A Conversation with Dr. Judith Orloff:
Emotional Freedom & Becoming the Hero of Our Life
By Karen M. Rider, M.A.

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 TENSE world.’ In her New York Times bestseller Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself from Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life (Three Rivers Press, 2010) Dr. Judith Orloff teaches us how to master the seven most prevalent negative emotions and tap into the inner pulse that guides us to living our best life. With her characteristic wit and compassion, Dr. Orloff presents a roadmap for cultivating a more hopeful, positive outlook on life, helping us transform into a hero in our own life.

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. 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 field of psychiatry, 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 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 an unsuccessful 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. 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 us 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 loose her life to stress and fear. I loved her very much, but didn’t want the same thing for myself, as I have similar tendencies.

Karen: What is emotional freedom?

Dr. Orloff: Emotional freedom is our ability to love by cultivating positive emotions. It is the ability to compassionately witness and transform negative emotions; ours or another’s. Emotional freedom liberates us from fear and frees up our energy so we can navigate adversity without attacking someone, losing our cool, or being derailed by negative emotions. With emotional freedom, we can choose to respond constructively rather than lashing out when our 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. Orloff: Compassion. We must first have compassion for ourselves, otherwise it’s hard to manage our emotions and help ourselves 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 that 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. Orloff: Years ago no one studied emotions scientifically! Based on research 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 we experience an emotion, there is a cascade of reactions that take place without 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 we experience an emotion, we redirect our 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 us to shift our attention away from things and people that support our wellbeing, that has an affect. In the book I teach how to proactively shift our energy (which will effect our biochemistry—our body’s physical responses) and allow us to see the spiritual and psychological meaning of what we’re going through. This transformation leads to emotional freedom.

Karen: Can you comment more on the spiritual component and emotional freedom?

Dr. Orloff: I see difficult emotions as a laboratory for spiritual growth, whereas traditional psychiatry aims to rid people of negative emotions. I be-live 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 we 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 we can effectively respond under pressure?

Dr. 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 our 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.” Our victories over emotional vampires are not small—they’re huge, transformational leaps.

Karen: Beyond the individual and their relationships, how can we become emotionally free during times of economic, environmental, political and social crisis?

Dr. Orloff: First, we have to transform the ‘fear mindset.’ Fear is something to be overcome, not something to let defeat us. When we see a world with so much to be afraid of—the failing economy, natural disasters, and violence—we must choose not to act from fear. Part of emotional freedom is to make a promise that we will not lead a fear-driven life. That must be a deep desire in our hearts. From this mindset, we 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 we transform ourselves, which, because we are interconnected, has a ripple effect into the world around us. 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 us.

Karen: In Emotional Freedom, you describe seven transformations. What is the outcome of moving through these transformations?

Dr. 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, we become the hero of our own life. The transformation for fear is courage. For frustration and disappointment, the transformation is patience. For loneliness, the transformation is connection. If we experience anxiety or worry, I teach how to transform this into inner calm. For those facing depression, the transformation is finding hope. If jealousy eats away at us, I teach how to transform this negative emotion by building self-esteem. Finally, we can transform anger with compassion.

The outcome on the other side 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 we learn to use emotions and intuition as a tool for transformation, we become the hero in our own life.

Judith Orloff, M.D. is author of the bestselling books, “Emotional Freedom: Liberate Yourself From Negative Emotions and Transform Your Life”, “Positive Energy, Intuitive Healing”, and “Second Sight”. She has been featured on The Today Show, CNN, and in Oprah Magazine and USA Today. Learn more at http://DrJudithOrloff.com For Judith’s free video class on emotional freedom and intuition: www.YouTube.com/judithorloffmd .

Karen M. Rider, M.A. is a freelance writer specializing in natural health, conscious living and metaphysical subjects. An advertorial copywriter and ghostwriter she serves healing arts practitioners and soul entrepreneurs. Her interviews with visionary thinkers such as Caroline Myss and Dr. Wayne Dyer appears in regional and national publications. She resides in Connecticut with her husband and their two spirited daughters. She’s working on her first novel, The Gathering, a metaphysical suspense story set at Gillette Castle in Connecticut.