Emotional Storage - A Pain In The Neck?!

Energy healers and therapists state that when we chronically repress emotions, we create toxicity in our body, mind, and heart. This unprocessed emotional energy is stored in our organs, muscles, and tissues.

Any emotion that we don’t fully explore and process can get trapped in the body. Anger, blame, fear, anxiety are all uncomfortable emotions that we try to avoid feeling if we can. If these emotions get stored and ignored for too long, they can actually manifest as physical pain or worse.

The body stores negative emotions in a number of different places. From our hips to our backs to our jaws to our eyes. A negative emotion will stick around until we allow ourselves to feel it.

Sometimes, however, we may not even know it’s there. Our pain is so buried or so chronic that we don’t even know that we’re carrying it around like a weight.

My friend was in a yoga class once and the woman next to her burst into tears.They had been holding deep hip and pelvic stretches for several minutes. The position wasn’t easy, as it required a lot of flexibility. But everyone in class was doing their best to ease into and hold the pose.This woman’s breakdown started as a slow release. It wouldn’t have been noticeable if my friend hadn’t been right next to her in the quiet room. A few tears escaped, then a sniffle. Then her body heaved with sobs as she folded her torso over her extended leg. My friend didn’t know what to do but she looked up at the course instructor who had a look that said “this happens all the time”.

Most energy healers know that emotions are stored in the body. It’s important to remember that our emotions are energy in action and they carry an actual energetic weight. That weight has to be stored somewhere. This is why we feel certain emotions in certain places.

Tightness in our shoulders, a pain in the neck. It is believed that the hips in particular are a place where sadness is stored — especially unexpressed sadness.

Your Back Side: Most of our powerful emotions such as anger and fear are stored in our backs. This pulls your body out of balance.

Headaches: You are ignoring your intuition — your gut feelings, or you are ignoring your own needs.

Pain in the back of the head and neck:You believe you have made mistakes and haven’t forgiven yourself. You are judging yourself too harshly.

Neck and upper shoulders: Inflexibility — not willing or afraid to look at other possibilities. Since your neck is the most narrow point in your body (sitting between your brain and your heart), energy can easily become restricted here.

Lumbar (lower) vertebrae & tailbone: The consequences of your childhood show up in this area of your body, as do issues that make you feel threatened or insecure.

Knees and feet: The energy of negative emotions is carried here. Because the vibration of negative emotions is lower, heavier and more dense, causing these feelings to drop to the lowest points of our body.

If you hold on to the energy of your emotions for too long, it can build up. It packs itself in more and more forcing your body to carry the weight. This energy is often painful and negative and it will interfere with your ability to get to or stay in a positive state. Energy, even the energy of your emotions, is meant to pass THROUGH your body. Avoidance doesn’t work because the energy of those emotions stay whether you want it to or not.

If you don’t allow your emotions to move through you, they will simply get stored in your body, negatively affecting your energy and your body’s health.

Intent! Intending to release negative emotions can be a big part in their actual release. Saying an affirmation of intent is always helpful whenever you are done “feeling” your emotion and are ready to let it go. Simply say “I intend to release this ________from my body now” Say it several times a day when you are having an intense moment. This will help send a signal to your body that it is safe to let it go.

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Turn On Your Heartlight!

One of the most surprising things I learned from Dr. Laura Berman in her book “Quantum Love” is that the heart is the epicenter of coherence. In fact, our body has two epicenters. 

One I already knew about; the brain - which I had assumed ran the whole show!

As it turns out, the heart is an energy powerhouse in itself and communicates with the brain in a 2 -way dialogue.  Research has found that the conversations between our hearts and brains happens via 4 mechanisms; 

Our nervous system (neurological communication) 

Our hormones (biochemical communication)

Our pulsewaves (biophysical communication)

Our electromagnetic fields (energetic communication)

Electromagnetic fields???? It may sound crazy but…

Studies have shown that our hearts have a powerful electromagnetic field around them that is 60 times greater in amplitude and 5,000 times stronger than the electrical activity produced by the brain.  

In fact, the energy of the heart is so strong that it could be detected from several feet away.  Think about what that kind of power can mean for your body, your mind and your energetic frequency.  

In other words, the brain’s activity can change as a result of its connection to the heart.  The mind-body connection works in both directions.

Research also shows that our powerful heart energy can impact the brains of  OTHERS! A study in which they hooked one person up to an electroencephalogram (EEG) and the other person to an electrocardiogram (ECG) to see if one’s heart could talk to another’s brain. They found that the answer was YES!  In fact, the brainwaves of the person wearing the EEG synchronized with the heart of the other person.

What this means is that by moving your heart into an open state, you can actually physically impact another person.  And as your energy rises, theirs will entrain to you.

This got me thinking about love in a whole new way….

“Quantum Love” is all about harnessing your body’s energy to create the relationships and connections you long to experience.  You have the power to change everything.  Right now. 

Turn on your heart light….let it shine wherever you go

Let it make a happy glow….for all the world to see

 

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Audiobooks - A Guilty Pleasure?

Although reading was my first love, I’ve never considered myself to be a fast reader.  I like to “digest” information carefully as I read. When I was growing up I read my school-assigned books and, during the weekends and summer vacations, I read fiction.  

That being said, I only read an average of twelve books a year.  

When I first heard about audiobooks I thought it was a genius idea.  I couldn’t  imagine loving stories the way I do and not having the physical capability to see or hold a book in  my  hands.  

In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph.  This made spoken word recording possible for the first time. 

Audiobooks first emerged in 1932 with the establishment of a recording studio by The American Foundation for the Blind, which created recordings of books on vinyl records. Each side held about 15 minutes of speech.

When audiobooks became popular and readily available to the public, I tried it.  At first 

I was disappointed by how distracting it was.  Listening to information while I was looking at other things around me hindered my concentration. I wondered how much information I was retaining.  But I gave it a chance anyway.

During the year that followed, I listened to thirty five non-fiction audiobooks while walking, driving and downtime during work hours.  Almost three times what I would have been able to read in physical books. 

While some argue whether or listening to audiobooks even counts as reading, most people would agree that they are a good alternative to music and podcasts.  With Audible and other audiobook providers getting more and more popular, it seems easier than ever to stimulate our minds while doing other things. 

Researchers state that reading a physical book and listening to the audiobook are two different paths that lead to the same destination.  Each method creates different experiences and memories, but, as it turns out, neither is better or worse than the other. 

Audiobooks can help improve your comprehension. Hearing new words can significantly help with vocabulary.  This works especially well for children and second-language learners. As it turns out, listening to a book is not considered a casual misrepresentation of yourself.  Whether you say you listened to it or read it, the book was “consumed” by you.

It is, after all, the information age. It really doesn’t matter what form it happens in. 

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Blowing Rocks Blew Me Away

I probably should not write about this place. I don’t want it to become crowded.

I’m beyond ashamed to admit that I’ve lived in South Florida for 40+ years and was not aware this place existed. 

For years I’ve marvelled at stunning photography of the rocky coastline along the Northeast US coasts long Maine & New Hampshire. I once saw some large rock formations along the St. Augustine coast and was sure this could not be found anywhere else in the state. I stand corrected. 

Being so used to flat, flat, flat sand beaches, these rocky cliffs and crags took my breath away! It so happens that one of the most dramatic shorelines in Florida, the rocky shore of Blowing Rocks Preserve, has sea caves and bluffs to explore. Stretching for more than a mile along Jupiter Island, a tall limestone terrace commands the meeting of sand and sea. 

In 1969, local residents preserved this area and turned it over to The Nature Conservancy. Today Blowing Rocks Preserve protects 73 acres of Jupiter Island, including tropical and oak hammocks, and the beach dunes.

You enter the park via a Seagrape canopy boardwalk . As you walk out to the beach, the aquamarine waters of the Atlantic ocean invite you, edged by the eroded limestone rocks. There are a few places where you can peer out from the shade of the sea grapes and look out over the dramatic coastline. 

If that’s not enough, when the tide is low, you can walk south along the beach, around fallen rocks and in and out of caves, as the waves strike the stone. Some of the caves are tall enough to stand in, with natural benches created by the erosive power of the tides. Almost all of them have “chimneys” exposing the sky above. It’s type of natural labyrinth with a stunning view of the sea. 

The rocks “blow” because it is said that, on rough and stormy days, particularly in winter, waves burst through the caves and send “geysers” of water through the chimneys or “blow holes” as high as fifty feet in the air.

And this isn’t just any limestone. Blowing Rocks preserve contains the largest Anastasia limestone outcropping on the U.S.’s east coast. 

A Florida state geologist described Anastasia limestone as a kind of “fossiliferous sandstone”, primarily composed of calcium carbonate from the remains of animals that lived and died here 120,000 years ago.

Most interesting to me is that Blowing Rocks Preserve is the result of a “happy accident” of the past when the part of Florida that is now Jupiter Island was a sand bar or the top of a reef that somehow held above the ocean when much of the rest of what is now Florida was inundated and drained as the seas rose and fell, and rose and fell.

This is a truly remarkable place. I don’t think I would ever get tired of that beautiful scene. Definitely one of Florida’s best kept secrets.

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Coincidence...The Science of the True Believer

Have you ever experienced this? That the same reminders pop up again and again from many different angles? Do you label them as a coincidence or take note? Think about it, how often do you ignore these coincidences? Do you write them off and ignore the message?

The word is derived from the Latin cum (with, together) and incidere (to fall on, to happen).

Coincidence; noun (same time) an occasion when two or more similar things happen at the same time, especially in a way that is unlikely and surprising. 

Coincidences are inevitable and less remarkable than they may appear.  To me, the meaning depends on the beliefs of the person involved. 

This word  is used mostly by Christians as a statement of faith that God had intervened to meet a need when an event occurs unplanned, at exactly the time and place when someone had no means to provide for himself

 

Many believe that the Universe or God, causes coincidences. Their faith in something greater provides them with a cause. They believe it is purposefully planned by a higher power to meet a need the higher power knew would exist. Since God causes them, the cause is known. Therefore, to those people, there are no coincidences.

Some believe coincidence is only an indicator of an underlying reality…

Coincidence or Synchronicity?

Synchronicity is when events that are seemingly unrelated with themselves, "co-incide" in the manner you described. This is made so that you may begin to peek into the hidden connections in life, and to connections that are bound to you and are deeply personal. It is very intentional. When you open to these signs is when life's magic truly begins to show itself to you, in a highly personal way.

Coincidence and synchronicity are both defined as “striking occurrences of two or more events at one time”. The difference is that coincidence is perceived as chance or luck while synchronicity implies the presence of a deeper intelligence at work. There are only two ways to perceive an event in your life – either as a coincidence or as evidence of synchronicity.

Two events that come together for a purpose. They may be to give us a message or they may be that a situation happens that moves your life in a new direction.

We are constantly being guided and helped in many ways. Stop for a moment and ask yourself, what coincidences have been happening in my life recently that I am not paying attention to? Where do I need to be seeing the truth? What is the Universe trying to tell me?

This is not to say you then go beat yourself up about not listening or acting on these synchronistic messages - but rather listen to what you can learn from them and if necessary act on them and then move on through the journey called life.

I encourage you to seek out your personal implications of this word and make life into an adventure of discovery both about yourself and the world around you.

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Walking To The Beat Of A Better Life

Not so long ago, this is the way we travelled, and much of the world still does. In the United States, we tend to build environments that include our homes, workplaces, and social centers in driveable areas. I have to admit I don’t know anyone who actually walks to the grocery store.

Walkable neighborhoods have much lower rates of traffic fatalities — for both pedestrians and motorists — compared with driving -oriented areas.

Interesting that low-income families are more reliant on walking for essential journeys than the middle class, and yet low-cost housing is often located in the most car-dependent places.

Sadly, the creation of a truly walkable community where most people walk for short journeys involves a cultural change.

One quarter of all trips in the U.S. are 1 mile or less, and yet most of these trips are taken by car. Increasing walking reduces traffic congestion and the cost of road maintenance.

It’s amazing that our bodies are engineered to move this way and it’s becoming all too clear that a sedentary lifestyle is a disease in and of itself. Moving matters, and walking can be the absolute best low-impact way to living a more active, healthy, and connected life.

Most of us are familiar with the myriad of benefits of walking. First, the physical benefits — improving balance, strengthening bones, reducing risk of heart disease and stroke, preventing type II diabetes, and much more. How about the mental health benefits of walking? Did you know that walking boosts brain power, drives creativity, helps control addiction, improves self-confidence, and reduces stress?

And what of the emotional benefits? Walking helps make space, clear the air, and moderate our worst moods — allowing us to breathe again. Walking provides many spiritual benefits as well. We engage with the unknown, experience chance encounters with birds, take steps of silence in prayer or thought, steal an hour for a walk through a garden, and invest in the presence of things we cannot comprehend.

Fewer than 50% of Americans meet the minimum guidelines for moderate physical activity — walking is the easiest and most affordable way to correct this problem.

For many, training and preparing one’s body and mind for long walks can be difficult in daily life. But escaping to distant parks, greenways, and trails has become common for this kind of walking practice.

Walking as a practice begins with choosing to walk for reasons other than transportation. When we individually or collectively choose to walk, we are doing more for ourselves, for each other, and for our communities than we could ever imagine.

With growing capacities in technology, data tracking and goal achievement management, instant gratification and social camaraderie through a smartphone app creates new opportunities to support walking as a practice.

With expanding access to the Internet and cell phones being replaced by smartphones, the “exercise app” market has been soaring. Fitbit sold nearly 11 million devices last year, generating $745.5 million in revenue, and the MapMyWalk app recorded over 30 million total users in November of 2014. Contests and online tools only get more enticing, energizing, and appealing for users who are drawn to such tools.

These apps are friendly and generally easy to use. They track just about everything and they connect you to family and friends to chat, swap stats, and to even compete for badges and prizes. GPS tracking features have created an immediate satisfaction algorithm to boost more walking practice. Many of today’s apps and tech tools are finding their way directly into worksite wellness programs, which are increasingly being linked to the employer’s health care insurance costs and benefits.

When we go on long walks, we lose consciousness of the act of walking, we allow the journey within to take its course. Quick thoughts become longer stories, and stored stress is slowly transformed into a calm and cleansing balm of acceptance, possibility, and hope. Walking can help make the human experience creative, light, connected, and whole.

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I Left My Heart ... In San Miguel

Being cooped up at home and not being able to travel makes me think back to some of the nicest places I’ve visited in the past. 

In the fall of 2016, I decided to take a trip to meet my long-lost cousin for the first time. I had known for years that he had fled Cuba to live in Mexico but I hadn’t paid much attention as to exactly where in Mexico he lived. 

I have traveled to Mexico by air and by sea various times; mostly to the touristy spots (Mexico City, Puerto Vallarta, Acapulco, Tulum, Taxco, Cancun, Cozumel). I had never heard of San Miguel de Allende and, given the vast size of the country (about one fifth the size of the US), I had no clue as to what part of Mexico it was located in. 

It wasn’t until I started making my travel plans, that I realized it was literally the heart of Mexico. It isn’t easy to get to from many U.S. cities. It is located in the far eastern part of Guanajuato, Mexico, a part of the Bajío region, about 170 miles northwest of Mexico City. I flew to Mexico City then took a bus to Queretaro, the Capital of Guanajuato (about a 4 hour ride). My cousin met me in Queretaro and we drove 45 minutes to San Miguel de Allende.

My first impression of this colonial-era city in Mexico’s central highlands was nothing short of breathtaking. We drove right into the city’s historic, cobblestoned center, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, where the neo-Gothic church — Parroquia de San Miguel Arcangel, inspired by Gaudi’s Sagrada Familia in Barcelona, sits with its pink towers that rise above the main plaza, El Jardin. This city is known for its baroque Spanish architecture, thriving arts scene and cultural festivals. The Templo de San Francisco church nearby has an 18th-century churrigueresque facade. The city’s rich history dates back to 1542 when it played an important role as a hub in the silver trade.

In the historic center, it is mandated that homes, churches, civic structures, businesses…just about every original structure…retain its historic, original appearance. And that is strictly-enforced here. At each corner, I caught a sight of narrow streets, cobblestone or flagstone, lined with homes in shades of bright yellow, red, orange, and brown terracotta, barrel-tile roofs. It is challenging to drive a car here, but it’s definitely a pleasant place to take a long walk, exploring the architectural splendor that includes grand homes with wrought iron bars and imposing wooden doors, baroque churches with carved archways depicting religious scenes, and much more. In the commercial areas, the streets are lined with inviting shops selling all kinds of crafts. Heart shaped souvenirs are most popular, as San Miguel de Allende is indeed known as “The Heart of Mexico”.

As you turn the corner, you’ll often come into plazas and parks filled with shady trees and benches. These are hubs of activity with food vendors, couples strolling hand in hand, playing children, and chatting retirees.

It may be interesting to know that at the beginning of the 20th century, San Miguel De Allende was in danger of becoming a ghost town after an influenza pandemic. Gradually, its Baroque/Neoclassical colonial structures were “discovered” by foreign artists who moved in and began art and cultural institutes such as the Instituto Allende and the Escuela de Bellas Artes.

The vacation rental I stayed in could be easily called a hidden treasure. A Colonial home, historic inside and out, although renovated with updated electric and plumbing, as well as high-speed internet. An interior courtyard with a garden and fountain, intricate decorative tile work, vaulted ceilings with the original timbers…it was like living in history.

Because it is located in the high sierra, the air is crisp and clean. Coincidentally, the light and changing colors of the foothills of the Sierra Madre give way to impressive sunrises and sunsets. And the climate is pleasant year-round, staying in the 70s F most days and cooling down at night to the 50s F. It is often described by some as “eternal spring.” For this reason, many of San Miguel de Allende’s restaurants and bars are on rooftops, offering beautiful city views. 

It did not surprise me that, in 2017 San Miguel de Allende, Mexico, was voted the best city in the world for the first time — beating out major travel destinations like Florence and Capetown.

Oh how I wish I could travel again….

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What's So Special About FRIDAY?

Right before I left to work this morning, I received a call from my sister. She greeted me with an enthusiastic “TGIF”! Of course, it’s Friday…

What’s so special about the day between Thursday and Saturday? Really, this just leads to more questions. And the answers are abundant. Even those of us who no longer work a Monday thru Friday job feel the exhilaration! 

Is it exhaustion or exhilaration or both at the same time?

Back in the days when I worked the Monday-Friday schedule, I remember the countdown officially started sometime during the day on Monday. By Friday, I was exhausted and ready for a break, a party or a date night.

This is because, in most Western countries, Friday is the fifth and final day of the working week. Research shows that people are happiest on Fridays. 

Though Friday has always been held an unlucky day in many Christian countries, still in the Hebrides it is supposed that it is a lucky day for sowing the seed. Good Friday in particular is a favorite day for potato planting — even strict Roman Catholics make a point of planting a bucketful on that day.

Is it one thing or is it everything?

In the United States, Black Friday is also the nickname of the day after Thanksgiving, the first day of the traditional Christmas Shopping Season.

Casual Friday (also called Dress-down day)) is a relaxation of the formal dress code employed by most employers for the last day of the working week.

POETS day is a term used by workers in the United Kingdom and Australia to refer to Friday, the last day of the work week. It commonly stands for “Piss Off Early; Tomorrow’s Saturday”.

Lakewood Church pastor and New York Times bestselling author Joel Osteen, published a book called “Every Day a Friday — How To Be Happy 7 Days a Week”. As a man who maintains a constant positive outlook in spite of circumstances, Osteen has described this message as a core theme of his ministry. With personal experiences, scriptural insights, and principles for true happiness, he shows you how to find the same opportunities for pure joy that you experience at five o’clock on Friday.

Friday is the most important and blessed day of the week for Muslims. This is because Muslims gather for prayer in congregation on Friday. Before the Friday prayer, Muslims listen to a lecture that is designed to permit them with important knowledge about Islam, Prophets and Allah Almighty.

Bob Glazer, the founder and CEO of global performance marketing agents, Acceleration Partners publishes a newsletter called Friday Forward that, largely to word of mouth, today reaches over 100,000 people each week in fifty countries on six continents through e-mail, company intranets and Slack channels. Bob loves hearing the stories of how Friday Forward is motivating teams, inspiring people to take action and apply the different concepts of capacity building, motivation, resilience and gratitude in their work and life. 

I was exhilarated to find out that the word for Friday in most Romance languages is derived from Latin dies Veneris or “day of Venus”. 

Friday is associated in many cultures with the love goddess Venus, and the planet named for her.

Now I get the lyrics to the 1990’s song by The Cure; Friday, I’m In Love…

“I don’t care if Monday’s black 

Tuesday, Wednesday, heart attack

Thursday, never looking back

It’s Friday, I’m in Love…”

Breaking the Zone

Many of us go through life feeling bored, complacent.

There comes a point in everyone’s lives where we may be doing our best but it’s not working — something has to give. You may have to take a moment and re-examine your life.

It’s a constant self-analysis. Taking stock of where we are in our life and deciding whether we are happy or not. And then changing it. Sometimes it’s difficult to walk away from something that’s been a part of our identity for a number of years.

Being able to take a leap of faith because inevitably you’re going to grow from it requires breaking your comfort zone.

When we think about stepping out of our comfort zone, it doesn’t feel exciting, inspiring or aspirational. If anything, we’re normally overcome with fear and anxiety and all kinds of thoughts to self-sabotage ourselves like “I’m not good enough” or “maybe this is not worth it”.

The truth is that maybe there’s so much resistance when we break out of your comfort zone is because our own brain is actually resisting us.

The top 3 reasons why we resist stepping out of our comfort zones

Uncertainty — This is a normal part of when we do something that we’ve never done before. Your brain interprets uncertainty as a threat, much like it would when you see a snake or a lion running at you. You’re going to have an intense stress response happening in your body.

High Emotions — Normally when we step out of our comfort zone, it triggers fear and it can trigger anxiety. Our brains struggle to cope with a high degree of emotions.

New Situations — Anything we do that is not part of our normal routine is run by a part of our brain called the pre-frontal cortex. This part of the brain requires a huge amount of energy to work optimally. There is a level of fatigue that we experience as our brain adjusts to the new normal.

It is true that all growth and progress that is going to happen in your life will happen as you take a step out of your comfort zone.

Here are 4 simple steps of how you can overcome your brain trying to resist you:

Awareness — you just need to be aware that’s this is something that’s happening.

Interpret the experience correctly — If you start to feel fear or start thinking this may not be worth it, you need to understand that this is something that is happening because you’re pushing your internal barriers.

Create space — We need mental and emotional space to adjust to the changes and things that are happening in our lives. You’re pushing yourself internally and going against internal fears or limits over your life. You need to make sure that your giving yourself time to emotionally process it, to recover and to rest.

Work like a pro — Even though we may be aware that our psychology is working against us. We should just go with it. Whatever it is, we should keep pushing forward and work like a pro.

We all have the power to live rewrite our own story and live life in a way we want to. To do this, we must take risks and break comfort zones.

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