Dr. Judith Orloff – Achieving Emotional Freedom
The maladies of the times we live in has left many of us overworked, underpaid, unappreciated, angry, stressed and depressed. The remedy says New York Times bestselling author, Judith Orloff, M.D., “is to learn how to master your emotions because conventional coping mechanisms just don’t cut it in our hyper world.” In her latest book, Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life, Dr. Judith Orloff teaches you how to master the seven most prevalent negative emotions and tap into the inner pulse that guides you to living your best life. With her characteristic wit and compassion, Dr. Orloff presents a roadmap for cultivating a more hopeful, positive outlook on life, helping you transform into a hero in your own life.
A Conversation about Judith Orloff’s book Emotional Freedom with Dr. Judith Orloff
By Karen M. Rider, M.A.
Karen: Dr. Orloff, was there a specific event that made you realize you could no longer separate your intuitive skills from psychiatry practice and patient care.
Dr. Judith Orloff: There are 25 physicians in my family, including my mother and father. I grew up in an environment that valued linear thinking, fact, and evidence over intuition and emotion. As a child, I was not aware that my mother and grandmother had intuitive ‘gifts.’ This created a split; I played with intuition in my personal life but, beginning in medical school, I kept intuition out of my professional life at all costs. In the elite field of psychiatry, the scientific method was religion and intuitive skills were unfit for making decisions affecting other people’s lives. The event that changed how I viewed the relationship between intuition and medicine took place in my private practice. I had a premonition about a patient—I felt very strongly that this patient might harm herself even though all the work we’d accomplished together indicated otherwise. I ignored my intuitive intelligence. That night, the patient attempted suicide. Had I responded to my premonition, this patient might have been on the phone with me or in my office working through the triggering event instead of lying in a hospital bed recovering from a botched attempt to end her life. From that point on, I immersed myself in understanding the symbiosis between intuition and ethical, responsible medical practice.
Karen: How has your personal journey and professional medical experience led to writing Emotional Freedom?
Dr. Judith Orloff: As a physician, I see that most people don’t have the everyday tools to transform frustration, depression, anxiety, worry, and fear into positive emotions. I’m passionate about teaching
people to transform these negative emotions into positive ones so they can lead a vital, happy life. Emotional Freedom is a how-to guide that offers you tools, what I call “transformations,” to get out of the muck of negativity and start flowing with the rhythm of life.
The mainstream medical system doesn’t make room for working with the emotional needs of people. As a UCLA psychiatric resident, I learned to prescribe medications and use traditional psychotherapy. In Emotional Freedom, I provide strategies that incorporate emotion, intelligence, spirituality, subtle energy, and intuition into an equation that goes beyond mainstream medicine.
On a personal level, I wrote this book because I watched my mother, a physician, literally lose her life to stress and fear. I loved her very much, but I didn’t want the same thing for myself, as I have similar tendencies.
Karen: What is emotional freedom?
Dr. Judith Orloff: Emotional freedom is your ability to love by cultivating positive emotions. It is the ability to compassionately witness and transform negative emotions, yours or another’s. Emotional freedom liberates you from fear and frees up your energy so you can navigate adversity without attacking someone, losing your cool, or being derailed by negative emotions. With emotional freedom, you can choose to respond constructively rather than lashing out when your buttons get pushed.
Karen: I’m very familiar with having my buttons pushed. What is the key ingredient in emotional freedom that makes emotional transformation attainable?
Dr. Judith Orloff: Compassion. You must first have compassion for yourself, otherwise, it’s hard to manage your emotions and help yourself to heal whatever is feeding that experience. We also need to have compassion for others. When a loved one is going through a trying time, being compassionate without judgment is essential. My spiritual teacher says we make progress on the spiritual path by beating ourselves up a little bit less each day. I believe that. It’s about baby steps.
Karen: You say that emotions have four crucial components. What are they and why is it vital to know about them?
Dr. Judith Orloff: Years ago no one studied emotions! Based on scientific studies and my professional experience I identify four components to emotion: biological, energetic, psychological and spiritual. Every emotion, negative or positive, has a biochemical reaction, in the body. When you experience an emotion there is a cascade of reactions that take place without your conscious effort heart rate changes, mood changes, sweaty palms, blood pressure shifts, etc. Emotions have psychological meaning that is different for each person. They also have an energetic effect in that, when you experience an emotion, you redirect your energy both physical and mental. Finally, there is a spiritual component. The negative emotions, fear, anger, frustration, loneliness and so forth, are the emotions that cause us the most trouble. When a negative emotion causes you to shift your attention away from things and people that support your wellbeing that has an effect. In the book, I teach you how to proactively shift your energy (which will affect your biochemistry—your body’s physical responses) and allow you to see the spiritual and psychological meaning of what you’re going through. This transformation leads to emotional freedom.
Karen: Can you comment more on the spiritual component and emotional freedom?
Dr. Judith Orloff: I see difficult emotions as a laboratory for spiritual growth, whereas traditional psychiatry aims to rid people of negative emotions. I believe that emotions—even wrenching ones like depression—exist to awaken us to some deeper meaning in our life. Each emotion is a prompt for us to get more in touch with our hearts and expand our light. This perspective transforms how you deal with all emotional challenges.
Karen: We live in a society where “losing our cool” has become a mantra. What’s necessary to transform this mindset so that we can effectively respond under pressure?
Dr. Judith Orloff: My term for difficult people is ‘emotional vampire.’ Vampires are, for example, people who criticize; who play the perpetual victim; narcissists, who make everything about them; and people who have to control everything around them. I say, let them be our teachers, rather than tormentors. Ask yourself, “How does this person teach me to communicate with more heart and better boundaries?” “How can I deal differently with feeling irritated, controlled, or insulted?” Most people will retaliate or withdraw, neither of which promotes growth. The transformational way is to not react when your buttons get pushed. Instead, practice ‘the Namaste effect,’ which is, “I respect the spirit within you even if I don’t like what you’re doing.” Your victories over emotional vampires are not small—they’re huge, transformational leaps.
Karen: Beyond the individual and her relationships, how can we become emotionally free during times of economic, environmental, political and social crisis?
Dr. Judith Orloff: First, we have to transform the ‘fear mindset.’ Fear is something to be overcome, not something to let defeat you. When you see a world with so much to be afraid of—the failing economy, natural disasters, and violence—you must choose not to act from fear. Part of emotional freedom is to make a promise that you will not to lead a fear-driven life. That must be a deep desire in your heart. From this mindset, you do everything possible to overcome fear and worry with faith in goodness. Focus on staying in the present moment, rather than catastrophizing the future. Only in the present moment can you transform yourself, which, because we are interconnected, has a ripple effect on the world around you. In Emotional Freedom, I show you how to develop courage, to stay centered and find non-fear based solutions to anything! Courage or fear is a choice. It’s not something that just happens to you.
Karen: In Emotional Freedom, you describe seven transformations. What is the outcome of moving through these transformations?
Dr. Judith Orloff: The seven transformations teach people an easy, hands-on approach for moving through the most prevalent negative emotions and building positive ones. On the other side of these transformations, you become the hero of your own life. The transformation for fear is courage. For frustration and disappointment, the transformation is patience. For loneliness, the transformation is a connection. If you experience anxiety or worry, I teach you how to transform this into inner calm. For those facing depression, the transformation is finding hope. If jealousy eats away at you, I teach how to transform this negative emotion by building self-esteem. Finally, you can transform anger with compassion.
The outcome on the other side of these transformations is inner peace. This is critical on a personal level. When we don’t face fear and anger within ourselves, then we risk projecting it into the world around us. We must find inner peace before we can have outer peace. Ultimately, when you learn to use emotions, and intuition, as a tool for transformation, you become the hero in your own life.
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You will also enjoy Judith Orloff: The Empath’s Survival Guide
For More About Dr. Judith Orloff and Emotional Freedom
Dr. Orloff is a best-selling author, a psychiatrist, an empath, and is on the UCLA Psychiatric Clinical Faculty. She synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality. Dr. Orloff also specializes in treating empaths and highly sensitive people in her private practice. drjudithorloff.com
About Karen M. Rider
Karen M. Rider, a freelance writer from Connecticut, has interviewed many visionary healers and pioneers in natural and energy medicine, including Carolyn Myss, Wayne Dyer, Dean Ornish, Joan Borysenko, Christiane Northrup, Donna Eden, and Andrew Weil. http://karenmrider.com
