Authentic Self Austin

Practice the skill of paying attention to what is going on inside you. The more we acknowledge our inner worlds the better. Its amazing what can happen, it can relieve tension, even pain, and cue us into what we are needing which builds inner connection and trust. What we give space to feel often shifts rather quickly, just keep following the shifts and noticing whatever arises.

It can be pretty fascinating to follow our beautiful inner complexities.

Today is World Mental Health Day.

Today is about championing the importance of mental health and reducing the stigmas around struggling with mental illness.

Mental heal is just as important as physical health, so why is it so normal to go to a doctor when we feel physically off but not a therapist when we feel mentally off? This has to change because as human beings we all need support around our mental wellness. You are NOT ALONE if you are struggling, and you deserve care.

Did you know that 1 in 5 adults in the US experience mental illness in a given year?! Statistically less than 50 percent receive help or mental health services. Globally, 300 MILLION people suffer from depression and 260 million live with anxiety disorders. And I imagine if these statistics were up to date today they would be significantly higher.

From my vantage point it is far more abnormal to NOT be struggling to maintain mental health right now. We are living in a way very foreign to most of us during this global pandemic, we cannot leave our houses without more to think and worry about, we can’t easily connect, touch, celebrate, mourn, or simply be with each other without a lot more planning and precaution, if at all. This is all so much more stress and fear than we are used to. So if you are struggling, I see you, you are not alone, and you are responding so normally to an absolutely abnormal world. I hope you can let stigma be damned and reach out to a mental health professional if you need help.

Connecting to our emotions is connecting to our core self, our authentic self, our inherent worthiness.

But who among us has not had our emotions invalidated, minimized, or ignored? And in turn felt unworthy?

How often do you invalidate, minimize, or ignore your own emotions?

Lets flip the script and start communicating our worthiness to ourselves and each other by validating, accepting, and connecting to ours and others emotional experiences!

Allowing our emotions space to be felt is SO important.

If you have been in relationships where it was not acceptable or safe to feel/express emotions this disconnection may have been necessary for your survival, and how glad I am that you are here today because of that! Though I wonder if that learned ability to disconnect from your emotional experience may still have lingered, long past when it was necessary for survival? Trauma can do that, you are not alone.

Unlearning old ways of coping and survival can be tough, even when you are in safe, happy situations and relationships. But it is totally possible.

Even if this is not the case for you, being connected to our emotional experiences isn’t always easy. It is a vulnerable thing to admit we are affected deeply by the world and the people around us, but that is the beautiful truth that makes you human, that allows you to feel compassion, empathy, and love. But in all our years of education we are rarely taught how to feel our feelings and why its so important. I hope you choose to learn, I hope you can honor your emotions with curiosity in place of judgment, and I hope you are courageous enough to reach out for help when you can’t on your own.

What happens when you notice an emotion surfacing?

I can certainly relate to this diagram by about that feeling when your feelings have feelings. Yall, emotions can be complicated.

So much of our healing work is about unlearning, and then learning how to give ourselves a whole heck of a lot more compassion. Next time your feelings start to have feelings try to be aware of it and name it. Example: “I am noticing a feeling of sadness and wondering why I am not strong enough to be unaffected right now - hold on, I am judging myself pretty harshly for having an emotional response, maybe its ok to allow myself to feel sad.’

Awareness is the first step, and not always an easy one, but we have to name it to tame it! The second step is simply allowing the feeling to be felt. The ability to replace judgment with compassion first takes the ability to be aware that there is judgment taking place, this often happens unconsciously.

You got this.