What do you do when you feel stuck?

Stuckness can be as simple as frustration or even as extreme as hopelessness. In our culture, we have a tendency to shut down emotion rather than paying attention to it.

In my family growing up, we didn’t grow up with good emotional recognition. It was all about “putting on a happy face.” While I can see the benefit of “happy facing it” if we are dismissing, denying our emotions, we are not recognizing what its telling us.

Instead of dismissing our emotions, burying them or denying them, let’s look at the messages they are trying to give us.

Emotions are Messengers: What is the emotion trying to tell you?

Emotions are messengers, bringing us information about life, what we like and don’t like and what we want and don’t want.

Get the message and don’t stay stuck in the emotion. So what is the message of hopeless?

Hopeless is telling you you don’t like a current situation and you don’t feel empowered to make a change.

Step One, recognize what your mind is saying: “This always happens to me, things will never change, its like this all the time, it will be this way forever.”

When you see these universal language, you can recognize that its not really true, its just old ideas that got stuck the mind is just projecting the current negativity  into the future. As we all know, life changes. People change and situations change. Change is a part of life.

So what is stuckness or hopelessness asking you to do?

Step Two: Counter what your mind is saying, “Even though its like this now, it won’t be this forever. Although I feel hopeless now, there’s always a way forward.”

The remedy is to believe, to stretch your mind beyond limitations (whether real or imagined) and to see a better vision. The remedy of hopeless is hope.

Step Three: Hopeless asks us to believe in ourselves more. It asks us to see a higher vision beyond the moment. It asks us to look beyond ourselves to recognize a higher purpose and see new horizons.

Redirect your thoughts and feelings to get out of Hopeless and into Hope with Flow States

One of the best ways I know to do this is with FLOW states. Flow states are those activities where you become fully engaged, fully focused in the moment and it brings a sense of timelessness.

When we are in flow states, it moves our mind into Alpha Brain Wave Patterns, and it has physical effects on our mind and body:

• It moves your energy out of stuck
• It lowers stress and blood pressure
• It combats negative thoughts and negative moods
• It actually puts your mind and BODY into self healing states
• It opens up your mind to higher thinking, intuition and problem solving
• And it juse FEELS better
• And besides its just more FUN!

When we are in an Alpha Brain Wave pattern, we are accessing a meditation state. Most flow state activities require you to be active, so this engages mind and body together and flow states are also dynamic meditation states.

What are your FLOW state activities?

Here’s some of my favorites to get you started with identifying your own. And you don’t need anyone else to get into flow:

• I love to turn Alexa up in my kitchen and dance: I love the movement, the freedom of it, letting the tunes take me.
• I love to sing, (usually at the top of my lungs to the radio in my car so others can’t hear me- heehee and it sure makes my commute more fun).
• I love to bake. Baking is creative, I explore gluten free recipes, this week I made gluten free focaccia bread.
• I tap into flow states when I  create a new course or retreat, yep I got one in the works!

Sometimes if we’ve been out of the practice of fun for awhile, you may not know what you like to do or your enjoyments may have changed. You may have to try out some new things and experiences to find what works for you.

Here’s some keys to finding your flow states:

Anything Creative: Whether its art, painting, wordsmithing, crafting, scrapbooking or poetry.

Music: Whether you play an instrument (definite flow state) or listen to great tunes and sounds, music has a powerful way of influencing your mood. Music is one of the activities that activates your whole brain and synchronizes across hemispheres.

Any Sports: Sports often require movement and especially you’ll hear athletes talk about it as being in the “zone” when mind and body are synchronously working together for that intuitive motion, action and timing.

Slow Movement & Meditations: Tai chi, yoga, nia, free style dancing and walking. The mind starts tapping into the alpha brain wave patterns.

Being In Nature: Being in nature naturally changes our mental state and our brain wave patterns. Time in nature can bring clear thinking, boost your mood, feeling better and a sense of renewal.

Coloring Books! Yes adults everywhere are seeing the value of coloring book time that we knew once as kids. Get a fun coloring book with designs that you like, grab some markers, play music and just relax into the flow of bringing life and color to the design. Especially good for those chilly cold days of winter.

Meditation: Tuning into meditation states, we tap into the timelessness of no thought.

The more we practice flow states, its spurs our own well being, creates a more positive attitude, lifts your mood, clears out stagnant energy or stagnant thinking states. It boosts our abilities with the Law of Attraction (bringing positive energy to what we focus on) and expands what we are seeing for ourselves.

What are your FLOW states?

Maybe your thing isn’t crafting fairy jars or singing, the key is to find what works for you. Make time for yourself to explore some flow state activities. You can draw on things you’ve done in the past or try some things completely new. You never know if your next favorite activity is waiting to be discovered.

Sometimes we feel stuck and just need a brain shift!

Check out the Discover & Design Your Amazing Life Program here

Or get started with a Mental Blocks Identifier Session here