“In every life we have some trouble, but when you worry you make it double.” ~ Bobby McFerrin, Don’t Worry Be Happy
If you’re like me and have spiritual beliefs, you’ll likely believe that we chose this life. We chose to come to Earth on the year we were born and live this life. Many of you may read that and think “Yeah sure I chose grief, poverty, depression, etc. I don’t think so!”, but you did. You chose this life to learn many, many lessons from it.
As Bobby McFerrin said, “In every life we have some trouble”; we all face horrible things throughout our lives. Things that cause us worry and concern. Things that break us. But we choose to let these things consume us and make us who we are when we don’t have too. There is a way to continue with your life without these traumas and emotions defining who you are.
Each day I ‘check-in’ with myself, sometimes 2-3 times a day if needed. I take a couple of moments to myself, close my eyes, take a deep breath and ask myself “How you doing?”, then I wait for a response…
A conversation will likely take place in your mind. You might hear the word anxious or tired. You then ask yourself “Why am I feeling this?” and again wait for a response. Sometimes you won’t get an answer and that’s okay. This is a Mindfulness technique, and just by acknowledging and naming the emotion that you are feeling you are already helping it pass. When we don’t acknowledge our feelings and pretend that we are fine or just get on with things that is when they will do us harm. That little moment of anxiety will form into panic and have us worrying and overthinking for days.
Oftentimes the emotions you are feeling may not even be your own. A lot of us in the world are empaths, we take on other people’s emotions just by being in their company. How many times have you been with a friend or family member who is having a difficult time and left feeling drained, exhausted or even sad? You may also have physical ailments like a headache or feel nauseous. This is you picking up on that person’s energy and taking it on as your own. Because of this I tend to ask myself when I have my ‘check-in’ - “Is this feeling mine?”. Believe it or not, most of the time it belongs to someone else. This really helps me let the emotion go and not focus on it for days on end.
You could be walking through the supermarket or sitting on a bus and end up taking on other people’s emotions because you are in their energy field. It is so easily done. You may never know who’s emotion it is or why they were feeling that way, it really doesn’t matter. Acknowledging that it is there and accepting that you have picked it up from someone else is enough for you to release it.
There are ways that you can protect your energy field to help prevent this from happening in the future. Watch out for another blog post on Grounding & Protection. And remember to check in with yourself daily!
xox