Do you ever find yourself anxious for no apparent reason? When you investigate further, you find this anxiety may have come from a story you heard of a sudden death of someone in your town, or the marriage of an acquaintance breaking up in a painful way, or someone who seemed so secure in their career, suddenly losing their job.
Or there may be challenges in your life, work or family that cause you to lose your balance—a high cholesterol test result when you are doing everything possible to take care of your health; a re-organization at work that leaves you reporting to a surly supervisor; a brother or sister that doesn’t take keenly to you becoming more independent and confident.
We are much more affected by what is going on around us then we realize or care to admit. These stories of upset in other people’s lives can cause us to question the security of our own lives and the direct challenges in our own lives can rock our world at its core.
We find ourselves grabbing for comfort from familiar sources or numbing out with too much TV, alcohol, food, or complaining to a friend, blaming others and feeling like a victim.
When we are in this state of being, we are disconnected from ourselves. Connecting with ourselves on a regular basis helps us develop a relationship that is supportive, centering and grounding and helps us deal with the free floating anxiety of everyday life. We can connect by:
- Spending 10-20 minutes in stillness each morning, focused on our breath going in and out of our body. This adds oxygen to our bloodstream and takes us out of our over-active mental state so we can connect to our feeling body.
- Actively bringing our awareness from the top of our head down through our body, waking each part as we go— from our crown at the top of our head for connection to universal consciousness; to the third eye for clarity of vision, intuition, and discrimination in the center of our forehead; to our throat for speaking truth; to our heart for feeling all feelings, including love and compassion; to our solar plexus for self empowerment; to our belly for creativity and sexuality; to the base of our torso for groundedness; and out the bottom of our feet, visualizing roots growing deep into the center of the earth for support.
- Writing our thoughts, feelings, concerns in a notebook or journal to process, downloading them out of us and onto the paper, making more room for creative ideas, good feelings, and clear thinking.
- Walking, running, or sitting in nature to attune our bodies to the rhythms of the natural world where anxiety is a non-existent concept.
- Reading inspirational writings.
The value of connecting with yourself daily is tremendous. Just a little bit of time sets the tone for your day, your week, and your life. It helps you calm down and gain perspective when processing what’s going on around or in your life; it helps you find the strength to meet the challenges that come your way; it helps you to know yourself intimately and supports you in making choices that are right for you, saying no when you need to and yes when you want to.
I’m sure there are more ways to connect than what I’ve listed above. Write me and let me know your favorite.
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