Releasing the Emotional Storm

      How often do we bottle all our emotions up inside, push them down deep and hide them from everyone, even ourselves.

      It’s so much easier to hide from the tough emotions, to pretend they don’t exist, to show the world our outer shell that hides the inner turmoil. But what happens when we need to release the pressure, to allow some of those emotions out, to allow ourselves to feel. Often this results in emotional overload, outbursts, self incrimination. We need to find a way to ease the pressure in other, more constructive ways, but how?? This has been a burning question for me over the years and it wasn’t until recently I realised I had my answer all the time, I just hadn’t recognised it.

      Towards the end of last year I went on a retreat, my aim was to find me again, to reconnect with my goddess within and allow her freedom to be real. It was on this retreat I came to two big conclusions. The first being that my happy calming place is water, be it a lake, a river, a dam, but mainly the ocean. The cleanse I feel with me feet in the water and sand is incredible. I feel renewed and revived, ow I live close to the ocean once more I actually can see how much I needed it to ground and centre me.

      So now at least a couple of times a week you can find me walking along the waters edge, alone or with my dog, letting the stresses of my life flow out to sea, using the ebb and flow of the tide to refresh my soul. I’ve also started Stand Up Paddle Boarding to continue my joy of the sea.

      The second revelation I had was when we were asked to do something creative to express emotions, mainly turned to art, which I actually suck at lol, so as I was thinking on what to do, to my total surprise words started to flow again, for the first time in years. I wasn’t struggling to put words on paper, they were just pouring out of me. I rediscovered my love for poetry to express to turmoil within, the ability to journal and put my thoughts onto paper has long been my go to when I struggle, I just didn’t consciously acknowledge it. Being at that retreat allowed me to look within and let these truths resurface.

      So my advice to all, find your place, the one place you feel safe, secure, alive, restored and grounded, it’s amazing how simple that place can be, but also how important it is, a place to escape the noise, both external and internal, to give yourself a place to process and deal, to bring the smile back to your face.

      Also find a way to release those thoughts, emotions, dialogues that clutter your mind, it can be through words like me or art, drawing, painting, sculpting. Maybe exercise is your thing, baking, meditation, whatever works for you, embrace it, use it, that doing something just for you, could be the very thing you need in the moment.

      Self care and self love are so very important, you can’t help everyone else in your life if you can’t help yourself, you are important, you are worthy and I see you!!!

Happiness it's inside us, waiting to come out...

      How often do you sit and think? Really take time out from everything, to look around you, to consider where you are, what you are doing and where you are heading. In this world of constant go, go, go, should we take more time out? Or do we tend to only stop to ponder once something major happens in our lives?

      Today I had a chance to just stop for a while,to take a few cleansing breaths and think. Where am I at the moment? Is it where I want to be? Am I happy to be here? I think we should all take stock of our lives regularly, stop review things and make adjustments where needed.

      We spend so much of our lives worried about others, making sure our partners, kids, family are happy, taken care of and getting what they need, but how often do we focus on ourselves? Why do we feel guilty if we take time out, isn't our happiness and mental health just as important as everyone else's?

     The key to our happiness is inside of us all, we cannot be truely happy until we are happy within ourselves, no one else can help with that, it is the great conundrum which faces us all. The materialistic world we exist in, leads us to believe we can buy happiness, having more money, the latest car, being skinny or fashionable, are among the many things most of us strive for, believing once we achieve these goals happiness will follow, but it doesn't. Why??

      It's actually pretty simple, although can be difficult to achieve, once we are truely comfortable in our own skins and happy with who we are, then we can look to these other goals, they will then enhance the happiness we already have. 

      The inner me is not quite happy yet, but I'm working on it, I understand what I need to help with the process, it's not easy, but they say nothing worth doing is easy. I know I'm a work in progress, I also know that I take wrong turns, but it's getting easier to get back on track. I will find the happy medium I need, in the meantime I will remind myself to take time, to stop, relax and just breathe!!!