Facing Some Stress At Work

In times like those, the power in believing there is something out there bigger than ourselves, looking out for us, can be life changing. I shooed them out, sent them back home to get better, and closed the door. I then fell to my knees and cried. I cannot take this pain and suffering. My heart cannot bear anymore. Please help and take some of it. My life didn’t magically change at that moment. No lightning struck. But what did happen was my spirit shifted. I felt hope that I didn’t have to live like that forever. That something better and bigger was planned for me. All I had to do was stay hopeful instead of hopeless, even if it was just a slight tip of the scale in the direction of hope.

Don't Let Me Down

There is something out there made entirely of love. I’ll admit I tend to be the type of person who calls on my spirituality when I’m reaching for my parachute. Heeeelp! I do practice gratitude on a regular basis, but I could really use some sprucing up of my everyday practice of spirituality. The thing I’ve learned is that spirituality doesn’t have to look a certain way for anyone. So call it what you want. Call it love, unearthly presence, grace, essential nature, whatever makes you feel good. I’m not asking you to adopt any kind of religion if you don’t want it. All I’m asking is for you to find some place in your life where you can give up control, pain, angst, hopelessness, desperation, stress, and anything else that makes you feel like you’re drowning. I have been addicted in varying degrees to relationships, shopping, the scale, exercise, perfection, control, and alcohol. If you numb your feelings, you’re normal. I’m not saying it’s okay, but noticing and admitting is the first step. Some of you may not be able to relate because you don’t have addictive behaviors like many of us.

Ignorance Deprives People Of Freedom

But consider that if you are constantly trying to change the way you feel by using something outside of you, you might be addicted to it. If you’re stressed, upset, frustrated, angry, lonely, or sad, do you pour yourself a drink to feel better? Or do you binge eat? Or even do things like sleep, gossip, or procrastinate? Or do you just sit with your feelings and let them wash over you? If that seems like a completely foreign and scary concept to you, read on. Society teaches us that certain feelings are bad, such as desperation, fury, jealousy. Even sadness gets a bad rap. Society also dictates that we should or shouldn’t feel certain ways. Or that we should as quickly as possible change our feelings to better ones. I also think what perpetuates numbing behaviors is other people telling us how to feel. The truth here is when people tell you something like this, their words have nothing to do with you, only them. They want the hard feelings to go away, for happiness to come back. Their intentions are good, but many times it can make you actually feel worse and you do whatever you can to not feel the very real feelings that are happening inside you. One of my clients had been working with me for many months. In one session, she told me she was facing some stress at work, which was causing her anxiety, and she was noticing some of her old negative thoughts coming back.

Death And All His Friends

She was worried she would go all the way back to the way she was before if she didn’t immediately change and wanted me to help her. None of our feelings were bad or wrong? Feeling the more difficult feelings was just part of being human? Feeling all of our feelings was what made us even more awesome? We could learn more about our world and ourselves by feeling all of our feelings? What if feelings, all of them, just weren’t a big deal? You can choose to feel your feelings or not. But when you numb them, it doesn’t mean you erase them. I know firsthand that addiction can be a very real thing, and if you think it might be affecting you, please get professional help. I’m asking you to get really honest with yourself about what’s going on. Sometimes we don’t even know what it is that we’re trying to numb. Yes, sometimes it’s plainly obvious. But if you don’t know, the best way to find out what you’re trying to numb is to stop numbing for three days. When you think of reaching for a drink, a pill, food, whatever, ask yourself what you’re feeling. What are you trying to change? What are you running away from? And just sit with it. Whatever it is, know that you are not wrong. There is nothing wrong with you for what you are feeling. I distinctly remember hating those words and probably told the person that told me that to eff off. I thought it was easy for that person to tell me those words and I was not sure what I was supposed to do with that information. Trust that the Universe has your back. Trust that you were meant for and are capable of greatness. Trust that if you aren’t where you want to be right now, something wonderful is about to happen. And trust that you have the strength and patience to persevere. Trust that you were meant for and are capable of greatness. Trust that where you are right now will eventually be a place that you look back on and see how far you’ve come. You might be hurting from a breakup. Trust that the situation will be a huge learning experience. You’ll look back and be able to see clearly what you want and don’t want in your next relationship. You might be in grief not depression. I’ve heard that therapists call grief the healing feeling and I believe this to be true.