Do you ever wonder if there is such a thing as achieving balance? Do you ever feel pulled in so many different directions you doubt balance is possible? Between family responsibilities, the kids, work deadlines, bills, friendships, exercise, eating right, cleaning, and shopping, where on Earth is the time to find the elusive sense of balance we are encouraged to locate?
As I sit Indian-style in my office chair tapping away on my laptop, inhaling the gorgeous diffused aroma of patchouli, lime, and frankincense, I wonder if my body (physical, emotional, and spiritual) is appropriately balanced? Yesterday at a luncheon with our local dōTERRA community we listened to Dr. Sarah Johnson, DC and cervical spine specialist, share tips on the subject of achieving balance naturally. Her words, and more importantly her questions, linger inside my head and heart today and have created a desire to share with a larger audience. Do you listen to the silent words spoken by your body each day?
Let’s take a moment together to close our eyes and feel deeply inside of our bodies. Do you sense pain or discomfort anywhere? Are you carrying around repressed emotions? Stuffed feelings? Unconfronted numbness? Is that tension in your neck and shoulders due to carrying around a heavy burden for years that you have just allowed to become the new norm? How about that nagging discomfort in your lower back or hips? Is that from lifting inattentively, or is it a conglomeration of unaddressed emotions pooling together in a little circle trying to grab your attention, begging for release?
Our bodies are masters of adaptation. They are built to respond to stress, and habituate. The risk of this adaptation is that when we keep pushing a new normal on all three levels (mind, body, spirit), the body, out of self-preservation, keeps going until it no longer can resulting in dis-ease and discomfort.
Feelings Buried Alive Never Die
This week, I have been digging feverishly into Kathy Truman’s insightful book, Feelings Buried Alive Never Die, and have come to some powerful realizations surrounding the origins of feelings and emotions, as well as the unique space they take up in our bodies.
Put simply, feelings and thoughts are made of energy and energy is matter. Physics teaches us that matter is never destroyed, but can be altered. So what happens to our thoughts and feelings since they are virtually indestructible?
Feelings are born moment-to-moment and what we choose to do with them profoundly impacts our overall health and wellness. Please re-read that sentence. Let’s think of emotions like grains for a moment. Is it your tendency to toss feelings into the storehouse of your mind or heart, unconsciously collecting them one-by-one and allowing them to accumulate unaddressed? Every kernel of hurt, every ragged rejection, every bit of anguish, pain, confidence-snatching humiliation, breath-taking overwhelm, every slicing condescending comment thrown our way, and every grain of grief. What happens when these storehouses get filled to the roof? One of two things may happen; We start a second storehouse, or the lid bursts unexpectedly on the overfilled one.
I would like to suggest a third option: Sift through the grains. Sort the emotions, one by one. Take away the prison-like power of negative emotions, break the stronghold by walking straight into them. Wait, you may be thinking, “Well, that’s painful and will cause heartache Jen. ” Yes, it will hurt. Yes, it will sting, often unbearably. Yes, you may shed oceans of tears. Yes, you may have to go places (metaphorically speaking) you prefer not to, but what is the alternative? Allow the undigested emotions to destroy the cells in your body causing symptoms of dis-ease?
Defining Positive and Negative Emotions
In Dr. Joan Borysenko’s book, Minding the Body, Minding the Mind, she describes feelings this way:
“Positive Emotions create bodily sensations of openness and expansiveness. They invite the world in. The body feels relaxed, even though some emotions such as joy are very energizing. In contrast, negative emotions create a tight, contracted feeling. Everything pulls inward. The world is pushed away. Positive feelings invite unity. Negative feelings invite isolation. Becoming a skilled observer of your own emotions allows you to make a conscious choice between love and unity, or fear and isolation. ”
I want to choose love and unity every single time. I believe we have the capacity to reject fear and isolation. A line from one of my favorite songs goes like this:
“FEAR is a LIAR. He will take your breath, stop you in your steps. He will rob your rest, steal your happiness. Cast your fear in the fire, cuz fear, he is a liar.”
Essential Oils for Emotions
The fascinating thing about essential oils is that they have the capacity to support individuals on both a physical and emotional level. The beauty of nature and creation is such that our bodies receive the chemistry of essential oils on the cellular level via cell receptors. With a variety of Certified Pure, Therapeutic Grade essential oils to choose from, there are several solutions to meet your emotional needs.
A favorite for emotional support is the Emotional Aromatherapy Kit, containing essential oil blends specifically formulated with balanced chemistry to deliver the desired outcomes. With names like Peace, Forgive, Cheer, Passion, Motivate, and Console, they are designed to touch right on the epicenter of our emotions.
What if all we had to fear was LOVE? Would that bring us into balance?
Until next time my cherished friends,
Stand In Love, Jen
To learn more, or to bring these natural treasures into your home today, please start here.
Jennifer Miller is a Las Vegas-based dōTERRA Wellness Advocate, Speaker, and Marketing Consultant. She volunteers as a Community Partner for global nonprofit BeadforLife, whose mission is to provide entrepreneurial training to 1 million impoverished people globally by 2027. Click here for a listing of upcoming events, or Follow her on Instagram or Facebook @standinlovejen . To begin your natural health and wellness journey today with essential oils, click here .
Stand In Love 