Swimming the Highs, Surfing the Lows

Mindful thoughts…and shifting energy…

Sitting with my morning coffee, I was talking with a friend who has been feeling pretty “up and down” lately, both emotionally and energetically. I knew exactly what she was talking about.

Have you ever felt yourself shifting from feeling pretty great to suddenly feeling pretty awful?

One minute you’re feeling content, happy maybe even, and the next you feel this wash of sadness - and then things shift again, you can’t pinpoint why exactly, but you find yourself back in that place of contentment. And so on and back and forth and you aren’t sure if you’re losing control of yourself or you’re under the mercy of some unseen psychic forces.

Let me reassure you right now - I don’t believe either is true. There is Bipolar disorder, but I’m not talking about that. Bipolar disorder requires an extreme and comes with a host of other symptoms. What I’m talking about is this subtle shift of up and down…like a bouy stuck out in the middle of the ocean.

Which brings me to my next point…

Life presents us with these times to get our attention. It signals, in my opinion, a time where we can choose to follow the movement of our emotions and emotional energy that arises from either/and our mental thoughts or our spiritual/energetic growth. (Personally, I believe they are all inter-related, but you should follow whichever of these that seems right to you.)

I see it all the time in my therapy and Energy Healing sessions too. People struggling to stay afloat in the dips of sadness and try to hold on tightly to the rise of contentment and joy.

Now you know by now, I always look to Nature and my faith (also inter-related) as my greatest teachers…our greatest teachers. And since I am a Jersey Shore girl, I want to use the beautiful vast ocean as my example.

Have you ever watched the ocean? Waves swell up but there are always the bottoms of the waves too. They rise and fall. Actually, they fall all over themselves!!! Talk about being a mess!

But, there is beauty in that mess, isn’t there?

So, we can look to the waves to teach us.

When we are at our peak, we can swim with it, relish in it, play in it, immerse ourselves in it.

And when we are at the bottom, with the wave crashing in on us, we can choose to struggle against it (which if we were really in the water and you know anything about swimming in the ocean, you know we have a pretty good chance at getting exhausted and drowning)

- or -

we can surf it.

We can surrender to it, accept it, and ride it safely towards land. We can struggle with the current, or we can relax into it. And, all the time, we can hold a place of gratitude for all the messiness, the sometimes wild ride, and let go of anything that we’re struggling against.

Many things come up to the surface to allow us to either swim with it - by looking at it, exploring it, and when we’re ready, to release it. And many things that we keep pushing under will eventually lead us to exhaustion and struggle and eventually looking at it in a not so fun way.

What I’m trying to say is, accept where you are in any given moment. Swim, surf, but whatever you do, appreciate the ride and find gratitude in the cleansing lows as much as the uplifting highs.

This means we have to stay mindful - and why we focus on Mindfulness as being a key foundation skill. Like anything, and I’ll sound like a broken record, being mindful isn’t the same as being meditative - it’s about being present-focused, in this moment, and making the choice if you can swim or need to surf.

Our minds don’t naturally stay in a mindful place. It takes practice. A lot of practice. But, it’s so very doable. It’s even better when we learn how to practice while we’re carrying on with our everyday routine and tasks.

You can learn to be mindful for more inner mental and emotional peace. You may want to learn through therapy and/or you can learn to be mindful for more energetic cleansing and release. Energetically, we need to know when to call energy in and when to release it (and how).

I hope this helps you stop struggling. I hope you relish in the swim and find peace in the surf!

If you need help with this, please reach out to me.

Wishing you uplifting waves,

Beth

For more information about our counseling services, please click here: Integrative Counseling

PS: If you’d like to try a mindfulness exercise, this is a short guided video by Jon Kabat-Zinn - one of my favorites! Click here for his YouTube Video: Breathscape And Bodyscape guided meditation

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