Positive Energy Guide

Our energy systems (fields, chakras, meridians) reflect personal issues. Imbalances reveal our issues to those who perceive energy. Working with our energy helps us to recognize and address our issues.

The base or root chakra at the bottom of the spine becomes weak and misshapen when one has chronic safety issues. Safety issues interfere with the natural connection between the base chakra and the earth, impacting grounding. Safety issues tend to keep us out of touch with the sensations in our lower bodies, also making it more difficult to ground.

Most of us pull our energy up and out when we become afraid. Fear telegraphs ‘loud’ or strong sensations and energies. Fear sensations easily overwhelm and distract us from other input, including grounding. If we hear a sound in the house and feel afraid, it is more difficult to Sense whether or not an actual intruder is in the house.

Relaxing fear increases our ability to Sense, turning down the intensity and quantity of sensory ‘noise’. When we are calm, we are more able to Sense the origins of sounds and energies, to distinguish the presence of a person from that of an animal or of the wind. We more easily Sense subtle input, including grounding.

Chronic fear can disable ones ability to ground. The opposite is also true: Learning to ground can help considerably with fear issues. Grounding assists us to Sense what is real. Sensing reduces disturbing conjecture and speculation, and supports empowered, reality-based action.

Addressing safety issues may be necessary to learning to ground. Addressing them means learning to: identify them, sense when they arise, feel how they impact body sensation, self-soothe, make appropriate self care decisions in the moment, and stay present with body sensations as they arise and subside from a useful response. Developing the base chakra assists with most of these steps.

Overactivity of the Mental Center can seriously interfere with grounding. We touched on this in the last post when I said, Grounding is a SENSING experience–it is not accessed with the mind.

Habitual overuse of the Mental Center is quite often an attempt to think things out in order to avoid fearful consequences. This habit is an expression of fear. The attempt to avoid fear by anticipating backfires because fearful thinking exacerbates fear.

Giving a busy mind a related job can keep it involved with grounding so that it does not interfere. FOCUS and INTENTION are constructive ways for Mind to participate with grounding. Focusing and actively extending the intention to ground holds the space open for having the actual experience of grounding. SENSING is essential. You cannot think grounding into occurring.

A balance of about five or ten percent INTENDING and ninety plus percent SENSING works well. Bringing in a little bit of related Feeling can enhance the experience, like noticing the way your heart feels more open when you are grounded, longing to feel grounded, or remembering how good it felt to be grounded.

Projecting an image of reality as an overlay onto reality itself is counterproductive. To ground we need to attend to energetics and sensations–not imagining, fantasizing, believing, conjecturing, trying, postulating, expecting, theorizing or rationalizing. These activities of mind interfere with actual experience. So can excessive intending or excessive Feeling. Trying too much becomes TRYING (as in irritating). Get mind out of the way and Sense it.

The above applies not only to Sensing but to accessing intuition.

Excessive mental involvement is an obstacle to satisfying engagement with life.

A client skilled in Tai Chi had high blood pressure. She noticed that whenever she did Tai Chi or meditated, hoping to bring down her blood pressure, that it increased instead. Watching her practice, I discovered that instead of being One with her body, she held a rigid image of exactly how each position should look, striving to impose this image onto her Tai Chi form to get it right. She was Thinking the practice and trying to make her body conform to a mental image. When she meditated, she was “trying not to think” instead of allowing her thoughts to pass by without engaging them. She was using mental force and will instead of Presence.

What makes YOU feel more grounded?

Does fear impact your relationship with the ground?
If so, what percentage of your time is this going on?
Chronic fear can be subliminal and constant.
Can you Sense whether or not you can allow yourself to feel safe?

What Interferes with grounding?

Just as headaches can originate from a numerous different sources, such as neck tension, toxicity, blocked emotion, eyestrain, allergy, etc., inability to ground can express a number of internal or physical states and conditions.

When speaking of scientific or electromagnetic grounding, interference comes from: Having metal, plastic, rubber between us and the Earth, and from electromagnetic pollution from appliances, computers, cell phones, high intensity power lines, hair dryers, air travel, etc. Those who are sensitive to electromagnetic influence become ungrounded during exposure. Since we live in a sea electrical influence, we may not identify the issue. If you feel or sleep a lot better out in nature or on the ground, electromagnetic pollution may be an issue for you.

A number of different types of issues interfere with “grounding” with respect to our ability to get into our bodies and allow energy transfer, and sensing connection with the Earth.

Sensing subtle energy requires concentration. One may have trouble grounding due to health issues, postural or structural problems such as upper neck misalignment, or exhaustion. Anything that interferes with concentration can interfere with grounding. In addition to exposure to electromagnetic pollution, this includes nutritional or chemical issues. Deficiency in stomach acid, for example, makes uptake of minerals difficult. Inadequate supply of minerals weakens the body’s electromagnetic fields, making the person more susceptible to external influences.

Following digestive issues, I struggled with grounding for years. After trying my best to follow various people’s advise I eventually became annoyed when people told me “just ground yourself,” or “grounding will take care of that,” as if it were something I could simply DO. If I inquired, they’d tell me to visualize tree roots going into the ground. That did nothing for me. I started to feel shamed and frustrated and quit asking.

Since then I have seen quite a number of people who were unable to ground. I have seen some of them become frustrated, confounded, and even ashamed around people who ground themselves as easy as falling off a log. Those who find grounding obvious and natural find it easy to return to or accentuate with simple visualization–like the typical tree roots into the earth meditation. For those with issues related to grounding, trying to do this can be vexing–and what it really IS may become something of a mystery.

Over time I have received, through my healer and through intuitive direction, various methods of grounding that usually work with people who haven’t been able to ground. Some techniques work immediately. Other take practice. How energy works with an individual depends not only on the technique, but on what the exact issue is, the person’s physical and energetic condition, and their aptitude at working with energy.

Over the next few posts we will explore in detail issues with grounding that I have experienced or observed in my practice. Even if you ground easily yourself, understanding these issues can provide a window into other people’s experience, increasing your understanding about how energy works. Exploring grounding issues illuminate a number of important energy dynamics.

Is there a grounding practice that works well for you? If so, what is it?

If you have difficulty grounding, what do you think it is that interferes?

Grounding is foundational to managing our energy. Our relationship to the earth is so fundamental that we refer to it in a whole spectrum of contexts. Since this can cause confusion, I will start with some basics before moving into more practical and more esoteric applications.

The word “grounding” is used literally, as in physics, experientially, as in standing barefoot on the ground, figuratively, as being grounded in a tradition, and to refer to a kind of actualization, such as in grounding an idea through direct physical action that expresses the idea.

In electromagnetics: “Grounding is the process of removing the excess charge on an object by means of the transfer of electrons between it and another object of substantial size.”

In the Merriem-Webster dictionary, to be grounded means: “mentally and emotionally stable: admirably sensible, realistic, and unpretentious.”

In the context of healing, grounding means being able to sense our connection with the energy of the earth, so we fully feel and are in present time in our bodies. Grounding expresses confluence between our energy fields and our physical experience.

There is overlap and blur between using the word “grounding” in different contexts. Colloquially, the word is used without much concern about this. Most of my comments about grounding from here on will be in the context of healing.

Advantages of grounding our energy and bodies:

• Allows us to discharge unwholesome energy into the earth
• Without grounding a build up of this energy causes issues– whether the energy is sourced from ourselves, other people, world events, or atmospheric influences
• Helps anchor us in our sense of our selves
• Creates safety, stability and reliability
• Counterbalances the intensity of change, transition or transformation
• Reduces overwhelm
• Helps keep new skills and positive energies in place
• Creates focus and reduces scattering or disorganization
• Contains our energy so we do not dissipate it
• Helps us to revitalize
• Brings our spiritual energy all the way through us to the Earth, where it can be of practical benefit through action

According to Dr. Mercola, a leader in the field of natural health, grounding causes “improvement in blood viscosity, heart rate variability, inflammation, cortisol dynamics, sleep, autonomic nervous system (ANS) balance, and reduced effects of stress.”

Mercola goes on to say: “The Earth is a natural source of electrons and subtle electrical fields, which are essential for proper functioning of immune systems, circulation, synchronization of biorhythms and other physiological processes and may actually be the most effective, essential, least expensive, and easiest to attain antioxidant.”

Grounding actually reduces inflammation!

Here is Mercola’s complete article on grounding if it interests you.

Individuals have totally different experiences with grounding. For some, grounding is simple, natural and automatic. Others have no direct experience of grounding and simply become confused when somebody else says to just do it. I was one of the people who could see that other people could do it but found actually doing it impossible for a number of years. Learning how to do it despite these initial challenges, and working with clients who have been grounding challenged has given me insight into issues with grounding.
In the following posts we will explore issues with being able to ground, and related experiences.

What benefits do YOU experience from grounding?

Is grounding easy and natural for YOU or have you had to work at it?

(Continued . . .)

Forgiveness and blessing soften, open and release stuck energy.

The next day the retreat group did a Forgiveness Practice, eye to eye, singing: “Please forgive me, for all that I have done and all that I have not done. Please forgive me.” It could have been hokey. The beauty of the music and sincerity of the group made it powerful.

L. encouraged us to approach and sing to anyone in the room who we needed to clear something with, or to allow someone to stand in for a person in our lives or our hearts. Tears came up here and there around the room.

Contemplating this song, my best formulation of what many of us need to say to our best Selves would be: “Please help me to forgive myself for not forgiving myself for all that I am going to do or not do next.”

While a bit lawyerly, this formulation covers that niggling sense that if we forgive ourselves in this moment we might not still be quite up to forgiving ourselves later, and may find ourselves doing the same darned thing!

We need to be able to let ourselves move forward despite shortcomings in not yet being able to sustain our ideals. We need to be willing to forgive ourselves when we fall back. Then can we move forward with the confidence that we can return to grace again if we fall.

Most of the day we did prayerful song with movement–like the one I shared in Part 1, but varying widely in type, intention, and tone.

We shared blessings later that afternoon, starting with some standard blessings: “May you be well and happy. May you be free from pain. May you live in peace. May you return to Love.” After warming up to it we began making blessings up for the person in front of us, giving and receiving, then moving on to someone else. I challenged myself to craft blessings that perfectly fit the inner longing of the person in front of me, such as:

“May you find yourself always around people you can trust, who understand you so you can be totally silly and get to play in joy,” or “May you be recognized for your lovely and unusual gift of congruence between your body, movements, emotions, thoughts and energy.”

The second one brought tears, and the woman later said she had been hoping all her life that someone would notice that about her. It’s an amazing intimacy to connect soul to soul without knowing someone’s personality. We had never spoken with one another before. Her response speaks to how vital it is for us to be ‘seen.’

I had another profound experience that evening. The group, in a long line, doubled back on itself, snaking through the room so some of us would pass face to face. The fleeting glance of one man astonished and transported me. Faster than thought, my heart literally rocked in my chest. I was riveted, yet we had already passed.

What I felt was The Beloved. This had nothing to do with the man as a personality or a body. He was so Present, inwardly silent, and connected to Source that the Divine shone through him at that moment.

I felt a brief confusion. Yes, I wanted the moment back–and forever–but this flash of feeling had nothing to do with anything that could survive a moment of grasping. This was the mystical experience of longing for the Divine. There was no where to look for it but to cultivate it inside myself.

To have mastery over our energy requires assessing our experiences accurately. We are safe to open to deep feeling when we trust our perception and therefore our decisions.

Is there anyone YOU need to forgive, or to receive forgiveness from?

How does thinking about this impact your energy?

Here is the soundtrack again if you care to hear part of the event as my story of a healing event continues:

A friend on the Path, J., approached me with loving tears on her face. My body began to thrash in a resistive way when she touched me, as if on its own. This was not a release. I love J., but her energy was not going to work for me at that moment. I held my palms out in a universal symbol to back away.

B. remained solid and clear, giving me courage.

J. backed up just outside my fields, grounded herself, and began to pray for me with love, keeping her heart and her glance with me. I was deeply grateful that she understood and accepted my need without making anything up, feeling rejected, or projecting on me. I was greatly relieved that she ‘got it’ and could honor my need for her not to touch me without withdrawing. Her response was truly loving and healing. This touched me more deeply than touching my body could have.

B. said, “Thank you for trusting me to be there for you. It is a privilege to support you.”

S., a lovely and competent therapist, showed up and laid her body across my back. On her knees beside me, she began to sob aloud. I was grateful for her trust, and this deep contact. I felt as if she was crying for us both, and learned later that her current life situation matched parts of my own. I lifted the heat and weight of her long, thick hair from her neck and face, and covered the back of her heart chakra with my hand, to support and connect.

A familiar-feeling hand took one of mine, stretching my arm above me. My new friend, A., pressed acupuncture points in my palm.

Someone calm–P.– grasped my feet, helping me stay in my body. P. put a hand on my sacrum. A jolt like a shock ran through me, jarring my body in a huge spasm. I gripped B. to stabilize my body. I saw from his face and hesitancy that P. was uncertain whether touching my sacrum was supportive. He allowed me to place his hands where I needed them at the moment. As remembered I could ask for what I need I redirected various hands to areas where I needed connection or release energy. My brave supporters were happy to be effective. Now their collective flow activated energy that had been locked inside. It began to release in intense and sudden jolts.

B. stroked my forehead. I pressed my face into his leg or side, pulling gently on my hair to keep my neck aligned so I wouldn’t hurt it as I thrashed. I was trying to relax and let it all happen. “You can throw up on me if you need to,” B. said. I told him I didn’t want to. “But you can.”

A tiny but mighty healer who is also a midwife leapt in and began digging with all of her fingers over my heart, like a small dog scrabbling for a bone. She suddenly grabbed and tore something out from the energy-hole she just dug, flinging it from the building. A cascade of jolts raced through me, buckling my spine and shooting out the top of my head. This release was especially helpful and powerful. I found this intervention oddly comforting and even lyrical.

Later, she told me she was aiming for the pond when she did this “extraction”--and truly hoped no one had been in the way of the energy she threw out. She said this extraction had been done by her inner fox, who assists her when she does healing.

I challenged myself to take in all this support, to let myself feel it instead of trying to get the process over with so people could carry on. I began singing softly with the group between waves of release. This helped me stay with the process without thinking too much. I let myself feel included instead of feeling as if I were interfering with the group process.

As I went through this moment of concern, B. said, “You really didn’t need to go to such lengths to get a little attention from us–you could have just asked for it!” This was his kind of humor, touching my fear gently so I could laugh and let it go.

When the storm had passed he said, “Why don’t you let some of your sisters walk you out to your van and go to bed.” I thanked him and we shared a parting hug. He added, “I’m just glad I thought to tell you to put your head in my lap, and that you trusted me and were able to do it!”

S. and I got herbal tea and had a good talk in my van.

Does part of this story ping something for you?

What comes up, and what does it tell you about yourself?

If not, is there any feeling you resist when read this? 

How are you with receiving support?

Balanced development has requirements of which we may be unaware. When we have difficulty growing in a desired direction, there may be a natural prerequisite. Profound states of awareness can lead to issues and distortion, for example, without the anchor and safety of grounded body awareness.

The story below explores the relationship between expansion of consciousness and body awareness:

After a number of hard knocks over a short period, it took me several days doing intensive practices while walking in the woods to access expanded awareness and open my heart. Expansion felt great after being so contracted for so long! By “expansion” I mean feeling LARGE, diffuse, blissful, extended into the space around me, and connected with all life.

I worked with my breath, energy, and divine names. With my energy fields expanded I noticed that my awareness seemed to extend for half a mile or so around me. When other hikers passed me I felt contracted. Some wanted to say “hi,” or had various issues active and running in their energy systems. Interfacing was uncomfortable.

I began to alternate between breathing into my hara/belly center and bones, and relaxing into expansion. I practiced pulling all the way into my body, resisting the almost inevitable pull to “leak” energy as soon as people showed up. I practiced keeping my energy contained. When I did this I picked up signals to the effect that people experienced me I as cold. Containment felt counter to my natural affability.

I now had to work through my feelings and judgments about allowing myself to separate from others when I need to. At first I felt that I must choose between being friendly and being intact. As I gained skill in alternating between my expanded state and anchoring in my belly, I became able to give people a moment of friendly contact and then pull my energy back in after they passed, noticing any leaking that may have begun to occur. (I’ve learned to relate openly without leaking when I’m working. Apparently doing it in passing is a different skill. I think that’s about wanting to connect quickly and going too deep too fast.)

As people passed, I returned to my expanded, fully-open state, letting myself spread out and feel connected with nature and life. If I stay that open at close range with people I still tend to pick Stuff up. This is getting less and less as I am able to maintain a strong anchor and quickly sort my energy out from theirs.

I look forward to being able to maintain expanded states and solid body awareness at the same time, experiencing unity without feeling entangled. Practicing states alternately is a good start.

When we habitually “read” the energy around us it can keep us in contracted states. We look out AT people and may feel invaded by them instead of feeling at One.  SENSING the energy is different than “reading” it. We just know, just feel, just sense. Sensing is less characterized by a sense of being the Doer. It is body centered, not mind centered.

It is easier to feel the heart from sensing than from thinking.

By Sensing we can feel connected without leaking or taking unwanted energy in. Simply sensing–without an overlay of thought– does not involve considerations about what might be. It stays with what IS. Sensing relies on body awareness AND energy awareness. The body becomes the anchor–but the whole boat is part of us too.

Which of the themes in this post do YOU connect with the most?

How aware are you of your energy responses to other people?

Inquiring within, to discover who we really are inside, is the activity that allows us to align our needs and nature with our lives in the world. Self awareness is key to satisfaction, healthy motivation, sense of purpose, and true expression.

When our authentic needs are not appropriately aligned with what we are doing and the way we have set up our lives we experience pain and dissonant circumstances. Emotional pain invites us to realign our needs with expression and action, and to change our priorities.

Realigning with authentic needs depends on being able to get in touch with feelings, sensations, reactions, and needs–which offer a form of guidance when we allow ourselves to understand what is required. It takes courage and discernment to sense into all this and come up with new choices.

Being honest with ourselves is foundational to discernment, while discernment furthers and deepens self honesty. This cycle of self awareness builds on itself.

The more we practice self honesty the more reliable our discernment–and our intuition. Unflinchingly self honesty fosters the ability to sense the difference between intuition and our emotion reactions. Solid insight transcends whether or not we like something. If intuition becomes secondary to emotional comfort or personal preference, what we can discern will be severely limited in scope.

Our most important discernment, which we make over and over, is whether or not something we perceive is a product of our own projections and emotions.

Accurate intuition and guidance are most valuable when we need assistance or direction. Learning to receive insight in the face of and regarding our personal weaknesses is an incredibly valuable practice.

How do we learn to sensing into what is really going on inside?
How do we learn to disentangle misinformation to get to our inner truth?
How do we develop self awareness?

Emotion has the most impact on our energy fields and centers. To acknowledge, express or release underlying emotions we first need to be willing to admit them.

Since pulling away from emotional pain shuts down awareness, learning to observe and accept pain takes us a long way toward the practices, values and goals we are discussing.

Intense feeling is often well guarded. When inner sensing is unclear, study your defenses. Aim to gently penetrate pseudo-logic, resistance, superficial answers, and other obstacles to inner revelation.

One trick of resistance is for an intense emotion to pop up, which then poses as a “reason,” “excuse,” diversion, or distraction, stopping further inquiry. Habitual anger and blame, for example, or self contempt can arrest introspection.

When we have the courage to look underneath blame or shame we almost always discover some tender, valuable part of ourselves that we are seeking to “protect.” Hiding that part prevents us from expressing our real needs.

We may feel helpless underneath grief or anger, allowing grief or anger to prevent us from experiencing the tender vulnerability of the voice with which our needs speak to us. When we can accept and support our hidden vulnerability or helplessness we are now empowered to make loving and more-powerful choices.

In the next post I suggest Inner Sensing Question Chains for self exploration.

During moments when YOU pull away from looking IN, exactly what is arising for you?

What happens if you become curious about and interested in your process at this moment?

Suppose you have tried all the interventions from Part 1 and you are still having trouble. Here are additional suggestions:

Find resource that works instead of attempting the channels that do not. If you usually get guidance from your inner voice, and that is not clear, try visualizing what would work for you, or sensing it. When one part of your brain is compromised, another part may rally.

• Focus on self care.
• Avoid pushing yourself or getting anxious, and soothe yourself while you wait out this period, knowing that guidance will return.
• Withdraw from excess engagement with the outer world except for things that bring you energy. Spend time alone, sleep more, and allow yourself to dream.
• Use your experience for growth. Avoid platitudes or belief systems (B.S.) that limit your inner exploration.
• Sense into any emotional darkness or blind spots by staying open to new messages, or messages in new forms. Sometimes when we grow we get different inner guides or forms of guidance and they require a growing-in period.
• Consider distress an invitation to deeper transformation.
• Don’t force the positive or wallow in the negative but remain open to experience–without interpreting it according to personal preferences.
• Surrender any resistance to reality. This does not mean giving up or giving in. It means actively reaching for acceptance of That Which Is. Resistance costs too much energy.
• Seek the guidance of trusted advisors.
• Try new things if they feel right.
• Wait for the energy and/or external conditions to change.
• Lean into your most important values.

One of my best friends died recently, from an extended illness. Even through her death was unexpected, she spent time in her last year exploring her spirituality, including life after death. As shocking as it was to lose her, something felt right about her timing. Pay attention to what you need to do.

Primary Sense

When guidance is rocky, return to your primary sense.

Our PRIMARY sense is simply sensing. Sensing means attending to what happens in your body. Just noticing is the core of all awareness. Sensing is basic, foundational, and primitive–in a good way.

A client wanted to learn to test products for himself. I handed him a poor quality nutritional supplement so he could sense the energy difference between this and an excellent product I gave him to compare. With the first product, he sensed inside, held his hand over his innards and said, “The energy feels sort of curdled.” This word described exactly what I sensed as well.

Sensing is one of the most powerful and overlooked forms of personal guidance. Its primary nature makes sensing less susceptible to distortion and more accessible than other forms of guidance.

When you are compromised and have trouble accessing guidance, simply sensing may work. Without knowing a direction, you can feel your way into something that works. Here is the process:

• Meet the needs of your body as well as possible.
• Find a moment when you can quiet your mind.
• Relax your emotions, especially fears and desires.
• Pay attention to your body and your energy sensations for a baseline.
• Hold a clear intention or visualize a completed action and sense how you feel in your body, especially your heart and gut areas. (Examples: moving to a specific place, trying a particular treatment, taking a certain job.)

Tip: When you try this exercise, be specific about WHEN you are thinking of acting.–It matters.
How do you feel inside when you concentrate on your potential intention?
Compare several different possibilities and attend to your sensations.
Which one feels best?

What do YOU do when guidance is elusive?

Is your self talk supportive or unsupportive when you are having trouble?

One of my readers asked: “What does a person who wants to take guidance-based action do when they can’t be sure they are clear? And they are not likely to get clear in the near future? Sitting on the edge of the pool until adult-swim is over is not an option.”

Since I am addressing all of you, I will answer generally. I will work up to addressing how to find proceed when we are seriously compromised and none of the usual interventions work.

When you are not sure you are clear, you might want to present your body and emotions with a series of tests, challenges, or checks to determine the source of interference. Getting ourselves clear is like tuning your instrument. Your body and energy are your instrument.

First check in with yourself to make sure you have had enough sleep, protein, and water. Low blood sugar or dehydration interfere significantly with clarity. If you are compromised, wait until you handle your basic needs before trying to access guidance.

Next consider whether or not you have been exposed to toxins or allergens. Toxins talk. They don’t have anything nice to say either! Exposure to toxins or allergens creates inflammation, which gets into the brain as well and compromises brain function. Try avoiding all potential allergens and chemical exposure when you need to get clear.

Emotional interference is important but difficult to address. Disentangling convoluted webs of self-sabotage and mixed motivations is advanced and complicated work. I cannot cover it here in total, but here are some places to start:

If you do muscle testing on yourself or another binary form of testing, make sure you are strong in response to the following statements. If you do not use testing, pay careful attention to your body and energy signals as you ask yourself the questions. You will notice that you contract, hold your breath, freeze up, or want to fidget when you are not congruent with a particular statement. Try these:

• “I am willing to get clear guidance.”
• “I am willing to be willing to get clear guidance.”
• “I am willing to get clear guidance about my health.”
“I am willing to be willing to get clear guidance about my health.”
• “I am unwilling to get inaccurate guidance about my health.”
• “I am willing to be aware of all factors that may interfere with my health.”

You may need to ad-lib here to get to your exact issue. Try exchanging the word “safe” for the word “willing.” Also try “I have permission to,” and “deserve to. . . .”

Weakness in response to any of these questions indicates lack of congruence–inner conflict. Any lack of congruence represents active interference with, in this example, health. Inner conflict, which is often unconscious, will express itself in:

• Making what is bad for you seem good
• Making what is bad for you seem terribly appealing
• Making what is good for you seem wrong or annoying
• Blanking out or forgetting and doing things that don’t work for you
• Feeling resistant to what you know you need
• Making excuses or rationalizing ‘why’ you cannot do what you need to do
• Seeking out friends or so-called experts who support misinformation that keeps you stuck or sick
• Using someone, like a spouse, as a ‘reason’ you cannot do what you need
• Setting clear intentions and then doing something else instead
• Forgetting about what you decided to do

As you identify active patterns you need to find a way to clear them.

• First: See them clearly. Pay attention to how they operate in you, without judging.
• Second: Seek to understand and accept the feelings and needs involved with these patterns.
• Third: If you can, use some type of energy-based therapy or technique to clear the related energy to make change easier, like EFT, Thoughtfield Therapy, Blindspot Technique, EMDR, etc. If you do not know how, just think about the patterns and flood yourself with clear light and positive energy, asking to release them.

Almost everyone benefits from assistance with this type of process. If you have significant underlying trauma or illness, or cannot trust yourself, getting help is essential.

Which part of this process do YOU find the most challenging?

What is it about this step that trips you up?

Having in the last post considered using protocols, let’s take a different approach on the question: How can I tell an emotional issue from a physical one?

Discernment usually begins with a basic, logical scan. Pay attention to onset of symptoms. Trace back in your memory and think about what was going on right before your symptom started. Were you distressed about anything? Could you be upset about something you may have brushed aside? Did you possibly eat something your body doesn’t like, or get exposed to a chemical toxin? These basics are a good place to start.

Remember (as my favorite mentor says): “You can have fleas AND lice!”

Symptoms of physical and emotional issues can be identical. As you practice over time, you will begin to notice that your energy is different when emotional issues are present.

Here are some potential indications of emotional involvement:

• Your symptoms increase when you focus on them
• Your shoulders or jaws get tense when you think about it, or your stress level increases
• Your breath becomes more restricted
• Your stomach gets tight
• You sense some resistance to letting go of your symptom
• Feeling ungrounded, ‘out of your body’ or diffuse
• Your perception of your issue keeps changing
• Difficulty concentrating even with adequate blood sugar and sleep (can also indicate exposure to allergens or toxicity)
• You can’t seem to get around to working on the problem, or keep getting distracted
• Touch makes you tenser even though the touch is not painful
• You get really sleepy for no obvious reason
• You feel antsy irritable, frustrated, unsafe, reactive, defensive, etc.
• One or more of your chakras are blocked, rotated, or distorted

If an issue doesn’t go away when the physical part is addressed, this may indicate emotional component. For example, back pain remains after the muscles have been balanced and the bones are in place.

Emotionally-based pain tends to move around. As soon as you address it in one area it pops up in another, unless the underlying emotions are addressed.

If you get clear and calm and still cannot tell whether an issue is physical or emotional, or you cannot get clear and calm, it is a good idea to ask for assistance.

Suppressed Emotion Point:
This gem is useful if you are unsure whether or not you have emotional involvement. Use it also if you know emotion is involved but can’t get in touch with what it’s all about.

• Tap about once or twice per second at the midline point under your lower lip, above your chin. This point is in the indentation there.
• Do this for about sixty seconds.
• Sense whether or not you notice a confirming release of tension, breath, or discomfort.

If emotions are hiding out this protocol helps to make them more assessable. Try this any time you feel stuck.

I have important insights to share about recognizing and working with your own emotions. We will pursue this several posts later.

Discerning between physical and emotional can be challenging when our energy is compromised. We will discuss this issue in the next post.

What is YOUR best way to distinguish between physical and emotional issues?

Which feels more natural for you, using a protocol or the sensing your energy and emotions?