Self worth gone into hiding ? Lets start here..

Wanting to build self worth? Self compassion? Self acceptance? It takes work ~ work doesn't mean it has to be un pleasant & duty related.. That doesn't sound fun. Lets make it fun.

Building belief doesn't come naturally to all of us ~ we all come from different backgrounds & conditioning.

Some of us had belief fed to us from the minute we were born, for others it wasn't even a topic of conversation. Whether it has been presented to us or not, it is still our responsibility to continue to point the light back at ourselves, to refine, to grow & to KNOW our fullness.

But howwwwww?

Tools - we have tools. We incorporate daily practices to reflect, explore & inquire.

My mum always says to me when i'm moving through a really 'shitty' situation - "But honey!, this is so exciting!! Something new is about to come ! Don't miss a minute of this". For a long time I just could not connect to this theory - I kept coming back to ehhh I failed, I new I couldn't do it, maintain it etc etc..

Normally when we think something is coming to an end, we can tend to relate this to failure or inadequacy and place this really heavy backpack on full of resentment.

This is beyond false ! Your creating space - something is ending, or a 'shitty' situation is presenting for something so beautiful & unexpected to be birthed on the other end. It doesn't mean it has to feel nice all the time & you run around with a smile on your face when your feeling pain, no. Be in the pain, go through the rain to get to the gain, with the KNOWING you will come out the other end.

So, lets talk about these tools before I begin to write a totally different blog then I intended.. It happens, alot..

You probably want to know where I have gathered these tools from.. As I have been creating these retreats, I have had to do alot of research, yes. But I have also had to do a-lot of self work - I feel very strongly about only teaching and sharing things after I have moved through them and integrated them myself. There have been a-lot of memories and situations in my life that I had chosen to black out, for me to move forward they needed to be seen, to be felt, to be validated so I can heal and move forward. Now im not saying I have all the answers, it doesn't work like that, but this is when I call on these tools. When I have questions, When I face fears & When I am faced with a situation that needs my loving attention ( see last blog post for this reference),I come back to these.

1. G R A T I T U D E:

Sister, there is SO much to be grateful for.

When we are in the mud of unworthiness, we have trouble seeing clearly. We have the innate power to flip our perspective.

Begin a gratitude journal and write 3 things every morning you are grateful for, begin your day from this space and I guarantee it will be hard to move from it.

I encourage you to attempt to name 3 different things everyday, such as:

I am grateful for my legs, they walk me around all day.

I am grateful for my arms which allow me to hold my children.

I am grateful for my senses so I can hear a laugh, smell a flower, touch velvet, taste coffee(hehe)

I am grateful for waking up this morning.

Anything! We have so many reasons to be grateful. They don't have to be extravagant series of events for it to be a profound reflection. If we begin to focus on what we do have, and not what we don't, we respond from a place of fullness rather then a space of seeking.

2. J O U R N A L L I N G:

Whenever you are trapped in this merry go-round of thoughts, the monkey mind is really having a field day, put your thoughts onto a piece of paper. Get it out of there! See it! When its out of the mind and infront of you, we then become a witness. We are able to asses, to inquire:

Is this really true? Is this what I really think of myself? Is this what I really want ? What do I really want ?

You know that feeling of really needing to talk to someone.. To call your best friend, a family member to just 'get it out'.. thats a beautiful tool also HOWEVER, if we think we are going to receive the answer from anything that is outside of us then we are on the wrong train. Everything you need is within you.

Have you also experienced feeling the urge to talk to someone, making the phone call and then feeling even more flat, or unheard? Because we cant expect anyone else to tell us what we want to hear. Your just setting yourself up for deflation.

So write, witness your journey. Ask yourself questions. Ask yourself - I would never speak to my best friend like this, why am I doing it to myself ?

3. D A I L Y M O V E M E N T:

Whether it be 10, 20, 60 minutes, move your body.

Why?

We are energy - and energy is constantly moving. We need to move it just as much as we need to sit with it and witness it. Its a beautiful balance.

Im going to use yoga asana because this is something that I call on and see the benefits of, you may use running, dancing, whatever inspires you.

During our life we tend to store & suppress emotions, past events & stories that we have experienced, in the body unconsciously. We store these & then they show up as tension & tightness in our bodies such as shoulders, hips, belly, jaw, feet. If a serious problem they can even show up as diseases (dis of ease, think about it), swelling & more.

Ever gotten on your yoga mat and been in a hip opening posture and just begun balling your eyes out and thought "WTF is that coming from?!" Yep.. duh.. If we don't deal with things they have to go somewhere.

We use asana as an awareness expanding tool - we move into all of these different shapes to tap into the body and see places we don't get to see on an everyday bases. (We don't tend to get upside down, in twists or puppy dog shapes during our day to day activities).

We tend to not even be aware of the places of tightness until we begin to move - I cannot tell you the amount of people I hear daily saying "I didnt even know I was so tight" or " I have never breathed like that in my life " etc. Of course you didn't - we have become so detached from our bodies that how do we expect to notice these things without going in ?

Before we step into the world its important for us to address were we are at. By getting on our mat we see the flux of energy, we become aware of the day to day changes and we soften to the idea of no 2 days being the same ~ we see this in our bodies and we take this into the world. Everything we learn on our mat, we take off our mat and apply it to our life.

So incorporating a daily practice is crucial for self reflection and greater a deeper understanding/connection to our body.

4. C O O K I N G Yes, you read that right.

Cooking. But why cooking ?

Nutrition is VITAL when it comes to the way we show up in the world, the impact food has on our mental, physical & spiritual function is everything.

You literally have a section in the gut called 'the gut brain' and there is a nerve that runs straight from the gut to the brain, and back from the brain to the gut acting like a bridge of communication, this is called the vagus nerve. So there is no coincidence when you eat sugar, you feel totally heightened, When your eating kitcheri you feel extremely grounded & your energy levels are clear & equal, coffee, the mind is stimulated & pro active, raw foods you feel extremely energetic because your eating foods that are alive.. its all connected.

In a slap happy place with your food? Eating because you have to ? yah.. this one's for you.

As lovely as it is to eat out & treat ourselves - its important we balance it with creating our own meals. When we tend to eat out a-lot we organically can take food and the preparation of it for granted and the connection to food becomes this mechanical movement of, "ahh ill have anything, I just need to get something in" and our decisions can become quite unconscious. You know the feeling when you have a coffee, or a meal and you can taste if it has been made with love ? Of course.. you feel it in your whole being, and then times you can feel it hasn't been - you are consuming that disconnection energetically so don't be surprised if you begin to feel that after consumption. When we create meals, teas, tonics, smoothies ourselves it comes with so much attention AND intention from beginning to end that when you finally sit down and enjoy it theres a different sensation and appreciation. Everyone loves a home cooked meal. Meditate on this.

Having trouble consuming at all? Mind creating to many reasons why you don't deserve food before even consuming it?

When I moved through a place of disordered eating, a tool I incorporated into my life was creating my own food.. as hard as this was to begin with, I noticed it didn't feel as scary to eat it when I new what was going into it & I new the way it was being cooked. I also grew a new appreciation for my taste buds and the patterns of connection they had to my mind from beginning to end of the creating process, where the negativity begun & where the happiness was heightened, where the fear really brewed and the stages the continuous stories I created, would show up. Its all control, how can we use this control healthily ?

Cooking can be like a meditation, you can say mantra and prayer whilst you are doing it to bless your food, you can put some music on and dance with your girlfriends, you can plant a garden and collect foods from your garden everyday, you can cook for the ones you love most, there are so many things you can do to have a deeper gratitude and connection to your food, your worthiness of consuming it and how it is such a crucial element to productivity, presence, energy, clarity, hormones.. I could go on all day. It's everything, and you are worthy.. worthier then the worthiest.

one. step. at. a. time.

There is another extension of this, being you don't know what to cook or you think you 'can't' cook.. this is the mind creating stories and mental blockages ~ This is an area which I thrive off stimulating, you can book in a free 15 minutes health & wellness consultation with me to dive deeper into this <3

These are just a few of my favourite and impactful tools I call on and see the benefits in daily, first hand. A lot of the time we can be scared of learning new tools because we feel like we are going to have to create more time and for a lot of people that can just not even be an option.. (we tell ourselves) but really these are things we already do to some degree, its just about creating more consciousness and awareness when doing them.

Start with one, start with 10 minutes, or 1 meal a day, or writing one sentence.. just begin!

Now before I go on to write a book i'm going to end this here and say everything you need is right there within you, love your body, honour your body.

I believe in you, its time to believe in yourself.

I LOVE YOU

Love & light,

El

xx