The "Just Fold it in" Series: Raising Your Vibration

Hey everyone it's Amanda and I'm back this week with another update to the, "Just Fold it in" series. So that's what I've been calling this series, where I'm defining more clearly some spiritual terms that are used often, but I find are often left kind of hanging and left not clearly defined. I'm calling it the, "Just Fold it in" series (for anyone who's not familiar), there's a tv series called Schitt's Creek, and the mother and adult son are making a recipe together. The mother just keeps telling him to "Just fold it in" and he doesn't know what she means and she doesn't know what it means either, so she just keeps saying, "Just fold it in". So that's what I'm relating to these spiritual terms that people keep repeating but not always necessarily knowing exactly what they mean. So far in this series, we have covered grounding and clearing your energy. If you've missed those you can look back in the other previous videos. Also, this week I wanted to add in, "raise your vibration". I think that's another term that gets thrown out there a lot in the spiritual world.

So what exactly does this mean? We have to remember that we're all energy ... everyone is energy, everything is made up of energy. Everything and everyone has its own vibrational frequency that it is emitting out into the world and that they're operating in. This can fluctuate and change, which is the good news, that we have some control over our energetic frequency and state. So, when we're in a high vibrational state, this can be described as light and easy, and peaceful. However, when in a lower vibrational state, this will feel heavier, darker and feels more difficult and stuck. When we're finding ourselves in those lower vibrational frequencies, this is a time for us to raise our vibration. So, what can we do now, when we realize that we're in this lower vibrational energy? What can we do now to raise our vibration?

One of the best ways to raise your vibration is through, gratitude. At the top of the emotional frequency chart is gratitude. It is one of the top emotions on the scale. So, if we can catch ourselves in those moments where we're feeling in that lower vibrational frequency and flip our thoughts to gratitude in the moment or implement a routine practice of gratitude at a certain time each day, we can immediate raise our vibrational frequency. I really like the book, 1000 gifts, where the author speaks about noticing all the things throughout daily life that we have to be grateful for ... all those beautiful small things that we overlook. For example, how the light hits soap bubble in the sink and creates a rainbow, how dewdrops look on the leaves in the morning, or the sound of a crackling fire. All those small moments that we can stop and anchor ourselves in the moment, adding to our mindfulness, adding to our presence in the moment, and raising our vibration with this gratitude.

Some other ways to raise your vibration is to surround yourself with beautiful nature, such as taking a walk in nature (adding in the exercise piece as well), surround yourself with positive media (TV, books, music, videos) and surrounding ourselves with positive relationships that nurture us. I think that's something that we maybe need to take a look at sometimes is, what are we allowing into our space, what types of media, are we consuming, and raising our vibration by carefully selecting what we're letting in.

Additional ways to raise your vibration include clearing methods such as: Palo Santo or Sage, clearing out physical clutter, or clearing out clutter from your calendar, taking a bath, a shower, or being in natural waters.

Looking at your diet is another great way to raise your vibration. So looking at reducing alcohol, caffeine, sugar, and any of those things that are in the lower vibration and adding in more of those high vibrational foods (fruits and vegetables and things that we know nourish our bodies).

Lastly, looking at the toxins that are we're letting into our life. Are there any areas of our life that we can reduce our toxic load and clean it up a little bit.

I hope that this was helpful for you to learn a little bit more about raising your vibration and hopefully there's some more clarity around what that means. Maybe you can try to incorporate one or more of these ideas into your life now. If there are any other terms that you'd like to see defined more clearly, please let me know!

If you're ready to take a look at your energy, and maybe you needed a little bit of time for yourself ... some clearing out and balancing you can schedule your Reiki appointment yourself right on my website, amandakugler.com.

The "Just Fold it in" Series: Clearing Your Energy

Hey everyone it's Amanda, and I'm back this week with another video for you in the "Just fold it in" series. If you missed last week, we talked about grounding your energy. I used the example from the show, Schitt's Creek. There was a scene where the mother was telling the son to "just fold it in", when they were cooking, and he had no idea what she meant and she just kept saying just fold it in. I feel like there are many terms in the spiritual/self help arena that people use that aren't very clear and I'm not sure that they're ever really well defined. So, I was hoping to do this series to shed a little more clarity on some of these terms. For this week, I was hoping to talk a little bit about "clearing your energy" or "cleansing your energy".

So, when might you need to clear your energy? When you're feeling a little bit heavy, you're feeling a little bit scattered, a little bit sad, or a little bit anxious. Sometimes you may be experiencing these undesirable feelings and maybe you're not even sure why you're feeling some of these. Sometimes what can happen is we can pick up energy from others around us. When you're in a crowded environment around a lot of people, you may pick up the energy from others (the frequency that they are putting out into the world), and some of the emotions that they are feeling. It can be helpful from time to time to clear your energy, as well as the energy of a room or a house or an environment.

There are several ways that you can do this, and one of them is using sage or Palo Santo. Sage is sold in little dried bundles and you can buy them anywhere in local natural shops or on Amazon even. What you'll do is burn the end of the bundle for just a short period and blow it out, and then spread the smoke around the environment. It's good to have the windows open during this process to help with the clearing. Palo Santo is another option for clearing out a space. Palo Santo is a considered a holy wood, and this wood is only harvested once the tree has naturally fallen. They don't cut down the trees to harvest the wood. I personally prefer the scent of the Palo Santo better than sage, it has a really nice sweet scent to it, and both will help to cleanse or clear the energy of a space or yourself. You can also use the smoke (carefully!) around yourself with the intention of clearing your energy as well.

Another method you can use for clearing your energy or cleansing your energy is using crystals. A really great one is Selenite. Selenite is a really nice cleansing, clearing crystal. You will just pass the crystal over your body while holding the intention to clear your energy. You can also keep them around your home to help cleanse the energy of your space.

Another one is water. Water is a very cleansing, clearing element. Taking a bath with Epsom salt or sea salt can also be really cleansing and clearing. Other ways to utilize water to cleanse or clear your energy is through a shower or swimming in the ocean or other natural waters.

Next, meditations can be a great cleansing practice. There are many meditations that are meant for clearing your energy. I have one that I've recorded (I can attach below) that visits each of the seven chakras and sets the intention of clearing each one, helping the energy to flow through each, so that the energy flows through your system as it's supposed to.

Lastly, the practice of Reiki can be an excellent way to clear your energy. Reiki is an energy healing modality that works to re-establish balance within your energetic system. Negative stored energy is released and your chakra system is cleared so that energy can flow through the system. Following a Reiki session, you will feel lighter, balanced and more grounded.

So those are some ideas for cleansing and clearing your energy. After clearing your energy, you'll notice lightness ... lightness in the room ... lightness in your body ... an overall feeling of balance and lightness.

So that's what the phrase "clear your energy" means ... to let go of any energy that's not your own ... let go of energy that is negative ... let go of any energy that's not serving you and keeping you moving forward in a positive manner.

Worthiness ... Time for Healing

We've talked previously about the awareness of our body, our physical body, emotional, energetic bodies, all that it entails. I talked a little bit about how Reiki can help on all levels on all three of those levels and even in ways that we don't realize. In addition to awareness, we also need to feel worthy. I think many of us struggle with the worthiness of healing. Do we deserve to have this healing? This may not be on a conscious level, but if we felt worthy, then would we put the time aside for it? So I feel like that's the first part of the worthiness right is using our time. How do we prioritize our time? What are we allocating time for and who or what is at the top of the list? If we really are in search of healing ... if we really are in search of something more and better for ourselves ... if we want to be free of pain ... if we want to move forward with goals ... if we want to heal from past issues that we've been hanging on to, then maybe worthiness is the place to visit. Are we worthy enough to receive healing for ourselves? Do we deserve to put this time aside for ourselves every day, every week, every month towards our healing?

Addressing our healing can take place in many forms. I just wanted to put that out there today and see your thoughts. Maybe it's time to check in with your worthiness, check in with what might be stopping you for prioritizing your healing, prioritizing time for yourself each day. It might be time to schedule a doctor's visit, schedule a massage, an counseling appointment or maybe an appointment with an energetic Reiki healing practitioner ... whatever it is that you feel like might be on your healing path right now. Are you putting that time aside for you and what you need? If not, maybe it is something to think about in terms of worthiness. Do I feel worthy enough for this or are others more important than my own healing than my own well being? This might be a tough question. I send this message out with all the love in the world, because it is something that I also need to constantly look at and address myself. I know that you nurturing, loving, giving people want everyone else to be well and we want them to feel loved.

There was a message that came through on one of my morning messages from spirit ... "Heal thyself, heal the world". I think a very important message to remember that if we do want to heal the world and help everyone starting from within, is first. Really starting to address our issues, give ourselves the love and compassion that we deserve, and provide ourselves with the time to do this work and to refuel, refocus, reset and heal.

Symptoms of an Imbalance in the Chakra System

Last time we spoke, we spoke about the our energetic system (The Chakra System) of our body. We talked about the seven main chakras that run down the midline of our body, and they are just another level of our body. We have our physical body, our emotional, mental and our energetic body. I think that we oftentimes underestimate how much of an impact our life force energy has on our lives. Today I'd like to talk about how we can know if there is an imbalance in our energetic system. So that's the ultimate goal ... to be balanced. Ideally we want each of our chakras to be spinning freely with no blockages. Often if there is a blockage, if one of our chakras is blocked or underactive, it can throw off the whole system and can cause another chakra to be overactive. You'll see different symptoms when they're over or under active, but ultimately we want them all flowing freely, the whole system working as one, working as a whole. Today I'd like to go through each of the chakras and talk about some symptoms (physical and or emotional symptoms) that you may see in your body if you have an imbalance in that chakra.

So, first we have number one, our root chakra down at the base of our spine. For this chakra, some of the symptoms of an imbalance you may see are: financial worry, some stress over money, not feeling connected to others, difficulty with the male reproductive organs (if you're a male), the prostate, and/or constipation.

Next is the sacral chakra, which is the, the second chakra right under our navel. Symptoms you may see if there is an imbalance in this chakra are: issues with the female reproductive organs, difficulty with hip, pelvic, or lower back pain, urinary problems or kidneys issues, lack of passion for anything. Also, you may have sexual or reproductive health issues, difficulty expressing your emotions or desires ... since this is the center for our passion, creativity, and sexuality.

The next chakra is our solar plexus, which is our third chakra. That is located in our abdominal area right above our belly button. So, because of its location, you may see difficulties with digestion, any digestive issues, problems with pancreas or gallbladder, and issues with fatigue. Also, you may have a strong fear of rejection or be overly critical of yourself and have a really poor self image. This center deals with our personal power, confidence, and self esteem.

The next is our heart, our fourth chakra. Symptoms of an imbalance in this area include: upper back, shoulders, arm and wrist pain. You may have issues with jealousy, with being overly clingy in relationships, or have a fear of being alone. Also, you may experience difficulty letting others in (difficulty receiving love).

Next is our throat chakra, the fifth chakra. An imbalanced throat chakra may show symptoms of: issues with the thyroid, issues with sore throats, ear infections, neck and shoulder pain. Emotionally you may have a fear of not being in control of things, you may have difficulty expressing yourself (specifically, expressing your truth, what's truly inside your heart and what you really think).

Then there is our third eye chakra, which is the sixth chakra. Physically you may see headaches, you may see sinus pain, or any sinus issues. In terms of emotional symptoms, you may have difficulty trusting yourself (frequently looking outside of yourself for answers), or have frequent moodiness.

Lastly, there is our crown chakra, at the top of our head, our seventh chakra. If there is an imbalance here you may see, lack of inspiration, you might feel a sense of isolation or separation from others, and also may have some learning difficulties.

So those are the main seven chakras and signs that they may be out of balance ... signs that you may need to address your energetic system in some way. So I encourage you to just consider your energetic system, consider if your energy is a little off, if you're a little unbalanced in some ways. I would love for you to reach out if you have any further questions about this.

The Chakra System

Today I’d like to talk to you about our energetic body. Over the past couple months we've been talking about our physical bodies and our mental and emotional bodies. We discussed how our emotions and our thought patterns all have an energetic frequency to them. Our energetic body consists of many things, but one of the main components is the chakra system. So chakras are our main energy centers that are located along the midline of our body, and they run along the line of the vagus nerve, which is the main nerve of our body. I find that very interesting that there's an acknowledgement of the energetic effect on our physical body and our physical well being. The vagus nerve innervates all the organs of our body and that also is something that we'll see in the patterns of our chakra centers. Each chakra will correspond with a physical part of our body as well as the emotional side. Today I wanted to just talk a little bit about each of them and what they govern ... what are the areas that they oversee.

So, the first chakra, the root chakra, is at the base of our spine. It is represented by the color red. This deals with our safety, stability, connection to nature, and connection to our tribe. Financial security would be under this this chakra as well. So, if we're seeing any disturbances in any of those areas there may be blockages in our root chakra.

Next is our sacral chakra, which is represented by the color orange. It is located right below the belly button. This center involves our creativity , our passion, and our sexuality. This is our birthing center ... birthing literally or birthing ideas and and projects. Each chakra also has a physical area that you could see some disturbances in if they aren't functioning. In Sacral Chakra we're talking about the organs of reproductive organs.

Then we have our solar plexus chakra, which is represented by the color yellow. It is located right above the belly button, and physically it governs our digestive system. The emotional counterpart deals with our personal power, our self esteem or self worth. You may see someone who's struggling with self worth ... struggling with self esteem, will also have issues with their digestion.

The next is our heart chakra, represented by the color green, and located at the heart center. This is our love center ... self love ... love for others ... giving and receiving love. It involves feeling worthy of love, easily letting our guard down and letting people love us freely and giving love to others without fear.

The next is our throat chakra, and is represented by the color blue. This area involves our true expression of ourselves ... the genuine, authentic expression of us. It involves speaking up for ourselves ... holding boundaries that we need for our well being. Expressing our true selves is the key there. Speaking up when we need to and not always biting our tongue and keeping the peace. Physically this chakra governs the structures of the throat (i.e. thyroid, etc.).

The next is the third eye chakra, located between the eyebrows, and that is represented by the color indigo. This centers around our intuition, that's is ... trusting ourselves, trusting that what we have inside of us, trusting the messages that we hear, trusting our gut instincts. Physically this area governs the pituitary gland, eyes, head, and lower part of the brain.

The last is our crown chakra, that's our seventh chakra, up at the crown of our head, and it's represented by the color violet or white. It is our connection to the divine, our connections to Universal Consciousness ... to God. It is that connection to divine and feeling connected, feeling like there's that communication.

So those are our seven main chakras, that run the midline of our body. The idea is that we want all of these to be functioning as a system. We want the energy to be flowing through the whole system without any impediment, without any blockage. What you'll see, it's like the circulatory system where we want our blood to flow freely through all of our veins. It's the same concept with our energetic system. We want this energy flowing through our body to promote optimal wellness. If there any blockages, if there's an area that we're not taking care of, then that's when we'll see some manifestations of physical or emotional unwellness.

If you have any questions about the energetic system please let me know!

How Reiki Supports Emotional & Mental Well-Being

We've been talking over the last month about how our emotions and our thoughts are energy, and how by bringing those to our conscious awareness we can take better control of what energetic frequency we're putting out into the world. Next trying to match that with what we want to see coming into our lives ... what kind of life we want to design for ourselves. Another way that we can help support ourselves, is through practices of self-care, like Reiki, an energy modality that I work with. We had talked a couple months ago now, about our physical well being and how Reiki is a great fit for supporting our physical body. If we're only doing that then we're missing several important pieces right, our emotional, mental and spiritual bodies.

The wonderful thing about Reiki is it's a modality that covers all of them, because it is a wholistic modality, meaning that it treats the whole being and gets to the root of issues. So that's the first way that it can support our emotional and mental well being is that Reiki gets to the root of the, of an issue. So we may present with something like we're not sleeping well ... we have pain ... or we're struggling with maintaining a healthy weight. Reiki will help get to the root of what the main issue is at the bottom of that symptom. It will help uncover what the beliefs are, where is it stemming from, and bring them up to the surface to be healed. Reiki can get at layers that you didn't know were there or that are not in your conscious awareness right now. I've had several experiences in my sessions where someone will even just sit up from the session and say, "I think I know why I've been struggling with this". This wonderful miraculous thing seems to happen, where now people can really start identifying things. These effects are cumulative as well. I have found in my years practicing Reiki on myself that the effects have been cumulative over the years, and healing takes place in layers. It's not a one and done but there are layers to us that we can keep uncovering. There are things that we pick up and the Reiki energy modality can help clear out those things that need to be released ... rebalancing our system, whenever needed.

Another way that Reiki can support our emotional and mental well being is giving ourselves the space and the time to process things ... to process through emotions ... to process through our thought patterns ... to process through experiences that we're going through. I think that we underestimate the value of slowing down and giving ourselves time. I love to be able to provide that space for people and hold that time for them. Also, it's so important to give yourself the time to prioritize yourself and your well being. There are so many things we can just ignore and push down, but that true wellness can only come if we can bring them up, work through them and release.

Another way that Reiki helps support our emotional and mental well being is that Reiki energy goes where it's most needed. The practitioner is not necessarily directing the energy. We can set intentions, or target certain areas if you're having some pain, but ultimately it goes where it's needed most. Reiki translates to spiritually guided life force energies. It will go where it needs it the most rather than just treating a specific symptom. This is why it's such a powerful practice where we can now again get to that root, and not just put a bandaid on things. That's where that long lasting healing comes in.

Lastly, another way that it can help our emotional and mental well being is that it balances and resets our system. It allows you to have more clarity and reset yourself back on the desired path. It will help give you that jumpstart you need, or will help give you that reset to get back on track.

If you have any further questions about Reiki I'd love to answer them for you. I'd love to be here to hold space and time for you. If you feel that it's the time for you to come in, you can always reach out.

How Reiki Supports Physical Wellness

There are several ways that Reiki and energy healing can assist with our physical wellness. Over the last month we've been talking about awareness of our physical body, identifying our physical needs, and how our stress can be stored in our bodies (and possibly manifesting as physical ailments). The practice of Reiki and energy work in general can help with healing our physical body in many ways. First, Reiki will activate the Parasympathetic Nervous System, helping our bodies to enter into the "Rest and Digest" mode where our body can do its own healing. Secondly, Reiki goes to a deeper level, helping our bodies to release the blockages from our energy centers, so that our life force energy can flow smoothly through our body.

First, thinking of the parasympathetic nervous system. Our body has what's called the vagus nerve which is the main nerve of our body and innervates all of the organs of our body. I find it extremely interesting that it runs parallel to the chakra system, the energy centers of our body. They are actually placed along the midline of our body, just as the biggest nerve is, and each of the chakras, is associated with the various organs of our body as well. So there's acknowledgement, that there is association between those physical and emotional and energetic parts of our body, working together in unison. Reiki will activate the parasympathetic nervous system by stimulating the vagus nerve will activate the parasympathetic nervous system, our rest and digest mode.

Unfortunately, especially in our day and age, we're in the fight or flight mode for the majority of our lives, where the sympathetic nervous system is engaged. We are in stress mode, in fear mode, where our bodies are working on overdrive. So our heart rate is up and our body is working hard. For our healing and our restoring to happen we need to be in the rest and digest mode, where the parasympathetic nervous system is activated. So the first way that Reiki helps with your body's healing is it helps to tap into your body's own healing capabilities. We've known for many, many years about our body's amazing ability to self heal. We need to give our body that opportunity to slow down in order for it to utilize its self healing abilities. Allow our body to get into that mode and allow for the restoring and healing to happen.

The second way that Reiki can also benefit our physical wellness is on a deeper level. Reiki will always go where you need it the most. It will always be for your highest good. So, it will sometimes goes to a deeper level. As we talked about previously, we all may have stored stress in our body. That's where Reiki can come into play. It can help to release some of the stored energy and help the energy to flow through our system, like it should, without any blockages or impediment.

So with those two pieces working together Reiki can assist your physical wellness.

Stress Stored in our Body

Our stress can be stored in our bodies and if this is not addressed if it's not released, then this can lead to those long term health effects such as illnesses, pain or other ailments that begin to develop or persist. This can include physical stress. For example, this could be a physical incident, such as where you were involved in an accident or suffered an injury of some sort or your body underwent surgery. This can also involve other emotional stress that we encounter such as a specific instance or the long term day to day stress that begins to build up.

I find it very interesting to consider two different things when you're talking about this stored stress in our bodies. The first one is looking at the chakra system, our energetic system. We have seven main chakras that run down the midline of our body and if you're looking at a certain area that you're having issues with, for instance, if you're having digestive issues, you can look at the solar plexus chakra, and the associated emotional areas that it governs. So for the solar plexus, that's where where our personal power is held, our self esteem and our self worth. So, if you're having those digestive issues, you may consider looking at those emotional counterparts, and seeing if some work that can be done in those areas. That goes for all the other areas as well. If you're interested and you'd like some more information, please let me know and I can send information to you about what area chakra covers. Sometimes you'll see a connection between that physical ailment that you're experiencing, and maybe you will recognize that there's some work to be done on the emotional side as well.

Then the other area that I'd like you to consider is looking at the time in your life when this ailment began. Was there an incident or some major stress that you were under when it began? Then maybe looking into working through that issue.

Lastly, I'd like you to consider energy work as a piece of that puzzle ... a piece to the puzzle of the healing process. So, I would love to help you in that area, but I want to first say that I'm not a mental health professional. First, I'd like to make sure that that is covered for you. If there are any emotional stressors or any traumas that you're dealing with, that you have the appropriate support in that area. But there also can be the energetic piece where some of this stress, some of this trauma maybe being stored in your body. Energy work can help to release that ... to help stuck energy, that toxic energy, be released from your body, making room for more positive energy to come in ... making room for more of what you want to receive into your life and help you to move forward and away from some of that stress that you want to let go of.

I encourage you to really start thinking about these physical ailments and realizing that we don't have to accept always not feeling well. We can look at putting all the pieces together to help with our healing and help move us forward.

Awareness is the Key

For me, awareness has been the key to progress and healing.  If we aren’t aware of something how can we change or heal it?  It seems to be one of those universal concepts that encompasses many areas of our lives.  Here are 5 ways awareness can make a big impact on our lives.

1. Body 

This one is a simple one … but not easy!  So many of us have become experts at ignoring our body signals - those basic survival instincts that we are born with.  We have taught ourselves to push through pain, exhaustion, hunger, thirst (among other bodily functions - insert clever emoji).  We have convinced ourselves that we don’t have needs or at least our needs are not as important as everyone else’s. It is amazing when you truly start to listen!

2. Mind: Limiting Beliefs

When we go through our lives feeling stuck … feeling like we aren’t living up to our potential or feeling like we aren’t reaching the dreams we have, I am guessing that there are some limiting beliefs under the surface that are holding you back.  The worst thing about limiting beliefs (those negative thoughts about ourselves that we hold as true) is that they are often hidden in our subconscious.  We go through the motions of our days and are often unaware that these negative beliefs about ourselves are lurking there.  When we actually take the time to bring them to our conscious awareness we may be surprised how many there are and how often we are repeating them to ourselves.  Awareness makes all the difference in taking back our power.

3. Emotions: Emotional Triggers

Another area of life that can benefit from a higher level of awareness is our emotional triggers.  I don’t know about you but this is a big one for me.  As we go through our days we can find ourselves in reaction mode. Usually leading to us acting in ways that we aren’t proud of leaving us with feelings of regret.  If we can raise our awareness of the types of behaviors, situations and/or events that trigger us we can start the process of working through them.  Without awareness, we are stuck in the unhealthy patterns of reaction.

4. Present moment - Mindfulness

Awareness of the present moment is the core concept of mindfulness (non-judgmental awareness more specifically).  How often do you find yourself going through the motions or rushing through the day?  There are so many moments, sights, experiences that we may be missing when moving so quickly.  When you actually stop and make it a habit to be consciously in the present moment … raise your awareness of the sensory experience surrounding you, of the people surrounding you and truly giving them your full attention; only then can you fully experience life. 

5. Spiritual

Awareness of the spiritual realm … signs left for us.  Are you in tune to the messages sent from your spiritual team or loved ones?  From words spoken to us from those around us, to little signs such as frequent sighting of coins, feathers, birds (esp. cardinals), butterflies, dragonflies (among others) … they are communicating with us to let us know they are here and we are supported. 

Awareness can give us our power back!  If you’re hoping to make changes and improve your overall wellness, it starts with awareness.  Best of luck!

Amanda 

If you would like to get started on identifying the limiting beliefs that may be holding you back click here to get your free worksheet!

https://amandakugler.com/take-action

I Had a Moment

Well I was tested … I have been doing okay for the most part during this pandemic.  It’s been hard, it’s been challenging in many ways, but overall I’ve kept my emotions fairly in check.  I’ve had the occassional moment, but finding a routine and working on projects that give me purpose have kept me anchored.  However, I didn’t realize how sheltered I’ve been.  When you’re almost exclusively at home it’s easy to get out of touch with what’s going on.  Yes, I’ve seen it on Facebook or videos but it’s still removed.  This week, my anxiety was tested.  We received some difficult news and then needed to make a decision.  Making a decision right now in this time where everything seems uncertain, was not an easy feat.  However, a decision was made … and then quickly changed.  I had the wave of anxiety hit me.  I had a moment.  Okay, several moments.  I talked in a recent post about some anxiety strategies that have helped me in the past.  After this experience I realized I left out a few other strategies.  

The first was to just allow myself to not be okay for a bit.  I talked previously about acknowledging that these emotions are legitimate, but also not rushing through, or making yourself wrong for feeling what you’re feeling.  Taking a step back from the spiraling “what ifs” did help.  But the second thing I did this time that helped in the moment of intense anxiety was really trying to pinpoint the root of the anxiety.  There was a point where I was questioning, “What am I even anxious about?”.  I was completely operating in my emotional brain.  Taking a moment to step back to the present moment helped me to sort out what was going on.  Just acknowledging the actual source of the anxiety helped me to move forward.  I didn’t solve the causes or make them go away but identifying and acknowledging helped “give it a name” so I could move forward with the other strategies.  I talked it out with my support team … shout out to my sister and husband who are always there for me even when I’m at my worst.  I tried to balance caution with not letting fear (of what might never be) stop me.  I had to trust that I will be protected, trust in my body, and trust in my ability to make the right decision.  Then there was some nourishing … a nice fire with the kids in the warm evening.  

Following this, I tried to return to my journaling, meditation and self-Reiki routines to re-balance.  I feel strongly about being honest and upfront about my struggles.  I hope that these are helpful to you all in some way.  I’m here for you.  

- Amanda