How I let go of depression with Time Line Therapy™

What does it feel like to have depression?

Unless you’ve been there you won’t know what it’s like but let me give you a glimpse. When in the grip of depression, it feels like you have a heavy weight you’re dragging behind you, it’s exhausting. That’s how it felt to me. A daily struggle, that seems to get heavier and heavier. To the point, I just couldn’t do it anymore. I was left feeling numb to life, I didn’t care – even stopped caring for myself (who cares if you don’t shower or get dressed). The feeling like there is a fog in your head – like I was in a cage of fog but couldn’t see the door to leave, let alone the key to open the door. Just wanting to be left alone. It was like my brain was on a go slow – people would ask me a question – I’d look at them, they’re lips would be moving, yet I couldn’t hear what they were saying: “Laura, are you listening to me?” (would usually ‘bring me around’). I’d say I was fine, but if you knew me well my eyes told a different story. Not being able to get away from the negative thoughts that controlled me. The feeling of being lost or having lost something but I wasn’t sure what I’d lost. Not reacting or overreacting. Couldn’t think straight. I had no energy or zest for life. The more I pulled that rope of the boulder and forced myself to live a ‘normal’ life with my ‘game face on’, the heavier the boulder got, the more exhausting it became. My friends and family didn’t know where the ‘old Laura’ had gone. Having anxiety and depression, which I had, was like being scared and exhausted all the time.

I was in a bad way at my worst.

Let go of the rope of depression, the anxiety, the things holding me in that place? Could I? How? What if I did? Could l go back to being the ‘old Laura’? was she gone forever? Would I be on medication for the rest of my life? ‘Someone show me how, PLEASE!’ I had Counselling, I had CBT and then a stumbled upon Time Line Therapy™ (here my views on the differences between counselling, CBT and NLP in this blog).

I was made redundant and then I ended up on a course that changed my life!

Those of you who know my depression story will know that I’d had an interest in NLP for some time. It had been put on the back burner. Then I was made redundant and in Wales, we can access a training grant to help us get a new job – I knew exactly how I was going to spend mine (find out about ReAct funding here). I went on my NLP Practitioner Course because I wanted to be a better Coach, Leader and HR Professional. Little did I know about what was actually in store for me….

We started off chipping away at things on day 1, no one in the room knew my background, what I’d been through. We did a few fun things like turning a food or drink I liked into something I didn’t – that was cool. I shifted a limiting belief of ‘I’m not good enough’ and started to feel a little lighter. I remember thinking to myself, maybe I’m having one of my better days. Then I managed to get rid of my nervousness around doing presentations, that was cool and on day 4 I tested it and I felt excited … hang on, I hadn’t felt that in a long time. I was asked to write a goal for the future – that was hard at first as I had no idea, then it struck me like a lightning bolt.  I was changing. I was starting to feel like the old Laura was starting to reappear. Was it too good to be true? We then did some anchoring – where I got rid of a minor negative emotional state (feeling of frustration if I remember rightly) and then created a positive resourceful anchor that I can use at will – that included, wait for it …. Laughter! WTF I remember thinking to myself ….

Time Line Therapy™ changed my Life …. In about 2 hours!

Then we had our experience of Time Line Therapy. I remember it vividly. Sat in a hotel bedroom in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Putting my life in the hands of someone who was a stranger. I had no real idea what it was (I’d only heard about it on the course on day 1, before then I didn’t even know it existed). They talked about using it to let go of negative emotions – anger, sadness, hurt, fear and guilt. I felt like I had more than my fair share of them all! What did I have to lose – nothing, so I threw myself into it. Boy am I glad I did!!!

It took about 2 hours to do the actual process – as each emotion was offloaded I started feeling lighter. I tried not to cry after each one. I couldn’t believe what was happening before my eyes. People in the room said I started to look taller, my sparkle was back in my eye, my shoulders were dropping ….. I was astounded! What was even better was it was content free (I didn’t have to talk about how I was feeling or what had happened to me), it was comfortable and even fun to do. It was so fast acting in comparison to the other things I’d tried. I was learning about myself and what I could do differently in the future …. Let’s rephrase that, I started to see that I had a future … a future doing what I loved, helping others!

Time Line Therapy™ is a technique is an advanced NLP Technique created by Tad James, one of the Pioneers of NLP. As we go through life, we all have experiences that may cause us some upset or negative emotions or stress and we tend to ignore these and throw them into a metaphorical dustbin held on our back.  We keep throwing all the rubbish stuff over our shoulder, saying to ourselves ‘one day we’ll stop and sort that’. Eventually, we are unable to shut the lid because it’s so full.  Then what happens ?…all the bad stuff falls out everywhere and we find ourselves in a sea of negative, heavy emotions and feelings and not quite sure how to deal with them.   With Time Line Therapy we empty that bin and let go of all the negative emotions and feelings and indeed seem to blossom into life.

How I help other people change their lives with Time Line Therapy™

One of my delegates this week left me a testimonial where he talked about his experience on the NLP Practitioner training and he spoke specifically about the Time Line Therapy™ afternoon session.  He said he “noticed people changing within the training room [during the first few days] and on Time Line afternoon with the professional coaches, he noticed a shift.  When people had let go of the emotional baggage, it was as if they blossomed into life. Shiny happy people emerged”.

I can’t make any guarantees about how Time Line Therapy™ can help you. I do however have the privilege of seeing my delegates deal with their emotional rubbish, more often than not stuff that they didn’t even realise they were carrying, but yet it had been unhelpfully impacting their lives.  Letting go of their ropes and blossoming.

So, if you feel like you are pulling boulders up hills, you might want to consider some personal development for yourself.  Join us on an NLP Practitioner Course where you can learn all about your mind, how it works and how to let go of any negative emotions that could be stopping you from running to the top of that hill of success!