Hi Friend,
Our bodies are miraculous, digesting everything we put into our mouths.
Teeth, saliva, esophagus, stomach, intestines … these systems work diligently to keep us alive and functioning at the highest levels.
But when it comes to digesting and metabolizing the stress and traumas both major and minor that come with this business of living, our psycho-spiritual systems may be running on autopilot, but they aren’t always functioning in a way that serves our highest good.
Our culture has taught us pretty effective numbing strategies (thank you Instagram, booze, and online shopping!). But as any doctor will tell you, a strong anesthetic may be helpful in the short term, but it doesn’t heal anything.
To begin to heal, we’ll have to create strategies that allow us to metabolize the stresses of every day life, and even the life traumas that we inevitably face.
Strategies that allow us to feel something, all the way through.
Why? Because on the other side of what we’re feeling, is often insight.
The solution to a problem. The answer to a prayer.
When we numb and sublimate our stress, it builds and spills like poison into everything we do.
Your thought experiment this week is to make a list of the micro (and macro) stresses you’ve been holding inside. Choose one, and spend 10 minutes answering these questions:- How does this micro/macro stress make me feel? What is the name of that emotion(s)?
- Where do I feel this stress or emotion in my body?
- What deeper, fear-based belief is this connected to?
- How might I replace that belief with something that is more constructive and helpful to me?
- How might I show myself compassion?
After you’ve spent 10 minutes answering these questions, take a minute to breathe. Have a few sips of water. Inhale. Exhale, and let out an audible sigh.
That, my friend, is one way we can begin to metabolize our stress, releasing it so we can function at the highest levels—as our best Selves.
Let me know how it goes.
Shine on, my friend. We need your light.
B |
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