The Victim or The Creator

There are many things that happen in our daily existence that are outside of our control. These experiences usually elicit some type of emotion. Think about your day so far. Have there been experiences that have altered your mood – either positively or negatively without you consciously choosing that emotion? When someone cuts you off in traffic, do you automatically turn to anger? What if you knew they were in a hurry to get to the hospital to deliver a baby? When someone special sends you a nice note, does it make you feel all warm and fuzzy? If that same someone special had done something to anger you in the morning, do you still have the same warm feelings? The one absolute freedom ALL humans are born with is free will. We have the free will to choose how we react to every situation. Our reactions stem from our view of ourselves in this world. When we feel like we have no power over what happens to us, we tend to play the victim. But when we know that no matter what is thrown at us, we will thrive, we live as the creator. It’s as “simple” as changing our mindset. Do we choose love, joy, happiness, acceptance and compassion or fear, anxiety, apprehension, shame and anger? Forgiveness or punishment? When we consciously choose a positive emotion regardless of the situation, we raise our vibration and bring more positive energy into our lives.

Most people I know have things in their lives that could justify a negative, or victim, mindset – illness, addiction, death, etc. I could (and do) use the excuse that “Yeah, but I have MS and this sucks. I can’t walk. I feel like shit.” The laundry list of complaints is pretty limitless. As someone who craves control (https://myselfhealingjourney.com/control/ ), it has been a very empowering feeling when I not only realize the control and power I do have, but also employ the methods I have learned to change my mindset. I am not choosing to “wear rose colored glasses” because that isn’t realistic. This is not grinning and bearing the shit life throws at me – because I don’t have boots tall enough for how deep that shit can get. For me, this has become an exploration of where my knee-jerk reactions came from, and what DOES work when I need to “change my mind”. The tools I have learned and am implementing are tapping, breathwork, meditation and the Emotion Code. But how do these things help me, you may ask. Sit back and enjoy the ride…

In the heat of the moment…

Tapping

In a previous post I talk about being introduced to tapping and how effective it can be for dealing with “negative” or “hard” emotions when they arise. (https://myselfhealingjourney.com/toxic-positivity). Tapping on the meridian points to relieve stress and negative emotions around topics that come up is really powerful. However, tapping is not something I can easily do when out in public – I tend to get strange looks. So, while tapping has helped, it too has its drawbacks. Therefore, I needed a tool I can use not only in the moment, but also around other people.

Breathwork

We all know by now how important breathing is to our survival. Every portion of our body needs oxygen to survive. However, when we are stressed or are in survival response, our breathing becomes shallow and short causing tension in the body. Many meditative practices have some form of breathwork that goes along with them. Breathwork is important on many levels:

~ By focusing on our breath, we become focused on the present moment.

~ Breathing deeply lowers blood pressure.

~ Breathwork provides relief from stress by lowering the hormone cortisol.

~ Deep breathing exercises increase energy and boost immunity.

Serendipitously, in March, my friend Jim sent me an email as we were on our way to Florida for spring break with Jeremy’s dad. He sent me his most recent podcast which happened to be an interview with Leland Holgate, Jr., founder of The Willful Warrior Project. (https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/how-you-really-doin/id867953276?i=1000603259871) Leland was in an accident when he was 19 (1999) that left him paraplegic. He was given a physical therapist who was also a yogi and trained in breathwork. Through breathwork, Leland healed himself and is thriving today and helping others thrive by teaching the breathwork. I listened to the podcast on the way down to Florida and immediately found The Willful Warrior Breath on YouTube. I warned my family that I would be doing deep breathing, put on my headphones, and started the breathwork. After that first session, I was hooked. I didn’t even put everything into it because my family was in the car, and I could feel so much energy moving in my body!!

Leland has a few videos on YouTube. The one I found and was able to do every morning that week was an hour long video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZV5Bdh6EMk). In the first 10 minutes he describes the process and why it works. Then, he takes you through a meditation and leads you through the different breathing exercises. This particular video is for Spinal Cord injuries and Neurological disorders specifically. At the end, he talks about moving your hands, arms, feet and legs. He also takes you on a walk through the woods. I feel like this was made for me because the blog I wrote about envisioning myself walking takes me into the woods also. (myselfhealingjourney.com/choose-your-own-adventure/) It’s very powerful!!

Since starting this breathwork, and realizing how powerful it feels, I have started to incorporate it into my daily life. Any time I feel triggered or feel a negative emotion coming up I can consciously take a few deep breaths and the feeling will dissipate pretty quickly. I am not perfect, but I’m getting a lot better at responding with love than reacting in fear.

Rewiring the brain…

Meditation:

I have been meditating consistently for a little over 3 years now. I had no idea when I started how far I would go in this self-exploration / spiritual quest. I am still so grateful for being given that gift 3 years ago! For me, meditation is MY time everyday (hopefully several times a day) to get connected to source and give up any problems/questions/wants/needs I may have at the moment; also, to just sit with an empty mind and trust whatever comes up, see it with love and let it move on. I sometimes have mystical experiences, I sometimes hear what I need, other times I can sense where I need to be going next, and sometimes there is nothing and I may even fall asleep. When I am in meditation I create a vision of what I want for my future and I trust it will manifest in one way or another because I AM a creator! No matter what, I always come out of a meditation session with a renewed view of life and usually full of love, so I will always incorporate it into my day.

Emotion Code

6 months ago, through Dr. Joe’s (Dispenza) Facebook page, I was introduced to Sarah Cosford, an Emotion Code practitioner. The Emotion Code is a book written by Dr. Bradley Nelson. In the book he talks about how emotions can get trapped in the body disrupting the natural flow and healing ability. He also explores how emotions effect us physically – both negatively and positively. When someone has a negative emotion, their body is physically effected even though they are not conscious of it. Chronic negative emotions cause chronic stress in the body which throws the hormones off balance, depletes the brain of feel good chemicals and harms the immune system. Most of the time, we can process emotions effectively and they are released from the body. However, if we repress or store these emotions in our subconscious mind for whatever reason, they can become trapped in the body and cause all sorts of disfunction or dis – ease. Through a process called muscle testing we can find trapped emotions and release them by running a magnet, or hand, over the head. Since we are all connected, and because I give her permission, Sarah is able to muscle test herself to test me for trapped emotions. This has been the part of my healing that has been the hardest to explain to people, but it is also one that I feel is going to be so pivotal in my healing journey. I have been seeing Sarah for 6 months. I really look forward to every session and exploring what comes up – it’s so interesting. Sometimes when an emotion comes up I can feel it viscerally even though I’m not conscious of where it comes from. Other times I feel absolutely nothing. Either way, we release the emotion. After every session I feel exhausted (but in a great way!) It feels like a great weight has been lifted off of my chest. After releasing these trapped emotions, it is important to replace them with positive and more empowering emotions. Therefore Sarah will often send meditations to reinforce these. Now, instead of instantly reverting to those old, wired emotions when something triggers me, they have been released and replaced by bigger and better emotions!

Every person’s experience with this work is different and very personal. I will say that I have some VERY large emotions from an early age that have been trapped in my body and we are working at releasing them slowly because I can tell you that when it comes up, it’s too big for me to handle all at once. I would like to, and probably will, write more about my work with Sarah, but this blog is not the place. So stay tuned for more on that!

Whether we realize it or not, we are ALL powerful creators! Through our actions and interactions with this world we are constantly altering the environment around us. It would be a wonderful world if we were all conscious creators and created out of love instead of fear. I cannot change the world, but I can and will start with myself. I hope I have inspired you to do the same!!

Self Love Vs. Selfishness