self-correction or self acceptance. You’ve done a lot of preparation up to this point. You’ve memorized your lines, the stage is set, the other actors are in place and the clapperboard is slapped shut. We’re at Life University where we’re graduating from one grade to the next and the next. This is a work-in-progress.  It’s not about getting to perfect. Rob Reiner and Clint Eastman are writers, directors and actors of their movies. You are too. 

 Gary Craig, the founder of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), inspired me to create and lead workshops on this topic. I’ve taken words he used and added others. During a number of my workshops, participants have added alternate words for the potentially less-constructive ones.  For example, “problem” could be replaced with “challenge”. However, “problem” may not be a negative word in all instances.  It makes some people feel better to have a problem to solve. In hand analysis, the head line in the hand reflects the internal computing system. The longer the head line, the longer the time the person spends computing. A long head line needs ‘problems’ to solve. So, choose words that best define you. 

 Let’s further explore and test some of the words we use and notice how they encourage or derail our sense of well being. This is about seeing and hearing differently. For example when we say the word “can’t”, we may really mean something like, I don’t know how to do that yet or I’m not up for that or I don’t want to do that. To repave your well established mental-highway neuro-system, consider playing with alternate words or phrases. Say some of the words, in bold font below, and see how you feel. Then respond (step 2) and reframe (step 3) to boost your wellbeing.  

  Angry – challenged, energy release right now, opportunity to connect with my self and see what I value because it’s currently being ignored, I’m on fire (think of the benefit of fire – beauty in the colors and sounds), I’m experiencing a conflict right now, I’m allowing my buttons to be pushed.

 Anxious – energetic, contemplative, thoughtful, opportunity to be curious about the cause of this feeling, feeling a little uneasy or a bit restless.

 Exhausted or tired  – refueling, recharge, revitalizing, replenishing, rejuvenating, renewing, replacing my batteries, back burner processing for healing.

 Failure – stubbed my toe, when a door closes another opens, opportunity to overcome, gaining experience,  the most successful people have a high tolerance for failure, “I think I can, I think I can”, lesson learned, an opportunity to improve, to do over, a new start, every ‘no’ gets me closer to yes.

 Overwhelmed- my cup is overflowing right now, a bit busy, practicing multitasking.

 Panic – exhilarated, excited inside, watching what’s going on, observing what’s going on, my nerve endings are reacting, I’m alert, excited inside, amped up.

 Paralyzed – temporarily stuck, flat tire, standing my ground, time to take a breath and slow down, balancing my boundaries.

 Problem – challenge, opportunity, blip on the radar screen, issue, situation, minor inconvenience, bump in the road.

 Rejected- I feel I was misunderstood, been given new input, freed, liberated, released, exploring new ways of receiving and giving recognition and appreciation, becoming immune to rejection when it happens enough, being true to my calling.

 Stressed – energized, challenged, involved, active, driven, excessive energy flow, opportunity to be deformed- like rock lava without cracking or rupturing – rocks & minerals do this, diamonds are created under pressure.  Instead of stressed, I’m creating a diamond. 

  Why do this exercise?  What is the value in monitoring the words you use? How do the words you employ affect others around you? This is to remind you that you affirm, confirm and reinforce the influence of the words you insert after “I am ______”.

 The director and the editor have final say of a released movie.  Keep in mind, you have the last say in your Life-Movie – make it an Academy Award winner!  I’d like front row seats – please!  

  “Everything can be taken from a person but one thing: the last of the human freedoms – to choose one’s attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose ones own way.”  – Victor Frankl

The heart line is usually one of the most noticeable etchings in your palm.  A large part of your emotional requirements system can be deciphered from this one particular line.  The heart line starts on the outer edge of your palm, under your pinkie (Mercury) finger, and sprints along the top of the palm closest to the base of your fingers. For the hand analyst, the ending point of the line is the key factor in determining your emotional preferences.  

Since we employ our emotions when interacting with others, I use this line to identify the relationship requirements system of the owner of the hand. Clients have found it very helpful to understand, clarify and articulate how they like to be treated in relationship? Knowing the preferences of others and adjusting to meet their needs is also crucial for maintaining relationships.

Heart-Lines 101

The Passionate Heart

Non-negotiable need: Stimulation

True Love: Passion

Theme Song: Girls (or Boys) Just Want to Have Fun

Gift: Spontaneity 

The Passionate Heart line is easy to see in this photo (left) marked in red. It crosses the upper palm and ends up under the middle (Saturn) finger.

The Passionate Heart is ‘me’ oriented.  She (or he) has interactive tendencies that are fiery, excitable, fun loving, and zealous.  He or she wants spontaneity in the relationship. You and everyone else will typically know what she wants and she expects you to do the same.  When going on vacation she may select where to go and sign up for all the fun things to do based on her muse. She has no problem being the center of attention and emotionally independent (baring other contradictory markings in the hands and fingers).

Unlike the Big Heart, others’ needs and wants typically do not come before the Passionate Heart – until she’s in her advanced state.  Neither is right or wrong.  It’s all about emotional preferences in relationship at Life University.  Honoring our preferred style is a sacred act to our self. 

The longer the heart line is, the more time the owner spends in it.  Because the heart line represents the emotional system and this heart line is long and curvy, there is strong desire for emotional ‘reaction’. Feelings are ‘worn on the sleeve’. When connections are broken, she typically moves on. 

If you live with a Passionate Heart, two beneficial things you can do is 1) keep things exciting and 2) give her space to snap, crackle and pop.  A sharp verbal reaction with arms flailing is not to be taken personally.  Let her move through the animation.  An advanced Passionate Heart considers the desires of others too. 

One of my friends has this line of “passion”.  We’ll call him Elvis.  His likes and dislikes are very strong and absolutely known.  Elvis thrives on quads, motor cycles, 4-wheeling and NASCAR. Elvis has learned to ‘include’ his wife and children by buying toys for them too – whether they want it or not.  When I visit, he puts us all in his mini-jeep and we crawl up un-chartered hillsides over rocks and through the mud.  We don’t worry; the vehicle has a roll bar! 

Note of caution:  You have TWO hands, therefore two heart lines. Your dominant hand displays characteristics to the ‘outer’ public world.  Your less dominant hand shows traits revealed at ‘home’ where you’re most comfortable and not on display. The description from the heart lines are only one aspect of so many that can be read in the hands.  Also, this is not an exercise in predictions or fortune telling, although a fortune will may find!

 Heart-Lines 101

The Rational Romantic

Non-negotiable need: Meaning

 True Love: Conversation

Shows love through: Consideration

 Gift: Analyzing emotions

 The Rational Romantic heart line is overlaid with fuchsia ink (above).  It traverses the upper palm and ends beneath the index (Jupiter) finger, but farther down into the palm than the Big Heart (last issue). 

The Rational Romantic is also ’other’ oriented.  She (or he) is considerate, thought-full, analytical and reasoning with emotions. He or she wants to think through all the possibilities of feelings and then discuss them. She likes to fulfill your requests. To her fighting is painful.   

If you live with a Rational Romantic, one of the most beneficial things you can do is 1) converse with her and 2) allow her think, think, think about how she feels, feels, feels.  To others this may appear to be ‘overprocessing’.  It’s her natural style to ‘think-through.’  Appreciate her for acting upon your wishes – as a result of her ‘processing’. 

It may be helpful to affectionately remind her to consider her own passions and to pursue them besides yours.  A balanced Romantic continues to honor others’ requests and is also comfortable voicing her own needs, wants and even demands. 

One of my life-long male friends has this heart line of reasoning in romance. He is an involved conversationalist with the crowd and his wife in the group. He can become verbally animated on emotional topics. At times I hear him clarifying what he ‘meant’ to say so that he’s understood correctly.  He’ll notice how his words affect the feelings of his wife and consider the effects. He regularly writes adoring words on cards to show his love for her. 

Cheers to living your emotional style – naturally.

Since we use our emotions when interacting with others, I use this line to identify the relationship requirements system of the owner of the hand. Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have the ability to understand, clarify and articulate how you like to be treated in relationship? Knowing the preferences of others and working to meet their needs is also crucial for maintaining relationships. 

Heart-Lines 101

The Big Heart

Non-negotiable need: Connection

True Love: Sharing

Shows love by: Nurturing

Gift: Sensitivity

The Big Heart heart line is easy to see in this photo (above).  The white arrow on the left is pointing to the starting point on the outside edge of the palm.  It traverses the upper palm and ends just beneath the index (Jupiter) finger. 

The Big Heart is the ‘other’ oriented.  She (or he) is the caregiver, the generous one, the lover. He or she wants to feel connected, engaged and companionship. She likes it when people are interacting and exchanging feelings. When going to the video store she may take requests from the gang to find out what DVD everyone wants to see.  Or she may consider the mood of the group and select the best fit for their likes. Others needs and wants typically come before hers.   

The longer the heart line is, the more time the owner spends in it.  Because the heart line represents the emotional system and this heart line is long, there is strong desire for emotional connection. When connections are broken, for any reason, it hurts. Even if the relationship is unhealthy, the Big Heart may still be deeply affected. The Big Heart may have a long list of friends on facebook.

If you live with a Big Heart, one of the most beneficial things you can do is 1) include her and 2) allow her to care for you.  If you see tears rolling down the cheeks of a big heart remind her (or him) that you didn’t intend to hurt their feelings.  Gently remind them not to take your words and actions personally.  Encourage the Big Heart to own her boundaries and to keep to her own heart center as well as everyone elses.  A balanced Big Heart continues to put others first but also spends time nurturing her self.  

One of my close friends has this line of “love”.  Over the 15+ years of his marriage, he has put his wife and family’s needs and wants first.  From meal choices, vacation decisions to chores around the house, he maintains a solid, long lasting connection through his commitment to the family ties. This feels good and right to him.  I’ve also seen the fight that can come out at the slightest hint of family splintering or shattering. 

Be on the watch in my next newsletter for a brief description of the Rational Romantic.  

Note of caution:  You have TWO hands, therefore two heart lines. The description from the heart lines are only one aspect of so many that can be read in the hands.  Also, this is not an exercise in predictions or fortune telling, although a fortune will may find!  

Kay is Your Guide for Positive Change using Hand and Fingerprint Analysis to discover your life purpose, Emotional Freedom Techniques to release blocks, and Hypnotherapy to reinforce your decisions to zero in on positive change. She leads workshops to blast you past barriers. It’s time to live the life you were born to live! She is available for private coaching appointments. Check out About Kay and Services

Since we use our emotions when interacting with others, I use this line to identify your relationship requirements system. Wouldn’t it be beneficial to have the ability to understand, clarify and articulate how you like to be treated in relationship?

Heart Lines 101

The Hermit

Non-negotiable Need:  Freedom

True Love: Work and projects

Shows love by: Doing

Gift: Loyalty 

 The Hermit heart line is easy to see in this print (above).  The red arrow is pointing to the starting point.  It terminates beneath the middle finger.  

It’s best not to ask the Hermit to choose between you and their projects.  Their love of work doesn’t mean they don’t love you. Their projects may be completed with you in mind. Watch for ways they show their love by doing.  Taking care of the yard and car maintenance can be translated into “I love you, honey.”  While their loyalty is a gift, it wouldn’t be smart to take advantage of their good nature. 

Because this heart line is short, there is less desire for emotional connection.  It doesn’t mean they don’t want or like associations, but there is less inclination for relationship.  They will prefer fewer high quality and lasting bonds than a high quantity of touchy-feely connections. The Hermit is practical and traditional.  Because emotions, like water, are often unpredictable, it’s better to give the Hermit time to marinate on their feelings.  They have them, but it takes time to form the water to a container that makes ‘sense’.   

If you live with a Hermit, one of the most beneficial things you can do is 1) allow space and 2) do not pressure for a response to an emotional situation.  If you find yourself saying,” Tell me how you’re feeling,” W A I T and be unconditionally patient for a response.  It may take a week or two.  And if you’re a Hermit, you will benefit by communicating and keeping an open heart.  

Be on the watch in my next newsletter for a brief description of the Big Heart.

Note of caution:  You have TWO hands, therefore two heart lines. The description from the heart lines are only one aspect of so many that can be read in the hands.  Also, this is not an exercise in predictions or fortune telling, although a fortune will may find!

Kay is Your Guide for Positive Change using Hand and Fingerprint Analysis to discover your life purpose, Emotional Freedom Techniques to release blocks, and Hypnotherapy to reinforce your decisions to zero in on positive change. She leads workshops to blast you past barriers. It’s time to live the life you were born to live! She is available for private coaching appointments. Check out About Kay and Services

Assess your fears so you can determine the reality about them – Fear of the opponent soccer teams goalie can be overcome by ‘watching’ it and learning how to go around it.

Notice your beliefs.  Beliefs are just thoughts and stories you replay over and over and over in you mind.  If you don’t like the belief, change it.  Do “Thought Reform” as Pam said.  Ask “Who’s belief is this, anyway?”  This is knowing your team mates, your game and the rules of the game.

Clearly identify what does Rich or Prosperous mean to you?  Is it ‘getting by’ or living your magnificence?  Write out, draw, or cut out pictures of your Vision of abundance. If you want to win at soccer thinking of water polo wont’ help. You want to ‘score’ in soccer, right?

Call in your Creator to show you the way.  Your Inner Guide will keep you on track.  Practice listening and trusting.

Trade a Thought.  Acknowledge the barrier (anger, resentment, fear, anxiety, self judgment, negativity etc.).  Then trade it for a more positive view (Love, Peace, abundance, joy, magnificence, brilliance, self acceptance, etc) instead.  These are your ‘plays’.

Act as if your vision and goal have been achieved.  Feel the success in your core! Visualize the soccer ball whizzing by the goalie and the score board in your favor.

Tap, tap, tap.  If you know about Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) do it! Pressure points near the surface of the skin can be gently tapped on, while addressing limiting thought causes, to free up the invisible log jams in the body’s energy system. This is team practice.

Act.  Do something now. Be in alignment with your vision. Explore.  Be adventurous. Be courageous.  Have FUN playing your game!

This is part four of a four-part series to help remind you that your life is in your hands.  Your feelings and thoughts govern the outcome in your everyday life.  “If you wish to see why your body is the way it is – look at how you’ve been thinking for the past 10 years.  If you wish to see how your body will be in 10 years time – look at how you are thinking now. “ – Buddha

To recap, in part three of this four- part series I talked about how external influential factors come in three forms:

1. Partner
2. Parent
3. Environmental

Keep your eye out to quickly identify the negative outside influences so as to maintain your sense of mind taming.  A ferocious lion will devour its trainer who is without constant faith, preparation, persistence, patience and timing.  Taming is vital for success. 

 
Let’s look at the props you have to help you: 

1. Awareness
2. Realization that past conditioning has contributed to your today
3. Your ability to choose your thoughts
4. Your decision to see and do differently so that you’re advancing on the ‘high road’. 

Now it’s time act.  Learning is most effective through doing. 

Do you want to make an improvement anywhere in your life?  If so, take a moment now and do something about it.  Here’s your very simple homework: 

1. Place a piece of paper and pen in front of you.
2. Sit up with your back straight
3. Quiet your mind.  Take 3 deep breaths. Everything else can be put on pause for 7 minutes.  Take another deep breath.
4. You may want to sense or visualize being in your ‘higher mind’
5. Clarify what area you want to improve (e.g relationship, work, health etc)
6. Write out your declaration to that which you desire to improve
7. Say it out loud five times
8. Keep your affirmation visible – in your purse, on the bathroom mirror and at your desk 

Examples of affirmations you might want to use, modify or trigger your own creative process:

• I am successful
• I live with abundance and joy
• I feel alive with peace, calm and awareness 
• I am whole and completely healthy
• I am living naturally and powerfully
• I am loving and loveable in every way
• Every day in every way I am better and better 

Take some time now and write out your own personal affirmation.  Then watch for miracles. 

Advanced mind taming (optional):

Pretend your affirmation is an advertisement for yourself.  Now, add music to create stimulating and compelling support for living your new vow now.  

Super Advanced homework for the serious mind tamers:

Write out a number of your affirmations in a dialogue format as though they have already occurred in the past.  Perhaps even address it to a dear friend.  

Say, “Guess what Jane, I am living joyfully and abundantly at my ideal and perfect weight of _____.  It was easy and fun to achieve and I’m maintaining that weight with ease and grace.  I feel alive, vibrant and nothing is disturbing my peace of mind.  I am an outstanding positive thinker and realize fully my potential.  I love and accept my self deeply and completely.  I easily accept what I cannot change and am perfectly ok with that.  I have found it liberating to be free of the need for control and judgments of others.  I am grateful for my new me, everyday.  This is a powerful practice that I am perfecting in each moment.  I have allowed new creations to come through me and am living as God created me.  I am in complete joy.” 

Parting Comments 

You are bombarded with choices every day.  You face hundreds of invisible forks in the road along the way.  There are a number of ‘realities’ going on simultaneously before your very eyes. Who’s in control of what you’re seeing and making those decisions?  YOU.  No one else is making the choices for you, unless you let them.  Watch and insist on positive thoughts and beliefs.  Notice, be aware, and perform. Be tenacious!  Awareness is tremendously powerful and is required as the first step in positive change. 

Remember, the past is gone.  What you hold about the past is simply in your mind.  The past is really just a thought.  You can choose to let go of what no longer serves you.  When you are present in the moment, in the now, you are free.   If you know about Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT) tap down the anxiety or tension associated with the past.  Take a walk, do Yoga, Qigong or Tai Chi. get into your passionate self doing what makes you feel the very best in the presence of your being. Be a “Possible-ist” – set up your own reality – new in each moment. 

Consider selecting a role model who is doing/living how/what you want to do/live.  Imagine what she thinks, how she feels, how she handles adversity.  How might she visualize achieving her goals?  What affirmations might she employ and how dedicated is she to her personal declarations? 

If you really want positive change in any area of your life, read this article again and take action now…. Or not.  No doubt, the choice is truly yours.

Guide for Positive Change: How crashworthy are you?
By Kay Packard

On June 1 2009, an Air France Airbus A330-200 en route from Rio de Janiero to Paris crashed, killing all 228 people aboard. After hearing about this devastating plane crash, I immediately made an analogy to our lives.

Facts are still being studied and indicate a possible malfunction in the plane’s electrical system, however, in the beginning, the story indicated a possible weather pattern, something outside the plane, causing the crash. Airline sustainability relies on the dependability of repeated and predictable operations. In this case something unexpected happened.

This story is impressive because it correlates directly to our lives. Each one of us is like a plane, traversing our life-path, going from point A to point B. We also have an internal wiring system that activates our guidance system. Meridians run through our body modeling that of a house-wiring diagram. The EKG machine measures the heart’s electrical activity. When the electrical system within our body gets zapped we can go off course.

We also get physical signals. Our throat, chest, stomach, and back offer superior guidance to deeper issues calling for our attention. For example, saying “yes” when we mean “no” may send an immediate signal to our chest creating anxiety and tension.

The captain of the Airbus A330-200 was experienced and had impressive air time documented. We, too, are practiced at this thing called life. During Airbus Flight 447, at least 12 other airplanes shared the same trans-Atlantic sky, but none reported any problems. “Although none of the other flights are known to have reported weather problems en route, aviation experts said weather can change suddenly and vary over short distances, so one plane might experience conditions far worse than another,” said a news report.

We too, experience “weather” in our lives. Our individual choices and decisions are a large factor in how that weather affects us. What route did we choose when we experienced or caused a particular outcome? Experienced pilots deviate around storm cells. How have you trained yourself to swerve around the storms?

Outdated thought patterns, guilt, anger, and judgment actually prevent us from circumventing undesirable weather and can actually contribute to the danger of storm systems.

Life out-of-the-ordinary happens. Are you in tune with your internal guidance system? Are you tracking your safety records and flight logs? Are you paying attention to your flight patterns? Are you monitoring your computer systems? What benefits would there be if we observed and responded to our internal operating systems on a more regular basis?

We humans may rely and operate on autopilot more often than planes. In fact, there are studies that indicate we can be on autopilot 80 to 90 percent of the time. Think of the last time you drove from point A to point B but don’t remember details of the landscape, other cars, or your speed.

It is helpful for each of us to analyze our own flight pattern history and determine how we are moving closer to our desired destination or not. We are fortunate to have personal indicators within to keep us on target. It’s important to set our flight plan and to be aware along the way. “Autopilot” may not help us when the unpredicted happens.

The unexpected can and will happen, so consider: how crashworthy are you? Will you be able to avoid one? What can you do now to set up for a safer landing?

Guidance for positive change includes observation, understanding, and realization that bad and good happens. Explore the opposites and paradoxes here at “Life University.” When we can look at the difficult lesson and get in the sandbox with it, or witness it from the teacher-tower, we advance on our master path. Take hold of the controls in your “plane” and be conscious of your flight plan, your maneuvers, and the weather.

Remember system failures can make us stronger from experience.

Welcome back for another look at affirmations. This is part three of a four-part series. Your life could be forever changed by taking this topic to heart.

An affirmation is any thought or word you give life to whether positive or negative. In part two (2) of four (4), three steps for improvement were illustrated; Identify core issues, Eliminate limiting thoughts and Reinforce with positive thoughts and words.

You’re now well on your path to accelerating the affirmative and seeing results. Uh oh, a speed bump! Outside factors can derail you if you’re not prepared. External factors come in three forms – maybe more: Partner, Parent, and Environmental. If we miss the road signs, the flags and the flag workers, we might drive right into the hole – again.

Let’s get prepared. You’re up; your partner is down. You’re affirming the positive; he’s pessimistic. No problem. There is no need for defense, just discrimination. Notice the cynicism coming head-on like a Mack truck. Don’t let it ruin your day. There is no need to change another’s mind set -or the course of the Mack truck – for you to continue on your optimistic highway. You simply need to modify your route. Mac splat is not a pretty site. You always have options.

Suggestions shared during my workshops to connect with the nay-sayer are, “Stop, don’t speak things into being, “ “Keep that to yourself,” “How would you like this to look,” “What is another way of seeing this?” “What is the gift in this?” and “I will lead by example.”

Interacting with others is a fabulous learning opportunity. Adapting and connecting can be mastered with awareness and multiple attempts to see from another’s perspective without loosing our positive approach.

Parents also present an occasion for positive and negative association. You may recall a few of the words and phrases expressed by your mother or father; positive or negative. Look to see which memories serve you. Recall those which take you to your higher ground. Assess your perception of any degrading and belittling statements to see if they are true and where they came from. Many of our parents and guardians were in extreme survival mode. Did they want the very best for us? Most likely they did. However, their style and motivations may have been much different than ours. Take a moment to assess your identity and attachment to your parent’s ideals, beliefs and perceptions. We are not our parents.

Remember, our consistent thoughts, whatever they are, become our reality. We absolutely get what we focus on. Think, say and be the person you want to be. My friend, Cathy says, “Watch for stinkin’ thinkin’.”

Let’s look at the environmental factor. Advertisers spend billions of dollars a year to attract you to their products and services. You are attracted through repetition and emotional stimulation. I remember, being a grocery checker at age 17, singing and dancing to the Dr. Pepper delivery man, “I’m a pepper, he’s a pepper, and wouldn’t you like to be a pepper too?” I was hooked on that song and the drink. Wouldn’t you like to have a ‘break today’…at McDonalds? And what about those curious frogs where one said “Bud” and the other one said “Lite”. Catch phrases and musical tunes keep you engaged, interested and ideally spending money.

To get enthused before going out on the town for the evening, one workshop participant tunes in on the song “I’m too Sexy.” Some of the lines are “I’m too sexy for my love, too sexy for my love. I’m too sexy for my shirt, too sexy for your shirt. I’m too sexy for your party, for your party. I’m too sexy for my car, too sexy for my car.” A smile coming to the face reflects an energized body.

Again there is positive and negative stimulation in the outside environment. Latching on to and clenching your positive affirmations is required if you are to live to your fullest life. Unless you grip tightly to your affirmation, “I am living a magnificent, healthy and abundant life,” you might buy into the dramatic advertisements for restless leg syndrome, depression, impotence, insomnia and more.

Give yourself permission to decide which affirmations you’ll own. Watch for outside factors dictating YOUR affirmations otherwise you just might drive head-on into that Mack truck.

Watch for part four of four where you’ll be guided to get more serious about documenting your affirmations.

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Kay Packard is a Guide for Inner Awareness, Personal Freedom and Positive Change. Visit www.kaypackard.com to learn more about her coaching services and techniques.