I love walking in the woods. I will freely admit however, that this time of year it is much more challenging for me due to the cold. But, if the sun is out, it makes all the difference in the world! My solitary walks help me to get out of my head and into my heart. Just to be clear, I'm not saying that being in our head is always a bad thing. It's only when we get caught in a downward spiral of negative looping and feedback that we need to recalibrate.
I'm a big fan of acronyms as anyone who has followed my work over the years probably already knows. So as I was preparing to write this post, the acronyms for HEAD and HEART flowed right to me.
Let's start with what happens when we get stuck in our HEAD: Hijacked Emotions And Detours. I have a feeling just reading those words may create some resonance with the message already.
When we are stuck in our heads, it really does feel like our emotions have been hijacked and are out of control. We often end up wandering off the path leading to our best and highest good and end up in some dark, desolate, and dreary places that we would rather not ever visit let alone get stuck in. How does this even happen so fast that we get so far off track before we even realize what is happening?
If we work our way backwards, we find that what we are feeling was likely triggered by a disempowering thought in response to something or someone in our environment. Continuing to work in that direction, the thought may have arisen from a cluster of thoughts that were repeated over and over again and became solidified into a deep-seated attitude or even a long held belief. Beliefs are formed over the years through all that we observe and experience, especially when accompanied by an intense emotion. Unfortunately, before the age of 7, our beliefs are simply downloaded into the subconscious mind without our ability to pick and choose according to the filter of what is in our best interest. That's why we often refer to that as our "programming' because it is running in the background of our lives at all times until we actually do something to change that. Of course, not all programming is negative, disempowering, or undesirable. In fact, much of it helps us to lead productive lives. It's only the disempowering programs that cause us to sit up and take notice.
When the negative programs rear their ugly heads, that's when it's time to get into our HEART: Healthy Empowerment And Receiving Truth. When life gets out of whack, that's exactly what we most need. (It's rather unfortunate that far too often we let it get to that point before we realize what we need.) As alluded to by the acronym, to be in our heart means that we need to s l o w down, stop thinking so much, and get into a quieter, more receptive state of being. When we are running around (and that can be physically or even mentally) on default mode, we miss so much of the inner wisdom that is always available if we can just find our way back to that innate connection. We can do this eyes open or eyes closed, in solitude or even in a crowd, in silence or not. It's a silence of the heart that we are looking to cultivate.
This takes practice. If the only time we try to tap into the fountain of intuition is when we are desperate and fried, it is going to take a whole lot more effort to stop spinning and start grinning. That's why a daily meditation practice is so very important. You literally teach your brain and body how to disconnect from chronic stress and develop new habits of calm and clarity. This allows you to build healthy neural networks in your brain and positively alters your biochemistry. It's not rocket science! It's even more exciting than that; it's neuroscience! And the way to help your head has been proven to be through your heart. Why? Because it's your heart that has the strongest electromagnetic field of the entire body. Did you know that more information is sent out from the heart than from the brain? It's true! Isn't that amazing?
If you are interested, I can teach you a heart-centered meditation technique. It's based on research, fast, and effective! It's a great way to get started with meditation. In fact, in honor of February being Heart Health Month, I will even send you a complimentary copy of my "cheat sheet" that explains how to do SIMPLE Meditation! This is a technique that you can't learn anywhere else because it is a Nurture U Exclusive. 💘 If you are not yet a subscriber, just CLICK HERE so you can get started learning and practicing this powerful and uplifting meditation. Just send me an email requesting the SIMPLE Meditation PDF and I will send it to you. After trying it out, you are also welcome to call me with any questions you might have.
That brings me to the last and perhaps the most important point of all. You may so desperately want to bring about change to allow yourself to cultivate that calm and clarity but feel like every time you sit down to meditate, you feel like it should be called "agitate!" Believe me, I get it! That's why as a coach, I went on to get certified as a Hypnotherapist. I needed a tool to help my clients (and myself!) to get unstuck and that's exactly what I learned!
Honestly, I feel that when we get stuck, Hypnotherapy is THE BEST TOOL for healing and insight, and then mediation can be used for maintenance. Sometimes we just can't forge ahead on our own. We need some support to move forward, to release blocks, to tap into the mind, body, spirit connection and then once we have done that, we are better able to continue on our own. Hypnotherapy can help you to "marry a positive intention with an elevated emotion", as Dr. Joe Dispenza puts it. Without the ability to do that, you will not be able to achieve the Heart-Brain Coherence needed to make the changes that you desire. Hypnotherapy helps you to do just that! It's a beautiful, healing process that I am so passionate about offering to others.
For more information, please visit the Nurture U Life Coaching Hypnotherapy page. You are also welcome to contact me with any questions you may have related to your specific challenges as well.
As always, wishing you wellness, love and light, and all that is good.
Mary Ellen
