Today, Labor Day, 2011, I find myself reflecting on the meaning of work. Most times when I hear about work it is in a negative context such as: “Ugh! I have to go to work.” Or “No, I can’t do that, I have to work today.” Or one’s spirit is a bit deflated and resigned to: “I wish I could join you but I have to work.” Sometimes I hear people looking forward to the future: “I can’t wait to retire. Then I won’t have to work.” Some of my Facebook friends commented on those who were working on this holiday vs. those were enjoying the fruits of that labor. The ones doing the commenting were the ones “working” today and not enjoying it.

So what is “work” and why does so much of our life revolve around it? What is your purpose in exerting physical labor or mental activity? In a larger context, consider whether or not your work reflects your passion … something that interests you deeply, something you care about and something you love doing. A job, on the other hand, is a way to earn a living and pay your bills. If you are among the lucky ones, you love your job and that is your work.  Imagine how different the world would be if everyone unhappy with their jobs, switched until they found something they truly loved and then they engaged passionately in daily work. Or perhaps people could begin to view their jobs differently and appreciate the ways in which their job adds value to their life as well as the lives of others.

It used to baffle me why people spend so much of their lives doing something that they regularly complain about or that genuinely makes them sick or that they don’t enjoy. The more deeply I engage in my work, the more I realize that it’s because many people live their lives unconsciously, on automatic pilot, and feel powerless to change. Without thinking, people spout off about going to work, being at work or having to work. Are you among them? When this happens, universal forces arrange themselves to bring you exactly what you are feeling and what you express. Reflect on this for a moment. How do you feel about your job or your work and what do you say to others or articulate about your circumstances?  Do you see any patterns between what you convey and what actually happens or unfolds?

The good news is that you and your circumstances can change, even with our high rates of unemployment. In a few days, Karen Kallie, Tony Pace and I will launch the first program in our Living Energy: Personal Energy Empowerment Series. Watch for it. It might help you shift your life and engage in work that you truly love. Perhaps by Labor Day 2012 you will be positioned to love your work and your job!

Related articles

• Labor Day (xandrepressview.com)
• Labor Day Blessings! (guchiid.wordpress.com)

Seven Key Strategies to Relieve Stress

1. Be clear about your goal–often we do not take time to really define what it is we would like to create

2. Write down what values are important to you, prioritize the list and keep it handy to check your daily activities against

3. Make realistic timetables for goals and tasks; delegate; eliminate/simplify; pad  estimated time by 15%

4. Set up a plan to make sure you accomplish what you truly  desire

5. Talk with family and friends, enlist their support, and  poll them to see how they are willing to help

6. Keep your plan handy; look at it frequently to see if you  are spending time doing things that help you toward your goals or if you are getting  sidetracked. Being sidetracked is not always bad…it can be good information for you–perhaps your goal is not what you think it is–maybe something deeper is trying to emerge—maybe your ladder is up against the wrong building!

7. Look deeper at why you may be trying to do too much,  please others, or remain forever busy and over committed.

In addition to having practical steps to relieving stress and moving toward goals we also need to attend to our deeper selves, our inner lives. When we do we find a source of inspiration, nourishment and support that can turbo charge our external efforts.

Strategies to connect inwardly to build  and maintain energy

1. Give yourself some quiet time to relax/meditate, connect  more deeply with feelings of peace, love, beauty. This practice builds energy and allows you to remain focused in the moment. It becomes easier to not be carried off by the stress, multiple demands, old patterns, & expectations.

Daily meditation provides the space to develop the qualities of acceptance, inner peace and surrender. Development of these traits enables you to just let things be what they are instead of exerting futile effort trying to force events or people to be what you would prefer. Try this 9 mintue meditation as a start: http://http://www.livingenergyworks.com/audio.html

We all have idealistic pictures of things as they “should be“.  The external world hardly ever matches inner expectations. We really do know this inwardly but resist, always hoping it can be different. If we learn to accept rather than resist, things have a funny way
of working out and often better than we imagine!

2. Get a massage. Relaxing the body can help the mind find ease.

3. Listen to music that relaxes you, makes you happy, picks up your energy while you are driving or doing mundane tasks. Also spend some time in silence, give yourself a break from constant input. Be aware of ‘aural hygiene‘. There is a lot of stimulation coming at us constantly. We can monitor this making sure we have more of what feeds our energy rather than depletes it
or jangles our nerves.

4. Decide how you can bring more peace and beauty into your life in small ways. Make a list and implement those ideas. Take charge of your every day environment so that it feeds your senses. Focus on bringing color, texture, aroma into your life. Move things around, change them frequently. As we acclimate, we no longer notice what’s around us.

5. Change small things: the way you drive to work; the side of the bed you get up on; where you have lunch; HOW you have lunch. These changes are small but they help to keep you from going on auto pilot. They will help to keep you more in the present and aware of the aliveness in each moment instead of slipping into numbness.

6. Make it a priority to involve yourself in and enjoy all of your moments. Being present is a gift you can give to your SELF!

As life gets busier and more complex, do you find you are feeling more tension, more of a sense of being out of control, out of time and out of energy? Have you felt obligations and responsibilities growing and taking over what used to be your life? It is natural when that happens to begin to lose the capacity for resting in the moment and having a sense of satisfaction with what is. Pleasure seems to disappear, your sense of humor dulls and pretty soon you are not feeling happy very often and maybe your ability to feel anything good seems to have exited, stage left!

It seems to be a human inclination that as outside demands grow larger and more demanding we neglect to take care of ourselves and this is a perfect setting for not only stress but “burn out”….a very real phenomenon that affects every aspect of your being.

How can you turn this around?

Begin by identifying what you need, and how much you can realistically give of your time, money, or energy. As you move through each day remain aware of your needs and ‘assets‘, emotional and otherwise. Notice when circumstances are becoming overwhelming and learn to say NO. Giving from an “empty cup” is a recipe for stress, resentment and blame toward others for taking too much. It is neither kind nor gracious and other people recognize this.

Take personal responsibility to maintain your energy level, schedule and balance.

To do this effectively it may be necessary to look at the deeper roots of why self care is so difficult. Turn up the volume on the conversations that go on in your mind. We all have them…old messages & beliefs formed earlier in life. We usually are not aware that we carry perspectives that may be outdated, or that may be influencing our behavior in a negative way.

Some of these ’beliefs’ are probably good solid values. There are others that served you well at the time, but need revision to fit
effectively into your current life. Discovering and honestly acknowledging what thoughts, attitudes and beliefs are behind over-commitment, hectic schedules and lack of time for yourself is one way to begin to design a stress-less holiday and a stress-less life!

It is important to recognize what needs your patterns may satisfy. Your needs are not wrong, but the way you are trying to meet them may be ineffective. Successful change requires releasing old habits and filling your needs in positive ways.

Creating more fulfilling choices for yourself comes from a clear recognition of how each choice affects your whole being. How different would your life be if you evaluated how your decisions affected your heart and mind before you made them? We often run our lives from our heads, from the world of ideas, concepts, shoulds, oughts and musts. Sit quietly with each decision you
make and notice how your heart and mind respond to it. This process can be enlightening. When there is a conflict between the mind and heart, it is almost certain that you will experience stress and eventually a variety of difficulties will manifest in your health, relationships and performance.

We can create lives that we love. Creating change from the inside, by listening more closely to your heart, is the beginning. Try tuning into your inner voice more often and see if you don’t experience more ease and less stress!

 Next time: 7 Key Strategies to Relieve Stress

How Stressed Are You—-really?

This cool new tool really does show you something about the degree to which you are stressed. Would be fun to try it before and after Relaxation 101…that may be a research project!

Times of change and uncertainty provide ripe ground for our fears and personal myths to emerge. Instead of allowing them to remain out of awareness where they are free to create chaos or employing ineffective means to manage and control them, we can choose methods that provide us a way out… a way to personal emotional freedom and inner balance. Willingness to try a different approach, patience for the learning curve and a commitment to be gentle and kind to your self will benefit you personally and professionally.

You are an individual with unique needs.  Therefore, self care is different for each of us.  When you spend time getting to know yourself, you can try many different things and learn what works best for you.  Take nutrition for example, we all need to eat a healthy and balanced diet every day.  The personal choices we make to get there can vary greatly.  Some people may feel better with high levels of protein while others feel better with more carbohydrates.  Some people enjoy eating meat while others prefer a vegetarian diet.  We also need to take different cultural backgrounds and tastes into consideration.  It doesn’t matter how you get there, as long as your choices work for you.  Learn about what is available and then do what truly feels right for you.

Questions that can help you define your specific needs to help manage and reduce your stress:

Where am I too attached to outcomes?

Where and why do I care too much?

Where are my personal boundaries and responsibilities?

Are my expectations of self and other realistic?

If I change my way of approaching this situation, what is my worst fear? Is it realistic? What are healthy alternatives?

The key to living well through times of change and uncertainty is to take personal responsibility for your “self” care.

Prolonged stress leads to anger, depression and illness.  The more responsibility you take for yourself, the more easily you are able to navigate the roads of change.

 What is optimal “self” care and how can you practice it?

Self care requires truly understanding yourself from the inside out and balancing the needs of your body, mind and spirit.   It involves taking time to nourish yourself every day and knowing your trigger points.  Once you are aware of different stressors that impact you, you can learn tools, techniques and resources to draw on whenever needed.

Unfortunately adaptation to stress has become so commonplace that it is often a major obstacle to the self awareness necessary for skilled self care. It is easy to become so used to “the way things are’ that you believe you are not being affected by stress. This mind set is one that will allow stress to silently but steadily erode health over time.

An important first step to changing this is to pay attention to the feeling of overwhelm….a sense that there is too much to do in too short a time…..feelings of overload. These are feelings that are so widespread that they are often dismissed or accepted as par for the course. However, it is at this stage that there is a prime opportunity to change the way your body and mind are affected by stress.

More often than not you are aware of the conscious thoughts that flow through your mind. Beneath them is another stream of thought that has a lot more to do with your real feelings, beliefs and views about yourself, others and life itself! Because of the nature of the ‘conversation’ at this level, no amount of intellectual planning or strategizing will be effective in supplying the long term solutions needed to maintain balanced health.

What is the answer? To give ourselves time on a regular basis to let the conscious mind quiet down so we may hear the deeper river of thought and feeling that moves through us. It is here that the all important self knowledge resides. Once we understand what is happening there, we can release old worn out beliefs that no longer serve us, erase negative thoughts and feelings and create a fertile ground for approaches that will genuinely guide us toward the life we want to live.

It is in that ‘space’ that you will come to really know yourself and be able to not only understand your triggers, but also have a clearer knowledge regarding what the solutions are. As brilliant as your everyday mind is, it is your quieter ‘inner self’ that holds the wisdom that will bring you to a rich, satisfying healthy way of being. In this quieter space questions can be asked that guide you toward your own strategic plan for inner world peace!

Next time–Questions to help you create inner peace…

When we are in times of increased stress, overwhelm and powerlessness such as those created by natural disasters,it is crucial to maintain, center and ground our energy. 

Our energy is our power. Binding it or dissipating it contributes to feelings of powerlessness, fear, confusion, constriction or pressure.

To cope with stress we are inclined to increase, decrease or freeze our energy. An increase or excess of energy to cope is manifested as a pattern of overcompensation for fear or weakness. We see this in people who dominate situations and people. On the surface this may look like a powerful approach. However, internally the excessive energy required to accomplish this behavioral style tends to become stagnate and create a health problem for the individual in whatever area of the body the excess was accumulated.

A decrease in energy or a freezing response is manifested in withdrawal in order to avoid conflict or challenge. This deficient energy state results in a feeling of being unable to cope, or have what it takes to work through situations, hence they retreat. Unfortunately this often has the consequence of reinforcing the original state and the person experiences even more of a sense of emptiness, restriction, and uselessness.

Our bodies and habits give us clues as to how we are managing our energies in response to stress. In addition to behavior, an outward manifestation of how we are managing energy is reflected in the shape our body takes, as well as in how we carry ourselves. On the positive side, our energy system is highly responsive to change and there are a wide variety of approaches that can be used for transformation.

Breath awareness and management is perhaps the simplest and most basic way to begin to be conscious of your energy patterns as well as providing you with a great method to begin to build and flow energy more easily.

Improper breathing patterns contribute to the experience of stress, anxiety, panic, depression, muscle tension, headache and fatigue. Healthy breathing practice is a key factor in the release of stress, energy flow and improvement of physical and psychological well being.

Energy & Healthy Breathing

• Proper oxygenation increases electrical charge at cellular level
• Negative ions facilitate release of carbon dioxide
• Negative ions promote passage of oxygen into bloodstream
• Positive ions have opposite effect
• Diaphragmatic breathing enhances shearing action of blood flow
• Shearing action of blood flow enhances energy

The strength, flow and frequencies of your energy system determine your overall mental and physical health. In Energy Psychology, emotional imbalance is viewed as a disruption in the flow of energy through the chakras and meridians. Similarly, in Energy Medicine, physical pain is thought to be caused by this disruption. Although each of these disciplines views the disruption of energy at a different place on the continuum of progression from mind to body, both of these approaches relieve pain and restore health by treating the human energy system. If you are aware of how your energy system relates to your well-being, it is easy to understand why this is so.
There are two ways that chakras influence your health: they “feed” your endocrine glands, and they “feed” your aura. Let’s first consider their affect on your endocrine system.
In her book, Molecules of Emotion: The Science behind Mind-Body Medicine, Dr. Candace Pert describes the chakras as “minibrains”: nodal points of electrical and chemical activity that receive process and distribute information from and to the rest of your “bodymind.”
These minibrains reside in the midline of your body, where there is also an endocrine gland and a major nerve plexus. The seven endocrine glands are fed by their associated chakras. The endocrine glands manufacture hormones and supply them to the bloodstream, where they are carried to the organs and tissues in your body. The seven nerve plexuses, which are also located along your spinal cord, are responsible for transmitting nerve impulses. They are also dense with neuropeptides.
Neuropeptides have been dubbed the “molecules of emotion” as they are the chemistry associated with our emotions. They do not rely on transmission through the nervous system. If you are experiencing happiness, for example, you will find neuropeptides associated with happiness in your body; if you are sad, there will be ”sad” neuropeptides in your body, and so forth.
Each of the seven areas that contain these structures can be seen as a model of the bodymind. Your endocrine gland represents your body; the neuropeptides your emotions; the nerve plexus correlates with your mind; the subtle energy of the chakra correlates with your spirit. If a chakra is damaged it may cause disruption in the function of its associated endocrine gland. And, because the activity of the endocrine glands and nerve plexuses is interrelated and interdependent, if an endocrine gland isn’t functioning properly, it may affect your entire bodymind.
The more you understand the flow of subtle energy, the more you can see how your thoughts, emotions, spirit and physical body are interrelated. The activity of any one aspect ultimately affects each of the others. Your thoughts influence your emotions. Your thoughts and emotions influence your spirit. Your thoughts, emotions and spirit energy are reflected in the health of your physical body. An imbalance in your body can drag you down … depressing your spirit, emotions and leading to negative thoughts. It is a two way street and can well turn into a never ending feedback loop of increasing negativity unless there is intervention to shift the process.
No matter what level of disruption is present, it can always be helpful to use some form of energy work. Obviously the deeper the problem the more different types of intervention may be advisable or required to bring about healing.
In any case, as we view our energetic anatomy and the clear model of mind-body-spirit that it provides it becomes even more obvious that we need to address ourselves, our lives and our health with a comprehensive approach that treats us as a Whole Being!

If you are interested in learning how to improve the energy of  your chakras and your life….

Our CD, Energy Aerobics, provides a guided meditation to help you to clear blocks, release negativity and strengthen your chakras.

Chakras and Feng Shui is a complete program to understand your inner and outer energy, their relationship with guidance on how to use various energetic approaches to open the flow of energy within every area of your life.

Defining the issue … Do you ever notice that your anger seems out of bounds for the current situation? If you find yourself in such a situation, it can be helpful to ask yourself if this anger has roots in an earlier life situation. Do you remember a time in the past when you first felt this way, or a time when this feeling was particularly meaningful? Often anger that has been allowed to fester or left unaddressed goes underground only to reemerge with the power and heat of steam blowing out of a pressure cooker!

 Long held childhood wounds to the self can be touched off by a passing remark or a stranger’s behavior. Asking some very direct questions about your self image, sense of personal identity and power and beliefs can be helpful.  When anger has its roots in an earlier, perhaps traumatic or abusive time, it may be important to have some support and guidance moving through the process of healing and release.

If anger seems to have become a well-worn rut in your nervous system, it can take time and a multifaceted approach to change or release it. For some people a support group that focuses positively on anger management can offer support, understanding and skill building.  There are also many books on this topic and many of them are written in workbook format so you may go through the stages of processing and learning at your own speed.  

Anger can be healthy … On the opposite end of the spectrum from explosive anger is suppression. There is a belief in some cultures that anger is never justified. The rationale is that if we are good, kind, spiritual etc., we will never be angry.  It is important to remember that anger, just like other feelings, is a natural, human and may even have a deeper message that is important for you to note. For instance, anger can be a signal to you that your boundaries have been crossed, or that you have been insulted, devalued or dismissed. Knowing how to use anger as a signal of something deeper and having the ability to respond appropriately to the situation is be healthy for us physiologically as well as for our relationships.

 Recognition of healthy anger … One way we can know if anger is appropriate and healthy is if it dissipates once we have acknowledged and expressed our feelings. Often healthy anger needs nothing more than honest, direct, non-harmful expression.  When this is not the case then anger may be pent up rage and it needs to be dealt with in a different way.  Rage is a more complex state and usually needs to be worked in stages and it is often better to have guidance and support with this kind of experience.

 Positive tools for releasing anger … Writing letters, punching pillows or banging nails, art therapy, verbal expression to the air or to a willing friend or therapist are all appropriate outlets for releasing anger. These methods help to bleed off some of the energy that would initially make problem resolution impossible. Once the intensity has been dealt with, other techniques focused on resolution can be employed.  It should be noted when contemplating cathartic tools, that neurological pathways can be grooved deeper forming a superhighway for anger to become a way of being rather than a release of the pent up energy. We are meant to feel but not to get stuck in any one emotion habitually or for extended periods.

 Children’s spontaneous expression of emotion and return to play and laughter is a model for healthy expression. Letting yourself feel an emotion without resistance and guiding it toward release works in most cases.  It is crucial to include release as part of your process.

It is beneficial to get help recognizing and releasing deeply held anger.  Meditation and breathwork are useful to identify hidden areas of anger and its sources. Certain types of breath work are particularly helpful when a deep release of patterns from the bodymind is required.  EFT and EF&H are two energetic techniques that can be very effective for releasing anger.  The beauty of using these tools is that you don’t need to know the source of your anger, you simply need a willingness to let it go.

Have you ever felt that red hot angry energy that builds up in you and creates the sense that you may explode at any moment? Or how about that seething inner burn that feels like it is frying your nerve endings? Or maybe emotional outbursts or frustrated crying jags are more your preferred style of anger management (actually those ARE a bit healthier than the former!!) Toxic anger in all its forms blocks and drains your energy.

 We all pretty much know what different kinds of anger feel like, but we often don’t think about or realize that there are very definite and possibily long term serious effects on our bodies and minds—nevermind on our relationships and lives!

So with anger, like with so many other stressful symptoms, we simply endure and wait for time to pass which gives us the illusion that we have  released and/or are “over it”. What in fact generally happens is that the emotion has been granted the favor of time for it to sink down into the recesses of our minds and bodies –only to come out and play another day or to wear away at our health, temperament and maybe even relationships.

 Imagine a continuum with ‘toxic anger’ on the negative end and ‘healthy anger’ on the positive end.  Examples of toxic anger are perhaps most often seen in newspaper headlines reporting events that result when people or countries maintain worldviews of hatred and negativity. Further along on the continuum is a less volatile type of anger that is characterized by injustice collection. The predictable companions of this form of anger are resentment and bitterness.  Another mode of anger, usually accompanied by profound silence, is the type that is turned inward to form a core of self loathing and hatred.

 For some people anger and its accompanying chemistry become addictive. Fortunately, anger does not develop into an extreme toxic, addictive or permanent state for most of us.  However, since it is something that we all experience, it is helpful to understand, manage, and learn from and about this powerful emotion.

 Nervous system imbalances, hormonal disruptions and stress related biochemistry can be involved in both the origin and maintenance of anger.  Red flags for these situations are: compulsive features, too much intensity for the situation at hand, and out of control qualities. Psychological and cognitive understanding alone do little if anything  to release a person from this kind of turmoil. The physical reactions/states must be addressed along with deeper insight and new learning to manage anger in a healthy and balanced way.

Next time: Solutions to Release Anger