Walking the Path…

When I started writing about my weight loss journey…little did I know that it would take me through this dark journey…and never would have thought about sharing…but I do so in the hope that it may be a guiding star in someone else’s darkness…

I cry almost every day, right now …and often feel like I have no skin and my innermost being is raw … screaming internally with every breath of air…irrationally I am not depressed…I know that there is an end…this is only the beginning to a beautiful ending …this is the beauty of the darkness

 When you feel like you need to cry, when you want to just get it out, relieve some of the pressure from the inside – that is true pain. Because no matter how hard you try or how bad you want to, you can’t. That pain just stays in place. Then, if you are lucky, one small tear may escape from those eyes that water constantly. That one tear, that tiny, salty, droplet of moisture is a means of escape. Although it’s just a small tear, it is the heaviest thing in the world. 

Chase Brooks

The analogy that comes to mind is the treatment needed for third degree burns …my past traumas caused damage to the very depth of my being …I hadn’t realized the severity …I numbed the pain to survive…the best way I could …anaesthetizing the deep inner wounding and brokenness in whatever way I could manage… now the scar tissue must be scrubbed clean …and it hurts like the dickens …

Instinctively I knew that this healing would be painful …I humbly submitted to God that I would walk the path …it is my “valley of death” that I am walking through …not to live in or die here …but to walk through …releasing the infectious thoughts and beliefs that have kept me small and hidden (out of fear) …definitely, “It would be easier to keep playing life without being whole …it is done all the time …but that is not what I choose …

My first session with the a registered clinical psychologist and pastoral therapist is still about 10 days away …I am responsible for my own life and have been experimenting with spiritual practices to find what works for me …EFT tapping helps with anxiety …many people swear by its weight loss attributes … I haven’t gone that far with it yet definitely helps in several ways for me…

“We are not human beings having a spiritual experience; we are spiritual beings having a human experience”

Pierre Teilhard de Chardin

EFT Tapping has been used successfully in PTSD survivors … a lot like acupuncture without the needles …EFT uses fingertip tapping to apply pressure to the meridian points …points in our body which the Chinese believe that our energy flows through …

There are several steps …but the one that spoke to me first was the “setup phrase”… a common setup phrase is: “Even though I have this [fear or problem], I deeply and completely accept myself.” …affirmations are about what we want to become … not acknowledging where we are and loving ourselves in spite of those imperfections …

So much of my issues stem from not knowing how to love myself …something I never learned as a child to do …that statement I deeply and completely accept myself” along is very healing …self-acceptance even when I am not that “perfect” version of myself I feel I need to be to be accepted and loved …EFT tapping has worked for me in shorting the overload of anxiety when I use it …

Learning to heal the inner child …is my biggest challenge …. “adulting” is not something I really learned to do well …I had no role models …and my parents were unable to provide the knowledge I needed to navigate the world due to their own traumas …and being kept secluded in the cult” gave me no other options to come across any …

“When our emotional health is in a bad state, so is our level of self-esteem. We have to slow down and deal with what is troubling us, so that we can enjoy the simple joy of being happy and at peace with ourselves.” ― Jess C. Scott

Today I completed a YouTube Video Yoga for trauma healing …a gentle yoga not focused on hard poses to master …a way to safely connect with my body …slowly starting to release the lower vibrational energy that I have stored in my body …helpfully liberating tension

That is how I view the extra weight that I carry with me …a lower vibrational energy that I stored with every bite of food that I used to stuff anger, hurt, fear and all the other negative emotions and feelings that food helped me to manage in a more societal acceptable way …

“The fact is, all of us are living with the invisible wounds of some kind of war. Yoga helps you to let go of the things that don’t serve you anymore.”
Dan Nevins, yoga ambassador and US Army veteran

Tomorrow will be a new day …new hope …a gift to be opened with grace and gratefulness …this is not the end, only the beginning…there is a reason that I wear a butterfly tattoo🦋

Across the miles ..I send you love…with prayers for all the laughter and magic you can hold❣

The Curse of the Sensitive…

“It’s okay to be sensitive that’s what happens when you have magic in your heart.”

Unknown

Have you felt that you do not fit in this cruel and ugly world…a misfit…a weirdo…being Highly Sensitive HSP is both a blessing and a curse…feeling intensely every nuance of the world…the volume turned up…intense and louder…

Hiding from the world is often so much easier…

It is this sensitivity, perception, sincerity, awareness, affection, and gentle grace that make me who I am…yet it is has been at a cost that I am no longer willing to pay…

I have been searching for an answer to losing the extra weight that I am currently carrying and if you have read my blog recently…I have not been successful with the alleviation of any of the weight…I have tried everything…as I have since gaining it…but to no avail…

“Highly sensitive beings suffer more but they also love harder, dream wider, and experience deeper horizons and bliss. When you’re sensitive, you’re alive in every sense of the word in this wildly beautiful world. Sensitivity is your strength. Keep soaking in the light, and spreading it to others.” – Victoria Erickson

So back to the drawing board…I have said it before, and I will say it again…there is always an answer…I tweaked by back a couple of weeks ago taking photographs on the ground…twisting to get just the right angle…flat out until I could see the physiotherapist…a lot of time to listen to audios and research…

I wasn’t too hep on writing about it until I’ve tried a few more weeks…possibly, I was led to an answer that might work for me… Being sensitive may preclude me from the same solution that may work for other people…at least everything that I tried in the past failed me after a week or two of pure Willpower wore off…

When did I gain weight…and why…going back to the beginning to find the root cause…maybe dig that weed out where it began…

Keep Looking For Answers

I gained extra fluff when I needed to feel safe…definitely doesn’t make logical sense…but there are blocks to why it is feels safer to keep the extra weight…it was and is padding from all the painful intensity of life…

If you are an HSP you will understand…often seen as quirky…being an HSP isn’t a disorder or a condition, but rather a personality trait that’s also known as sensory-processing sensitivity (SPS)…being ultra-sensitive to any and all sensory input, people, and the environment…often intuitive and easily overstimulated…

It is not only the extra padding that protects me…but the types of food that dim the noise of life too…which explains the emotional eating…refined carbs and sugary foods…the simple carbs trigger the pleasure centres of the brain by releasing dopamine…and for me it seems to be more that they also dampen the intensity of emotions and feelings that bombard me…

Some research has shown that some people crave carbs for the serotonin-boosting pharmacologic effect …tryptophan is the precursor to serotonin, eating carbohydrates will presumably make one more serene, sleepier, and more sated than someone whose brain is starving for serotonin…that’s what some anti-depressants are designed to do…increase seratonin…

Via hormonal (insulin) and albumin (a basic carrier protein in the blood) effects, ingestion of carbohydrate leads to the preferential shuttling of the rare dietary amino acid, tryptophan, into the brain.  Tryptophan is what we make serotonin from. The best way to understand this phenomenon is to think of a bunch of guys in red, blue, purple, and green shirts all fighting to get onto an elevator. The guys in green are the happy ones who will help us make serotonin. By eating carbohydrate, we effectively unleash bouncers on the red, blue, and purple guys, leaving the green guys free to go to the front of the line, enter the elevator, and go up to the brain”… https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/evolutionary-psychiatry/201203/do-carbs-keep-you-sane

Not everyone will agree with me…remember that everybody is different…I noticed it recently (again)when I had the flu and couldn’t eat anything…my sensitivity increased exponentially…

So, the normal “willpower” method will not work long-term for me…what can I do to release the “padding” and find ways to protect myself that are healthier…ways that will support myself and be responsible for my own well-being…

In my searching…I stumbled across an energy psychology method that is known as Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) or simply tapping…”similar to acupuncture, EFT focuses on the meridian points — or energy hot spots — to restore balance to your body’s energy. It’s believed that restoring this energy balance can relieve symptoms a negative experience or emotion may have caused.” https://www.healthline.com/health/eft-tapping

I tried it…and I absolutely love it…it is very calming and over time…supposedly helps build immunity over stress…but time will tell…committed to continuing a daily routine…you actually focus on the negative emotion at hand…addressing the root cause…and by tapping sending a calming signal to the brain…helping to calm oneself…

But I noticed even more was that the scripts always start in loving and accepting yourself where you are at in the moment…I am finding that self-love and acceptance are a beginning… I have “hated” myself …my body for being this way…how many of us respond well to being disliked and told that we are awful human beings…

The tapping made me feel calmer…but the self-love felt like a thick warm blanket on a cold damp evening…loving and honoring myself…even thanking my body for doing what I had asked…to protect me…to keep me safe from people…this bulletproof vest…

I will continue the experiment of finding healthier ways to protect myself…and even though I love myself now…as I am…it will not keep me from finding healthier ways to cope and sooth the anxiety…and I am worthy of more love…and more (still working on that)…

The beauty of hope…the magic in the everyday…

‘And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don’t believe in magic will never find it.’

Billy and The Minpins

Much love, laughter for your day…and watch for the magic🦄…

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