Releasing What Binds Us
What is it that keeps us from being our most expansive selves? Even when we do lots of inner clearing work we may still find ourselves bound up inside. We act and react in ways that no longer work not knowing how to change. Much of what keeps us bound up and contracted in response to our experiences is the old trapped energy from the past – much of it hidden in the subconscious. This is dense, lower vibrational energy from unexpressed feelings including anger, hurt, sadness, and fear which builds up and sits on top of our natural buoyant self. Even if we can’t remember the past experience or the feelings that went with it, the body and our energy field DO remember. The unexpressed energy ends up being continually triggered by the current circumstances in our life until we empty out the old pool that has built up over the years.
When this old pool of lower vibrational emotions are triggered, they overwhelm our common sense and logical left brain. It impairs our ability to see clearly and we feel like we are losing control. Instead of acknowledging the message and releasing the energy from an emotion moving through us, we have learned to resist or avoid it. So many of us feel a small child’s terror about giving our full attention and expression to our feelings. This is the ego moving in to protect us from those feelings as if we are still 4 years old. When we learn how to respond by relaxing and becoming curious, we remember that our old emotions are simply messengers letting us know we were not getting what we want, or we got something we didn’t want. We can determine what that is and then step in to do what is most loving for ourselves in the current situation. When we were small, it may not have been safe to acknowledge or express how we felt and we had limited choices to take care of ourselves. As a result, many of us have wired up the idea of danger with feeling and expressing our emotions. As adults, we have the choice to create our own inner safety. We can now take action on our own behalf, including expressing what is moving through us.
If you have not yet become familiar with your feelings, the first place to start to is to focus on our body. What are the sensations that we are feeling? Where are those sensations? In your belly? Your heart? Your head? If those sensations had a color, sound, or another characteristic, what would it be? If that sensation were to speak, what would it say to you? Become interested and curious in a kind and caring way by giving your full attention to the sensation without trying to figure it out or ‘do’ anything about it. Let it speak to you. What emotion is looking to express itself? Is it sadness, fear, anger or hurt? If you need help identifying what it is, here is a color wheel from an earlier blog post. Once you can recognize the emotion moving through you, the first step is to simply name it for what it is as you notice it. If you are feeling sadness, you can simply say “sadness is here.” Just a simple recognition can be enough to help move the energy to completion. There is nothing to fix, nothing that is ‘wrong’ with you. The energy of these emotions is simply looking to be recognized and accepted by you so they can give you their message and move on. Your job is to let go, allow them to tell you their story, and thank them for their message. Now that you know how it is for you, what new choice will you make that is the most loving one for you?
How will you release what binds you today?