Energy in Action

Once again, the world feels as if things are turning upside down. Worse yet, it seems impossible to know what to do when the distressing event involves other countries, on another continent.

The way I see it, we’ve reached a point in human evolution where we cannot find our way without help,

Help? What kind of help?

We can increase our resourcefulness in two ways—by expanding our own consciousness, and by engaging with the unseen beings inhabiting subtle energy fields that are the matrix we live in.

How?

How can we both expand ourselves and connect with beings that exist in the subtle realms? And why would we?

Both good questions, because in the Western world, we’ve grown up in a culture that ignores and even denies the existence of anything beyond what we can see. So culturally, we have neither the mindset nor the tools to discover the greater scope of both our inner and outer worlds.

Yet that is where our superpowers lie. That is where we access the wisdom that comes from greater knowing. And it is that knowing which helps us make sense of what’s going on in the world.

How do we access greater knowing?

The short answer is—we gain access as we remove energetic clutter from our personal energy fields.

I’ve been at this for quite a while, trying many modalities of energy work—all aimed at clearing energy blockages, one way or another. What I know is that the clearer my field, the more expansive I’ve become and the easier it is to access my team of invisible helpers.

Removing our energetic clutter makes us much more prepared and resourceful for navigating difficult times. You could compare it to tidying up an extremely  messy room.

Imagine you were living in a space where you regularly dropped things in the spot where you’d been using them. And all those dirty socks, unwashed dishes, and half-read books accumulated from one month to the next. Can you feel how difficult it would be to cross the room after a few months?

Then suppose you got fed up with the situation and cleared away everything that wasn’t meant to be there. Can you imagine the relief you’d feel once you were able to live your daily life unhampered by clutter?

It’s the same in your energy field. You can navigate your life more freely, and with confidence, once you’ve removed your energetic clutter. (P.S. We all have it, whether we recognize it or not.)

My tried-and-true tools…

There is a whole field of Energy Psychology that can teach us how to clear our inner clutter. The following are my top three favourite methods because they’re easy to learn, there’s plenty of free information available, and you can do the work yourself without having to pay a practitioner.

And most of all, they are surprisingly effective considering how simple each of them is.

1.  Energy activations…

Start here, especially if you’re feeling frayed or frazzled by what’s going on in the world these days.

Below are links to several energy activations which you can listen to as often as you like. Although they may seem like guided meditations, activations are actually different. Here’s how they are described by their creator, Sarah McCrum.

An Energy Activation is a deeply relaxing audio experience that guides your energy into a new formation. It’s best to listen in a comfortable chair [or lying down if you won’t fall asleep] with your eyes closed.

You’ll find that I speak quite slowly, with gaps of silence between the sentences. These help you to calm down, relax deeply and experience the deeper resonance of the message I’m sharing.

To find more free activations, go to Sarah’s Youtube channel, Playlists tab. Most of the above are found under the Wellbeing tab, but there are plenty more videos to explore on that page. Programs and items for purchase are on Sarah’s website.

2.  EFT Tapping…

Tapping, also known as EFT (Emotional Freedom Technique), is a powerful stress-relief technique.

Tapping is based on the combined principles of ancient Chinese acupressure and modern psychology.

While maintaining your mental focus on an issue, you use your fingertips to tap 5-7 times on 9 specific meridian points of the body.

Tapping has been clinically proven to reduce cortisol (the stress hormone) in your body. Stress impacts every aspect of your life, from your financial choices to your health. Learn how to calm your nervous system, reduce your stress, and bring your body and mind back into balance.

The above is quoted from the website of The Tapping Solution, which has lots of information and demonstrations to explain further.

Their 14th annual free World Tapping Summit started on February 28, 2022. If you’ve never participated in an online summit, here’s how it works: Each day for ten days, you receive links to interviews featuring practitioners who use tapping for themselves and their clients.

Signing up for the Summit is an excellent introduction to tapping because you can see it in action, and tap along to experience the process. EFT tapping is amazingly simple, considering how quick and effective it is. Even though you’ll miss the first couple days, it is worth signing up here.

Other resources include:

3.  Emotion Code clearing…

The Emotion Code is a method for identifying and releasing trapped negative emotions that we carry around from past events and traumas.

In this full-length interview, founder Dr. Bradley Nelson gives an overview of how The Emotion Code works. His YouTube Channel is a good way to further familiarize yourself with this method of energy work.

The Emotion Code book teaches you what you need to know to start using this on yourself. But if you prefer to work with someone who is experienced in using the Emotion Code, find a practitioner here. You can select a practitioner from anywhere in the world because subtle energy work can be done from a distance.

Try it. You might like it.

Try it. You might like it. Does anyone else remember your mother saying that? Usually when she was trying to get you to eat or do something unfamiliar?

Do you also remember that it was usually better than you expected?

If you think this energy work sounds weird, I’m guessing that’s because these methods are unfamiliar to you. If you can get past that and give them a try, you may be pleasantly surprised at how wonderful it feels to start clearing the clutter that’s lodged in your energy field.

Life happens.

Having been the Class Historian at my high school graduation, I was invited to speak at our 50th reunion. That got me thinking about the 18-year-old me and what she thought life was about. As I recall, I had the impression that I would “do what I was supposed to” and life would proceed on an upward climb until I got “there.” Then it would level off to a smooth and comfortable plateau.

That was the plan. And then life happened.

As life threw me one curveball after another, I learned that it’s full of ups and downs. None expected or planned for. No cushy plateau.

As I learned how to move forward in the face of these experiences, I began to see that they were growth opportunities.

That’s life.

At the moment, I’m in the midst of yet another growth experience.  Unlike Frank Sinatra, I haven’t given myself a deadline. But I do need some time to experience and process rather than write. So this blog is on hiatus for a while.

Energy work is a big part of what has allowed me to grow from my experiences. Here are some insights into how this has worked for me…

And…if you’d like to know when I start writing again, enter your email address in the box on the right-hand column of the home page. Click the button and you’ll get a notice in your inbox when the next blog appears.

In the meantime, may all our growth experiences be no more than we can handle.

Normal is not something to aspire to

For a long time, I have thought that we live in a culture where “normal” is the lowest common denominator and, therefore, not something I want to aim for.

[tweetshare tweet=”Food for thought…It is no measure of health to be well-adjusted to a profoundly sick society. Krishnamurti” username=”LauranaRayne”]

I thought I was alone in my opinion—until I heard and interview with Pilar Gerasimo. She is a health journalist and change agent best known for her work as founding editor of Experience Life, a whole-person healthy living magazine that reaches more than three million people nationwide.

In an article titled “The Making of a Healthy Deviant: Choosing a Healthy Life in an Unhealthy World” she says,

Becoming and staying a healthy person in our culture is tougher than it ought to be. You can’t just roll merrily along with the unhealthy status quo, or you’ll become part of it. You have to maintain a base level of hyper-vigilance just to avoid getting sucked into the dominant-culture machine.

From The Healthy Deviant

Healthy deviance is a term she coined. According to Pilar, it means “being different—in a weirdly healthy, happy way.” She elaborates…

Choosing to be a healthy person in an unhealthy world means becoming an outlier. It means frequently walking against the traffic of a mass-hallucination — and that’s not something most people are prepared to do.

The good news is that we can live outside the “normal” culture without moving to a cave or shunning the good things in modern culture. According to Pilar, healthy deviance is a change in awareness and behaviour that involves…

  • Waking yourself up and noticing what’s going on within and around you.
  • Reclaiming your energy, attention and autonomy.
  • Learning to think differently, choose differently, be different in ways that please you.
  • Hopping off the conveyor belt and tossing some well-placed wrenches into the dominant-culture machine.

[tweetshare tweet=”Healthy Deviance is choosing to become and remain healthy even in the midst of an unhealthy culture. Pilar Gerisimo ” username=”LauranaRayne”]

The Living Experiment

Pilar has recently teamed up with Dallas Hartwig to produce a podcast called The Living Experiment. Dallas is co-author of The Whole30 and It Starts With Food. He’s a functional medicine practitioner, Certified Sports Nutritionist, and licensed physical therapist

The Living Experiment is one of my favourite podcasts. I appreciate their thoughtful conversations about the issues we encounter in trying to thrive in an unhealthy world. These are some of my favourite topics, but there are many others so scan the list and see what appeals to you.

  • Purpose vs Pleasure
  • Eating Meat
  • Conscious Language
  • The Health of Others
  • Conscious Eating

So…I’m interested in your thoughts on the concept of healthy deviance. Can you relate or not? Do you have experience in trying to thrive in an unhealthy world, even though you didn’t call your actions healthy deviance? I’d love your comments if you have anything to share about this post.

Are we financially literate?

November. Financial literacy month in Canada. The time when we are officially reminded of information and strategies we can use to improve our financial health.

Financial literacy refers to the set of skills and knowledge that allows an individual to make informed and effective decisions with all of their financial resources. It’s a term that was introduced fairly recently, when governments began to focus on the need for consumer education in this area.

A recent newsletter from the Financial Consumer Agency of Canada reports that Canada is near the top of the charts for financial literacy in a global survey published in spring 2017 by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).

Canada tied for second worldwide…in the financial literacy component of the Programme for International Student Assessment, a global survey of 15-year-olds.

This report was followed by… [one] on adult financial literacy… [in which] Canadian adults…tied for second with Norway.

As a Canadian, I was feeling proud… and perhaps even a bit smug. Then I remembered a Statistics Canada report, also from last spring, telling us that the debt-to-income ratio of Canadians was at an all-time high of 167%. This means we owed $1.67 for every $1 of disposable income. The fact that Canadians have a lot more debt than income seems at odds with the assertion that we have high levels of financial literacy. How can this be? Continue reading

Finding your inner “yes”

One of the capabilities that kept me going in difficult times is my intuition, which I usually refer to as my inner sense of knowing. It helps me find the answers that are grounded in my self. In this way, I’m able to discover new perspectives and feel more confident in making decisions. I don’t know how I would have managed without it!

I think my inner knowing was always with me, but not fostered in my environment. It wasn’t until adulthood that my intuition and I reconnected when I took an energy psychology workshop. It was teaching a method of releasing emotions stuck in the energy field. Muscle testing was used to help us identify them so they could be released.

Muscle testing is a means of communicating with the subconscious through our bodies. It was exactly what I needed to make my long-ignored intuition visible.

After a few years, I became aware that I knew the answer inside me before the muscle testing showed it. These days, I use muscle testing when working with clients so they can see what’s happening. Otherwise, I go with the inner sense which, for me, feels like the answer landing squarely on my heart (yes) or rolling off to the left (no).

Befriending your intuition…

Continue reading

Getting rid of inner clutter to deal with outer chaos

Paper chaps

True confession—this is what my outer chaos looks like most days.

Ever since I started this blog a year ago, I’ve been drowning in books, papers, and sticky notes. I find myself researching a wide array of sources and don’t want to lose track of  important thoughts. My aim is to pull ideas together in new ways. That seems to mean I have to amass a of ideas before I can recombine and distill them. It’s a messy process, but that’s how I work.

Recently I became aware that the volume of idea clutter had become overwhelming. It was no longer helpful. It was causing me stress.

Relieving the stress of overwhelm

Continue reading

Self Help for Stress Relief

Stress usually arises at inconvenient times. How useful it is to know what to do about it at the time, on your own!

This post is an introduction to two energy psychology modalities that are self-empowering—easy to learn and you can do them yourself. Both are methods I use and recommend.

Emotional Freedom Technique

What is the Emotional Freedom Technique? How is it used? Does it work? Dawson Church explains…

Continue reading

When life seems too demanding…

It’s easy to feel stuck or overwhelmed by the demands of modern life. It’s not a constructive state of mind. It can lead to stress and anxiety.

Daniel Friedland MD is a high-performance leadership trainer. In this video he shares tips on how to shift your mindset so you can accomplish what seems overwhelming. The key is to turn stress into challenge. This shift in viewpoint leads to a different energy toward what needs to be accomplished, resulting in a greater sense of control and a more productive outcome.

It applies to demands in any setting, for people at all stages and in any role in life. When the shift is made, it’s like a weight being lifted—you feel lighter, with a sense of breathing space. Then you can tackle the challenge with enthusiasm rather than dread.

His two key tips Continue reading

Ask a better question.

Shann Nix Jones unexpectedly found herself married to a farmer, living on a Welsh farm, raising goats, and producing kefir. When her husband had major surgery, he came home from hospital with MRSA, an antibiotic-resistent condition. In Wales, MRSA patients are not allowed back into the hospital because of its life-threatening nature. The doctor who made house calls had no treatment to offer either. Continue reading

Change your mindset, change the game.

Beliefs can be changed

The psychological and physiological effects of anything in our lives can be influenced by our mindset. That means what you think can change your body’s response.

For example, if you think stress is bad for you, your body will respond accordingly. Continue reading