Today, I easily enjoy the caress of a breeze rather than needing to be a ‘force of nature’ and stirring the winds of change …
What happened? Not my mindset. 20 years of coaching and friends in the empowerment business did nothing to correct my unseen ways.
There are theories that encourage us to ‘talk the talk’ and ‘walk the walk’ yet how many ‘walk the talk’? Part of my story includes being introduced to and hanging out with some well-known transformational thought leaders and BOY was I disheartened!
Who they showed themselves to be outside of their public persona was shockingly different. They certainly talked a good game, filling workshops and selling books, yet did not scratch the surface of what they preached. But this dilemma wasn’t and is not limited to the well-known. I have also come to witness a similar pattern within various friends. Not that I’ve ever said anything. I just remember realizing that the person I knew privately was nothing like the individual out there encouraging and empowering positive change! Their struggles were real, and I couldn’t help but wonder what it was like to exist in such contradiction …
Was this me?
If you spot it, you got it …
What makes early childhood your formative years? Patterns. The patterns of beliefs and behaviors are endemic to your family. No one you know, including yourself, consistently thinks and acts spontaneously. Therein lies the inner division.
Children have a terrific ability to bounce between being spontaneous and guarded depending on their sense of a situation. Some of us forget how to do this earlier in life than others. The moment you ‘tune out’ comes down to the circumstances you go through and natural automatic inclination to survive life at all costs. When this happens is different for all of us.
Survival is a stress reaction and once triggered, without proper signals and / or awareness, it becomes your way of life. You may and more than likely have glimpses of the FULL you over the years, yet automatic full-on reacting is the standard for nearly every human with the possible exception of indigenous cultures.
These populations live between both worlds: surviving to thrive.
The rest of us …
hustle … race around … falsely proud of being a go-getter
have too much to do
have no time to slow down
think,
strategize… overschedulecomplain … attempt to fix
object
reject
worry
walk on eggshells
eat on the run
forget to eat …
check out mentally
isolate
indulge
self-criticize
live with shame and hide different things about ourselves
pretend to be or think a certain way
ignore, deny or have lost touch with our True Self
… all as a way of life! Welcome to the aging process!
To be ageless does not mean there is no evidence of growing older. Although inevitable, the longer you’re alive, aging is no longer just a marker of time. It’s believed and accepted to be a painful experience mentally, emotionally and physically. This may include but is not limited to loss of mobility, ability, memory, appearance, sadness, and muscle tone as well as being the reason for packing on the pounds.
This is a story of decline that has been infecting children for well over 100 years. Let’s not forget that in the early nineteenth century, no country in the world had a life expectancy longer than 40 years. In 1900, you were lucky to live beyond the age of 32, and by 2022, scientists are happy to inform you that the odds of you making it to 78 are better than ever!
What’s the secret to have more than doubled our chance at living a longer life?
Fear … Feeling frightened by the morbid outlook … Self-preservation. The contemporary catch phrase is more commonly known as longevity.
However, we’re not any healthier. Even though we adopt the recommended lifestyles. We’ve just been granted more time to be sick. Not the best outcome really, so scientists feverishly research ways to better the human experience through the advancement of technology.
As Raymond Kurzweil states, ‘the brain creates your thoughts, and your thoughts create your brain.’ This is important piece of information to remember the more you interact with AI. (This is not a derogatory claim.)
Your brain is influenced by both the information you consume and the way in which you take it in.
People used to give their kids toys and crayons to entertain themselves. Then we graduated to tv. Next it was tablets and now we have AI. If we toss out the judgement that one is better than the other and consider the long-term effects, we position ourselves to choose the outcome we wish to live.
Awareness
Gradually introducing AI into your daily life has led to a wide range of acceptance. It’s a fact of life with many advocating for the value. Cool! However, the more you rely on AI for everyday life, scientists seek to prove the belief that you need it for better health.
Even though the excitement and enthusiasm are obvious, they’re hiding a secret … FEAR!
Humans fear power and Nature is one unpredictable power … try as they might to predict it.
Fact: scientists are human too with brains no different than yours.
The neurotransmitter dopamine influences habit forming, hence the reason for addictive behaviors and the reason reliance on AI without balance is problematic. Knowing that your brain creates your thoughts, and your thoughts create your brain, depending on AI can become a form of self-medication.
The difference between coloring a picture and creating an image on AI is the areas of the brain involved. Again, this is not a claim about AI bad … it’s an encouragement that in order to live well, you must be aware of what you’re doing and the reason you’re doing it. As my dad used to say: ‘everything in moderation’.
We are as sick as our secrets.
Self-awareness is how I learned to ‘walk my talk’. Before that, I disguised myself so well, I forgot about me just to be socially acceptable. It was my little secret.
Isn’t this the real pandemic of the twenty-first century … feeling uncertain about who we really are or why? Perhaps this is the greatest human dis-ease of the millennium! Who cares if you can live longer when it’s SO damn uncomfortable to be in your own skin? Our kids certainly don’t … they’re just as uncomfortable…
Honestly, I think longevity is a great talking point but why bother when feeling dis-eased…
Therein lies the impetus for the urgency to get things done. Time is limited. Yet, the faster your head goes and the more you take on, the shorter your life becomes. But then there are the modern conveniences that save you time so you can do more! As you think, so you become …
The root cause of poor health is dis-ease … better known as … lack of ease.
When you are constantly ‘on’ and driven to accomplish and achieve while saving time and money … you are living in a dis-eased state. It’s a compulsion that falls into the category of being a dopamine junkie.
Self-medication is engaging in behaviors that activate certain neurochemicals.
Carbs and sugars = cortisol
Goal driven = dopamine
Obsessive thinking = serotonin
Tobacco = acetylcholine
Alcohol = GABA
Cannabis = anandamide
Chocolate / exercise / sex / relationships = opioids
When you hear that a hormone / neurotransmitter is either high or low … consider this: there is no mistake, every chemical has multiple purposes. To be high or low suggests that stressors are affecting the system, and it is attempting to stabilize. It’s only problematic when chronically ‘out of balance’.
We TRAIN our brain to be dis-eased when we buy into the story to do and accomplish more …
It’s one thing to indulge. Being excessive with anything is a good indicator that your mind is uneasy about something and with time, the body follows the mind.
To live well is to live in harmony with nature; not fight it
Essential oils changed my life BUT not just because of their chemistry. To equal them to medicine is disparaging despite the scientific evidence disclosing the remarkable way they support your brain and body’s ability to process the effects of life.
Science and spirituality are not opposites.
Fear means stress. And as you know, the nature of stress is either fight, flight or freeze. One of the most strategic ways to win a fight is to study your opponent.
Nature has been the perceived enemy of humans since the beginning of time! From catastrophic floods, droughts and fires to being swallowed up by the ocean and devastated by diseases, human life has been threatened by nature in one way or another.
The irony! As humans lived in fear, centuries of time and money have been dedicated to finding ways to protect the people from the opponent.
What were and are they really doing?
proving and confirming centuries old understanding of plants
designing weapons to control the enemyignoring insights from the knowledge they’re gaining about nature, the human connection to all of nature and that cooperation is how nature thrives
Nature is more than chemical reactions and survival. Nature is the unpredictable energy that fluctuates, flows and flourishes on its own terms. It cannot be contained or controlled. Nature is not static. It is an organic state.
Now that’s scary.
As William Faulkner once said: ‘Be scared. You can’t help that. But don’t be afraid.’
Feeling scared wakes and alerts you to danger. Your natural ability is to determine if something is a true crisis or not.
Fear happens when you doubt and deny your natural ability to know what to do. This is how you identify your system is attempting to offset the effects of stressors.
To use essential oils as if they’re only a remedy for what’s bothering you in the moment is an act rooted in fear. On the other hand, to include genuine essential oils into your daily routine … not as needed … but as an anoint that honors your nature, you will see just how easy it is for you to witness both yourself and the situation in front of you in order to make choices with conviction.
AND, realize there’s nothing for you to improve about yourself! You WILL see yourself as:
enough as is
better as is
sufficient as is
fulfilled as is
incomparable as is
remarkable as is
There is a distinct reason for WHY you were born.
Maybe you’re:
intelligent
creative
a visionary
determined
cooperative
assertive and outgoing
passionate
introspective
attentive
sensitive
and/or, and/or … the list goes on because your unique nature has its place in this world. Just avoid putting a negative spin on this nature. Negativity is a judgment rooted in betrayal.
The rat race with trying to make a better world by creating more efficient crops, animals and humans is an attempt to outwit Nature. However, extremism leads to an imbalance which puts tension on the environment whether your body or the world at large. Once too much has become too much, harmony will be restored … whether you like how it goes or not!
Once the point of returning to center becomes necessary, the process is out of your control due to the loss of control that caused it in the first place.
Essential oils when intentionally used as elixirs for tonifying the system naturally restore harmony with very little disturbance. It’s important to add this disclaimer because if your life has been predominantly an act of self-betrayal you may experience a bit of resistance as you go from fearing your own power to loving it!
Now it’s your turn! What questions or comments do you have?
Can we JUST be, ok?