Posts Tagged ‘self~blame’

Banish Overwhelm From Your Queendom

June 7, 2014
 
 
I was speaking with a very dear friend this morning about our strategies for simplifying our lives, being more present, and banishing overwhelm.  It was a great convo where we each had our own practices to share, and so we ended up with a synergy of amazing tools.  Naturally, I thought it would be great to share them with you.  Love it, right?!
 
So here’s the deal.  Living a life of presence as an embodied goddess doesn’t mean you’re not expanding, growing, and learning.  It means that you come from a place of grounded empowerment, and that when you waver, you have the skills handy to bring yourself back into presence again.  We’re also naturally designed  to have divergent awareness.  We’re most often multi~tasking and feeling all of our surroundings calling for our goddessly attention.  We have the deliciously expansive view.  This is a beautiful thing about us.  
 
The problem occurs when we are pulled into too much conflicting divergence with old, worn~out patterns of trying to be nice and saying yes to every request.  We don’t think to ask for support and some of us haven’t learned how to say no.  We may not know how to do a certain thing and we’re too afraid of rejection to ask anyone.  Maybe we don’t know how to articulate something in a way that allows us to delegate.   Overwhelm happens when our natural proclivity as goddesses goes from choice to pleasing mode.  Our people~pleasing servant self takes control, and the goddessly aligned self reclines on her chaise lounge and sleeps.

 
That was the explanation, but now for the nitty~gritty, “how to reign it in” skills…
 
1.  When you notice you’re feeling overwhelmed, stop.  Just STOP what you’re doing for a minute.  Close your eyes and breathe in through your nose slowly, exhaling deeply, a few times.  This calms your nervous system and gives the madness a commercial break.
 
2.  Choose the ONE task at hand that you are doing.  Slow it down and see it through to completion.   Command the others to take a back seat until you finish.
 
3.  Reframe your self~blame.  Whatever your mind is freaking out about, it can wait.  Create a new story.  If you’re running late, decide you have perfect timing and that you can only get there when you get there. (Besides, the party doesn’t ever really start until you arrive.)  If the problem is that you’ve crammed 20 tasks into a day and can’t get them all done, choose three and call it a day well done.  Determine to give yourself larger time frames from now on.
 
4.  DELEGATE.  If you can delegate even a part of your task, call someone and request a specific action that will take the load off of you.  If you’re not sure how, start with one simple task that is easy to do and easy to articulate.  Then you can begin to build on that muscle next time. You’re not superwoman, you are a goddess.  Goddesses don’t do it all themselves. They are like queens, delegating, leading the kingdom.  You rule the temple, darling goddess!
 
5.  Start a spiritual practice a few minutes a day.  Make a promise to yourself.  Tiny, little disciplines really do build on themselves, and every drop matters. Don’t wait until you have one hour a day, or the perfect expanse of time.  Just.  Do. Something.  Mindful breathing, a beautiful prayer, one yoga pose, light a candle…you get the idea.  Anything done with applied, positive intention is a goddessly act of spiritual devotion.  Connecting with your spiritual center is the first breakthrough to alignment.
 
Over time, these habits will become second nature and overwhelm will occur less and less.  I know you can do it!
 
Would love to hear how these land for you, what works, and if you have any reports from the field.
 
~Goddess Oceana
 

I Could Believe I’m Mean and Hurtful

February 26, 2014

I have been told that I am a terrible communicator, that I speak in hurtful ways,  and that I am very blaming.  Every single day I have to be extremely careful in how I come across, and the minute I just relax into being casual, I find that I seem harsh to certain people. 

Some days it feels too hard to have to be so utterly vigilant, to have to work so incredibly hard around sensitive souls.  Since I am one, it’s true that it’s also incredibly hard to be me at times. 

 There are days when I truly don’t know what is true and what is not, whether it’s me or it’s the circumstances around me.  When someone says, it’s ALL you, Oceana…it’s all a reflection of you…I take that quite seriously, literally, and to heart.  And then the learned pattern of self~blaming begins internally. 

 My mind begins thinking I must be such a horrible person to be creating such a world so filled with reflections of suffering, blame, and scarcity. My feelings follow, and because I am so deeply sensitive, my emotions are intense, often causing me fierce suffering.

 Why am I telling you all of this? I have a hunch that I am not alone in this.  It’s a pattern of thinking that causes me great suffering, until I apply the powerful remedy of holding myself with compassion and love.  I begin to see that this thought pattern is actually a byproduct of misinterpreted metaphysical teachings.  I began studying them at a young age, and so I suspect my mindset then took everything literally.  Combine that with a dysfunctional upbringing, and the neural programming is a severe message.

 The most powerful lesson I have learned (the hard way) this past year is that yes, it can be our perceptions (all our perceived creation), but that it’s crucial to discern what type of mirror is being reflected.  Some mirrors are just love.  Others are love disguised as suffering until we learn to set a boundary.  And still others are there to prompt us into action, service, or movement towards our next phase.

 There are so many ways to heal this, and to reset the neural thought patterns.  My path is always about self~discovery and learning new ways to heal myself and then to support deep healing in others.  A few of the tools I have found the most powerful are meditation, tantric yoga (sound, breath, movement), EFT, Spiritual Response Therapy, journaling, conscious dreaming, shamanic healing…

 I’d be interested to hear the ways in which you take in the well~meaning messages from spiritual teachings, and how they translate in your own life. 

Have you suffered from misinterpretations, or from paths that just did not fit your internal guidance? 

In what ways do you still find yourself  stuck in thinking patterns that are old, and feel frustrated that those thoughts keep dragging you back into old ways of being?

 

~Goddess Oceana

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