Hello, dear one!
Another month has come and gone. It’s already the second Tuesday of November. Many of you are asking deep and meaningful questions in your life these days. Your inquiries are essential, and and yet they’re not easy. Nor are they things that we bring up when exchanging small talk throughout our day-to-day experiences. I have the honor and the privilege to journey with my clients as they ask hard questions and uncover their deeper truths. We all have unanswered dialogue running through our heads and things we’re wrestling with in our hearts. With a safe space to process you will eventually hear your own inner guidance system. It’s just a matter of time.
I’m finding many of my clients questions, can be answered in the same way. With this considered, I’d love to hear from you as to what might feel helpful to you in your journey. I’m playing with the idea of a guided meditation- a monthly ‘heart study’. It may be more useful for us to sit, and aquaint ourself with our hearts. But for now, here are some of the recent questions I’ve received, with my insight:
•I “sit” with sad, fear, anger, but I want more peaceful moments.
•I’m finding these negative feelings are hanging around too much after some major life events in the last few years.
•I understand that gratefulness and joy go together, but I want to make it more of a habit to lean that way…to automatically feel peace first instead of sadness. How?
First, I want to acknowledge your sitting with your sadness, fear, and anger. I hope you know how hard that is, and to give yourself some love for arriving to attend to your moving stream of emotions. It is a skill many never learn. You are awake to these places in you, and that is no small feat. I remember talking to someone very dear to me about her process of becoming more conscious. She was under the impression that things would get easier, not more and more challenging. There is an expectation in each of us that we will automatically bypass the myriad of emotions we feel. We often begin a spiritual practice with the innocent hope that we will achieve freedom from these things and no longer be bothered. Perhaps one day we will, but my experience has been that it ALL belongs. The sadness, fear and anger are there to teach us something.
When we have tumultuous years, we can expect intense feelings. We can expect persistent tension and discomfort. The same is so for good moments. Joy and success can lead us to meet our insecurities and perceived shortcomings. We may feel joy in soaring high but also meet our fears of losing it all or failing. There is no moment without a polarity, as life is full of paradox. Our perception of our time here on this planet should incorporate this truth. It would save us a lot of unnecessary suffering.
I have endured years of sitting with many faces of my sadness and fear, so much time in fact, that these percieved as negative feelings have begun to teach me a deep love and appreciation for even these hard places. It’s been very useful to lean in and allow myself to recognize what the emotion is and where it’s coming from. I notice, and assist others in identifying, where the emotion is located in the body— what it feels like and if it might be offering some type of invitation.
There are also many helpful mantras to apply and questions to ask ourselves. Here are just a few:
I will get through this.
All is well.
What is this experience/ feeling trying to teach me?
I trust that things will be better than what I have imagined.
Whenever my emotions begin to overwhelm me, I will take a deep breath.
What will help me get my energy flowing in a better direction?
I know that I am stronger than my temporary emotions.
Does this feeling, or situation, remind me of a past experience?
I will respond intentionally rather than reacting impulsively.
What would be life-giving vs life-draining in this moment?
Right here, right now, I’m okay.
This too shall pass.
Maybe choose one of the above, or a few, to practice when life feels hard. Know that you’re not alone.
Please also feel free to sign up to receive, The Authenticity Journal ~a free gift I’ve created for you.
•Do you have breathing room in your life so you can listen inward? ⠀⠀⠀
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•Do you need a private way to share how you’re feeling or what’s going on in your life?⠀⠀⠀
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•I offer a free 30 min. discovery call and would be happy to connect with you.
Let me know what’s coming up for you these days. I’d love to hear! ⠀⠀⠀
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Grace and Peace,
~Lea, xo⠀⠀