That Rainy Day Feeling

 

“The best thing one can do when it’s raining is to let it rain.”  ~Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

It’s been raining for what seems like a week here in Georgia.   The rain is welcome as all the summer gardens have been planted.   All this rain has me thinking  about and feeling the water element and what it teaches us.  

Have you ever noticed how many songs are written about the rain?   Here are a few that come to mind right away:

Here Comes that Rainy Day Feeling Again, Rainy Days and Mondays, Purple Rain,  Rain on Me, and most appropriate for where I live, Rainy Night in Georgia.  If any more songs come to mind, please feel free to respond in the blog responder below.

What kind of feeling does a rainy day evoke in you?  Do you even notice a difference in how you feel?  For some people rain creates a sense of coziness, a nesting feeling.  For others, too much rain creates a feeling of dread, sadness, lethargy.  Pay attention to your feelings, they are sign posts offering you more information about you.   And the more you learn about yourself, you will be able to hear your soul more clearly.

Many people fear their emotions and they run from them, or at least they believe they are running from them.  However, emotions don’t go away, they wait and surface again.  The water element encourages us to honor, acknowledge, and notice what we feel before trying to change it with a positive affirmation or happy thought.  These are both healthy things to do, following the acknowledgement.   Otherwise your subconscious will say to the happy thought “not true”.  

Consider what you do with your emotions.  Do you dump them on others by blaming,yelling, or gossiping?  Or perhaps the pendulum swings in the other direction and you swallow what you feel?  Neither way is healthy, neither way honors the water element.  Water is meant to move, and when you simply feel, information surfaces.  Then, the water element will carry you to the voice of your soul.

Summer Soul-Stice Workshop

June 21, 2010
7:00 pm	to	9:00 pm

 

We’re half way through the year already and Summer Solstice is the perfect time to take inventory of the desires and goals you have for 2010. It’s a day filled with the most light. In order to take advantage of the energy of the day, I am offering a Summer Solstice Workshop where you’ll  be intentional about what needs to be released in your life and what needs to be welcomed.

I’ll be including Soul Coaching® during this workshop, as an introduction and pathway for you to uncover your focus for the next 6 months.

The Simon Factor

If you haven’t heard of Simon Cowell by now, he’s the tough talking acerbic judge on the hugely popular television show American Idol and his own talent show in England called the X Factor.  Simon is known for his callous comments which at times can be downright rude, even though he often preempts what he says with “I don’t mean to be rude…”.   So why do the contestants that are being judged seem to put so much weight into what Simon says?  Probably why most people wait to hear his assessment – he speaks his truth.   His communication style is not always constructive as he says what is on his mind without much editing, positive or negative.  And because he is so brutally truthful, that seems to make the praise he doles out worth it to those being judged. 

In the real world, how often do you speak your truth?  Do you withhold what you are thinking or feeling to protect others?  Do you speak your truth without editing to get heard?  Both are extreme communication styles. If you find it difficult to speak your truth to important people in your life or in business, consider how safe it was a child to express your feelings.  Were your feelings honored or ignored in your family?  If you find yourself in sticky situations because you blurt out your truth without tact, reflect on how you got heard in your family.  Perhaps you had to become loud to get heard, or your parents modeled expressive, degrading communication.  Whatever you experienced in the past has an effect on how you communicate and relate today.  

If you are at either end of the spectrum of speaking your truth, you can begin to change this dynamic to create the opportunity to be heard. If you are withholding your feelings, you’re not being heard.  If you are blurting out your truth without consideration for others, you are also not getting heard as others may not take you seriously. To move yourself out of the two opposite communication styles of passive being quiet and aggressive-being bluntly direct, you can express yourself in a clear, adult manner utilizing this easy three step process;   

1. When you__________ or this situation________ happens/happened
2. I feel/felt _____
3. I need you to/not to___________

If the recipient changes the subject or gets defensive, name that and repeat the three steps, requesting to be heard.  If you hit a wall, use the three step process to express your frustration, disappointment, anger or whatever you are feeling. The benefits of speaking up for yourself and your feelings in a clear, concise manner are immense.   When you are true to yourself, your inner sense of well being and self esteem increases because you are in integrity with yourself and your soul.  Speak clearly, get heard and take yourself from zero to hero, as Simon says!

Soul Quote

“Journeys bring power and love back into you. If you can’t go somewhere, move in the passageways of the self. They are like shafts of light, always changing, and you change when you explore them.”
~Rumi