Soothe away suffering
Self-soothing is the key to returning to love, listening to your inner wisdom, and feeling at peace with yourself.
Remember that this is a process so be gentle with yourself. You will get better at it with time. Simple things work but only if you practice them.
1. Hold Yourself in Compassion
You cannot move beyond struggle without compassion. My former self was a master of self-deprecating thoughts that only fueled feeling stuck and unworthy of a vibrant life. I had a lot of passion but very little compassion. I was hard on myself and hard on others. I did not realize just how much pressure I was putting on myself until I began holding myself in compassion. Self-deprecating thoughts like criticism dull the awareness to simple solutions. It narrows perception and makes it difficult to become aware of support of all kinds. Focusing on suffering with a compassionate heart does not solidify the suffering but rather transforms it to reveal a new more loving reality. Compassion invites us to open, soften, melt, ground, trust, surrender, transform, and receive all things nourishing. Misa Hopkins’ programs, teachings, and meditations are rich in compassion.
Compassion is like an enormous, comforting, energetic bubble around your body that is completely accepting of all your perceptions, emotions, and experiences. It invites you to stretch your awareness beyond your human perceived problems. Your loving attention expands the bubble. Being present this way, even for seconds of time, is you getting out of the way for the energy of Intelligent Love to flow through you and around you.
Questions to explore…
In what ways can I be softer with myself today?
What would it feel like to trust my path and treat myself kindly?
2. Establish a Self Care Routine
Self-care is a container for self-reflection and self-awareness. An ideal time to get clear about what you want and do not want, self-care activities like journaling, baths, calming exercise, massage, being in nature, and meditation chip away at habitual suffering and create room for love to blossom within. Choose anything that slows you down and gives you some space to regenerate and renew. Set healthy boundaries with others so that you won’t be disturbed during this precious time. I highly recommend making meditation part of your life. Withdrawing from the external world to focus inward is a perfect time to practice compassion. The Intelligent Divine is watching you and will give you more of what you give yourself.
Caring for self is like becoming a rocky beach receiving the ocean. Wave after wave crashes onto your shoreline. Infinite amounts of clean, salty water plummet into every crevasse, touching every stone, grain of sand, and the spaces between them. The vast ocean both brings in the new and takes away the old, leaving you feeling fresh, clean, and revived.
Questions to explore…
What quiet activities can I incorporate in my life to show the Divine how I want to be cared for?
What would it feel like to consciously choose relaxation and renewal?
3. Practice Gratitude & Appreciation
Gratitude is the great purifier. Gratitude is your heart directly sending loving energy into your brain. I trained myself to feel gratitude in the midst of distressing symptoms. No matter how bad things look, there is always something to be grateful for or appreciate. The more I practice gratitude, the more easily I slip into the perception of knowing the vitality in everyone and everything. At least once a day, place your hands over your heart center and smile to yourself, for yourself. Close your eyes and take a few deep breaths. Think about what you are noticing in your world now that is pleasing to you. What basic things do you gain benefit from? Do you appreciate nature, water, friends, yummy foods and beverages, your home, your sincerity? There are countless things we can take for granted that we would miss if they disappeared. Just start somewhere and keep going. As this gets easier begin giving thanks for things you want before they show up in your life. So powerful! Feel how much you will enjoy it. You can use your self-care time to practice gratitude and appreciation. If you need some help, go to the Audios 4 You page for a simple Self Soothing audio.
Gratitude and appreciation feel like being at the beach, breathing in ocean air. It enters your lungs and your body’s bloodstream. Oxygen is distributed throughout your body. This fresh air is within you and all around you. It touches your skin and seeps into your pores. Immersed in ionized air, you feel energized and relaxed. Every cell in your body benefits. You are laughing and talking to strangers in a state of carefree ease. Your mind is clear. Your heart is light. All feels right in your world.
Questions to explore…
What and who add to the quality of my life? And how?
How do I feel when someone appreciates me?
4. Access the Love Creator Within
There are many healing systems, modalities, and personal empowerment programs available today. I have benefitted from several and each was a step in my journey to recognizing that true change comes from within. If you are looking for a quick fix and mostly focused on feeling the lack of something, your inner stories are diminishing the empowered creator within you. The way out of something unwanted is to go IN. Go in and be compassionate and kind. Go in and feel grateful for your life. Go in with care. Go in to discover what inner stories you are believing about you. Go in and re-write your inner stories. For me, Dr. Joe Dispenza and Misa Hopkins programs have most helped me to connect with the divine love creator within. Study truth teachings that resonate with you. Study people who have overcome adversity to become people helping people remember their value. Divine Love is already within you. You would not exist otherwise. Accessing the love creator within you is a process of weeding out inner stories that are hindering this knowing. Create new ones reflecting how you want to feel when the health, the job, the relationship are part of your physical experience. As Dr. Joe says, “Live like your prayers have been answered.” The Divine will blow your mind with outpourings to match how you think and feel.
Accessing the love creator within feels like experiencing yourself as a healthy, thriving baby whose needs are all being graciously tended to with love, understanding, and joy. Emotions are expressed freely. Worry or concern about how your needs will be met is non-existent. Whatever you need shows up for you in delightful ways. You see the world through the eyes of wonder. You receive and give love wholeheartedly. You sleep well, eat well, laugh and cry. People want to hold you and shower you with compliments. You are curious and funny. All is well.
Questions to explore…
What would it feel to know that everything I need is within me?
How does a person who knows their value feel and think?