BERNIE BEATS THE BULLIES

Self-help author believes healing starts with our ‘inner child’

SOME people say that in all of us is a book but very few of us actually get to the point of not only putting pen to paper but getting it printed.

That hasn’t stopped Bernie Giggins, the Karalee mother of three and grandmother of six who has put all her years working as an “inner child coach” onto paper so that others can learn to deal with the effects of bulling, neglect and abuse.

She has written and self-published her book Heal One Piece at a Time, which has hit a chord with people all over the world, reaching the top of the best-seller list in three categories.

“I’ve been writing the book over many years, then around December last year thought I needed to finish it,” Ms Giggins said.

“I had some anxiety about what my family would think about it.

“You don’t understand how these things (publishing) work until you give a it a go but the reaction was fantastic, many have said to me that they realise now they weren’t going mad.”

Ms Giggins suffered bullying as a child and after it kept happening throughout her life she realised the events of her childhood were shaping who she was as an adult and something had to change.

She explains how she believes the “inner child” is the person who lives inside the adult we are today and that upbringing shapes your destiny.

“If you can think of something that happened to you as a child you never got to say what you wanted to say,” Ms Giggins said.

“It might be a trauma or something like getting lost in a shopping centre, for example. You hold it in, like a force field. My story was bullying and whatever you had happen to you as a child, you make a promise that when you grow up your kids will never feel that way, yet often you forget about it.

“It’s locked in the body. So I help people to, in many ways, rewire their brain to find where in the body that pain is and give it a voice.

“When I learnt, implemented and changed my own mindset, all sorts of miracles began happening.

“I had an amazing relationship with my mother-in-law, as if our past was deleted. I received a redundancy from the corporate workplace where I was bullied and intimidated for so many years. Friends and family were more loving, positive and supportive and I had a voice for the first time in too many years to mention.”

Ms Giggins has people contacting her from all over the country now, even one person who flies from Darwin regularly. She has one simple piece of advice anyone can use to start healing themselves.

“The biggest change you can do tomorrow is to start to keep a journal,” she said.

“Write down how you feel and be honest about it. Give gratitude to yourself and train your brain to do things different. Simply write down five things you are grateful for and five things you are proud of.”

Ms Giggins believes that feeling positive about yourself is achievable, you just have to find the key.

With her book a big hit, it could lead to people all the world flocking to Ipswich for her wisdom.