Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life

Hello Sensitives and Anyone Seeking Emotional Freedom, I bought Dr. Orloff's book when it was published and read some of it, but at that time, I wasn't ready to dig deep into my own being and face my emotional issues. I've known for several years that I'm empathic, and I've experienced it as a gift. However, with life's changes and challenges, I shut down and stopped engaging in life. I shut down because I was feeling everything around me and I was going CRAZY! I recently came to the realization I had to get a hold of my life as I was allowing my emotions to lead me instead of staying connected to my source; what some call Spirit or God, and what Dr. Orloff recognizes as Intuition. Intuition is truly one of the greatest gifts we all possess. It is the ability to consult the highest source for the answers to your life. It allows you to follow the path that the universe has already created for you as a part of the divine creative dance of life. The challenge for me with intuition is learning to trust it. There is so much fear, anger, hate and war in the world and I believe it is because most people are not conscious of their connection to God and are focused on the external world, attempting to control it to "fix" it. The truth is, intuition allows me to follow God's will, to live with compassion and kindness, and to live with an open heart. Emotional Freedom teaches me how to use the tools of meditation, laughter, exercise, and dreams to stay in tune with my intuition and to trust it. I can then deflect the bombardment of energy in the world that can often times shriek louder than the peaceful thunder of silence within my own being. If you are in need of a way to harness your intuition and impersonalize the emotions of others and the world so you can live a life of peace, joy and freedom, Emotional Freedom is a resource that can liberate you. To your success, happiness and living with an open heart! Nina

Everyone you know can benefit from Dr. Orloff's book, "Emotional Freedom". Even if you think this book wouldn't apply to your life situation, I'm sure you know and care about someone who could benefit greatly. You see, this book could save their life. Dr. Orloff's soulful labor of love, "Emotional Freedom" literally saved my life. It is because of her journey, her compassion, love and courage that I am daring to take a small step of faith and live. Dr. Orloff's words are so engaging and helpful. Each section is full of practical steps that you can take right away. She patiently guides you through a path as she thoroughly and clearly explains emotions and the impact they have over our lives. I was told that when I was a child I was afraid to step through the door to my kindergarten class. Every day a different child was assigned the task of grabbing my hand and pulling me through the doorway. Nearly fifty-four years later, I am learning much about fear and courage. Recently, I was on the verge of opening a door leading to certain death. But I thank the Universe that I discovered Dr. Orloff's book. Today, a new door, a very special sacred door lies open for me. A new path to something better, a path of healing and hope. I am daring to step through this door and this time no one has to pull me through for I have found courage. Dr. Orloff has certainly rescued me from complete destruction and I am forever grateful!

Has your child ever been overwhelmed by perfectionism, sensitivity, intensity, or other innate aspects of their giftedness? In her book, Emotional Freedom, Judith Orloff, M.D., energy psychiatrist and best selling author suggests ways we can bring peace and calm to our lives. Recently finding myself in physical and emotional chaos after what may have been the flu, I decided to take another look at Dr. Orloff's book. It occurred to me that gifted children often have such an amplified awareness, parents are usually their constant model of how to interact with the world and deal with emotional disequilibrium. I know there were times when my own sensitivity and intensity caused chaos for my family. On the other hand, I know there were times when my own sensitivity and intensity brought greater awareness for other members of my family. So what did I learn from Dr. Orloff about emotional freedom and parenting a gifted child? * Dr. Orloff defines emotional freedom as "Increasing your ability to love by cultivating positive emotions and being able to compassionately witness and transform negative ones, whether they're yours or another's." * We need to make sure our children aren't being ruled by negative emotion. * "The power of love is the champion of emotional freedom. We must respect the voice within that says, `Honey, be kind to yourself. You are enough. You are beautiful.' Compassion is in each of us: it is the ultimate answer." Dr. Orloff believes that spirit of compassion will help all of us to become strong and joyful. What parents wouldn't want that for themselves and their children? * Dr. Orloff recounts a Native American story about what we "feed" will grow stronger. She suggests that we set our "intention to feed what is best and most beautiful within" ourselves in order to gain emotional freedom. * Our bodies are depleted by emotional stress and our bodies are revived by calm. Dr. Orloff describes many ways to bring calm to our bodies. As someone who has experienced the emotional stress brought on by my sensitivity and intensity, I would recommend Dr. Orloff's book. She weaves together practical suggestions with stories from her life as well as those of her patients. One of my favorite parts of this book is when Dr. Orloff suggests that we let ourselves "feel the sensuality of inhaling and exhaling as air passes through your nostrils and chest like a cool breeze. Take pleasure in the breath's hypnotic rhythm....With each slow, deep breath, feel yourself inhaling calm, sweet as the scent of summer jasmine... Emotional Freedom reminds me to not take the power of my breath for granted. How lovely it would be if highly sensitive and intense children could be taught ways to gain their own emotional freedom!

I was discussing books a while back with a treasured member of my son's therapy team, and she had mentioned this as a book she was reading. Because this person shows an amazing level of patience and empathy when working with my son, and I like to read sometimes the books that others discuss with me because it gives me a certain type of window into their world, I purchased this for myself. Overall, there were many things that I loved about this book, and I am very grateful that she was willing to share her readings with me, but there are a few things that I had rather strong feelings about. Before I get into those, I would like to give a caveat of sorts. If you are stone, cold analytical, driven solely by logic, and what Dr. Orloff would refer to as an intellectual, a dyed in the wool “show me the study” kind of person, or if you are very firmly in the atheist camp, I'm going to point you to Seligman's “Learned Optimism” as what I think would be a better choice for you to start on a more emotionally positive path. Dr. Orloff espouses an approach to overcoming emotional struggles that heavily utilizes “intuition” and elements of spirituality. She also is a firm believer in fields of energy that surround living organisms and in the ability to sense and feel another person's emotions exactly as they are feeling them based on how I'm reading her book. Now, I love me my logic, but I'm rather spiritually inclined and I've experienced some things with my son, who has Autism among other things, that have me willing to accept her thoughts on some things as pertains to energy. He can pick up on me getting internally worked up about something, even with me being completely quiet and driving the car in the front seat where he can't see me and he reacts rather dramatically to it. Literally within moments of my tension level going through the roof he's screaming his head off, pretty much every single time. And before you ask, no, my tension usually isn't related to something on the road, sometimes I get tense as I'm thinking about problems, etc. that I need to work my way through, so there aren't any visual cues that would trigger him. So, it's not empirical by any stretch of the imagination, but I'm willing to give her thoughts on that some space in my mind because of that and some other experiences I've had in my life. But if you'd rather have an approach that doesn't involve any of those elements, this book may not be to your liking. Next, I'd like to briefly touch a criticism I saw in some of the other reviews before I decided to purchase this, namely that Dr. Orloff relies too heavily on her own personal examples. You know, here's the thing. There are patient confidentiality laws she has to follow, and she can only share what her patients are comfortable with. Many people aren't so comfortable putting their own emotional struggles on the table for their friends and extended family members to look at, much less in a published book. It takes a special kind of courage to be that vulnerable with things that others can use to ridicule, demean, or discount you with. And Dr. Orloff shows that courage in sharing her own struggles. And really, if someone has never walked the path, sometimes it's harder to listen to what they have to say. So, when it comes to the things that I was concerned with, and these are the elements I took off a star for, I am going to list them in order of biggest to smallest. In one of the exercises on frustration, she encourages you to be deliberately rude to someone to notice how that makes your body feel afterward. I will be the first person to tell you, sometimes, I can be a little bit of a jerk (usually because I'm a little too detail oriented and I can get hung up on things sometimes), and sometimes I can be grumpy, but I don't ever intentionally try to be and I'm never proud of it. And when it's with a real person, I do my best to make it right. I just feel like most of us probably have enough memories of times we got a bit short with someone that we can draw on without actually making somebody's day harder. We don't really know what that person is going through, and I just worry that this kind of exercise can needlessly damage and harm another. So, if you buy this book, and I do think it's a solid choice, I'd encourage you to instead reflect on a prior experience and glean what you can from that instead. Next, Dr. Orloff recommends telling people you know what they're feeling when they are going through something difficult. Even if you believe you are empathic, even if you've experienced something extremely similar, I'd like to share with you why I think “I'm so sorry you're going through that” or “that must be tough” might be better options. Just as people often have different perceptions of events, people have different emotional reactions to the same things. But let's suppose that you are “sensing” another person's emotions. I think it would be kind of like translating from one language into another, and you would still be flavoring it with your own experiences and frames of reference, which would change shades of meaning when it comes to how you're receiving that message. And for people like my son who respond to some sort of shift in energy, he might feel that, but he's not privy to the thought processes that brought it on, which removes critical information when it comes to interpreting what a person is feeling/going through. And for everyone else who's never sensed an emotion or an energy field coming off of another person, your way of processing something may have been very different, and there are people out there who will emotionally shut down on you if you tell them that you know exactly what they are feeling. (I'm one of them). As Fix it Felix would say of “Wreck it Ralph” fame, “You don't know Boo!” is how I'd be feeling if someone said that to me. My final difference in opinion that I wish to touch on is from a comment she made about an ex-boyfriend who she encouraged to pray differently, and he didn't want to. She talks about how the “intellect can turn against you if it's too rigid...” I want you to know I am a person of deep religious and spiritual convictions. But I unequivocally respect the right of others to believe differently. Many people on religious and spiritual paths, whatever those paths are, have certain beliefs and practices that they hold sacred and dear to their hearts, and I think any attempt to help people should respect the boundaries of that and work with it where possible. If somebody pushed me too hard to do something I felt was against my faith, I wouldn't feel like that person truly respected or accepted who I am. Many things can be adapted to an individual belief system. If you said “intuition” to people I go to church with, they might say “huh?” but if you said “revelation,” that's speaking their language, and from where I sit, it's the same thing. Often times, there's common ground, and when there's not, in my book, love is always the answer. Overall, I *love* that she encourages developing kindness, and metamorphosing who you are into the best version of yourself it is possible to be as you work through your challenges. Many of the things she recommends are standards in the field, and certainly some of it can be found elsewhere, but not everyone focuses so much on the benefits of transforming yourself to become a force for good in the world. and I actually tried some of her techniques on dreams and ended up with some very new and useful insights that actually helped move me forward in a couple of areas. I think, despite the fact that I've spent a fair bit of time discussing my concerns so that they could be adequately understood, the positives definitely outweigh them and I don't have any problems recommending this book. And perhaps also this book explains to me in some ways why the therapist who recommended it is such a beautiful person in every way that matters most.

I love this awesome fantastic book and highly recommend it to everyone! There is something in here for everyone. In today's hectic stressful world, having one place to go to find out how to handle anxiety, fear, frustration, depression, grief, and anger is such a welcome relief. Dr. Orloff also writes about identifying emotional vampires and ways to protect yourself from them. Priceless! Avoiding the emotional drain and pain from these types makes this book pay for itself over and over again. I have recommended this book to my friends and clients from my own psychotherapy practice. She is easy to read and easy to follow, wise and professional, and I know this book will be of great benefit to many. If she lived in my vicinity, I would refer my clients to her. She is a psychiatrist who looks for root causes instead of just prescribing medication in 15-minute sessions. She really cares and that comes through loud and clear in Emotional Freedom. I do not feel compelled to write many reviews, but this one called out to me. I think it could change your life! Best in health!

Dr. Orloff says some good things, though nothing she says is new -- we learn the same things from the mystics of all faith traditions. Nevertheless, if this book helps people find peace of mind and healthy relationships, I'm all for it. However, I have to agree with the reviewers who found the writing narcissistic. However, more disturbing is Dr. Orloff's promotion of highly-dubious pseudo-science. She's a trained medical professional and must know what constitutes scientific "proof." It's distressing to consider that some readers may feel moved to spend their hard-earned money buying, for example, the "blessed water" being sold to desperate people by Masuro Emoto's specious organization. (I use alternative medicine all the time, but I get suspicious when there's a profit to be made. Has any research -- real research -- been done on its efficaciousness?) If Dr. Orloff said, "This hasn't been proven, but I am inclined to believe it," her credibility would have been good with me; it's when something clearly unproven is cited as proof that I lose faith.

Thank you so much Dr. Judith Orloff. Since reading the first 1/4 of emotional freedom and applying the spiritual wisdom and meditation exercises into my life - my life has taken a divine turn. For so long I had been stuck in a negative pit - shackled and with just a crouton of hope for freedom. This book has reached my heart and now i'm beginning to open up again. I have been interested in meditation for so long now, from 13 to now - i'm 25. But I was only engaging in it sporadically. With the guidance of this book, I have now been meditating morning (10 mins) and night (15 mins) - observing my breath, giving gratitude for everything I have and reconnecting with love and the divine. I feel the divine again, and I feel freer than I have for a long time. I went from being an anxiety-ridden negative-talker (which i have been stuck in for the past few years) to my optimistic, spiritual self. I am my essence again. I'd started to believe that I was doomed to being a walking disaster because of my creative nature. Now, with the guidance of Emotional Freedom, I can see that I can have the best of both worlds. I have grown so much in the past week since implementing the guidance in this book - as a teacher, human, woman, artist, and living being. I feel my compassion reach others and it is such a beautiful thing to witness - finally, I'm living my life the way I want to. I'm looking forward to reading and applying the rest of the wisdom in this book! God Bless you always Dr. Judith Orloff .... this book is beautiful inspiration.

I eagerly read the book from start to finish, relishing the insight. Since I'm a psychology student and an intuitive, Dr. Judith Orloff is a guiding light for those of us in the field. She's also a teacher for those of us who are seekers. We're finding our way through emotional, physical, and spiritual storms. Orloff is a master at intergrating neuroscience, biography, case studies, and practical how-to tips. Open to any page and read. You'll be interested. For example, I randomly opened to p. 159: "Courage or fear is a choice." She segues into how this concept applies to a person worried about starting a new business. She then writes, " Deciding to be optimistic is your exercise in courage." How fitting, constructive, and truthful is that? Not only is it helpful, it works. I enjoy the quizzes she gives for the common causes of loneliness. First I do the quizzes myself and then I take them to my writing groups. I've been an Orloff fan since Second Sight. I'll use Emotional Freedom as a regular reference book from now on.