I went searching for northern lights last night.  It is on my bucket list to see northern lights and I know I will one day. Last night I experienced a glimpse of them.  They were not noticeable with the naked eye but a picture was able to capture it a little.  Although I could not see them with my eyes I know I could feel them, coming down from the sun and lighting up my body with all the goodness the sun has to offer. 

One of my favourite things to do is to look at the night sky.  There is so much going on up there.  Most people don’t give it a thought or take the time to experience it.  They take it for granted that the sky is there.  Think about it.  The stars, planets, moon, sun, solar system, have been following the same path for a very, very long time.  They all have a trajectory they follow. There is movement but also a constant that comes from the universe.  We are a part of that universe, we are the universe.  Do we have a trajectory that we follow?  Is there movement as well as a constant that is a part of us? A set pattern that we move through?

Life is so much more than the daily routine that we tend to find ourselves in.  The bubble we stay in so we feel safety, does it really keep us safe?  There are so many possibilities available to us, yet I believe that there is also a constant there as well.  The constant of the stars, the sun, the moon, the planets and their predictability.  As a start, why not make the depths of the sky the top of our safety bubble?  Then maybe one day we won’t feel the need for the bubble at all.  Our life would be so expansive – imagine what you could do and experience instead of getting caught up in the day to day drama. 

I think back to what I thought was important 20 years ago, 10 years ago even a month ago.  Most of those things were not important at all.  They got me caught up in drama – kept me stuck – and used up a lot of my precious energy. Some were important and still are and I know the difference because instead of feeling drained when I think about them my heart feels full.  

So from northern lights, to reflecting on the universe, to taking a different look at my safety bubble I leave you with this exercise to do on today’s blog.  Whatever you are experiencing right now, reflecting on, using lots of mind power, talking about to others about - put that in your mind and breathe for a second.  Is it filling up your heart or is it draining energy away from you?  Is it feeling expansive?  Or is it feeling contracting?  Let that guide you through your day. 

Are you living an expansive life?

"I am angry."  vs  "I have anger in me."

Emotions can become overwhelming and it is easy to let them become WHO we are and allow them to take over.  Even "good" emotions can take an unconscious control of your actions and thoughts. I have been overwhelmed by emotions many times through my life and even with everything I now know I can be triggered easily depending on the circumstances.

Emotions are not who we are. They are something we experience and can observe.  We can use the emotion to guide us and lead us to a message that is being given to us.  You are not angry, you are the being that is observing the anger in yourself.  There is a difference.  You have the power to not let the anger control your actions and thoughts.

Essential oils are a tool that can be used during this process.  Each oil has a unique chemistry that can be of assistance for different types of emotions.  They assist us in the process of moving the emotion from taking over and becoming WHO we are - to us becoming the OBSERVER of the emotion.  

The oils that are part of our emotional blends such as Forgive are good examples.  Forgive is a good aroma to smell when anger takes over and you need help to move in to observing the anger instead of being the anger.  

Next time you start to feel anger boiling up inside you do the following and see if you can move to a state of "observing" the emotion:
 
- Stop everything if you can, find a focal point to focus on, and take 3 big breaths.  
- Place a few drops of Forgive on your hand or use your Forgive Touch.  
- Take in the aroma of the Forgive as you keep on breathing.  
- Ask yourself why you are experiencing anger? ( not - why am I angry)
- Ask yourself if this emotion is beneficial at this time?
- Ask yourself what the message could be in this situation?
- Continue to breath and ask yourself if you have control over your thoughts and actions at this time?

Sometimes anger is an appropriate emotion to experience based on the situation and can give you the energy needed to take a certain action.  Many times, once you have more control over your thoughts and actions, you realize that something triggered you to experience anger even though the emotion of anger is not a productive one for the situation and is causing more harm than good. 

Emotions Mentor sessions can be very beneficial in working through this process.  Each session is unique to my client and what they are experiencing at the time.  I am there as a guide and observer for them and ask questions to assist them in understanding what may have triggered an emotion and or the message behind it.  At times we go through the process of releasing what can be a trigger so that in the future the emotion will not come up in that particular situation. 

If you have ever experienced an Emotions Mentor session and would like to share about it below I would love to hear from you <3

I am offering a 50% discount to the first 3 people that reach out to me to book an Emotions Mentor Session with me this month (April 2021).

Have you ever stopped to give some thought about what emotions are?  If you were asked to name an emotion that is something you probably could do.  But where does this emotion come from?  What is its purpose?  Are there negative and positive emotions?  

A resource that I have found useful is the Atlas of Emotion website (www.atlasofemotion.org).

“The Dalai Lama imagined a map of our emotions to develop a calm mind. He asked his longtime friend and renowned emotion scientist Dr. Paul Ekman to realize his idea. Ekman took on the creation of the Atlas alongside his daughter, Eve Ekman, a second-generation emotion researcher and trainer. The Atlas represents what researchers have learned from the psychological study of emotion.”

According to Dr. Ekman’s theory there are 5 universal emotions that everyone on this earth has regardless of their background and upbringing: Enjoyment, Sadness, Fear, Disgust, Anger. 

There are many other theories about emotions.  I particularly like the ones that show the range of emotions in each category as this can give you an understanding or way point of sorts on what you are experiencing.

Plutchik’s wheel of emotions is another way to represent emotions. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=13285286
 
“Psychologist Robert Plutchik created the Plutchik Model shown above. It shows there are 8 basic emotions: joy, trust, fear, surprise, sadness, anticipation, anger, and disgust. Plutchik’s wheel of emotions organizes these 8 basic emotions based on the physiological purpose of each. The model is actually the little “ice cream cone” which unfolds to the emotions wheel.”

You can look at this interactive model here:
www.6seconds.org/2020/08/11/plutchik-wheel-emotions/
 
This is just a beginning into the world of emotions.  These two references can shed a lot of light as you explore their interactive models.

One more interactive wheel I would like to share today brings in a passion of mine, essential oils.  Essential oils have a way of impacting our emotions.  That will be the topic of another blog post.  This wheel created by Rebecca Hintze can help us while we are in different emotional states using essential oils and affirmations.  It can also be used to see where we may be “storing” emotions physically in our bodies.

“Essential oils are pattern interrupters. As we inhale them, their all-natural aromatic compounds literally interact with our olfactory nerve and contribute to breaking up our routine pathways of thought. If we position positive thinking with using an essential oil, we can support our mind in reversing the neurochemistry of negative thoughts (which affect our health in negative ways), and inspire a positive thought that can help rewire our brain in positive ways. The Emotions Mentor® Wheel is a simple tool that you can use on your own to identify an emotion, reorganize your thinking and include an essential oil in the process to help the healing process speed up”

https://www.rebeccahintze.com/emotions-mentor-wheel/

 
I do not believe that we can ever explain everything about emotions.  In a way I like that some part of the origins of emotions remain a mystery.  Just as there are many mysteries found in nature that we could never recreate.  I believe that emotions are a part of the richness of living a joyful life. 

I have decided to write. 

Write the thoughts that come into my mind… and there are a lot of them! 

Write about life, sadness, joy, happiness, anger, grief… about human emotion. 

It has been suggested to me to start a blog – that my words may make a difference for others and for myself too. So here goes! 

The Sun Will Rise Again in the Morning, Day by Day, Minute by Minute, Second by Second… I have said this to myself at times in my life.  Sometimes thinking anywhere past the next second would be too difficult so I would tell myself that all I have to do is make it to the next second, minute, hour, day and that the sun will rise again. There always was the constant of the sunrise that I could depend on.

This is why I am calling my blog “The Sun Will Rise Again”.

I feel very vulnerable doing this but that is okay. I have realized that being vulnerable is the way to live a joyful life. I just finished a certification process to be an Emotions Mentor. Such a powerful process that has allowed me lots of time to reflect, learn and evolve. During this process there was a discussion that stood out. I do not remember the exact words but the message was that it is not always necessary to share your life story if you want to get out of patterns that no longer serve you. We were told to not over identify with our “stories”.  These words stood out for me. 

Don’t take what I am going to say next the wrong way as many have shared what has happened to them in their life and this is what they were called to do and was exactly what they needed to do and it has made a difference for so many. For me, I never felt inclined to share everything that has happened to me. We all have our past, our life experiences, that have shaped us to be the person we are today. Some people do not want to share their past because it is too painful and not healing for them to relive it over and over again. Some don’t want to because in sharing, people they care about would be affected and have their life shared whether they wanted to or not. Some simply do not want to. There could be many reasons. 

I am sure there are others that feel like me, right? There has to be. The reality for me is that we all have “stuff” that happen to us and what may seem small to one person is huge for the person who experienced it. Or what seems huge to one person seems small to the person who experienced it. You never know what left an imprint in your brain as you grew up. It could be the simplest of words that you heard someone say that have left a belief in your brain that you still live by that does not serve you.  

So this is to all of you who do not feel called to speak up about what has happened to you. No matter what it is just know that you are never alone.  This is for the quiet, silent person that sits in the back. This is for the person who feels misunderstood or not good enough. This is for the person that does not love themself or believes that they are not worthy or not good enough. This is for the person who knows there is a better way to experience life and needs that little nudge to move forward.

Remember that the sun will always rise again.