Upset? It's An Opportunity - Oliver Wedgwood

So you're upset. Perhaps someone has said something to you, or the world has thrown you some kind of 'curve ball'. Now you're having to deal with a storm of negative emotions whirling through you such as anger, sadness, fear, guilt, loneliness, self-criticism or rejection. It's not a pretty situation and it certainly doesn't feel good.

It may seem that these times of upset serve no purpose other than to put us into a bad mood, or worse to trigger a downwards spiral of depressive thoughts.

To make things worse, we rarely receive understanding and compassion from others or, more importantly, from ourselves about the situation. Have you ever heard that inner voice say, "It's just life so suck it up and get over it"?

However, viewed from a different perspective, these triggered moments of negative emotions are actually gifts. They are signposts on the journey of life that invite us to take the next step in our personal and spiritual growth. To access these opportunities, we simply need to recognise them as that, and to understand how to work with them.

To appreciate this perspective, we first need to understand the nature of our reality here in the material world.

We come to Earth by choice to learn, heal and grow. Before our present incarnation, most of us had some unhelpful beliefs that limited us from expressing our true divine nature.

A way to think of this is that the light of God (or Source, the Universe - whatever your choice of word) within each and every one of us is partially buried and obscured.

By experiencing a 3D material existence on Earth, with all of its ups and downs, we create opportunities to clean away the soil of illusions that we have created around our divine inner light.

We can then reprogram unhelpful subconscious beliefs to let our light shine brightly once again.

Our Earthly life is designed in such a way that each time you are triggered emotionally by an event that seems to have come from outside of you, you are in fact reacting in a way that mirrors one of these limiting belief inside of you.

So how can we use these 'trigger' opportunities to move further along our healing path, and to ultimately to enjoy more joy, peace and happiness?

Becoming Aware

The biggest and most important step in claiming these 'gold dust' moments is to develop awareness so you notice when you have become upset.

It's like being able to step outside of yourself in that moment and realising, "Ah! I am feeling upset!"

Unfortunately, instead of stepping into awareness, many of us suppress the anger, hurt, rejection or whatever difficult emotion we are feeling in that moment.

We may busy ourselves with some task, watch TV, rationalise what has just happened, or just try to put it out of our mind and 'get over it'.

This suppression may appear at one level to 'calm us down', but the energy of these emotions tends to stay in the body, often causing physical and mental imbalance, especially over the longer term.

Negative emotions need to be released properly from the body's energy system.

Thankfully, there are many ways to do this, enabling you to maintain good 'energy hygiene'. Below are just a few that you might like to try next time you find yourself upset.

Although these are important and useful techniques to practice, becoming upset signals that we need to heal at a deeper level... It is better to address the core issue so that it doesn't keep activating the same unhelpful response.

I help my clients to heal past issues and so clear 'stuck energies'. You are welcome to book a free discovery call with me if you would like to explore this in more detail.

Write a Letter

Writing a letter to whoever or whatever has 'caused' the upset is a useful tool to help these emotions flow through us. You don't have to send it, but simply getting the feelings down on paper will help you to process your emotions in a healthy way. Don't hold back - tell it like it is, and explain exactly how you feel.

Sit With Your Feelings

First find somewhere quiet and away from distractions where you can relax for a few minutes. Start with some long, deep breaths to help you relax and become centred.

Then bring up the feeling that upset you and take some long deep breaths into it. Try to amplify the uncomfortable emotions of the situation by replaying the sequence of events or words that caused you to be triggered. You might also be able to feel the emotion somewhere in your body.

Be aware if your mind starts to rationalise about the situation, i.e. 'chewing it over', then gently release those thoughts, returning to your breath and the uncomfortable feelings.

It's important to allow any strong emotions to express themselves as you do this. For example, if you suddenly feel that you need to cry, then don't hold back - let the tears come.

You may notice that after a few minutes of 'sitting with the upset', the emotional intensity starts to decrease.

By repeating this process 2-3 times per day over a few days (depending on the intensity of your emotions), you should find that the emotional energy of the original triggering experience has dissipated.

Guided Meditation

Your imagination is a powerful tool for moving stuck energy. Relaxing your body and following a guided visualisation can help you to release negative emotions from your body safely and effectively.

Try this 20 minute meditation which you can use as often as you like.

Qi Gong

Qi Gong (or Chi Kung) is the practice of working with our body's energy systems using breathing, movement, meditation and guided imagery. It has been used for thousands of years in traditional Chinese medicine to benefit the mind, body and spirit.

In traditional Chinese medicine, different organs of the body tend to store particular emotions. For example, the lungs can hold onto sadness and grief.

Qi Gong opens up the lines of energy flow called meridians, allowing any stuck emotional energy to flow through the body and be released.

A regular practice of Qi Gong is a great way to maintain emotional balance and physical well being.

Release Anger Using Exercise

Any kind of vigorous physical activity can be an excellent way to release anger and frustration. Going for an 'angry' walk, hitting a punch bag, twisting a teatowel, doing an angry workout... there are many physical ways to move that anger through and out of your body.

Going Deeper: How to Heal Root Causes of Upset

When we are triggered, it is because we have touched a core wound from the past that needs healing.

Although the previous methods of releasing negative emotions are helpful, it is ultimately best to heal the root cause of the problem. Then we don't need to keep dealing with the symptoms.

This is why I offer an effective and powerful therapy called 'Cutting The Ties That Bind', which will help you to heal these core wounds.

Without an effective therapy, it can take years to work through these root causes. However, with the Cutting The Ties programme you will be able to accelerate your personal and spiritual growth in only 6-10 weeks.

Signposts for Growth

Becoming upset about something is a natural and important part of life. Although those moments feel unpleasant and are not something we would usually choose to experience, without them our spiritual growth on Earth would be very difficult to achieve.

By recognising when we are triggered, we are given a clue that we need to heal a core wound from the past. We can then use healthy strategies to release the challenging emotions that come up, but sooner or later we will need to heal the underlying causes with an effective therapy.

If you would like to explore how to heal past issues and lead a happier and healthier life, I invite you to book a free discovery call with me.

Wishing you joy and peace,

Olly

Thanks for reading! I hope you enjoyed this article. Please feel free to share it will family and friends, and comment below about your experiences of how to release difficult emotions and feelings.

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