In my last blog, I expanded on the concept of The Emotional Self and continued to tap into the less evolved aspects of ourselves. This more elemental self is sometimes referred to as the ‘monkey mind’ or ‘reptilian brain’.
By deepening our understanding of this more primal aspect of ourselves, we are able to transcend it. A possession of self-awareness around our emotional triggers allows us to attain a fine balance in which we neither suppress, nor become consumed by, our emotions.
Ask yourself, “Who would I be without my extreme emotions ruling my sense of self and my decision making abilities?”
A gentle reminder that as we embark upon self-enquiry, please be sure to meditate, breathe and bring yourself into the space of the heart.
If you are new to meditation or my practice, I invite you to join our Facebook group, Playing Bigger Playing Beautiful and familiarise yourself with my philosophies and style. Once your join request is approved, you will be greeted with a meditation to get you started. Click here to access it. Please note, this practice and community is immensely nourishing for even the most advanced yogis or meditators. It has been designed to offer continued support energetically, emotionally and mentally, as well as a space for you to satisfy any desire to be energetically of service to those who are less familiar with meditation, energy or spiritual understanding.
Tuning into The Emotional Self is immensely helpful for those who wish to tap into a basal level of calm which will act as their compass, even in times of emotional upheaval. It strengthens our ability to respond, rather than react by retaining a sense of the bigger picture.
Are you able to differentiate between what your head (rational brain), heart (emotional brain) or gut (intuitive brain) are telling you? And can you use this information to connect with your spirituality, make wise decisions, learn from the past, avoid unhealthy patterning and even use that wisdom to grow your business?
Our self-enquiry exercise, delves into The Emotional Self, examining our response to whatever arises when we are emotionally triggered, experience challenges or have tough decisions to make.
Suppressing emotions is not the goal here. We must aim for the ability to feel our emotions while retaining the ability to contextualise them. Being able to experience emotions, especially challenging ones, without becoming overwhelmed is the ultimate goal.
Are you able to step back, regard a challenging emotional situation from all sides, determine the best course of action and then respond? Though this may sound simple in theory, in practice many of us find unexpected emotional triggers blinding in the moment. Please remember that the first step to transcending these challenges is an awareness that they even exist. Many among us go through their entire lives without the slightest inkling that they, and their emotions, are two separate considerations.
Levels of Understanding
If you are familiar with my work, and in particular with my model of emotional self-inquiry The 6 Selves™, you will know that there are three levels of understanding that inform connections to the self and how it manifests and impacts both your personal and professional life.
Level 1 – Intellect (Mind) – How we comprehend and make sense of the world around us
Level 2 – Emotion (Body) – How we physically feel the experience
Level 3 – Energetic (Spirit) – How we connect in to something greater than ourselves
The Emotional Self – Spirit
In this post, we are looking at the Energetic (Spirit) and how this connects to The Emotional Self. The following questions are repetitive in nature but they are intended to be, in order to help you peel back the layers of the sometimes abstract and reach a deeper level of self-enquiry.
1. How does my spirit feel when I become emotionally triggered?
2. How does my spirit feel when I consciously choose to respond rather than react?
3. How does my spirit feel about my ability to make small decisions?
4. How does my spirit feel about my ability to make big decisions?
5. If I notice I have made a mistake, or have taken a seemingly wrong turn in life, how does my spirit hold me in a stuck state of being?
6. If I notice I have made a mistake, or have taken a seemingly wrong turn in life, how does my spirit help me to move forward in life and business?
7. How does my spirit feel when I witness someone around me being reactive?
8. How does my spirit feel when I witness someone around me being responsive?
Please remember to broach these questions from a place of understanding and empathy. Often, our harshest critic is the self-critic. Please take a moment to acknowledge that while you may not have all the answers yet, you are one of the few taking the time to seek them.
My next post will introduce The Legacy Self at a level one understanding and I look forward to sharing it with you.
Big Love,
Deb x