Tag: self care

7 Ways to practice trusting your Intuition

emyminzel

I talk a lot about raising your vibration, keeping your thoughts and energy positive, while walking through daily life. I would also like to talk about how trusting your intuition and gut feelings can help you to live a fulfilling authentic life. I have found through trial and error when I do not trust my intuition, when choose not answer the call to do what I know I should. I suffer the consequences of not listening to my intuition in emotional and physical ways.

I have been hearing the tug at my soul to start writing since 2010 or if I am honest much earlier even since youth. I started by journaling with no purpose except to just write and release my feelings. I found it very therapeutic, but I could still hear my soul saying keep at it for several years, I heard this call and ignored it of course because I had other things to do. I was building a business and making cleaning my house, a priority before writing.

I would do absolutely anything to avoid writing, even doing thing for others they could do for themselves instead. When all I kept thinking about it how bad I wanted to be an author. For years I would stuff this ‘feeling’ right back down to where it came from “Who am I to dare to dream? What makes you qualified to write about anything? What do you have to say that is so important?” I was full of doubt. The more I believed the doubt the more I felt unease move in to my soul.

I was beginning to feel anxiety about many things, I wasn’t taking care of my own needs and desires while putting others before myself whenever possible. By ignoring my feelings, anxiety and depression took its toll on me physically, I gained weight,  I was unhealthy, and my mental state was fragile and highly irritable. I was not living my best life or being the best me I could be, and I felt acutely it in my whole being. These were my icky ‘consequences’ that lead me to discovered the necessity of trusting my intuition. I was so miserable in life I HAD to change it. I discovered the only way to make change is to change yourself because as much as we like to think we can… we cannot change others.

I began by learning all about energy in my body, where I hold it, how it feels and how to control it. This information came to me first in the form of learning Reiki healing. It was by learning about the energy centers in the body (Chakras) that I was able to comprehend the mind, body spirit connection and how it greatly affects your life. At the time I was just learning to be selfish, I wanted and needed to feel better in the meat suit I was wearing and not feeling comfortable in. After years of practice I find it has helped me so greatly that it is my passion to share all I’ve learned so you can feel better too. Here are some of the ways you can incorporate practice of listening to your intuition in your daily life.

  • Try Reiki, Healing hands and other types of energy work. This will help you be in touch with your body, it helps your mind be back in your being, being calm during these healings, helps to hear the whisper of your soul. Learning about the non-physical energy or life force in my body was life changing for me. I started to practice Reiki healing on others and soon discovered helping others helped me too. Giving seems to be more fulfilling to me then taking, but there are times I need healing too. As do you; honor that. You don’t have to learn Reiki, but you can experience energy healing in another form that calls to you.

 

  • Own your feelings, do not let them own you. When someone makes you mad or sad, acknowledge it and ask yourself what exactly made you so upset. Are you feeling disrespected, unappreciated, annoyed, over-extended, used? Your emotions are there for a reason not to be used as a weapon of self-inflicted psychological torture. They should be used as a guide to lean towards what and who makes you feel better. Check in with your relationships, and ask your soul, is this fulfilling for me? Is this where I belong. You will know the answer, this is your intuition.

 

  • Go where you are celebrated not just tolerated. This is god’s way of letting you know where you should be and who you should be spending your time with. Just because you’ve always had the same crowd you hang out with doesn’t mean it’s the one you have to spend the rest of your life trying to ‘fit into’. If these ‘friends’ don’t value your thoughts, feeling or opinions, move on. You will find new friends who love you just as you are, and you will thank yourself for being brave enough to do so. This doesn’t mean you have to cut people out of your life, you just give them the same amount of effort and attention they give you.

 

  • Value your own uniqueness and find others who do the same. How do you feel when you are around someone? Do you feel free to talk about anything and be yourself? Or do you feel like your opinion and feelings don’t not matter? Do you even get a say? These are signs from the Universe on who you should be surrounding yourself with. Move around in this giant world and find other people who resonate with you, find your tribe. Finding others who celebrate your differences instead of trying to bully them out of you is imperative to your soul’s growth. Do yourself a solid and spend time alone as opposed to giving your valuable time and energy to others who do not value who you are and what you have to offer.

 

  • Check in with your physical body. When you are in an uncomfortable situation your body talks to you too, not just your mind. Your pulse rises, you may perspire, your fist clench or your jaw tightens. These are human reactions to stress we all feel, when you are with someone or in a situation that isn’t right for you, your body knows even if you ignore it. Its up to you to check in and think why do I have a headache? Why am I exhausted every time I talk to this person? Why do I feel nauseous all the sudden? This is your body talking to you. Listen up, these are signs and signals from your intuition, your intuition was given to you by the higher power that lives inside of you. It wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t supposed to be used. Mind/BODY/Spirit… its ALL connected for a reason.

 

  • Try thought control over meditation. Plenty of people I know do not like to or just don’t find the peace in meditation that others can find. What I propose is instead, catch yourself slinging bullshit negative stories around in your head, compulsively thinking the worse of others or situations. I ask you to acknowledge it and then tell yourself ‘Stop it.” Every single time you feel upset, anxious or uneasy. Tell yourself “Just stop it.” Ask yourself “Is there anything I can do about this right now?” If there is then do it, stop spinning your mind and polishing rocks of crazy. Ask “Are my thoughts helping the situation or are they blowing it up into obnoxious unnecessary scenarios?” Taking responsibility and control of your own thoughts helps more then meditation in most of real life situations. I totally get that, so this is my alternative suggestion to meditation. Think about puppies or vacation, do something with your hands instead.

 

  • Trust and run towards what you love. It is all about the love baby! We are not meant to be miserable humans making more misery for others. We love what we love for a reason, life is much more enjoyable when we can spend time doing what makes our heart sing and soul smile. Spending our precious time with people who make us feel accepted, seen and loved for who we are, warts and all is what love means. From spending time with babies or grandbabies, fishing to skydiving, whatever that makes your heart fill with happy… do that as much of it as possible. Start giving your time, priority and importance to what does fulfill you in some way. We really are here for only a short while, you’ve tv and phone will not miss you or love you. Spend your hours pursuing more of what you love, trust that the things that pull at your soul, is your intuitive path to happiness.

 

Now that I have learned to take responsibility for my thoughts, my action, my energy. I have decided to take the leap of faith in myself and trust that running toward what I love to do. I find a great deal more peace and joy in my life when I make sure I get time to do what makes me happy, like adventuring and writing about it to help others. I have decided to make it a priority. And you know what? I really have started to look forward to each day, being able to wake up and know I am spending time moving forward with purpose. By listening to my souls call to write, write, write! I have acknowledged and honored myself in a way nobody else or anything else could fulfill, it’s always been up to me.

Trusting your intuition, is just owning your own power. Don’t be afraid of your own power, it was given to you on purpose by God/The Universe for just this reason. Your intuition relies on your feelings, so you feel where you are supposed to be and who you are supposed to be with. You can trust yourself to use your energy only for good. After all isn’t that what we all want in our lives? You are a good soul, it is safe to trust yourself.

How do we honor our inner child?

emyminzel

I am continuing the conversation of honoring different aspect of our personalities that we may not like to acknowledge. The inner child is one part of my personally that intrigues me, maybe because mine seems to be asking a lot of me lately. It demands I spend time doing things that I love, not just the things that the adult part of me thinks need to be done. Like work, laundry, dishes, and other insanely boring chores of life that seem to steal my precious time, keeping me preoccupied with monotony. In short, lately I have found being an ‘adult” alllll the time is horrifically boring!!! This is when I feel the tug of my inner child the most. She seems to say day after day, “Girl, there’s gotta be more to life then this! Let’s go find it!”

“Heck yes. Let’s do this!” I, answer back to that little girl who just wants to have fun.

Then my adult voices says; “Mmmmhmmm sure, right after you vacuum.”

Gah!!!! Round and round we go, match for match, day after day. Until somethings gotta give. It’s odd to talk about playing as an adult, is it not? The adventures I have experienced with my soul sister Stacy in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area have let me feel free enough to remember how to play again. Is it only me? Or do you have days when wearing this adult version of my meat suit/body feels just plain weird?

My body gets older, my hair is graying, and there are life lines around my eyes. Yet there are times I feel so honestly inquisitive, full of love and trusting of life that I can feel the innocence of my childlike soul still shining inside. It makes me feel like playing outside, letting my hair down, and getting creative. At times I yearn to belly laugh until it’s hard to breathe and my face hurts.  Surely this is not too much to ask for?! As Stacy likes to tell me “I make the rules for MY life!”

I like the way you think sister friend. So, this is the new rule. I choose to listen to the little voice calling, I will call her my ‘inner child’ because it seems fitting. I will honor her needs because she is part of me, the best part if you really think about it. The innocence you once had as a child is still in you, it is where your hope lives. You cannot deny the importance of hope!  This is the part of us that if nurtured, will ensure we make the world a kinder place. There is no fear or violence in hope or innocent children, this part still lives in you and we can choose to nurture it.

I do this by adding play and whimsy to my life, in simple ways. I love to write, it feels like creating art and allows me to express myself. When I am with friends and family we like to play board games or interactive games at gatherings, bowling or hiking. It brings us all together to ‘play’ and build relationships with occasional team building skills mixed in. If I am by myself I might embrace the feminine part of my inner child and get girly. I will give myself a pedicure, or a facial, put on a hydrating mask and fully embrace the beauty rituals I use that make me feel good.

When in the Boundary Waters Stacy and I take blow up inner tubes put them around our waist or sit in them and float in the sun giggling and chattering away like best girlfriends do at any age. We would go ‘exploring’ in the forest on trails, hop in the canoe to find what we haven’t seen before just for the sake of pleasing our curious inner child. We often find the beauty in the simple things the Universe offers noticing the wonder of how moss can look like a teeny tiny forest all its own.

I might choose to go outside and play in the garden, well not today, its January in Minnesota. I can plan; scratch that… ‘plan’ sounds too much like work… In the winter I love to take the opportunity to dream and create a beautiful new garden lay out. I love to use color pencils and draw where the plants might go so I can visualize it. I love how each year is different and gives me the ability to get whimsical by using my artistic creativity in a fun playful way.

If I change the way I think about things, the things I think about change. I find how I feel about things is all in the attitude I bring to them. I don’t just have a garden that I must weed. I choose to see and enjoy my garden as a continuous work of art, the effort I put into it or not shows. Isn’t that true of all relationships? Even the relationships we have with ourselves?

If we choose to not nurture any part of ourselves, or relationships we cannot fully enjoy life’s offerings or its many infinite destinies. Why would fun show up for us if we are not able to embrace the richness it brings to our lives? Why deny any parts of yourself by not recognize the vulnerable part of you that needs to be heard, seen or validated in any aspect of your personality?

Aren’t the neediest parts of you the loudest and hardest to ignore anyways? Just possibly could these be the parts of ourselves that cause us to act out as not our best-self, causing unnecessary drama when you ignore it for too long? What if we tried to sooth that inner child, fulfill its needs, so we can move on from these triggers?

What’s the worst that could happen if you looked these tendencies right in the eye and asked. “What do you REALLY mean by that feeling? What do you really need?”

What if you had the courage to wait and listen to the answer? Oh boy! How exciting it could be to find out what it is you truly want and need! After all, you’re an adult now and you get to make the rules for your life. As an adult give yourself permission to admit when we just need a hug, admit when you need to feel validated and heard. It is okay to speak up when we aren’t feeling loved in a way that you can comprehend, or even if you need some attention. Your inner child is part of you, to deny it is to deny yourself.

What does your inner child ask from you? Is it to come out and play or is it demanding more? The inner child in you has plenty of hope and courage for today and the future. I can hear them calling, I know you can too. I’d love to hear your thoughts on inner child work. Feel free to comment below!

Wishing you and abundance of Love, Laughter, and Blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

https://emyminzel.com

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OH! The drama!

emyminzel

Why do I seem to be so drawn to drama when it is the one of the things I say I do not want? I seem to always be seeking peace, yet I find my personality is sometimes rather dramatic about events happening in the world or around me. I recently came down with a cold and I lost my smell, it frightened me but how I reacted was kind of funny now that I am well, and the fog of my sickness has cleared.  You would think that the world was collapsing around me and all I was able to think about was that I couldn’t smell it or my coffee! The drama I tell you! (Insert fainting gesture here.)

For real, I SAY I don’t like drama, but when life is going well, and I have nothing to complain about I seem to make things up to add a little excitement into life. Have you ever notice yourself doing that? It’s kind of hilarious. I over think like it is an Olympic sport. If I could get ‘steps’ for the laps I run around up in my head I would exceed my goal every day. Isn’t it great that we can notice these things about ourselves, so we can try to act in a different way next time the opportunity to over react comes around? Self- awareness is a liberating, eye opening and sometimes humbling experience if you can let it be. I am choosing to laugh at myself now that I can see my situation from a calmer perspective. I can also choose to see that I do in fact have a tendency to be just slightly dramatic….. sigh.

I just find how contradicting I can be as a person fascinating. I SAY it is my goal to be peaceful, content, kind, and full of love. Then I create controversy where there may not be a need to stir things up. I wonder what part of me needs this chaos to feel fulfilled? What is the purpose of choosing to fluff up the negative aspects of a day or situation instead of finding the blessings or good things instead?  Is it my inner child in need of attention? Is it my ego saying look at me? Is it need to feel soothed, and loved?

Of course; I don’t always over react, I try to be calm and easy going about most of the situations life offers. It is just funny to me that I see how I can, and do, get carried away sometimes. To be fair, I mean I temporarily lost one for the five senses… That’s kind of a big deal! However; I see I probably should have cooled my dramatic acting scene and let my cold pass before declaring anosmia. But what fun is that?

Scene End.

Have your ever caught yourself adding drama in your life? What do you think makes you do it? I’d love to hear from you.

Blessings,

Emy Minzel ~ Adventure Sister

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Or Follow our blogs at:

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Quiet Time

emyminzel

It’s no secret that I am a person who likes my down time. I have been known to turn into a hermit a least a couple times a year, hibernating like my bear spirit animal during winter. I also like to do this in micro bits of time every day. You know, check out of real life for a bit, put down the phone, turn off the tv, and just be. I can’t do this often, but I found the more I do, the better person I am. I don’t get as fussy about things that irritate me, because during my quite time I am able to process what’s really bugging me.

I believe quiet time is essential for everyone and it gives us time to ask ourselves just what is it that we need. What do we want? If something is bugging me, how can I fix it? It gives us time to clear our minds, or if you’re anything like me, quiet time allows the crazy in my melon to puzzle that shit together so I can move forward with a thoughtful plan of action instead of wandering around my life reacting to the day I face. Time for reflection helps me check my attitude, after all it is up to me who I want to be today. Sure, I can be a grumpy Gus, but acting like so won’t make me feel better or anyone else I encounter. I can choose to be a better person than I was yesterday. To me it’s like quiet time gives me magical powers, giving me time to count my blessings, put my big girl britches on and carpe diem.

I remember one of the most difficult journeys I’ve taken on foot was to Fourtown Lake in the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. My fellow Adventure Sister and I were naïve about the BWCA and we had overpacked, lugging five hefty portage packs and a canoe, while underestimating the difficulty of the portages. It took us a great deal longer than expected to get halfway to our original destination. Try as we may we could not find one of the portage paths heading to the next lake we wanted to get to. We were frustrated, unprepared, starving, and dehydrated. The sun was tipping well over to the other side of the world, and we had started before it came up. My Adventure Sister and I were exhausted. Mentally and physically we were being pushed to our limits. When we decided to give up the search for the portage we were seeking so we could finally rest, it only took us a short while to find an open campsite.

As soon as I saw that we would finally be able to stop going and going and going some more, my eyes burst into tears, an automatic response to relief my body so desperately needed. Stacy and I ended up staying at the same campsite the whole stay because we were both too sore to pack up and move. We had to soak our flaring aches in the cold lake, and rest to fight off the exhaustion before we became sick with colds too. We spent a great deal of time, doing nothing but recuperating in the beauty of the forest out of necessity. It was not how we expected our voyage to go, but hey, we were calling for adventure and we had an amazing time we will not forget.

Isn’t it funny how we can push ourselves and our bodies to the point of sickness, past the point of uncomfortable right into pain? Yet it just keeps on going, doing what you ask it to do, even if it doesn’t want too. Isn’t that what we tend to do in our daily lives, just on a less acute scale. Why must we wait for the pain of stress to take care of ourselves is it really that hard? We take care of others with ease, yet when it comes to nurturing ourselves we decide to be stubborn and ‘tough it out’ putting ourselves last.

I am blessed to work from home, yet I am not immune from stress and family life. In reality, I hardly have any quite time to just myself, I’m busy running the show. When that happens for too long it gets me easily irritated at the silliest things. I find when I am not able to just sit with a cup of coffee in silence and have the world to myself for just even a half hour that I get grumpy. Its seems every little sound, conversation, television noise, microwave dinging, it all just pisses me right off. Let’s just say I am not my best self when I am not able to check in with myself, by checking out for just a bit.

My point is to help you remember even in this busy holiday season, take care of yourself too. Your body, your spirit and your family will thank you because you will be your best self. Ask yourself every day ‘What will make me feel good today?’ then do it. It is not selfish to do what it takes to take care of you. Quite time is an essential part of that for me, the older I get, the more I embrace it. It can be hard at times to ‘fit me in’ the schedule but the moment I start feeling anxious or irritable I know I better listen. I seek nature and the sound of silence as my retreat. I will not judge your way of reconnecting, I just wanted to remind you how important is for you to go there.