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#Post#: 157--------------------------------------------------
Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: yogasimplifiedmethod Date: October 28, 2022, 8:06 am
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Chapter 9 - Entering the shadow, do not turn away
I believe this portion of the book is juicy. Of course, it's all
circulating around spiritual paths and personal choices, but
this particular chunk of the book is where it hits. Being a bit
of a complex thinker, I find chapter nine to be the getaway of a
more profound analysis.
When reading chapter nine, it highlights something familiar for
many on the path of awareness, and to me, it directly correlates
with the senses. Reflecting on the six schools of thought in
yoga philosophy and some of the conversations during the
immersion, we touched on following specific paths, how our
thoughts affect our decisions, how our behaviors directly
respond to our choices, etc. Chapter nine says you can dedicate
everything and anything to one belief, but if you're not
conscious of the impact it has on you and your well-being, all
your efforts become obsolete, and you've made no headway.
Pretend that something doesn't bother you, and it will continue
to bother you. Continue to pile it under the rug, and the pile
will only get bigger. What you resist persists; imprison the
good stuff, or it can't obstruct spiritual development.
There's a slogan out there called toxic positivity, where some
people choose to be happy and hide their baggage. Or the "and
still I rise" ego-centric mentality of being so spiritually
engaged has become their false mask, the one presented to the
world, to mask their insecurities. Nobody gets a hall pass in
this world; we all have the stuff to work through. And you ARE
working through it, and others see it.
Travel Tip: Which topic speaks to you but not directly about you
that you've seen in others? For instance, is someone you know
personally who has made a conscious shift by letting go of
perfection, not losing focus, having a breakthrough, choosing a
good therapist, and not solely focusing on spirituality? With
this person in mind, did it help them? Did it help you and your
relationship with them? What was it that showed you a different
interpretation of them?
Chapter 10 - Secure all baggage
This chapter may hit home for some of you when it discusses
religious faith and its nuances. Talk about baggage from the
last chapter, the baggage of shame and guilt I carried around
for years left an undeniable impression on who I was afraid of
being. One by one, breaking through layers with some tears shed,
bridges burned, and forgiveness led to lightening the load. The
suitcase metaphor spoken about in the immersion about what we
want to take with us is true in mind until we sit down and
decipher what matters. Securing all baggage reflects everything
we accumulated over the years, and more often than not, we
reflect on the negative the most because it's heavy. It just is.
However, leaving it behind, taking it apart, and taking only
what matters help us become efficient travelers on this journey,
thus creating space to reflect on feeling light.
Travel Tips: Oh man! Which one hits home for you? Personally,
one and two hit home for me. Letting it out and having some
episodes of tear shedding felt so good! Absolving guilt for
making decisions based on the behaviors I observed growing up
and having internal battles within myself. Forgiveness lightens
the load, and the shift was palpable.
Chapter 11 - Vehicle maintenance mandatory
On page 116, Dr. Goldberg shares another great personal anecdote
about his friend. I found it hilarious because I encountered
people like that, and I went through the same stage his friend
did, and it did not do me any good. My body was not happy.
Indeed it is very true when one goes through a deep cleanse,
isolation, meditation, and breathing practices, it is a bit of a
process of heightened sensitivity. I remember wondering if I was
going through psychosis because of [literal] hypervigilance. One
instance was coming back to the states in 2013 and walking into
a restaurant in LA, staring at everything, and a friend
mentioned the overwhelming look on my face. LOL Yep, I was that
person, and that happens to many people who aren't yogi
practitioners. Small-town folk, people who live on small
islands, island life, indigenous people living in the amazon,
mountaineers, off-grid homesteads, etc. Yogis are not an
exception.
We live in a society that requires multiple speeds, like a
highway or freeway, and that requires lane changing, slowing
down, and speeding up based on traffic flow. To do so, vehicle
maintenance is vital inside and outside of the vehicle. Play the
music you like, fix the temperature, adjust your side mirrors to
see around you, place your favorite drink in the cup holder,
check your speedometer, and even take advantage of that cruise
control. Do what feels right to drive your vehicle with care,
and tend to the scheduled maintenance when needed for you to
continue enjoying that drive.
Travel Tips: This chapter reflects on personal care in the
manual, but what do you do when the maintenance light goes off
in your vehicle (body)? What do you do? You know, my go-to, I
give it a rest (recharge). ;)
#Post#: 160--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: erin_kelly Date: November 1, 2022, 10:15 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9
Travel Tip #5
Choose the right shrink. I am fortunate enough to have found a
therapist that is also spiritually fluent. We are able to have
discussions more from a spiritual lens and she encouraged me to
take the leap to do YTT. At times when my life has been very
difficult my therapist is able to give me some spiritual insight
that I can carry with me. She has helped me better understand
myself and my spirituality.
Chapter 10
Travel Tip
I can relate to Des, questions one and two really spoke to me. I
find it so important to let it out. It can feel apparent when I
am not letting things out. I am either dissociating from the
pain and anger or I am just all over the place. I am still
working on recognizing when I need to let it out but I think
this is a really important one. Forgiveness is not easy but it
can free you if you let go and let it out. Travel tip two
absolving guilt is also an important one. I have learned that
living with guilt is one of the most difficult things. I have
realized in the wake of losing my dad that grief and guilt go
hand in hand at times. I am still learning to forgive myself but
to be absolved of guilt is truly liberating.
Chapter 11
Travel Tip #5
Give it a rest. Burnout is so real and at times I have a hard
time giving myself rest. Guilt can come creeping in that I’m
being lazy but I am really working on giving myself rest.
#Post#: 162--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: Erin Curro Date: November 1, 2022, 7:31 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9
Travel Tip 2-Don’t aim for Perfection
Enneagram Type 1, I couldn’t not pick this one lol. And in all
honesty, it does hit home. As I continue to grow, I have been
working more intentionally to let go of what’s no longer serving
me. Kind of like a snake shedding layers as it moves through
life. And anyone who knows me knows how challenging this is for
me (and many of us). 😊 While I am by no means perfect
and resonate with this being a process, I have seen that every
time I say yes to change, face my fears, do something scared or
before I’m ready, step out of my comfort zone, it always nets
positive results. In Psychology we try to help folks cultivate
cognitive flexibility to help embrace change, bolster
resilience, and support navigating life’s uncertainty’s.
Psychology is a constant humble reminder and parallel process
for calling me to work on my stuff while also holding space and
supporting other’s unpack their stuff too. As a recovering
perfectionist as I joke, I have been working on letting go more
and more of my desire to tightly hold on to wanting to
overcontrol things and be more accepting of the things not in my
control while saying yes to new things and opportunities.
I also really like the quote “can you accept that you are as
ridiculous as you are sublime?” This made me smile. The more I
have been able to accept the parts of me that are funny or silly
or endearing has helped me not judge these parts of myself so
harshly. And I have come to really like them. My husband has a
knack for also sending me the most relatable TikTok’s so these
parts of my that used to embarrass me, whether that be my highly
sensitive nature, difficulty with change, difficulty with
decision making, literal and overthinking, anxiety/what-if
worrying, etc.… embracing these parts of me too and calling them
out as well when needed has helped me show up more fully in the
ways I would like to live my life more aligned with my values
vs. taking everything so seriously 😊.
Chapter 10
Travel Tip 5-Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now
Ahh, I love this, YES to all of this. Throughout my life I have
historically struggled with ruminating on past experiences or
over-worrying about the future and what has not even happened
which, usually calling myself out, has been catastrophizing
about made up worst case scenarios. Which, usually has only
manifested in a negative self-fulfilling prophecy because hello
power of the mind, what the mind believes the body achieves and
my goodness did I achieve some things haha. All joking aside, I
recognize how easy it can be for me to fast forward into the
future and my freedom has started to come from trying to bring
my focus and attention back on the present moment and what I can
control right here right now. Mindfulness in many ways is not
easy for me. I have really appreciated how YTT has helped me
practice this more intentionally and expanded my practice. Still
a process, which I am sure it always will be as there is always
something more to learn, but I have also realized how the more I
have practiced this it has helped me feel centered. It has
helped me to better focus on when I feel more calm and centered
even when things feel chaotic. I have started to be more aware
now when I am beginning to feel anxious or notice my mind
wandering to try to bring it back to the present moment, which
usually the first thing I reconnect with is my breath. Because
we all know how breathing is a struggle for me. 😊 To
carry this point home, I have been using this power of now
concept to focus on controlling the things today and creating
habits that will set me up for long-term success, which in this
season of my life has been really trying to dial in on
self-care, also a struggle for me learning to rest when I need
to rest, moving my body in enjoyable ways, dialing in on my
nutrition/hydration/sleep, mindfulness/meditation, literally all
the things that for a long while I wrote off because I was more
focused on a task at hand. I am continuously humbled by how
difficult this is, how I fail at this haha, and how much when I
do focus on it my productivity and happiness improves when I
take what I think I “don’t need, don’t have time for, or can get
away with not having.” Now I realize that I can’t get away from
it and yet again, my body keeps the score, and when I don’t get
enough sleep for example, turn into purple minion (Despicable
Me). 😊
Chapter 11
Travel Tip 4-Breathe Deeply and 5-Give it a Rest
These feel like two sides of the same coin for me. I truly
cannot say enough about how lifechanging something as simple as
breathwork/pranayam has been for me. But that alone has made
such a significant difference in my life which is why I have
been so open about it during YTT and with my clients. I am
continuously learning how to deepen my practice in my own
breathwork. Breathing deeply and actually breathing, I still
tend to breathe shallowly, will be an ongoing practice for me.
I also connected with Travel Tip 5 because I also really
struggle with resting. Resting makes me ‘feel’ unproductive even
though I know it is incredibly productive and healing. I think
subconsciously I worry if I rest I will become lackadaisical and
not engage in enough of the other activities I equally need too
to feel centered or will fall behind whether that be with YTT,
work, etc. For example, this past weekend for the first time in
eons I actually allowed myself to take a nap. Mostly because I
was so exhausted I just could not focus anymore. Whether it be
my nature, my doctoral program, work, resting is not something I
allow myself as much. I really realized this over the weekend so
I would like to set an intention for myself to focus on resting
too, whether that be getting in bed a little earlier, taking a
rest day after a hard workout, choosing an alternative method of
movement-meditation, walking, mindfulness, restorative yoga vs.
feeling go go go. In this season of YTT I took a break from more
high intensity workouts because I was not allowing myself enough
opportunity to rest and feeling the burnout from work so turned
toward lower intensity movement to facilitate grounding. Now I
think I would like to explore re-engaging when it feels right
and see how it feels when allowing myself more opportunity for
rest.
#Post#: 166--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: yogasimplifiedmethod Date: November 3, 2022, 9:44 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=erin_kelly link=topic=13.msg160#msg160
date=1667315754]
Chapter 9
Travel Tip #5
Choose the right shrink. I am fortunate enough to have found a
therapist that is also spiritually fluent. We are able to have
discussions more from a spiritual lens and she encouraged me to
take the leap to do YTT. At times when my life has been very
difficult my therapist is able to give me some spiritual insight
that I can carry with me. She has helped me better understand
myself and my spirituality.
Chapter 10
Travel Tip
I can relate to Des, questions one and two really spoke to me. I
find it so important to let it out. It can feel apparent when I
am not letting things out. I am either dissociating from the
pain and anger or I am just all over the place. I am still
working on recognizing when I need to let it out but I think
this is a really important one. Forgiveness is not easy but it
can free you if you let go and let it out. Travel tip two
absolving guilt is also an important one. I have learned that
living with guilt is one of the most difficult things. I have
realized in the wake of losing my dad that grief and guilt go
hand in hand at times. I am still learning to forgive myself but
to be absolved of guilt is truly liberating.
Chapter 11
Travel Tip #5
Give it a rest. Burnout is so real and at times I have a hard
time giving myself rest. Guilt can come creeping in that I’m
being lazy but I am really working on giving myself rest.
[/quote]
Finding the right therapist is no easy feat. Sometimes it takes
a few tries to land on the right one and I'm happy you have one
who also supports your spirituality and moving forward in the
YTT program.
Your sharing on Tuesday night was incredibly powerful. Letting
it out in some way, shape, or form is perhaps rewarding! Giving
it a rest is rewarding as well because sometimes we just need
that extra time to process life and work through it, or simply
just sleep! I can relate to guilt so I'm proud of you for making
the conscious effort to take care and give it a rest, it's
needed and encouraged.
#Post#: 168--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: Kelli Cook Date: November 4, 2022, 7:18 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9 - Medication in moderation
This made me think of my two best friends. Two women who were
put on anti-anxiety medicine when they were in their early high
school years. They were put on Xanax as an everyday medicine
for many many years. This caused their bodies to need it. Their
minds thought they could not handle their anxiety without it.
Growing up I did not have a lot of knowledge or exposure to
anxiety and being put on medicine to combat it. It was not
until I experienced postpartum anxiety that I understood. Their
medicine was not properly prescribed. Were they given other
tools to help their needs while young teenagers? We need to
advocate for our kids and for ourselves that there are many
options to make you balanced. However,I liked how the book
referenced that “for people with chronic depression, anxiety,
whatever it may be, medicine that is properly prescribed and
monitored often relieves debilitating symptoms and paves the way
for working more effectively on the emotional and spiritual
levels. This is SO true!! I saw this in my own experience and I
saw this in both my best friends. As adults, they finally
realized they did not want to rely on this strong medicine to
make them ok, so they sought alternative doctors who helped them
ween off this strong medicine, and monitor a new medicine plan,
with the goal to be completely off medication and to find other
ways to cope with their feelings. I was very proud of them!
Chapter 10
“Let it out” - this reminded me of a time I met with a Chinese
medicine doctor/acupuncturist at Canyon Ranch. It ended up
turning into a therapy session, really, so was so fantastic and
we chatted over the allotted session time. I will never forget
a tool she shared with me. I was going through a pretty hard
time coming to terms with a decision I had to make. I had alot
of guilt and a lot of fear. Many emotions ran through my mind.
She had me put these thoughts and fears on a piece of paper,
read them to myself out loud (without anyone listening), then
rip it up (if I were to do this at home, burn it she said) -
then let it go. Try not to dwell on those thoughts and move
forward. She recommended that any time I had thoughts that were
taking over my mind, to do this kind of journaling. I found it
very therapeutic. Sometimes we have thoughts we are scared to
share with others or say out loud, and this idea really helps
with that!
Chapter 11
“Breathe Deeply” - at the very least, take a full deep breath
from time to time. It is a vastly overlooked way to calm the
mind and draw vital energy into the cells…….this is SO true!!! I
have really discovered breathing over the last couple of years
and man, does it work. If i am feeling overwhelmed, tired, or
stressed, I take a few deep breaths and usually I am able to
settle my nervous system….at least a little
I also liked “examine your attitude” - I can admit I need to be
kinder to the way I speak to my body. I believe yoga is helping
with that!
#Post#: 170--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: heidi91@comcast.net Date: November 6, 2022, 8:44 am
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Chapter 9 question 2… don’t aim for perfection really spoke to
me. It’s always been instilled in me from a young age to always
do my best. I think as I grew older I turned that into being
perfect in everything I did and they are two different things
I’m slowly learning. The stress it puts on your body and mind to
be perfect is so harmful. I’ve learned thru adulthood you can do
your best but that doesn’t mean being perfect. Something I wish
I learned sooner but better late than never.
Chapter 10 let it out, why didn’t I think to do this sooner.
Family’s can be difficult at times when you love fiercely you
hurt deeply when certain things happen. I had a falling out with
a cousin of mine and I’ve been holding onto so much hurt, anger
and regret for over 6 years now and it’s been very heavy at
times. I chose to write her a letter and let it all out but not
send it to her. Getting everything out that i wanted to say felt
so good! I know it’s not going to fix everything but it has
honestly help me not feel so heavy.
Chapter 11…. Maintain your vehicle and give it a rest both
resonate with me. I have a tendency to do things 💯 in
and that causes burn out fast. Whether it be a workout routine
and new eating plan or readings of self help books. Finding a
good balance helps maintain my vehicle. It’s so important to try
to stay in tune to your mind and your body to create balance in
all aspects of your life and give to each aspect equally to keep
moving forward in balance.
#Post#: 171--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: oliviamarotta Date: November 6, 2022, 12:13 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9 - Entering the shadow, do not turn away
This chapter made me think of my younger brother, who lost his
college roommate to suicide. In high school, my brother was
captain of the football and lacrosse teams, a star student, and
thrived as a big fish in a small pond. He was charming and
everything came easily to him. My brother chose to go to a large
state-school in Ohio, and was now navigating life as a small
fish in a big pond. During the first semester of his freshman
year of college, he tragically lost his roommate and best friend
to suicide. He struggled with this deeply and couldn’t make
sense of all of the emotions he felt. Deep sadness paired with
guilt of not seeing any signs, anger that he had to face such
loss, and hopelessness that important people in his life will
not be with him forever.
What are normally the most exciting and fun times in a person’s
life, going to college and meeting new people, became so heavy
for him. Loss of a friend is not something anyone at 18-years
old is prepared to deal with, and it was impacting my brother’s
ability to find purpose and motivation at school. I come from a
large family, so of course everyone was offering their own
opinions or advice to him. I remember talking to him on the
phone, urging him to withdraw for the semester and return home.
School will always be there, but if he didn’t deal with his
emotions and trauma now, it was going to linger with him for the
rest of his life. I feared that if he was not able to work
through all of these complex feelings and come to terms with the
tragedy he experienced, that anger, guilt, and sadness would
cloud who he is as a person.
Ultimately, he moved home that spring, and took that time to
focus on himself and what truly matters to him. He began to see
a therapist, who helped him sort through his feelings and
offered support and resources to him. He started guitar lessons,
which was something that he was always interested in but never
had time to pursue, and helped coach young athletes in our
town’s football program. In addition, his own mental health came
to light, and he was prescribed an anti-anxiety/anti-depressant
medication to aid in the regulation of his own emotions to
better equip him to deal with hardships. We all are on our own
timeline, and taking a semester off from college to properly
heal and grow as a person was the best thing he could have done
for himself. 2 years later, he has the tools to face
difficulties, implements the tools he learned in therapy, and no
longer takes medication. I feel as though this experience truly
bonded us and allowed us to become closer, and I am so proud of
the steps he took to prioritize himself and advocate for his own
needs.
Chapter 10 - Secure all baggage
Travel Tips: Fix the leak of regret
I think that regret is one of the hardest things to let go of.
Wishing that you had done things differently, said something
differently or maybe not said or done anything at all, prevent
us from living in the now. I struggle with this as I tend to
overanalyze the past and feel guilt when I identify that I could
have done or said something better. However, I try to remind
myself that the version of Olivia from five years ago does not
have the knowledge or life experience that I now possess, and I
cannot expect myself to know everything or do everything right.
The version of myself then did the best she could with the
perspective she had at that time in those circumstances, but the
version of me now has greater awareness of myself. If I hadn’t
made certain choices in the past, then I would have missed out
on opportunities for learning and self-growth.
Chapter 11 - Vehicle maintenance mandatory
Travel Tips: This chapter reflects on personal care in the
manual, but what do you do when the maintenance light goes off
in your vehicle (body)? What do you do? You know, my go-to, I
give it a rest (recharge).
Since starting YTT, I have definitely made an effort to be more
in tune with myself and take care of my body. I am a big
proponent of naps, and find that if I am in a bad mood, don’t
feel well, or am tired, I always feel better on the other side
of a nap. I also try to prioritize habits that allow me to slow
down, such as reading or catching up on my favorite shows. I try
to cram the most into each day and value productivity, so taking
the time to not check something off my list but rather indulge
in the things that bring my joy is important.
#Post#: 172--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: Niki Ehrenkranz Date: November 6, 2022, 1:20 pm
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9: 1. Explore the Terrain
Examine self, explore the areas that cause discomfort. Leaning
into the "dark places" can be helpful. Happy and sad, needing
the two together to feel the other. The person I am thinking of
avoids their feelings by constantly doing; working, being with
friends, always making plans, always being on the go. When this
person is finally alone and has time to think, sadness and
loneliness often flood their mind. Sweeping things under the rug
till the pule us too daunting to tackle. I find when this person
consistently goes to therapy or truly takes time for their self,
they are in a better place to accept/tackle/discuss the
surprised feelings, thoughts, and emotions. Exposure to their
buried treasure helps let things out or go to level the mind and
continue a better headspace.
Chapter 10: 4. Accentuate the Positive
I often lean towards the negative, "I have so much to do, how
will I check everything off my list? I didn't move my body
today. Why did I treat that person that badly 10+ years ago?"
instead of thinking, "wow I've accomplished all that today! I'm
feeling low energy, I'm allowing my body to rest. How can I make
positive changes to treat others and myself better?"
It's easy to name the negative and overshadow the positive or
good things. Switching the mindset to see mistakes as lessons
learns positive changes in the future to better (almost)
everyday. Not going too far to create toxic positivity, knowing
things aren't always going to be great but not dwelling on them
or try to balance the low with the high.
Chapter 11:
When my maintenance light goes off I like to recharge by getting
out in nature. If I am unable to do that I like to practice the
senses exercise (5 things you can see, 4 things you can feel, 3
things you can hear, 2 things you smell, 1 thing you can taste)
this helps ground me and step outside of my head for a few
moments.
I also try to come back to making conscious choices and moving
with intention instead of going through the motions on
auto-pilot.
#Post#: 174--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: Dmurphy193 Date: November 8, 2022, 11:53 am
---------------------------------------------------------
Chapter 9; Medication in moderation: This travel tip resonated
with me because I do think that medication is important and if
used properly with professional monitoring, it can be very
beneficial to a person who needs it for whatever reason. But I
feel like anti-anxiety/depression meds can make you feel numb to
everything, even things that should be positive or exciting.
That part of it, made medication seem pointless to me because
taking away some of the bad experiences also took away some of
the good experiences. finding the right shrink made the most
positive impact in my life, giving me additional tools to use
was more beneficial to find the root of the issues to work on
and through.
Chapter 10; Fix the Leak of Regret: Do a large percentage of
your thoughts begin with “If only I’d have…” or “I should
have…”. There is a lot of time I had spent after the Police
Department going over past situations or incidents that I was
involved in where I would just be lost in my thoughts about
things I could have done differently or should have done
differently. It’s easy to look back now and with what I know and
think I should have or could have, but I didn’t know then what I
know now. Until I was able to get out of my head and move on
from constantly thinking about past situations, I always felt
stuck and preoccupied. A lot of that was changed when the
pandemic hit and everyone was forced to stay home. I was able to
do a lot of self reflecting and move on from all of the wasted
energy I had invested in thinking about the past. The biggest
positive that came from all of that for me, was looking at how
the past had actually helped shape me into a better person
today.
Chapter 11; Maintain your vehicle: Constantly feeling burnout
from the fast paced society we all live in, is always a struggle
for me to be able rest and not feel like I should be doing more
of chores or tasks that need to get done. Often I stress myself
out trying to accomplish way more than could be reasonably
accomplished in a day. I’ve come to understand that I just need
to be alone when I’m feeling that way and do things that I want
to do. Setting boundaries with my time and not letting others
expectations of what I should be doing affect what I know I need
to do for myself has been very helpful overall. Giving myself
time in the day to make it to yoga or go for a trail run is most
beneficial to helping me feel grounded but even just taking time
to be alone and zone out from the world can be helpful to avoid
that burn out feeling.
#Post#: 186--------------------------------------------------
Re: Road Signs - Chapter 9/10/11
By: yogasimplifiedmethod Date: November 22, 2022, 9:24 am
---------------------------------------------------------
[quote author=Erin Curro link=topic=13.msg162#msg162
date=1667349064]
Chapter 9
Travel Tip 2-Don’t aim for Perfection
Enneagram Type 1, I couldn’t not pick this one lol. And in all
honesty, it does hit home. As I continue to grow, I have been
working more intentionally to let go of what’s no longer serving
me. Kind of like a snake shedding layers as it moves through
life. And anyone who knows me knows how challenging this is for
me (and many of us). 😊 While I am by no means perfect
and resonate with this being a process, I have seen that every
time I say yes to change, face my fears, do something scared or
before I’m ready, step out of my comfort zone, it always nets
positive results. In Psychology we try to help folks cultivate
cognitive flexibility to help embrace change, bolster
resilience, and support navigating life’s uncertainty’s.
Psychology is a constant humble reminder and parallel process
for calling me to work on my stuff while also holding space and
supporting other’s unpack their stuff too. As a recovering
perfectionist as I joke, I have been working on letting go more
and more of my desire to tightly hold on to wanting to
overcontrol things and be more accepting of the things not in my
control while saying yes to new things and opportunities.
I also really like the quote “can you accept that you are as
ridiculous as you are sublime?” This made me smile. The more I
have been able to accept the parts of me that are funny or silly
or endearing has helped me not judge these parts of myself so
harshly. And I have come to really like them. My husband has a
knack for also sending me the most relatable TikTok’s so these
parts of my that used to embarrass me, whether that be my highly
sensitive nature, difficulty with change, difficulty with
decision making, literal and overthinking, anxiety/what-if
worrying, etc.… embracing these parts of me too and calling them
out as well when needed has helped me show up more fully in the
ways I would like to live my life more aligned with my values
vs. taking everything so seriously 😊.
Chapter 10
Travel Tip 5-Eckhart Tolle’s The Power of Now
Ahh, I love this, YES to all of this. Throughout my life I have
historically struggled with ruminating on past experiences or
over-worrying about the future and what has not even happened
which, usually calling myself out, has been catastrophizing
about made up worst case scenarios. Which, usually has only
manifested in a negative self-fulfilling prophecy because hello
power of the mind, what the mind believes the body achieves and
my goodness did I achieve some things haha. All joking aside, I
recognize how easy it can be for me to fast forward into the
future and my freedom has started to come from trying to bring
my focus and attention back on the present moment and what I can
control right here right now. Mindfulness in many ways is not
easy for me. I have really appreciated how YTT has helped me
practice this more intentionally and expanded my practice. Still
a process, which I am sure it always will be as there is always
something more to learn, but I have also realized how the more I
have practiced this it has helped me feel centered. It has
helped me to better focus on when I feel more calm and centered
even when things feel chaotic. I have started to be more aware
now when I am beginning to feel anxious or notice my mind
wandering to try to bring it back to the present moment, which
usually the first thing I reconnect with is my breath. Because
we all know how breathing is a struggle for me. 😊 To
carry this point home, I have been using this power of now
concept to focus on controlling the things today and creating
habits that will set me up for long-term success, which in this
season of my life has been really trying to dial in on
self-care, also a struggle for me learning to rest when I need
to rest, moving my body in enjoyable ways, dialing in on my
nutrition/hydration/sleep, mindfulness/meditation, literally all
the things that for a long while I wrote off because I was more
focused on a task at hand. I am continuously humbled by how
difficult this is, how I fail at this haha, and how much when I
do focus on it my productivity and happiness improves when I
take what I think I “don’t need, don’t have time for, or can get
away with not having.” Now I realize that I can’t get away from
it and yet again, my body keeps the score, and when I don’t get
enough sleep for example, turn into purple minion (Despicable
Me). 😊
Chapter 11
Travel Tip 4-Breathe Deeply and 5-Give it a Rest
These feel like two sides of the same coin for me. I truly
cannot say enough about how lifechanging something as simple as
breathwork/pranayam has been for me. But that alone has made
such a significant difference in my life which is why I have
been so open about it during YTT and with my clients. I am
continuously learning how to deepen my practice in my own
breathwork. Breathing deeply and actually breathing, I still
tend to breathe shallowly, will be an ongoing practice for me.
I also connected with Travel Tip 5 because I also really
struggle with resting. Resting makes me ‘feel’ unproductive even
though I know it is incredibly productive and healing. I think
subconsciously I worry if I rest I will become lackadaisical and
not engage in enough of the other activities I equally need too
to feel centered or will fall behind whether that be with YTT,
work, etc. For example, this past weekend for the first time in
eons I actually allowed myself to take a nap. Mostly because I
was so exhausted I just could not focus anymore. Whether it be
my nature, my doctoral program, work, resting is not something I
allow myself as much. I really realized this over the weekend so
I would like to set an intention for myself to focus on resting
too, whether that be getting in bed a little earlier, taking a
rest day after a hard workout, choosing an alternative method of
movement-meditation, walking, mindfulness, restorative yoga vs.
feeling go go go. In this season of YTT I took a break from more
high intensity workouts because I was not allowing myself enough
opportunity to rest and feeling the burnout from work so turned
toward lower intensity movement to facilitate grounding. Now I
think I would like to explore re-engaging when it feels right
and see how it feels when allowing myself more opportunity for
rest.
[/quote]
I like the snake shedding its skin analogy. The process of
unpacking developmental habits engrained at such a young age is
never an easy process. To experience it and simultaneously
witness your own doing is a bag of mixed emotions. There's so
much value through it all, albeit not entirely comfortable.
About chapter 10, the Power of Now is a splendid book; how does
he make it look so easy to write about? The practice of now
almost seems as though we're training our minds to nullify
thoughts, which is partially true. The practice of observing
will naturally take shape to minimize such powerful thoughts.
They may not go away entirely, but the practice definitely
helps. Touching on self-care like hydration, sleep, moving your
body, mindfulness/meditation, and rest are invaluable tools for
self-regulating, and I laughed when you talked about purple
minion. lol
Continue to focus on the breathwork you're incorporating in your
personal and clinical practice, and I'm very pleased to know you
recognize how important it is to rest and recharge. Nothing
lackadaisical in listening to the body and recharging when it's
calling for it. You have the right to do it.
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