Spiritual Growth

Growing up is hard to do.

We've heard that so many times, but you reach a point in your life when you become an adult and you think that the growing is over. Why doesn't anyone tell you it's really just begun? We establish our lives and of course our soul wants more; it wants to create, change, grow, crave and simply experience different. 

This is hard, and of course beautiful at the same time. 

I spent years trying to understand why I always wanted more and could never be 'happy'. Now I understand that as a human I'm constantly changing, evolving and in need of new challenges, new opportunities and new ways of being to satiate my soul. Admittedly, it's a bit tiring, and lonely at times, but always oddly satisfying. I guess my point is, embracing it has made the journey easier emotionally, somewhat less intense yet still pretty challenging. However, with each evolution comes enlightenment, joy, richness, satisfaction, more abundance, and just more ... much, much, more!

You're not confused, you're just growing. You're not crazy, you're just growing. You're not wrong, you're just growing. You're not hopeless, you're just growing. So grow. Face it. See what happens. 

Let It Out!

With this positive movement around us, it’s easy to get caught up in feeling guilty for having negative emotions or at the very least confusing emotions.

Emotions are so elusive anyway - or so we think... 

I don’t know about you, but I’m always some place in the middle of trying to understand them, attempting to honor them, being consumed by them and trying to hide them. Until recently, I decided about 6 months ago to just LET THEM ALL OUT. Yes, that’s right. Let my emotions flow out of me. Sit in a hot bath and cry. Get in-touch with some of the pain that is buried down deep. Feeling a bit crazy anyone? I have to say if you’re going to try this at home BEWARE! I’m only half kidding when I say that, but it’s so worth it when you get on the other side.

The biggest lessons I learned from this ‘crazy’ 6-month experiment:

1)    Owning your feelings feels good.

2)    When you feel broken that’s when you’re on the way to fixing and dare I say thriving.

3)    Emotions need to be released so if you are crying, laughing, burping, and/or yelling you are doing something right!

4)    Just breathe – breathing techniques were the anchor that aided me through this time. They can be so damn powerful!

5)    Learning other tools for release – as you all know I teach and consult using EFT which is a great tool to release feelings constructively. I also used meditation, hypnosis, energy healing on myself during this time.

6)    Don’t be afraid of people thinking you are psycho. I’m not sure why this one was such a big one for me. I guess as women and moms we feel like we have to hold everything together (and get judged), so if we aren’t together, what happens? Well, my husband and my daughter held everything together and guess what? They learned a hell of allot in the process.

7)    Owning your feelings doesn’t mean you have to be nasty to others.

8)    Feeling your feelings should be a private event for the most part.

9)    Being true to yourself is never wrong.

10) Stopping thinking there is an end. It’s a process to release anger, resentment, disappointment, fear, failure, etc. Just go with it and it will end faster.

Number 10 was the biggest lesson of all. I put so much pressure on myself to get over something, meanwhile I’m not really processing it while it happens. We need to process as humans in order to release. Release, process, release, process, and I promise you one day you will wake up just like I did and suddenly feel lighter and free.

‘You’ are back again - the ‘you’, you’ve missed - know well and love – this time stronger than before.

The promise I made to myself is to do a better job of owning my feelings. So, what if I’m angry, sad, upset, I’m going to feel it this time around, process it, deal with it and own it. Life is too short to worry about labels. I deserve a voice!

Be Emotionally Free

Think back to the last time you got in a fight with your spouse, boyfriend, sister or mother. Maybe you made up, maybe you agreed to disagree, or maybe you still harbor some resentment. No matter what scenario applies, what did you do to release the negative emotions you just experienced in that fight? How do you know they're gone? If you're like most people, the typical answer is nothing. Not because we don't want to release our negative emotions, we just don't know how.

Don't get me wrong, working out, running, listening to music, painting and meditating are all great ways to release feelings, but emotions are a bit different and tougher to release. A feeling is how we perceive an emotion, and ultimately we assign a certain meaning to that emotion. These perceptions can be altered pretty quickly. You simply alter your state by 'running that feeling out' for example; your endorphins spike, your perception changes and all seems well.

Unfortunately, that doesn't really change the emotion, or emotional residue that now remains in your energy field and nervous system. Over time this residue builds and eventually gets stuck. Inturn, you feel stuck. And stuck never really feels good. You can go change your state again, but you loop back again and get re-stuck. 

This is where EFT comes in. EFT or Emotional Freedom Technique is exactly that, it's a technique that frees you from being emotionally stuck. It gets rid of the old emotional residue, by tapping on certain meridian points, uncovering core issues that can hold you back from growing and changing. Once you are able to release the emotional trauma, you can blow through the core issue and consequently get your energy back in motion. You now become unstuck and can move forward in a new space!

I leverage EFT in my practice because I've seen speedy, impactful, and long lasting changes to emotional trauma.

If you want to try this at home, simply pick a meridian point (I use my Thymus point) and tap on it while you go for your daily jog or while driving in the car. Say outloud what is bothering you, continue that talk track as it spirals into an emotion, feel that emotion, and see it move out of your body. Keep Breathing. Breathe again. Release it out through the breath. 

For more information on EFT click here!