by dmackladykp2 | posted in: becoming fully alive!, Encouragement, HOLISTIC Health, of Body, Mind, & SPIRIT, Spirituality, There’s more to our health |
I feel like I’m finally getting it… I mean really getting it. [As much as I’m able to get it right now, anyway!]
I’ve had a basic understanding of the idea that “our thoughts create our reality”…. On some level I’ve recognized that overall happiness is a choice. But it’s taken some time and practice (and patience, ehem) to gain a deeper understanding that goes beyond ‘positive thinking’ — to staying in high vibration even amidst the challenges that we have to face as an inevitable part of our growth. The more nuggets o’ wisdom and tools I’m able to utilize to help deepen my spiritual connection — the better off I am on ALL levels — including my physical health. THIS too, I’m beginning to get on a deeper level as well — once again……
One such nugget o’ wisdom came flooding my way as I was asking for greater clarity. This tid-bit I received recently from an author & teacher named Sandy Newbigging — suggests that we can calm ourselves and our responses to perceived negative stimuli by first recognizing that there are no ‘good’ or ‘bad’ feelings… (We’ve merely been trained by society that these exist in this way, and we’ve also often been encouraged to avoid or ignore the bad and ‘press on’. But this is not how we should be living!) Secondly, we can state out loud or in our minds that we are open to experiencing ALL that life has to offer. It’s a great reminder to ourselves in the moment that we recognize that even the hurtful emotions and their related physical-health manifestations are temporary — and that we can value the learning & self-awareness involved in experiencing it all. I have to say, I dig it. It’s one more tool that’s been added to my spiritual toolbox. In other words, from yet another spirituality-boosting resource I’d listened in on recently through HayHouse — I realized that we have the power to create meaning out of situations, vs simply looking for meaning. (YES indeed!)
Coincidence? Nope. I’ve written about this before…. And when we ask, we receive.
My previous questions were relating to joy, and living in our truth…. plus why and how pursuing our joy helps us contribute to the greater good — aka: help the world.
My current inquiry is more relevant to getting back to ‘good’ when we’ve had to experience and work through ‘negative’ feelings. I’ve talked before about how I understand the necessity of allowing our feelings, and even finding appreciation for them — including when they hurt. [Everything happens for a reason.] But what I’ve grown to realize more recently is how much our feelings are truly guiding us. And when we can experience them from this perspective (and maybe even lose it a little — but then make it count) — we can come back up from that lower frequency to a higher vibration again — one step at a time — through gratitude. We don’t wallow in self-pity…. We feel our emotions, honor them, and then do something positive with them. And — repeat!
Now here’s the tricky part. It’s sometimes hard to find something to be grateful for when we are in the midst of some supremely sheissey shizz. (Sheisse is the German word for ‘shit’, in case you were wondering.) But if we can find even one teeny tiny little sliver of silver lining in the moment — we begin to elevate our energy frequency once again. The more elevated our frequency, the more positives we’ll begin to experience. Wherein the Universal Law of Attraction is concerned — like attracts like. (The opposite kind of magnetism we experience in the physical realm, where opposites attract.) It’s about going with the flow, while still directing our vessel, as opposed to fighting the tide.
Something important to keep in mind, is that we are all energy. Everything we experience is energy. Everything in existence, physically and metaphysically, is energy. Our low energy frequencies stem from Fear, and include frustration, anger, resentment, despair, sadness, guilt, worry, and fear itself. Our high energy frequencies stem from (PURE) Love — and include things like joy, compassion, understanding… even contentment.
Here are my biggest takeaways for always finding our way up from the depths of our pain….
- Our pain is prompting us — helping us define what we desire — so we can move toward it with greater clarity. (Nothing happens to us — it all happens for us. We just have to be open to that…)
- We aren’t supposed to suppress our feelings — even our hurt. We need to feel the feelings to get through the feelings, and to the other side of our growth. It’s how we respond afterward that matters.
- When we remember to trust — with wild abandon — (even during the hard times), we can more easily move out of our fear-based thoughts and back into our love-based thoughts.
- Letting go of the outcome enables us to free ourselves from attachments, and be open to the guidance we will receive from the Universe (if we allow it.) It’s not about giving up, but about remaining flexible — and open to surprise opportunities that can also come about.
- We need to simply believe…. With God, ALL things are possible! The Universe is limitless.
- Finding gratitude in every moment — (even in the midst of the sheisse) — keeps us moving back up in frequency to attract that which we actually desire. (What we focus our energy upon is what we will experience.)
- When we stay tuned in to our highest self and our Source (God/ Universe/ etc) — we can experience the small wins — that silver lining — behind every situation.
So, while I’ve posted a guest excerpt about gratitude before — there’s something more to it than meets the eye. If we can recognize some form of good that comes out of any of our ‘negative’ experiences, we can use those situations to continue propelling us forward. When we can truly LEARN from our experiences, we continue to grow & expand, and it becomes so much easier to find gratitude, even amid the circumstances that feel more like crud.
Here’s a prime example…. But first, if you haven’t read this (or don’t recall the deets) — I highly recommend a re-visit. My article about Trusting — with Wild Abandon — exemplifies how a shift in my thinking and a relinquishing, plus whole-hearted faith/ trust — combined to help us find a most miraculous and unlikely solution to our problem.
In the midst of the frustration when dealing with broken brakes and no mechanics for hundreds of miles, during our road-trip (hauling a camper through the mountains) — I took the following steps:
- I felt the feelings. I was frustrated. I acknowledged it. I honored my feelings. I experienced them. Then….
- I let go. I let go of the outcome. [Notice, we didn’t give up. Joel was on the phone seeking the closest available aid we could locate while I took on the spiritual side of the quest during dinner-making! Remember, there is a difference between not trying, and not forcing.] The worst-case scenario was that we would have to miss out on surprising the girls with a visit to a theme park that we wanted to bring them to at the end of our travels — a couple of states away en-route back home… I figured, it’s close enough to home. We can go a different time. I let it go.
- NEXT, I found all sorts of things to be grateful for, in spite of the circumstances:
- Our brakes didn’t go until we were OUT of the mountains. (Amen.)
- Our camper trailer braking system enabled us to get to a local campground for the night, so we could tend to this problem. (We weren’t stuck on the side of the road somewhere…. Amen again.)
- Because we could disconnect the truck from the trailer, we were setting up ‘home’ for the amount of time we needed to stay in the campground, and the truck could still be worked on without a problem.
- We had no more reservations for the remaining 2 days of our trip! We could totally wing-it as needed, per the timing of our fix.
- I was able to begin making dinner as Joel was outside using the phone to contact the closest mechanic shops we could find via the phone book located in the campground office.
- *As you can see…. none of this was ‘ideal’ or what we’d hoped for — but — there were still things to be grateful for. I dug ’em up, and shifted my energy with gratitude.
4. Finally — I prayed. I began with an apology for freaking out. But then, I asked for some kind of miracle. (Low and behold, as I was expressing these thoughts to Uni — in pulled our miracle of miracles — even though at the time I was groaning about the fact that out of an entirely empty campground, this rig was pulling up directly along side of us…. You’ve gotta read the story if you haven’t already! Completely miraculous.)
The story is a full-on happy ending! We got going the next day, and still made it to the theme park before heading home. We only had 1 less day of the trip, and the timing couldn’t be better — since we had flexibility there.
So the big point I’m making here — is to always always always find GRATITUDE. This simple step enables us to shift back into the ‘good’ again, every time.
With that said, we all slip up. I slip up too. I slipped up quite a bit over the course of this past year, as Joel and I were still learning to navigate some things that are out of our ‘control’. But when we remember that empowerment, not control — creates happiness, it’s so much simpler to keep moving forward — without grasping for a specific outcome.
AND, it’s important as can be to remember that our physical wellness is entirely dependent upon our emotional and spiritual well-being! Tweet it!
People like to think that the two are very different, but they are in fact inextricably intertwined, and the metaphysical has a great deal of impact on our physical health. In fact, my slip up came to light primarily after my ongoing physical maladies this past season finally got to be a bit too much. It all culminated, and I had some clarity around some things. With that — came relief — both emotionally as well as physically. I’ve been there before…. and a wise friend pointed out — I was just “getting dirty first”… It’s all part of our growth. Coincidence? No (again). Without contrast, we can’t fully understand, know, or appreciate that pure Love.
We need to feel our feelings to BE fully. To LIVE fully. To Understand ourselves and God fully. We need all of it! But what we DO with those feelings is what counts. We need to shift back into faith, compassion, and love. And finding any little thing to be grateful for — even if totally unrelated to our current circumstances — we begin the shift to the love-frequency — wherein we experience more — LOVE. It always comes back to (pure) love, doesn’t it? And the best way to show the Universe OUR love — is through gratitude!
Tweet THAT:
Loads more on how the spiritual & physical intertwine to help facilitate our Vitality can be found within Lesson 6 of my online e-course series:
Vitality 101: Eat, Sleep, THRIVE, Repeat!
Find out more right here — –
LEARN MORE ABOUT MY CLEAN-LIVING E-COURSES HERE!
Originally published at thevitalitylounge.com on May 17, 2017.
Originally published at medium.com