Happy (almost) Spring!
Some days the snow is still playing with our ability to celebrate that Spring is arriving.
It's been awhile since I've sent out this (almost) weekly note. Just know you've not missed anything...I've been retreating and now I'm emerging...with the rhythm of the seasons.
~Dr. Holly ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
I'm picking up the conversation from last year about The Map of Consciousness - check out that newsletter out here on my blog: https://www.radiantheartscircle.com/post/opening-to-awe-daily
As we begin to experience life from an energetic perspective, we are able to create generalized maps of different vibrational levels or states. We talk about heavy emotions and light emotions. These are energetic terms and immediately call to mind a scale of weight, of darkness to light, of density to expansiveness.
We are more aware of energy than we tend to realize.
We can begin to describe our experience within ourselves energetically, and it helps us to orient ourselves more in the energies of life. I’d much rather feel light, bright and expanded, than heavy, dark and dense. Even reading those words, you know exactly what I mean (in your own experience). So I know you would, too.
Visualizing these feelings can be very helpful in motivating us to lift or climb ourselves out of what I call “the pit.”
In my mind (perhaps after the image I got immediately in reading about diving and resurfacing from author Margaret Atwood) the pit is a place filled with a black viscous liquid. It’s much like a sinkhole— a sudden and expected falling away of the ground. It has pretty steep sides, so it’s hard not to just fall in all the way. We fall or jump when some challenge suddenly has us doubting ourselves: feeling attacked/rejected/criticized by others, our worth is challenged, when feeling disappointed, from not meeting a deadline or from once again, procrastinating, from realizing I still haven’t done that important thing I so want to do, or from even just a look or a tone of voice. Bodily dis-ease will drop us, too.
We can drop into the pit from the self judgment associated with not liking our bodies, from losing our tempers with our kids or our loved ones…yet again. Negative self-judgment almost always slams us down into the pit. In short, we can drop from anything that threatens our self-worth and feelings of emotional safety. AND the more we berate ourselves, and the more pressure we exert on ourselves to perform, the easier we fall into the pit. We can think of the pit as a place of self-pity, condemnation, and victimization. You get the picture.
For many of us, until we learn otherwise, we slog around in the pit not seeing ladders and the pit only gradually fades as the sting of the negative experience begins to fade. But without knowing how to heal, every drop into the pit brings some of the residue of it with us, so that the brightness of our inner light (which we brought into this world) continues to fade.
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Looking at the chart, think of the lowest levels of it: (from 0 – 200) as the pit. All you have to do is read the “Emotion” column to see the kinds of negative emotions that characterize the pit and see that they become increasingly dark as they approach 0. Many have noticed that shame is the darkest, the heaviest emotion of all. It is that which we most try to hide from both ourselves and others.
The goal is to begin to feel that they are experiencing really significant healing and growth. So…the more focus that is put on reversing/healing negative self-worth, the faster transformative growth is going to happen! The more courage we have to do this work rather than avoid it (which we are all more well-versed ihan we know), the more we begin to create a beautiful life…whatever that means to each of us.
Everyone can create a ladder to get out of where they are
Knowing there are ladders on the walls of the pit, we can begin to look for them and start climbing our way out. Sometimes we may have significant resistance to climbing out. This is understandable, and soothing the agitation and helplessness that arises is important in releasing this resistance.
The steps out:
1) Remember the ladders!
2) Move to one of them
3) 1st rung: Pause, take a conscious breath
4) 2nd rung: reassure yourself (“It’s OK,” “I know it’s hard, AND you are going to be OK.”)
5) 3rd rung: Emotional first aid (I always encourage the Thymus Thump and the High Heart Tapping exercises)
6) 4th rung: Healing self care: tapping, getting out in nature, listening to uplifting music, calling a friend, taking a salt bath, etc.
7) 5th rung: Noticing you are once again focused on the present, you are more present, not being abducted by pain from the past or fear about the future.
8) 6th rung: Calling out your gratitude for all that’s beautiful and good in your life, in life!
Every time you climb out of the pit, you are reinforcing your capacity to do it and building skills and much healthier habits of self-care. You are healing and growing. And as you do that, you find yourself rising higher vibrationally, reaching more often the higher levels of well-being you see below.
What does this have to do with awe and wonder?
The kinds of experiences I’ve been writing about are higher vibrational experiences. When we can activate them, even just for moments, they help lift us up higher vibrationally. Every time you choose to open yourself to more awe and wonder you do your whole being a world of good. You shift your neurochemistry, your posture, mood, thoughts, energy in less than a fraction of a second. Life and health affirming energy shoots everywhere throughout you and lifts you up. Can you feel that as I write it? It’s true!
Healing doesn’t only happen from the impulse to remove suffering
Although that’s always the place where we begin on a healing path…the place where we can’t take the pain any more and know that it’s up to us to change. Somewhere along the path a few things happen (more than a few…but there are two that I want to point out here).
1) As we begin to feel how helpful or incredible it is to let go of the pain of the past, we reach tipping points where we become more eager to do the healing work (we almost always begin with dreading it). This is freeing, motivating and increases the transformational energy available to us.
2) We begin to choose to heal and grow, so don’t wait for the experience of pain to prompt us. We actively choose healing.
Committing more and more actively and fully to healing is ALWAYS life changing in positive ways we could not have imagined before stepping out on this most remarkable of all journeys.