Karen Taylor
Location: Park Forest, IL
(one hour south of Chicago)
Phone: 708-748-6914
Email: karen@optionmethodnetwork.com
Years Experience with Option: Karen has over twelve years of experience utilizing and teaching the Option Method. She has worked with adults, children, families, and groups teaching them about their power to create happiness through their beliefs. She offers a variety of workshops in the Chicago metropolitan area teaching the fundamentals of the Option Method, as well as specific workshops dealing with issues of personal acceptance, inner peace, emotional wellness, creating happiness, weight-loss, parenting, and relationships.
Services Offered: Karen Taylor, along with her partner Melissa Ford, offer a variety of empowering experiential workshops geared towards personal growth, as well as seminars and introductory presentations. They are currently presenting workshops in the Chicagoland area and custom design workshops for groups and organizations following the Option Principals.
Karen also offers individual Option Method Dialogues in person and/or by phone. I accept PayPal.
Schedule a Dialogue with Karen
Interview...
How and why did you become an Option Practitioner?
"I became an Option Practitioner because I fell in love with the process that so radically altered my life and decided I wanted to share it with others. I will forever be grateful to those teachers who have put forth the effort to make Option information available, whether it was by writing a book, putting on a workshop, doing a dialogue, etc.
Having spent most of my young adult-hood challenged by depression, I spent many years searching out and utilizing various healing modalities in an effort to assist me in creating a happier life. It wasn't until discovering Option that I was able to permanently change many very unhappy areas in my life. That young girl who I was yesterday could never have imagined how incredibly self-possessed, confident, strong and happy she would be today. What a miraculous blessing I gave to myself.
Although I have learned tremendously from the various healers and teachers of our time, Option has given me three powerful tools that I have found supremely useful. The first is the Option belief that we are each our own best experts, capable of finding our own answers and solutions. No other modality I know of has given such a profound respect to our individual wisdom and our ability to access our answers and solve our dilemmas.
Second, Option offers the unique idea that our happiness and unhappiness are based on, and fueled by the beliefs we hold. Because beliefs have to be agreed upon and accepted to become one's own, (albeit unknowingly at times), we have the power to discover our reasons for holding onto beliefs that do not support our happiness and release them. This alone is stupendous, life-altering information to become aware of, because it leaves us always powerful, and always capable of transforming our misery into happiness.
Third, Option provides a gentle and respectful method to access and challenge the validity of those self-defeating beliefs we hold that fuel our unhappiness and discomfort. This method actually teaches us a new, and incredibly loving way of interacting with ourselves. The tools that I have learned with this method consistently assist me in handling life's ongoing challenges. I now have a powerful resource that I can draw upon whenever I desire.
I became an Option Practitioner because it remains a constant joy that I can alter my misery into happiness. Because I feel so fortunate to have found this information I want to make this knowledge increasingly accessible, so that those who are searching for something like I was, will have an increased opportunity to find it. As I continue to inspire myself watching others transform their unhappiness into hope, confidence, love, joy, optimism, I continue to want to share this profound, and what I consider almost magical knowledge with others."
What do you think makes you a good OM Practitioner?
"I have always enjoyed interacting with people, delighting in how unique and interesting we all are. It has been a consistent desire on my part to share what I have learned about The Option Method to enable others to discover their ability to find happiness. I believe I am a good OM Practitioner because I enjoy this deeply respectful process of listening to another in an environment that is accepting and totally non-judgmental. It seems so seldom in life that people are offered the respect and honor of being really listened to with loving curiosity while being asked, what it is they think, feel, and believe.
Being an Option Method Practitioner affords me the continuous opportunity to expand my understanding of what it means to love someone and really be present with them. It remains an inspiration to me to witness someone awakening to the knowledge and understanding that they are fully capable of loving and accepting themselves, and creating the happiness they so desire in their lives."
Is there anything you would want me to know before scheduling a dialogue with you?
"I would want you to know that once you begin a dialogue using the Option Method you will be the director of your exploration. This is an experience where you will be looked at as the expert on yourself having the keys to accessing your own wisdom. You will not be given advice or told what to do, or not to do. I will be there listening to you in an environment of complete acceptance, providing you with gentle questions into those beliefs, (as you uncover them), that have fueled your unhappiness. It is my belief as an Option Method Practitioner, that we are all equipped to heal our unhappiness providing we want to, and that we are willing to explore the foundations of our unhappy beliefs."
How can I get the most out of a dialogue with you?
"If you are a person who likes to read and investigate deeply into what you are about to embark on, then be all means do so, as this will support your experience. There are a variety of books by different authors that can be read about Option which are excellent, as well as thoroughly reading over this web site. If you are a person that likes to dive into an experience without much previous knowledge, that's fine too. You may also call or e-mail to ask whatever questions you have about this process and I will be happy to talk further about it. There are no correct or incorrect ways of going about this. Whatever your style is it will be perfect for you."
How long are your dialogue sessions?
"Dialogues typically run for about an hour, but it is not uncommon to go for one and one-half to two hours or longer on occasion. Generally one hour is enough to take in the new information you tell yourself. However, I am flexible and will schedule dialogues according to the desire of the client."
What issues have you dialogued with others on?
"Relationships; (marriage, parenting, family, friends, etc.), self-confidence, self-worth, guilt, health, sexuality, death, career, finances, school, childhood memories, body-image, etc."
What hours are you available for a dialogue and can I dialogue in person or over the phone?
"My schedule is currently fairly flexible. I am available most mornings and early afternoons, some evenings and weekends. Call to arrange a time in advance.
Do I have to do a dialogue in person or can I do it over the phone? If yes, are phone dialogues as successful as in person?
"I do dialogues both in person and over the phone. I also have scheduled times to do them walking or sitting outside on a park bench. I have found both in person and phone dialogues equally effective."
Is there anything I can't dialogue about?
"No."
Schedule a Dialogue with Karen
Referrals...
"It gives me great pleasure to recommend Karen Taylor as an Option Method Practitioner. I can say without hesitation that Karen is the most psychologically therapeutic person I know. I've met no one who can match her skill in creating a safe, accepting environment in which one can comfortably explore one's feelings and beliefs."
"My relationship with Karen goes back a long time, to before her introduction to the Option Method. Karen has always been interested in psychological growth, and has also always displayed an innate empathy for others. Over the years that she has studied and practiced the Option Method, I've seen how much it has helped her grow. I've also seen how she's helped others, myself included."
"I recommend Karen without hesitation to anyone looking for a loving, non-judgmental person with whom to explore their own beliefs."
- Joyce Schlitt, Registered Nurse
"Life is a puzzle, which seems to constantly require us to put these pieces together so we can see the big picture, which is our daily life. Often times the big picture was lost to me and I was unable to make meaningful connections with others. My world view constantly facilitated me to engage in behaviors that lead to personal destruction. When I began my work with Ms. Taylor I felt that I was trapped, and that there was no light for me at the end of the tunnel. I had lived with my demons for most of my life, and was unaware of my own truth, which is that my life and everything in it is a choice, and the magic I felt so disconnected from was really in me.
I started the dialogue process over three years ago, and this setting has assisted me in challenging the very foundation of reactive life. I often found myself reacting to my feelings of being less, which resulted in engaging in destructive behaviors and relationships. The interaction with Ms. Karen Taylor has assisted me in becoming whole. She possesses a very unique and loving quality that is rare of healers. Karen has this ability to wrap your soul in love, and provide a safe, non-judgmental and nurturing environment which makes it effortless to evaluate the causation of personal pain and set life limitations.
Time is your playground in which to find your own truths. I have started this life long process, but due to my interactions with Ms. Taylor I have far more tools to make the most of what I have. In our time together I have challenged personal beliefs of inadequacy, which was a catalyst for me to complete a Masters degree. Further, I am finding it ok to ask for things that I want, and set my own boundaries with others I choose to engage in relationships. The journey to self discovery is not easy, but the benefits are priceless."
- Gary Wayne, Program Coordinator, Child Welfare
"I am 39 years old and since 1993, I have been through many different types of therapy in an attempt to resolve painful life issues from my past. I went ‘round and ‘round in my therapy being angry, sad, depressed, confused about the issues. At times I thought I had resolved issues only to be knocked back down by them, feeling sometimes worse and more confused than I was previously.
Since discovering Option I have uncovered, examined, and discarded beliefs that were holding me back from healing lifelong hurts. I resolved issues from my past in a way that I had not experienced before. It was so freeing to be able to make that choice on whether or not to hold or discard a belief, as well as to realize that I actually made choices all along in relation to what happened based on my belief system in the past!
I found Karen to be an excellent practitioner. Karen is extremely loving, non-judgmental and very present in the moment. She does not add her beliefs into the equation but stays in the process until the end of the session. She helped me navigate some delicate issues with great care, love and skill.
I had an opportunity recently to do a dialogue again with her to help with yet another painful situation which I had a hard time resolving. In that exploration, I had a breakthrough and let go of a belief I had held since childhood. It was extremely freeing and I feel deep gratitude for being able to do that with her. I feel fortunate that I learned about Option and found someone who is skilled at “asking questions” and knows the benefits of the process."
- Cat Denckla, Grateful Explorer!
"For years, I have believed that people or situations outside of myself have "made me" feel certain ways. I have blamed others for "making me" feel hurt or unsure of myself or angry. It has always been someone else's fault and certainly not my own!
What I have discovered through working with Karen and the Option Method is that only I choose how I want to feel. Other people and situations truly do not have that control over me unless I choose to allow it. Realizing that I alone hold the key to my own happiness is a liberating feeling which requires a life-long commitment to taking care of yourself and discovering who you are."
- Odessa Aronson, Interior Designer
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