Negative Emotions? STOP!

Do you find yourself getting caught up in unpleasant emotions or feelings more than you'd like? Are you ready to move past them, or better yet through them in order to heal? OK then, STOP! I know what you're thinking, easier said than done. STOP is a favorite technique I learned in the teachings of Deepak Chopra. First, I'll explain how to STOP, and then I'll give you a little bit of a background on how it works.

S- Literally means stop, or in other words, take a moment to pause and

T- Take 3 deep breaths.

O- Observe what chemical reactions are going on in your body. Then,

P- Proceed in a positive direction.

It's important to stay in a place of non-judgement with yourself during this process. There can be no negative self-talk about the feelings you are experiencing. Accept them. You're human. When dealing with my depression and bouts of self harm, I learned that we are constantly creating our experiences. Our current emotions are not what we will attract in the future, they are an expression of what we are attracting right now. When we perceive negative emotion, it is a symptom of resistance in the flow of our life force and creating what we want. In other words, we are buying into thoughts that are not true to our core being.

How does this relate to us biologically?

The brain is comprised of tiny nerve cells called neurons. These neurons have itty-bitty branches that reach

Neural network

out and connect to other neurons to form a neural network. A thought or memory is held in each place where these neurons connect. Nerve cells that fire together wire together. If you practice something over and over, those nerve cells have a long-term relationship. If you get angry, suffer, or give into perceptions of victimization, you are rewiring and reintegrating that neural net on a daily basis. Ideas, thoughts, and feelings are all constructed and interconnected in this neural net, and all have possible relationships with one another. Any information we consume from our environment is colored by our collective experiences and level of awareness.

Nerve cells that do not fire together, no longer wire together. They lose their long-term relationship each time we interrupt the thought process that produces a chemical response in the body. When we start interrupting and “Observing” the effects it takes, we are no longer the emotional person that is responding to our environment in an automatic or irrational way. Those nerve cells that are connected start breaking their long-term association, and re-associating according to how we “Proceed”. So stay positive, and create new long-term associations that make you happy!

An example I can give is with the concept of love, which is stored within this vast neural network in the brain. We build the concept of love from many different ideas. By adulthood, most of us have had our glitches along the way and are operating in an emotionally detached place, as if today were yesterday. We are not operating as an integrated whole, and have transgressed to an earlier time when we are operating from an emotionally reactive place or in a state of disconnection. When I was at my lowest,

memories in neural network

I connected love to disappointment. When I thought about love, I practiced the memories of pain, sorrow, anger and even rage over my relationship that was falling apart. My rage was linked to hurt, which was linked to my ex, which then connected back to the emotion of love. Add to this the information I had stored from other adventures in life, and I had refined and built a reality based on how I saw the world outside of myself. The cycle kept repeating itself.

neuropeptide

Why do we get stuck in these ceaseless cycles? Our bodies are protein producing machines. In the hypothalamus, we make small-chain proteins called peptides, and assemble them into neuropeptides or neurohormones that match emotional states that we experience on a daily basis. There are chemicals for anger, sadness, victimization, lust, joy, and love. There is a chemical that matches every emotional state, and when we experience an emotional state in our body, the hypothalamus will unhesitatingly assemble its peptide and then release it through the pituitary gland and into the bloodstream. The moment it makes it into the bloodstream, it makes its way to any number of different parts in the body.

Receptors on a cell

Along the outside of each cell are receptor sites that are receivers for incoming information. This alchemy causes biochemical events which can change the actual nucleus of the cell. Then cells reproduce based on this cellular memory. This begs us to ask,  “Are some emotions good or bad?” Emotions are designed to chemically strengthen the things we have put into our long-term memory. That is why we have them, they illuminate the brilliance of our existence. It is our addiction to our emotions that is the real problem. One of the most important things we need to remember when we are addicted to emotions that are destructive in nature is that it is not just psychological, it’s biochemical as well. 

Think about this: heroin uses the same receptor equipage on the cells that our emotional chemicals use. If we can be addicted to heroin, we most certainly be addicted to emotion.

So who is in the driver’s seat when we respond to our emotions? We are. We are not our thoughts that spark our theatrics. I can show you this in a very simple way. Think of an apple, now think of a triangle, and finally think of the happiest day you've ever had. You are no more that apple or triangle than you the negative things you believe about yourself or your life when you fall prey to turmoil. (As I type this, I look up at the TV and see children bobbing for apples. I love synchronicity!)

I believe the mind/body correlation is incredibly important. So the next time you find yourself in negative excitement, pause for a couple moments to take a couple deep breaths, and observe what is chemically happening in your body. For example, Are you feeling anger? Jealousy? Disappointment? Where is it located in your body? How are you experiencing it? Is it a ball in the pit of your stomach? What is it doing to your heart? After accepting that you are experiencing the emotion in a state of non-judgement, proceed positively! What's positive? It is anything constructive that will build you up. What did I do? When I thought of love and the feelings of depression would set in, I would stop and think of my Grama Betty singing You Are My Sunshine to me. That always brings a smile to my heart. I know that if I can do this, you can too. Go ahead and STOP already!

In Love <3  

Suicide: I'm Still Breathing!

I've tried to start writing this blog about a hundred different ways, and none of them have felt appropriate. The subject I'm going to talk about is deep and emotional for those affected. It's not easy to talk about, but the alarming statistics of suicide in the United States shows a larger societal problem that cannot be ignored. In 2010, almost 40,000 people could no longer bear their perceived burden and opted for suicide as their answer, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). (http://rt.com/usa/us-suicides-crisis-cdc-report-761/) The report also indicated a 30% increase in adults aged 35-64. The US Department of Veterans Affairs released a report (http://www.va.gov/opa/pressrel/pressrelease.cfm?id=2427) in February indicating that one vetaran takes their life every 65 seconds. The CDC also marks that one in twelve teenagers have attempted suicide. This subject is close to my heart so when I saw the "I'm Still Breathing" awareness campaign on Facebook, I knew I had to take part. My grandfather committed suicide in 1977, we lost a childhood friend to suicide in high school, and I was hospitalized for attempted suicide in 2005.

Some of our biggest lessons comes through the darkest hours of the soul, when we can barely hold on by our fingernails, tasting only our blood, sweat, and tears. Many people get stuck in this abyss, not realizing that they have already won the battle. When we find ourselves in the midst of chaos, peace seems to feel the furthest away. We must realize that if we can start to build a solid foundation in the midst of the pandemonium, what we will experience when we come out on the other side will be the exaltation of grace and joy. It's never easy, but it's always worth it. All that is required is a decision, and luckily, there are no wrong decisions. We are exactly where we need to be!

At our very core we are all connected. We all want to love and be loved, to feel happy, healthy, and secure. We all laugh or cry in the same language, and we all bleed the same color. Many people disagree with this notion, but I truly believe that everyone operates from love in their own level of consciousness, and if we could just take the time to see each other as kin, there would be no way we would want to hurt someone else, let alone kill them. This is one of the first important steps we must take in making peace.

It's easy to get caught up in the melodrama and back and forth, but one thing I have learned from it... hate begets hate, violence begets violence, negativity begets negativity, and love begets love. It's when we truly remove ourselves from the drama, and not allow ourselves to be caught up in the menial back and forth that we can find release.

I encourage you all today to walk away from the nonsensical. People are going to attempt to tell you who you can and can't be. They will set expectations that even they can't live up to themselves. They will talk about you, and if you are doing something right, they will judge and criticize you! Let me tell you right now, if anything they say is not based in pure love, don't you dare listen to them or believe what they are saying, not even for a second!! Let's take it a step further, if what you say to yourself is not based in pure love, you are lying to yourself! You are beautiful. You are magnificent, and you are perfect, just the way you are!!

If you are struggling with depression and thoughts of suicide, please reach out for help. It gets better! Believe me, I'm still breathing!  

Facebook page for group with I'm Still Breathing pictures: https://www.facebook.com/selfharm.supportpage

**The number to the National Suicide Prevention hotline is 1-800-273-TALK (8255)

Happy Mother's Day!

Hello and Happy Mother's Day! I hope this blog finds you blessed with happiness! We are alive, and that is reason to be happy in and of itself! This is just a short post to check in and try to get back into the habit of writing. I'm undergoing so many changes right now, and I find having a way to creatively express myself can help give me perspective. Besides, today has been a heck of a day and I have a message to get out there, but I'll get to that later. 

Mom and Grama Betty before lunch!

I was able to visit with mom and grandma Betty, and we hit up our favorite spot to eat in town, Castiglia's. It was great spending time with them, just hanging out. We take for granted so much of the time that passes by. Days can turn into weeks, and weeks into months. Then we find ourselves wishing for just one more day. I can remember as if it were yesterday, my sister, Nicki, and I were kids and all of the excitement around Mother's Day. We'd wake up early to prepare breakfast, trying to not awaken mom. It was so exciting! Now Nicki is in GA, with two of her own, and breakfast has turned into lunch. Thank goodness for lunch! 

On the way to Keyser, I almost made a huge boo boo. Driving through Cumberland, I'm having a moment in losing my zen, which is never good for me, but my estranged husband is sitting in the car next to me and I'm thankful he's letting me borrow the car so I can go see my family, but I'm frustrated as hell. I need a car! I'm on Centre St. at the stop sign, looking left and pull forward. SHIT! STOP!!! A car. I'm not on Centre at all, I'm on Liberty and almost hit this poor woman and a car full of people because I was looking the wrong way. My heart is pounding, and I'm shocked. Obscenities start flying out of her mouth. I didn't even have a chance to say I'm sorry before she flew off! For some reason, my zen totally pops in and I can't even get mad and scream back at her. All I could think to do was blow her a kiss, and that was not well received. (I promise lady, I'm not really an asshole!) At that point all I could do was laugh at the absurdity of it all. So here is my message, just in case it gets out there, and you know who you are :)  Look lady, I really just wanted to get to my mom and Grama. I'm sorry I almost hit you, but thank goodness I didn't. I would've said I'm sorry if you didn't fly off the hook so fast. I hope you weren't angry for too long. 

This has been my daily reminder that when squeezed or put under pressure, your reaction shows you what you are made of. 

What Grama Betty and veganism have taught me...

To love unconditionally. To give without expectation. To give your best until you take your last breath. To stand in the face of fear, and always have faith.

Today marks a day of celebration and love in my life. My grandmother Betty is enjoying a wonderful vacation at the beach while commemorating her birthday. This remarkable matriarch is the apple of my eye. She has been by my side through thick and thin, and I am so thankful to have her in my life. She's not traveled an easy road herself, but who among us has? Undeterred by adversity, she continues forward with love in her heart and faith in knowing that “in the end everything will be OK. If it's not OK, it's not the end.” I need this reminder every once in a while.

Today I am also blessed with my 5 year Veganiversary. For five years I have lived a complete vegan lifestyle. Of all the days in the calendar year, this is the one day that I really like to take a look back and reflect upon changes, achievements, and contemplate my goals for the future.

So what do veganism and my Grama Betty have in common?? Both have taught me to love unconditionally. There are reasons why there are poems written about a grandmother's love. It is unique, and yet grounded in wisdom. It teaches you to see through the temporary, for all things change, and then encourages you to get back up when you've fallen down. A love like this is absolute.

I have also found an unequivocal love in the vegan lifestyle. It is something that sparked my attention momentarily when I was a child, but it came back full steam ahead upon watching the movie Babe. Who knew “Why would the farmer eat me? The farmer is my friend.” would create such a spontaneous echo in my soul, so suddenly and unexpectedly? Many would call this type of love for other sentient beings unique, but it too is also grounded in wisdom.

“All beings tremble before violence. All fear death, all love life. See yourself in others. Then whom can you hurt? What harm can you do?” ~Buddha

I cannot find anything more true than this statement. All beings, regardless of race, religion, sexual preference, physical body form or language, want and need the same basic life essentials: to love and be loved, to feel secure, and to be happy. We all bleed the same color. We laugh and cry in the same language. We all most certainly die.

Some people get their panties in an uproar over open discussions about spirituality and veganism, and some vegans get cranky when you mention any type of spiritual connection to the lifestyle. I guess these topics create uncomfortable feelings when they are not fully understood. It's hard to face fears and uncertainties, but isn't that an essential part of life? Looking, learning, thinking, reasoning, and feeling - these are all tools for understanding life. It's within these five elements we find ourselves on a path that is unique for each individual, whatever that path may be. So what is this all about anyway? What is the point that I am trying to make?

My Grama Betty once told me something that my Pap Larry would say when he was alive, and that is “When we die and go to heaven, we aren't going to walk down a corridor of doors marked Catholic, Baptist, Methodist, or Jewish. And if there is, won't everyone be surprised when it empties into the same big room.” Indeed, won't we? Standing together as brothers and sisters, regardless of creed, color, race, religion, or species, that is love and that is my point.

The Crown Chakra

Hello and welcome! Our recent discussions have been geared towards our chakra system and how it works. Today I'm going to provide you with some information about the Crown Chakra, the last of the main chakras that we will be going over. As mentioned earlier, there are hundreds if not thousands throughout the body, but these 7 main chakras are most commonly examined.

The Crown Chakra, or Sahasrara in Sanskrit, is violet or white in color, and is located at the top of the head. It correlates with the pituitary gland, central nervous system, and cerebral cortex. The crown is all about wisdom, knowledge, and enlightenment. It represents our ability to be fully connected spiritual beings. When this chakra is open, you experience awareness of your world, with a lack of judgment or prejudice. Under-active chakras can leave a person rigid in their thinking, not allowing them to be spiritually aware. On the other hand, if we ignore our bodily needs in an addiction to spirituality, the chakra becomes over-active. At this point, over-intellectualizing can become a commonality.

Emotional attributes include experiencing pure bliss, seeing and appreciating inner and outer beauty, grace, and total experiential spiritual connection. Imbalances can manifest as boredom, confusion, apathy, an inability to learn, alienation, depression, and over time can lead to physical and mental ailments, headaches, mental illness, nervous system disorders, and pituitary problems.

To open and balance the crown chakra pray, meditate, sit in silence, keep a dream journal, put a clear quartz in your water bottle to purify it, get outside and breath fresh clean air and soak up the sunshine. More importantly, see yourself in every person you meet and find commonality with others. If you like stones and crystals use amethyst, clear quartz, or opal in your meditations or carry them with you throughout the day. Burn lotus incense, or use lotus, frankincense and myrrh, or violet essential oil. A common positive affirmation you can use is, “I am one with the Universe/God/etc.”

Here is a nice guided meditation you may find beneficial! 

This will wrap up our discussion of the crown chakra, and the series of blogs on the chakra system. I hope you have learned something that you can take with you that will be of some value. I'm not quite sure what I'm going to be writing about next. There are so many things I want to talk about! If you have a particular topic you'd like me to approach, leave a comment below or email me at jodi.sweitzer@gmail.com

~Namaste

The 3rd Eye Chakra

Hello and welcome! Our recent discussions have been geared towards our chakra system and how it works. We've looked at the intricacy of each of the lower chakras, and in this blog, I'm going to provide you with some information about the Throat Chakra!

The Third Eye, or Anja in Sanskrit , is indigo in color, and is located on the brow line, between the eyes. The third eye chakra is all about insight. When it is open, your intuition is on spot. You may have tendencies to fantasize, which is great; however, staying in a fantasy land too long will cause the chakra to become over-active. Rigid thinking will cause you to rely primarily on beliefs, rather than trusting your intuition, causing the brow chakra to become under-active. This eventually leads to difficulties in thinking for yourself, and causes one to become easily confused. In rare and extreme cases of dysfunction in the brow chakra, hallucinations may occur.

Emotional attributes of the brow chakra include intuition, wisdom, imagination, and the ability to make decisions. Conditions that manifest in the physical body due to dis-ease in this energy center include reoccurring headaches or migraines, blurry vision or blindness, nightmares, sleeping disorders, depression, neurological disorders, eye problems, and depression.

To open and balance the brow chakra, start following your intuition, meditate, make a vision board, and make a dream journal to analyze your dream. Affirm yourself by using the mantra, “I am intuitive.” or “I think positive thought about myself and everyone.” Ingest foods such as grapes, blueberries, chocolate, and lavender tea.

If you like stones and crystals, you can meditate or carry lapis lazuli, quartz, or sapphire. If I've got pants on with a pocket, you can guarantee I have my labradorite with me! Incense includes mugwort, saffron, and star anise, while lavender and camphor are excellent essential oils for the brow.

Below is a link to a youtube video that is a breathing meditation to open the Third Eye. I really enjoy this one!! You breath energy in and out of the chakra, and I can always feel a little bit of pressure at my brow when doing this! 

Have fun with the meditation! I hope you find something within this information beneficial. Next time, we'll be discussing the final chakra, the Crown Chakra! Until then, my beautiful and peaceful ones~

Namaste

The Throat Chakra

Hello and welcome! Our recent discussions have been geared towards our chakra system and how it works. We've looked at the intricacies of each of the lower chakras, and in this blog I'm going to provide you with some information about the throat chakra!

Picture by Gloria Gypsy

The throat chakra, or Visuddha, is blue in color and located in the center of the throat. The throat chakra symbolizes expression and communication. When the throat chakra is open, expression comes easily and naturally. An under-active chakra causes shyness, leaving us unable to speak our truth, and causes a blockage in the chakra. In contrast, someone with an over-active chakra might talk way too much, often in a domineering fashion.

Emotional attributes affecting the throat chakra include self-expression of our personal truths, feelings, needs, and wants. When we are able to express our deepest truths and create from our soul, we allow ourselves to live in our dharma, experiencing unlimited abundance. Ailments that can manifest in the physical body due to issues in the throat chakra include sore throat, mouth problems, stiff neck and shoulders, swollen glands, and thyroid dysfunction.

To open and balance the throat chakra, tell someone a secret you've been keeping, set your boundaries and practice saying “no”, keep a journal, sing, scream, or laugh. Use your voice to speak your deepest truth. Eat fruits, and drink juices. If you are having difficulties with any of the above, use the affirmation, “I express my truth.”

Various stones and crystals work wonderfully to help clear up negative, toxic, unhealthy or otherwise stagnant energy. Aquamarine, turquoise, sodalite, blue agate, celestite, blue topaz, kyanite, and amazonite can be cleansed and charged for use in meditation or to carry with you throughout your day. Burn frankincense or benzion incense, and use essential oils like ylang ylang or gardenia.

Use the same meditation as discussed in the previous chakras, but for the throat chakra focus your awareness to the throat. Imagine a beautiful sky blue color, and use your magic paintbrush to brighten up any dull or darkened spots you may find within the blue light. Allow thoughts, feelings, and sensations to come and move freely through you.

This wraps up our discussion of the throat chakra. Next up, we'll be taking a look at the third eye chakra! Until then, my beautiful and peaceful ones~

Namaste