When situations appear to knock us for six, including ones that may seem quite trivial to others, they can be reminders of how personally we’re taking things, especially when the fear triggers such a painful, visceral response in the body.

My old, lovely friend of a car xx needs to be scrapped now after failing its MOT (v badly) and this has brought up so many fears around money, survival as a single mum for me and my son over many years, being able to work, to travel, independence in a bad marriage, freedom & autonomy, letting go… so much! …and the intense pain that has been in my body since hearing it has almost stopped me in my tracks.

It does seem excessive when, on the surface, it’s about a car … but really it’s about so much more...

It’s so true that ‘the body keeps the score’! The energetics of triggers, traumas and the deep-down cellular fears that are restimulated… sometimes in surprising ways.

And situations can be so relative… to some this might be nothing more than an inconvenience, but to others it can have a huge impact practically, bodily and emotionally.

Have you experienced situations like this?

I’m so grateful for being able to remember my own practices, to self comfort, to release somatically through the body with EFT and quanta healing and to feel open and at peace again …and so to work everything out calmly There was a time when I couldn't do this and the suffering was so much more.

Mostly, I am thankful, despite the pain, that this happens as it shows me areas that still need to be healed and released … and I know through experience that automatic reactions and fears are then transformed and they lose their tight grip.

They are significantly less painful the next time, too!
 
I am also grateful for remembering and knowing that these old pains resurfacing in our bodies are not who we truly are, and as they are seen and ‘held’ they are ‘combed out’ and disperse as the illusions they ultimately are. 


Mention: 'The Body Keeps the Score' by Bessel van der Kolk

#triggers #somatic #healing #hsp #fears

​It's wonderful to be showing my new works alongside Marg Mason's beautiful paintings and Katrina Slack's quirkily fantastic wire sculptures in the current exhibition at Morvah Schoolhouse Gallery.

Exhibitions can be exhilarating and rewarding. They also take a lot of practical preparation and are often emotionally challenging too - with the old faithful 'imposter phenomenon' turning up once again, attempting to influence, derail and even sabotage the day, with its questioning, mocking and varied array of voices. The physical sensations in the body of fear, sickness, shakiness, shame and vulnerability, amongst many others, can take a strong grip too. Sometimes so strongly that not turning up, not going through with it seems the absolute best option. (Certainly not a 'for she is of the tribe of tiger' -type feeling! - see pic above :))

Does this sound familiar to you at all? ... whether exhibitions or any situation where you are 'being seen'.

Fortunately, in my experience more and more, these voices and sensations which occur can be observed and acknowledged for what they are - emanations from 'the monkey mind' :-) (I like this term, often used in Advaita pointings) or the ego, 'the conditioned self' that each of us has as our persona. The learned responses from over many years  jump in on cue. These can be limiting beliefs, notions that keep us stuck, hiding... entrenched ideas of who we believe ourselves to be. Ironically, they could be seen as trying to keep us safe, too, when we're in situations that could threaten/are difficult... however, often these very situations are those that help us grow and therefore, ultimately, enable us to shed those layers of voices and conditioning. The ego doesn't want this to happen, of course, as it's secure in its comfort zone, believing itself to be the CEO, (because we let it) and needing us to stay where we are, so it can continue to exist and control/manage us, business as usual.

Recognising that as our real self, we are not our responses or feelings or fears or thoughts or behaviours has been a wonderful liberation for me, a sense that I've felt for so long, since very young, but have not actually 'lived' the truth of...

When new experiences and opportunities unfold, the fears can be recognised, acknowledged and even respected as intense sensations that are a part of who we are in the world; we can say hello to them and not 'mind' them. We can remain unattached. It's ok, they can be right there whilst I continue to plan, to organise the exhibition, to meet others on the day, to socialise... they fluctuate in their strength and presence too, whilst I bubble-wrap my work...' You're not good enough', 'who do you think you are?... yes yes, I hear and feel you, thank you :-) - they hate to be ignored and will up-level until I listen, then they're more at ease... and as Eckhart Tolle would say, on letting be and allowing, try asking yourself,  'Can I be the space for this?' - and that's what I wrote on the inside of my palm, in Biro pen yesterday, when the anxiety was very strong just before driving to the event. 

And it was genuinely fun, fresh, spontaneous and enjoyable and yes! I could be the space for this, for all these emotions and I could let them 'be' and they didn't derail me... and they even disappeared into the shadows to rest for a bit at many points throughout the afternoon.

I often do EFT, meditate, read inspiring authors and poets, watch and participate in satsangs online, listen to music, carry rose quartz, write on my palms :-))) for learning, grounding, self-compassion and reassurance and pointers in the moment. 

I'd love to know what you do to help at particularly anxious times.

 x Rowena

​Some photos from the (truly!) wonderful afternoon...fears and all

​
... and to be the space which does not change :-) 

I love this 7 min video by Robert Holden which is so clear on the unconditioned Self, the conditioned self ..and ultimately all in Oneness x