3 Tips to settle life's shake-ups

When life seems to get shaken up, familliar ways of living no longer work.  The tendency is to seek external reasons and find ways to settle things back into "normal."  In fact, the only way to respond to shake ups and have any lasting impact, is to address what this tells us about the state of our inner world.  As part of our coaching program, we explore this in detail as well as identify personalized ways forward.  For the purpose of this article, consider these 3 tips:

1. Identify emotional needs

This implies not only identifying needs such as belonging, autonomy, connection and acceptance, but also what prevents us from recognizing and satisfying these needs so we can release resistance.

2. Investigate links to energy anatomy

Every human being has energy anatomy.  This connects coherent mind-body and spirit functions. Each of our energy centres functions individually and together in varied ways. Blockages create congestion and block energy flow. This affects life in the physical world and what perception and experience we access. It pays to explore signs and signals in the body and how this impacts mind-body awareness.

3. Practice Mindfulness

Tuning into life's shake-ups invites practising mindfulness. As we pay closer attention to what is happening within, we begin to see the nature of our projections. To explore components of our emotions, we can practice mindful acceptance of each one.  This involves recognizing and accepting sensations, watching thoughts, labelling feelings and noticing urges as they arise.

10 Ways to Accept Personal Responsibility

The fundamental building block for creating a new life in alignment with who you are is taking personal responsibility. This is about owning your behaviour (thoughts, feelings, emotions, etc.) and consequences. Until you take responsibility for your actions, (as well as self-judgements, you do not develop self- respect or truly respect of others.

To take personal responsibilty means you don't react to external events.  You simply act. Your actions come from your true being, that which is self-directed, self- motivated, self- disciplined, and knows and resonates with harmony.

• What does personal responsibility look like to you?
• What are the specific steps to putting this into practice?

Consider 9 Ways to Accept Personal Responsibility:

1. Be accountable for thoughts, feelings, words & actions
2. Stop using words: try, can't, don't won't, shouldn't
3. Cease complaining & blaming
4. Take nothing personally
5. Listen to heartfelt intuition
6. Live in the present
7. Use the power of intention
8. Ground yourself in nature 
9. Engage in mindfulness practices
10. Accept where the will exist, a way can be found

Walking the Path

A path is made by walking it. This is about recognizing life takes on the meaning it is given.  Its easy to be positive or optimistic yet being overly positive doesn't allow feeling deeply. In fact, it blocks out shadows or another side of who we are. We are often taught to rush through adversity to avoid pain.  This does not allow us to get through pain or allow feelings entirely appropriate for different situations. Is it always desirable to rush turning a frown upside down?

A true Yoga perspective would say no.  Each person's truth ought to be honoured. All feelings in the moment deserve love and acceptance. Healthy emotional stages allow for shock, anger, disappointment, sadness then acceptance and reorientation to a more balanced focus.  Eventually, its useful to be more fully open to the unknown or new possibilities. To allow everything to flow, and seeing this is part of wholeness, this is truly walking the path.  The truth is only ever felt directly.

Know you are worth it

Form the moment we fuel our dreams with a mystical force, we are living as if we are worth realizing our visions and dreams. This takes shape as heartfelt trust.  It is imperative to live as if we deserve and embody what the mind tells us we are working toward. We must be the change we wish to see and feel. Unconscious conditioning might be temporarily holding us back.

We are either driven by a mental focus on perfectionism, logic and a dualistic connection or, by a focus on soul love and self- appreciation.  When we forget to love ourselves, moment-to-moment, we manage this though self-sabotage, denial, co-dependence and other unconscious addictions. Notice whether we are critical and shaming about ourselves or whether we are willing to snap out of it, love ourselves fully in this moment and live more consciously, the best we can.

Even now, it is possible to be fully present with our true selves.  What does this mean for you? The soul is our ever-present support system we can live by to rise above illusions and to help us see through the mind games we play.   Growing aware of who we are and what is possible requires self-acceptance. How is this arise? Well, its about diving deep, being with all the emotions rising within ourselves the best we can, knowing we are enough. How do we get here?  Affirmations are helpful. We benefit from reminding ourselves we are amazing, exquisite, talented, beautiful, gifted and perfect as is. Are you ready to receive compliments?

Turns out, positive affirmations are not the ultimate way to find yourself and feel better right where you are. Breathwork is a useful tool on the journey to deeper self awareness and self-love.   It is one avenue to get in touch with fragemented parts of your soul or shadow self, so these may enter your conscious awareness for healing and integration.  Every process is unique and divinely timed. Know you are worth it.

Breathwork shifts habits

Maxwell Maltz had us believe we only need 21 days to change a habit. Other research, such as a 2009 study by Phillippa Lally, a health psychology researcher at UCL, entitled ‘How long does it take to form a habit’, found that on average it takes 66 days for a habit to become ingrained.

What is often left out in therories is that conscious intention required as well as a knowing or conscious intelligence as to why habits, often viewed as negative, arose in first place. Many habits are addictions. Cathartic Breathwork is one spiritual technology of awakening that effectively uncover unconscious details.  Consider 7 Steps to breathe more consciously.

Meditation and breathwork techniques purify the chi and consciousness on the level responsible for these habit streams.  No seminar series or weekend retreat is as effective. Breathwork can transform self-perception. To purify the mind and body, we must purify the sixth consciousness by cultivating emptiness and detaching from the other five consciousnesses. This is the only way to make a lasting change in perception, personality and behavior.  The key is to see things energetically, to shift into the consistent vibration of self-love and acceptance.  Feeling better is within reach of everyone.