“A trembling in the bones may carry a more convincing testimony than the dry documented deductions of the brain.”
~Llewellyn Powers
Be still. Feel. Know.
In wellness,
Susan
Tag: Love Yourself
What Can Put A Smile On Your Face Today?
Today’s post is short and sweet, and the message is simple:
Do one thing today that makes you happy!
For me lately, it’s taking advantage of this brewy Seattle weather, creating space and personal time to read books on vibrational frequency and quantum physics. It’s quite fascinating and with a side of hot coffee, you just can’t beat it.
So, I’m curious… what’s one thing you can do today that makes you smile?
Maybe it’s helping someone smile themselves, or paying for someone’s parking meter when it’s about to expire, maybe it’s a hot bath, lighting a candle for some much needed quiet time, or writing a love letter to yourself.
Whatever it may be I invite you to reflect and see what comes up for you today. Ask yourself, what would put a smile on my face? What small thing can I do for me today?
And even better… when we can uplift ourselves, we naturally uplift others.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Brooke Lark on Unsplash
Using The Breath To Transform Difficult Emotions
In a previous post we talked about how to love every situation, even the bad ones. In this post I’ll dig into one important step we can take when our immediate, strong reaction is to turn away and ignore these tough situations.
For the times when we want to straight run away and ignore certain emotions such as anger, hurt, sadness, jealousy, etc., we need to deploy one thing – our breath.
Using our breath to “digest” these emotions will help us from turning away, to turning IN.
It’s said in indigenous Peruvian shamanic/spiritual culture that elders would guide people to push the emotion down to the stomach and breath through it in order to digest and work through tough emotions.
I discovered this Peruvian practice after implementing this breath work for myself and wasn’t surprised at all to find out! Especially with deeply similar practices from other traditions such as those from Yoga, Buddhism, and even the Whim Hoff method of breath work!
Clearly there’s a reason why breath is such a powerful tool to bringing us back to our essence. Our true “self” amidst the harshest of emotions.
The next time you find yourself wanting to turn away take a moment, wherever you are, to BREATHE.
Breathe as heavy, fast, and as loudly as you need to and focus on turning inward. Really look at what you are digesting and allow the breath to do the work. Be with every breath as you discover and unfold the workings of the emotion.
Toward the end of the session (anywhere from 5-15 minutes) you’ll discover that you allowed the emotion to pass, or at least lessen a significant degree, and likely have uncovered a new finding about yourself. Whether that’s more mindfulness, awareness of true self, a deeper capacity to forgive, more love, etc., there will be an empowering shift within you.
So here’s to the first thing we ever did as humans – breathe, and to give thanks toward this life giving practice of breath work.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Eli DeFaria on Unsplash
How To Love Every Situation (Even The Bad Ones)
There’s irony in tough situations. Why?
Well for one, when we are in some of the hardest times of our lives the easiest thing we most often choose to do is ignore, delay, bury, or distract ourselves from the very thing that causes us pain and suffering!
You’re probably wondering, “You’re mistaken because none of this feels easy!”, and you’re right. From the outside it’s tough. We muster up every ounce of our energy to get through the day and push through until one day we feel a bit better and can move onto something else… until it comes up again.
But what if I told you that the harder thing to do would be the fastest way to feeling better?
Not that feeling better should be the goal, nor should getting anywhere faster be the right way, but these are some of the benefits of going harder and faster. Let me tell you why…
When we ignore the situation we’re in, we are burying a part of ourselves that doesn’t want to face the music so to speak. There’s fear of the unknown, fear of more hurt, and our minds are so powerful it convinces us there’s no need to go there.
That’s where TRANSFORMATION comes into play.
When we learn to go in and face the demons we are telling a deeper part of ourselves that we are ready. We are ready to learn, dig deep, love every part of ourselves, and transform the situation and ultimately, ourselves.
We are pushed to our transformative edge so that we can actually get to where we want to be. The old adage is true, no pain, no gain. Sometimes we need to step through and into the unknown (perceived pain and fear) in order to come out the other end. Otherwise, we are metaphorically always on the other side of where we ultimately want to be!
Can you remember a time in your life where you faced the situation and/or your demons and came out completely different? Revived even?
Every time I do the work to face inward I come back again and again to a wider more expansive heart. The true self, and therefore realize the truth in each situation.
Every situation only brings you closer to YOUR TRUTH, and that’s how we come to love every situation – yes, even the “bad” ones. When we meet our transformative edge we are always growing to become the person we always wanted to be.
In wellness,
Susan
Photo by Alphacolor 13 on Unsplash