Yup. As your body needs some food and liquid to survive, your soul needs it too. Ok, not necessarily food, even though I am a huge fan of chocolate as an answer to any situation and emotion.

To sum it up, it’s something like this:

What is the information as a nourishment for our spirit?

• Reading
• Listening                    ⇒ Awareness
• Observing

What about the rituals? If the rituals are what our Psyche (= Soul) needs to blossom, thrive and prosper, you could consider them, right? Maybe you do already because it makes you feel good. Now you know why.

• Be still
• Loose yourself by reading
• Go for a walk in nature
• Take a relaxing bath
• Have massage
• Clean/De-clutter
• Practice gratitude
• Go to cinema/theater/concert
• Gaze at the stars
• Daydream
• Go for a swim
• Play with a dog or a cat
• Spend a day with a child
• Serve others
• Experience joy moments
• …

These are something like a prescription from your physician. They actually should be such. I believe that if the doctors would prescribe us not only the pills, but some of those above, we would get well much faster. Why?

They work on the emotional level; however, emotions and feelings have huge impact on our physical body. They enhance our immunity, lower the blood pressure, relieve stress, improve resilience, etc., etc. How come?!

Ok, let’s dive a bit into this. It’s important to understand the connection.

Once I was asked about what the emotions were and where do they come from. Not aware about the real intention behind the question and having studied biology, I started to talk about the hormones and neurotransmitters. You can imagine the perplexed look.

But this is the truth. Emotions are chemical reactions. It’s as simple and as complex like that.

You might have heard about Adrenaline, Noradrenaline, Dopamine, Oxytocin, Endorphin, Serotonin… And there are more! These are the neurotransmitters (chemical messengers) that convert an electrical impulse between two neurons into a chemical signal to bridge the gap between these neurons. And the fluctuating levels of them cause the activation of different parts of the brain responsible for different emotions.

Isn’t it cool?

A bit more of Serotonin and you feel happy. Add Oxytocin and you are in love. Dopamine makes you feel addicted, to whatever (chocolate 😀 ) A pinch of Adrenalin and you are in stress and arguing.

Each emotion is a lovely cocktail of such chemical messengers.

By the way. Emotions… Feelings… What are they? Are they the same thing?

Nope.

Even though we use the terms “emotion” and “feeling” as synonyms, they are NOT interchangeable.

Emotions are lower level responses. Unconscious, physical and instinctual.

Feelings are conscious mental associations and reactions to emotions. Sparked by them and colored by your thoughts, beliefs and memories. These you actually CAN control and regulate. They are your responsibility.

How many of them are there? No idea. Possibly billions. Imagine all those people and all those chemical cocktails in them…

It’s actually similar to colors.

There are 6 basic emotions:

happiness, sadness, surprise, disgust, fear, anger. Each of them is a top of an iceberg.

There are 3 basic colors:

yellow, red, blue. Mix them in different proportions and you get any color you imagine. Mix them in equal proportions and you get…. White. Yes. White comprises all possible (millions) colors and its shades.

As well pure light comprises all possible (millions) colors and its shades. Rainbow is simply a pure light that hits the obstacle (raindrops) and breaks into seven visible colors. Yes, you’ve guessed it, there are millions hidden in them.

Imagine your soul as pure light. Or white color. It comprises millions of emotions, feelings and their nuances.

They emerge and cease again. Like the waves of the ocean. They are there somewhere. In the depth or just under the surface. Then some breeze comes and brings some to the coast. Nice happy waves. Or storm arises and the coast is suddenly devastated by huge strong ones. However, they never stay. And the sandy beach recovers again.

Check these examples (click on the picture to open it):

And this is crucial to realize.

Nothing stays still, nothing stays. Whatever situation, whatever emotion or feeling you are experiencing… it will all pass. Yes, unfortunately those positive, lovely ones, which we would like to hold on to forever, those will pass also.

However, it’s good to know it if you are stuck in the middle of unpleasant ones.

So what to do if you are experiencing something what we perceive as negative feeling? Yes, that conscious (negative) reaction to your thoughts, beliefs or memories?

• Name that feeling or feelings if there are more of them (important part)
• Feel it. Yup, feel it, acknowledge it, hug it. Why would you do that???! Because if you push it away, it will push back. It will become stronger. It’s physics. I wrote a blog about that: HERE
• After you have named it and hugged it, release it. Give your feeling permission to leave you anytime it’s ready.

It will.

And before I wrap this up, one more thing:

Remember that in every single feeling is the solution hidden already.

If something or somebody makes you feel one particular way, there is a reason behind. And one very precise (kind of) feeling – gut feeling (intuition) – will tell you exactly what you should do.

Yours

For a long time I had this question in my head. What is the most important journey? Where to?

When I came across the following lines by Safi Nidiaye, a German writer and meditation teacher some time ago, I was like “Yassss!”. This is it! This is what I was searching for and intuitive knew.

You are a hiker.
Not the worlds,
not paths on this planet,
not even different lives you wander through.
Those are landscapes of your soul
that you walk through.
Your soul is a universe;
mysterious and unknown to itself.

(Safi Nidiaye)

For as long as I can remember, I was searching for “something out there”. It took some serious exploring, emotional rollercoasters and many years ‘till I realized that I won’t find this “something” by moving from country to country. 

What I was searching for was NOT to be found somewhere “out there”.

You cannot pack your bag and just escape yourself. You cannot run away.

So I hit the road and went to meet that elusive shadow. My soul. Myself.

I guess this is the truth for the most of us – we are searching outside, running away from ourselves, trying to repair ourselves, looking for the solutions of ourselves. We are considering ourselves as pain, dilemma, obstacle… We are basically a walking problem.

No wonder that we feel lost. And I can guarantee you that no navigation device or any super-duper gimmick will help you here. Because the land that you should enter is behind your eyes, not in front of them.

Yup. This is the most important journey – towards inside, the one you see the best when you close your eyes. To your heart, to your soul. To your inner garden.

The only thing you need is a bit of courage and that first step. Something like Harry Potter and his Platform 9 ¾. It starts somewhere between your emotions, between sleep and being awake, between your dreams and reality.

And if you just thought “she is definitely crazy”… maybe. But you will never find out if you don’t try. Sooo, are you in for a ride?

While you think about the answer, I will write the next sunshine to your mailbox, where we hit the road.

Yours