Refocusing Our Emotions

I get caught up in "what if" scenarios sometimes. I build up whole trains of thought based upon "what if?" Usually it has me upset with what others might be thinking and doing that I may not agree with, or with what others are actually doing. Either way, I really do not have any control over what others think or do or say. The only thing I have control over is my reaction to said situations. So when I received this in my email, I thought I would pass it along. It seems timely with all that is happening in the world, and all that is happening on an energetic level in most people's lives. Stress seems a part of the world right now, especially in personal relationships. It also reminded me of Eckhart Tolle's advice to step into the void when you feel yourself careening out of control. From the Institute of Heart Math:

The Power of Neutral - A Tool to Refocus Your Emotions

An important first step in transforming emotional stress is cleaning up strong, negative emotions and judgements as they come up. As soon as you start to feel your energy going sideways, you can use Neutral to refocus within yourself and go back to the heart. This will clear your emotions as you go and start building your empowerment to clear even more.

Once your emotions become disturbed, your mind will tend to jump in with judgements toward yourself or others. The mind, like a computer, starts a process of analyzing why, calculating next steps, and bringing up memories of what happened when you felt like that before. The Power of Neutral tool helps  put this mental momentum on pause so you can neutralize your reactions and thoughts. The Power of Neutral allows the guidance of your heart, your heart intelligence, to come in and stop the energy drain.

Judging yourself or others causes energy to back up in your system and feels bad. It doesn't bring helpful solutions. It only makes us feel disappointed in ourselves, which drains more energy. We can stop this in its tracks by using The Power of Neutral.

Practicing The Power of Neutral helps bring your mind, emotions and physiology to a state of neutral. Think of neutral as a "time-out zone" where you can step back, neutralize your emotions and see more options with objective clarity.

The Power of Neutral Tool

1. Take a time out. Breathe slow and deeply. Imagine the air entering and leaving through your heart area in the center of your chest.
2. Try to disengage from your stressful thoughts and feelings as you continue breathing.
3. Continue until you have chilled out and neutralized the emotional charge.

Use Step 1 as soon as you feel your emotions starting to amp up. First take a time out by choosing to step back from your emotions. The heart breathing in Step 1 will help you draw the energy out of your head, where negative thoughts and feelings get amplified. Breathe slowly and deeply in a casual way as you pretend the breath is going in and out through your heart area.

In Step 2, disengage from your stressful thoughts and feelings as you continue to breathe. Just having the intent to disengage can help you release a lot of the emotional energy.

In Step 3, you continue the process until you have chilled out and neutralized the emotional charge. This doesn't mean irritability, anxiety, or other stressful feelings will have totally evaporated. It merely means the charged energy has been taken out and you have stopped accumulating stress. Even if you can't totally neutralize a reaction in the moment, simply making the effort to shift into neutral will stop the accumulation of anxiety or stress about it. It will give you a change to regroup your energies and refocus.

One of the things that can help you get to neutral is asking yourself, "Do I really want to keep draining energy and stressing about the situation or how bad I feel?" For example, right before a situation that normally makes you anxious or stressed, you may start negatively projecting the idea you will blow it or be judged by others. This is the perfect time to use The Power of Neutral. Otherwise, your emotional reaction will kick in and drain you. And even if you don't get completely calm, going to Neutral still reduces a lot of stress and helps you refocus.

As you build your ability to use this tool, you will acquire a new type of emotional energy maintenance. This translates into more energy to do the things you really want to do.

Teachable Moments

Lately I've been working on trying to think positive thoughts about people and situations. You know, like trying to find something nice to think about the lady in front of me at the DMV. Instead of being negative and judgmental, thinking she really needs a pedicure, instead focusing on how nice her hair looks, or how kind she looks when she smiles. Punctuating the thought and replacing it with a positive one.

But I've been running into some difficulty, especially while driving, taking something back to Best Buy, dealing with the cable company, bank, or anything having to do with computer problems.

Seriously - it's really hard to stay in a positive frame of mind when you have to deal with life. I keep failing right and left. If left to my own devices I can think some really negative things about people. Whole scenarios about that fancy car that just had to cut me off just before the stop sign we were both approaching...

I don't know if it's the heat, or the negativity in the world right now, but trying to control my thought processes is a full time job. It's exhausting! Too many teachable moments!

Sometimes I just want to stay home so I won't be "tested."

What about you? How do you stay centered?

Habits

One of the things that I've come to realize over the last several years, starting with Katrina, is that we can no longer look to the government to protect us. I guess I had been living in a bubble, but I thought that in an emergency the federal government would be there to solve the problem, if the need was great. Like some giant bird swooping down to fix whatever was wrong. (Too many movies, I think.) But I no longer have faith in its capability to handle huge problems. New Orleans, banking deregulation, the two wars we should not be in, MMS's non-oversight of mining and the Gulf oil spill, Congress's inability to do anything at all, have made me realize that we just have each other in the long run.

I could whine and cry about this realization, I guess, but like so many of you, I'm tired of that. Instead, I've decided to take a hands-on approach. If I see a need, and I have the ability to help in some way, then that is what I'm going to do. It may be a simple blog post, or a donation, or putting change in the jars sitting on the grocery counter, but whatever it is, I'm going to jump in with both feet. It's easy to donate all of your used household items to a good cause, it's easy to pass on information on our blogs, it's easy to pull in and let teenagers wash your car to raise money for a school project, it's easy to buy a box of cookies from the Girl Scouts, it's easy to tip an extra dollar to the waitress bringing you your breakfast.

I think we need to take a grass-roots approach to helping each other. If everyone did one little thing, each time they could, think of the overall impact. Today I donated the comments money from Lori's fundraiser for the Gulf animals covered in oil. Tomorrow I will make it a point to not look the other way when I see a need, but make a sincere effort to help in some way. I'm going to do this until it becomes habit - just like brushing my teeth. I'm going to do it until I don't even notice I'm doing it anymore.

Boycotting News

I am trying to balance the news. On one hand, I want to be informed. On the other hand, I am trying to be a positive force in the world. The two do not go together. Therefore from now on, I will only read or listen to news broadcasts when the day is over, i.e. early evening. That way I won't go through the day fuming and taking the chance of spreading bad energy. (Because seriously, does anyone in their right mind really think we shouldn't hold BP or the banks accountable? It appears so - just look at what is going on in Washington, as we speak. Lobbyist's money at work...)

Until then I will read only your blogs, and information sites that focus on the solutions to issues, rather than hyperbole.

Sound like a plan? Care to direct me to a favorite site?

The Vortex

I am in the process of learning. I'm reading all sorts of books on a variety of subjects. An ever-evolving education. So I will pass on what I read if I think it might be of value to others. I don't always believe everything I read, just as you probably don't believe everything you read. But sometimes I can extrapolate information that resonates, using it to further my understanding from sources that may seem strange, or out of the ordinary. I try to keep an open mind. This book is different from the science-based books that I've been reading. Believe it or not, many of the practical activities could be collaborative with some prominent psychological theories. Especially using a "wheel" as a device to change negative thinking into positive thinking. I can see how it could work. And it might fit right in with Cognitive Behavioral Therapy.

This was the first book that I've read by Esther and Jerry Hicks in the popular Law of Attraction series. This book is third in the series, and deals with "The Vortex - where the Law of Attraction assembles all cooperative relationships." The premise being that we are all creators in our lives, but that most of us have no idea how to go about being in control of what we create. This book goes into the steps needed to align ourselves in such a way that we get out of the way of what we want to happen in our lives.

If you can take the material from this book and suspend disbelief about where it is coming from - Abraham, a group of Beings (collective consciousness) and just listen to the teachings, you can gain much from reading this book. The main point is that we are not aligned with "who we really are - an extension of source energy (God?), when we are feeling bad. We feel bad because we dwell on bad, or negative thoughts. Thoughts that are thought over and over until they are beliefs. Changing these thoughts is a process, but one that can open up our lives to manifesting the things that we want to happen.

This book would appeal to those individuals who believe energy creates, and we are the creators. It might also appeal to people who are looking for a way to bring their thinking into alignment with how they want to feel. In other words, how to concentrate on the good things in life until it becomes habit, or a part of our belief system. Whether or not you believe any of the ideas relating to the Law of Attraction, it behooves each individual to understand how our thoughts affect our bodies, our relationships, our happiness.

So in the spirit of passing on what I've read that might be of value to someone out there, here is my mini review of The Vortex.

Heal Your Life

One of the things that I think is very important regarding good mental health is starting your day in a positive manner. Rather than reading news sites, or newspapers, or turning on the television, start your day off with positive reinforcement. Some may want to meditate, pray, do Tai Chi, Yoga, run or walk. But beginning your day with positive thinking will draw positive energy to you throughout the day.

I always read the news first thing in the morning. Bad idea. It left me worrying and thinking about all of the horrible things going on in the world and not focusing on the good.  The news programs count on manipulation. We are all in control of having a life well-lived. What we concentrate on becomes who we are. Isn't it just as important to work on a healthy mind as it is to work on a healthy body?

Here is a new website I recently found: Heal Your Life has a variety of good information, regardless of your religious or political views. Instead of the news, I begin my day with life-affirming information. There is plenty of time later in the day to read the stuff that makes me feel bad.

Light, Love & Blogs

A couple of blogs I read recently are feeling the "change" that I am also feeling, in terms of a shift in energy. I learn something from all of your blogs, and I try to give back when I can. But sometimes a really good blog comes up that is especially good at lifting us up. You might want to visit Being Gemel, if you want a little spiritual lift. Beautiful blog, with lots of inspirational quotes and pictures. A love for animals. Nice things.

If any of you come across exceptionally positive blogs, I would love to know about them. Sometimes we need to focus on the positive to slog through personal stuff in our lives. It's important to draw positive energy to us, don't you think?

With that being said, I also enjoy all the other blogs out there that can be funny, sad, hopeful, irreverent, silly, and informative. That, to me, is the beauty of the blog world. And now that I'm back, I look forward to catching up...

P.S. - All those lovely spring pictures we have all been enjoying - this is what our neck of the woods looks like today. The little stream is full, though!