An Interview with Judith Orloff, MD on her New York Times Bestseller, “Emotional Freedom”
By Diane Hindman, PhD J
udith Orloff, MD, is a psychiatrist and intuition expert who synthesizes the pearls of traditional medicine with cutting-edge knowledge of intuition, energy, and spirituality to create a new blend of healing wisdom. She passionately believes that the future of medicine depends upon integrating all these elements to achieve emotional freedom and total wellness. Her latest book is “Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life” (Three Rivers Press, 2011).
Diane: What is emotional freedom, and why is it so important for society today?
Dr. Orloff: Emotional freedom is 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. This skill liberates you from fear and lets you navigate adversity without attacking someone, losing your cool, or being derailed by negativ- ity. With emotional freedom you can choose to react constructively rather than relinquishing command of the situation when your but- tons get pushed.
Diane: What does it mean to be “energy-sensitive”?
Dr. Orloff: Many sensitive people come to me who’ve been labeled “overly sensitive.” These people, including me, are what I call “emo- tional empaths.” Because we are so sensitive, we absorb the energy of others. We sense their fear, anxiety, and stress and take them into our bodies. Then we get exhausted or feel ill ourselves. As a child, I couldn’t go into shopping malls or crowded places because I’d walk in fine and then walk out exhausted or with some ache or pain I didn’t have before. I didn’t realize what was happening. But as I’ve matured intuitively and as a physician, I’ve realized that people on a spiritual path tend to gain more sensitivity as they develop. Thus, they need to learn how not to absorb outside energy so they can feel joyous and free. This book discusses how to be compassionate but stay centered without becoming an emotional sponge.
Diane: How can Emotional Freedom teach us to cope with difficult people or situations in a calmer manner?
Dr. Orloff: There’s a chapter on emotional vampires, which is my term for many difficult people—for instance, a criticizer, a victim, a narcissist, or a controller. I say, let them be our teachers, rather than tormentors. We must ask ourselves: How do they teach us to communicate with more heart and better boundaries? How can we deal differently with feeling irritated, controlled, or insulted? The old way is to get nasty or withdraw. The new way is to simply not react when your buttons get pushed—a behavior that perpetuates war.
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Practice what I call “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. With every success, you are creating more hope for the world. From an intuitive stand- point, we are all interconnected: my emotional freedom affects your emotional freedom which affects everyone in the world.
Diane: In the book, you also define four emotional types. What are they and what can they tell us about ourselves?
Dr. Orloff: They are “the intellectual,” “the empath,” “the gusher,” and “the rock.” These are the filters through which you see the world—the default setting of your personality to which you revert, especially under stress. Each type is determined by inborn tempera- ment, upbringing, and perhaps karma. Since emotional freedom means being able to remain sensitive but centered in an overwhelm- ing world, it’s essential to know your emotional type. Without this knowledge, many people dysfunctionally hunker down in their type for decades without examining which aspects do and don’t serve them.
Diane: What can dreams teach us about emotional freedom?
Dr. Orloff: Sleep and dreams are a conduit for emotional freedom. Sleep is a great awakener because your linear mind quiets down, and you enter a purely intuitive state where you can better under- stand your emotions and other realms. Dreams are revolutionary states of consciousness that impart intuitive wisdom about being free.
Here’s a personal example. Once, I went through a period of complaining a lot when nothing was working. Projects were falling through, patients were canceling appointments, I couldn’t even get the plumber to come and fix the toilet. I was in victim mode. Then I had a dream in which my deceased father came to me, and he was moving from one location to another. I asked, “Daddy, is there anything I can get you?” Smiling, he said, “No, darling, I don’t need anything except a pen and a piece of paper in case I want to write a thank-you note.” For me, this was a wake-up call that highlighted the importance of gratefulness here and in the Hereafter. It was all I needed to adjust my attitude to being more grateful for my life.
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