The Response to Margaret Thatcher's Death - What is that all about?

The death of Magaret Thatcher this week seems to have unleashed a whole wealth of emotional outpouring and whatever your political point of view, no one can deny, that she left a legacy of some sort, good and bad.

As a Cognitive Hypnotherapist, I was interested more in the extremes of emotion that have expressed, so much anger, hatred, blame, violent language, cynisicm on the one side with affection, respect, loss and sadness on the other.

So what is this all about?

I am of the school of thought that whenever we express an emotion, it is a barometer of what is really going on for us at any one particular moment, or indeed life in general. It is the clue that our unconscious is letting us know that there is something that needs to be addressed.

If, for a moment,  we take this to be true, does this mean that Margaret Thatcher's death is an opportunity for people to express long contained negative emotions regardless of who it is aimed at or is it a reflection of what is going on for them at the moment?

Or, for those you who are more into the spiritual side, is it another step on our journey as human beings? As no one can deny that we are changing as a nation, faster than ever before.

Whatever, the reason, all those who are expressing these extreme emotions and views, such as hatred, anger, ridicule, sadness, fear, guilt, blame, jealousy etc, are are doing the right thing (although, arguably inappropriately). Again, my school of thought is that by bottling up or ignoring emotions, we create a pressure cooker effect where we just accumulate more and more of the same emotion, until they eventually erupt onto some poor unsuspecting soul or group of people, such as with Margaret Thatcher.

Some medical sources are now demonstrating how potentially holding onto these negative emotions, which we replay at varying intervals, could also be damaging for the body. (Read the book by Louise L Hay, You Can Heal Your Life)

This could be because the unexpressed negative emotions are stored in the cells within the body, as memory. So that when we encounter something that triggers that memory, we also access the emotional memory. Once the event has played out,  the original memory is then updated with the new information (emotion) and stored away until the next time. Resulting in an even bigger response than last time.

An example of this can be when someone has a phobia, of say, a spider. The moment they see or know of a spider, the body goes immediately to a response, be it to run, or stand still with fear.  And this happens so quickly, the person is unaware of the process that is going. Where their brain has recognised the trigger (the spider), accessed the memory and then produces a suitable response (the emotion).

So, potentially then, not expressing negative emotions, could lead to problems for the future.

Whether all the negative emotion is literally about Margaret Thatcher is questionable. As you can see, the emotions being expressed will more likely be the accumulation of memories. 

However, I am wondering that whilst it is not respectful, whether this might be just a good thing?  Allowing people to 'get it off their chest' all that they are angry about and at the same time to clear the air ?

I live and work in and around the  Hampshire (Basingstoke), Berkshire and Surrey borders working with people who are experiencing negative emotions that manifest themselves in many different ways. Email me in confidence if you would like to know how to help yourself let these go, kim@kimsearle.co.uk

The Night Visitor

I had found evidence of the intruder in the middle of the night.

It was the earlier hours of the morning, and I had needed to go to the bathroom. It was mid September and there was a light chill in the air, as I climbed out of bed and hurried to the bathroom. I noticed immediately the shadow sitting on the window sill, the dark shape resting on the various pieces of paper, just sitting there, telling me it's own story. I carefully avoided touching the evidence, not sure that I exactly wanted to let loose the potential terror of what lie beneath.

I knew straight away of course, but sometimes denial is better than knowing, so I went back to bed quietly.

The next morning I checked the window sill and noticed it was still there, taunting me and I could resist no longer!

I spoke with my daughter as soon as she awoke "What happened?" I asked. She looked at me, and shivered. " Mum" she said, " it was horrible!" She paled as she related the tale to me, " I was just going to lie down for the evening, and just as I was going to turn out the light, I saw something scurry across the bottom of my bed! I quickly turned on the light, and saw it! It was awful! It was so big, I have never seen one that size before, but it was gone before I could do anything!" I sat there beginning to understand, " go on" I said already knowing what was coming, but wanting to hear the details. "Well I couldn't go to bed then could I? Not knowing where it was. What would happen if it crawled on me? Or if I swallowed it?" OK I thought, now it was my turn to shiver, I am not phobic or overly scared of them, but I certainly I could appreciate what she was saying as if I was already there.

"So what did you do then?" I asked.

"I spent the next hour searching the whole bedroom, and I was getting to the point where I was going to come in and sleep with you, when I found it! I was so scared, that I wanted to make sure it was gone for good, so covered it up, and using the paper, I got rid of it!"

"Well that is good then, isn't it." I said, knowing how brave she had been.

" Not really" she replied, " I have spent the night waking up worried that there might be more!"

I looked at her with some sympathy, knowing that she managed her fear of spiders very well, but at night it could all seem much worse.

I looked at her and smiled " I would love to chat to you about that"

Who do you know who experiences a spider phobia or  night terrors who would like to let that go? Happy to have a chat about that :)

Picture courtesy of FreeDigitalPhotos.net