Mind Body Dharma

Research shows that nature is one of our biggest (if not THE biggest) stress relievers we can access, so of course, we have a session on connecting with the healing magic of nature and plants at PlayFest.🌿

I’m delighted to introduce you to Jacqueline Hartman! She’ll be leading a session all about play and the healing power of plants at PlayFest this October.✨🌼

Jacqueline fosters deep transformative relationships that help individuals, groups, and organizations navigate personal and professional shifts.

“Building conscious relationships and playing with the plants that sustain our planet and our species is both practical and magical.” 🔮

Combining traditional medicine with modern healing and leadership facilitation, she promotes holistic well-being and dynamic leadership.

“For me, play is a mindset as well as an action verb. Play is how I find my way out of stagnation, back to flow, into presence, and an appreciation for life even when it’s challenging.” 🌍 🌟

Jacqueline has been grounding and inspiring individuals and mid to large organizations in service, tech, and higher education for three decades. She is a program developer, integrative health coach, and multicultural clinical herbalist.

“Play can change our perspectives and moods, decrease pain, relieve stress, increase curiosity, and improve engagement and connection. Come play with us.” 🍃

“Play is a space to learn. Play is a place to teach. Play is an opportunity to feed your curiosity. Play is freedom. Play is a pathway to pleasure and pleasure is the pathway to Joy.” 🎈🌟

I couldn’t agree more with Toran, and I’m so excited to have her lead a session at PlayFest this October. 🎉

Here’s more about her perspective on play in her own words:

“As a certified S*x, Love, & Relationships Coach, play is an integral part of my work, my vision and my mission. 🌺

As my clients are learning to expand their capacity to hold the good in their lives. Learning to expand the freedom in their bodies and learning to expand their capacity for pleasure in their lives, it’s important to remember to have fun. Play is a building block to pleasure. And my mission is to bring pleasure back to life. And why is it important. Because you were made for pleasure. It is not only your birthright, but also your design.” 🌈💫

Toran has spent decades training bodies to be athletes, performers, and entertainers, including her own. To perform and confirm to expectation. Now, She can be found creating spaces for people to be free in their bodies. Body Freedom expands confidence, deepens intimate wellness, and increases vitality. Bringing pleasure back to life from the board room to the courtroom and even into the bedroom. 🌿✨

Join Toran for a powerful session at PlayFest this October - hop on the waitlist to stay in the loop! 🌸🔗

I used to think art 🎨 was all about coloring within the lines. It wasn't until I realized that art was about setting oneself free 🌟 that it all really clicked.

That's one of the reasons I'm delighted to be featuring Haley Hoover at PlayFest so you can all experience the magic of self-expression and intuitive art and how it serves as a portal for transformation.🌀✨

Haley Hoover helps women connect with their sacral power through intuitive art and journaling classes.

She is an Intuitive Artist, Author and Success Coach who helps spiritual women experience more ease and fulfillment in their journey to success and abundance. Her secret sauce is combining abstract art practices, intuitive journaling prompts and ancient yogic exercises into a full-body experience of expanding into your potential.

In Haley's own words:

"I believe play🎈 is a portal for transformation.

We can be brave and bold with bulky art supplies and paper in a way that teaches us to trust ourselves, not only on the page, but off the page as well. When we play, we enter into our sacal expression - creativity, intuition and sacred spirituality. I use intuitive art to facilitate this powerful experience."

Come join us at PlayFest this fall for a hands-on intuitive art experience - hop on the waitlist to be the first to know when tickets drop!🌿

So many folks living and working on the SF Bay peninsula think they have to go to SF or even leave town to find wellness events and retreats. 🤔 Is this you?

Come join us for PlayFest in Redwood City this fall and learn 6+ different kinds of play-based wellness practices to help you release stress and create more freedom in all areas of your life (without having to leave your job). 🤸‍♀️

Today I'm featuring Caline Raab, who will be leading a play-based movement practice at our 1.5 day retreat. Learn more about Caline in her own words:

Play has been an interesting journey for me. As a teen, I thought play was uncool. As a young adult, my version of play was partying. Once I entered the corporate world, there was no time for play. I had lost all connection to childlike wonder, fun, and play.

Reintroducing play into my life brought an unexpected surprise: healing. Play has helped me heal my perfectionism, let go of control, release attachments, and drop from my mind to be free in my body. It's been a powerful tool for tapping into my power, agency, and authenticity. Plus, it constantly reminds me that life doesn't have to be so hard!

I’m a Life Coach, Reiki Master, and Shamanic Practitioner who loves helping people be their best selves. I specialize in one-on-one coaching, creating a safe, personalized space tailored to your unique needs, blending coaching and energy work for holistic growth. I help individuals overcome challenges to achieve personal freedom. I also love group experiences, as they foster community and allow us to bring our unique, beautiful selves into the collective.

I look forward to playing together! Join the waitlist to be the first to know when tickets drop and to get a special deal 😉

I am BEYOND excited to announce this… 🔥🙃

This October, join me and 5 other speakers for PlayFest, a 1.5 day retreat I’m hosting in Redwood City, CA featuring immersive experiences and bite-sized practices to help you create more freedom (and joy!) in all areas of your life through the power of play. 🎉

Whether you’re local to the SF Bay Area or are looking for an excuse to come out here, this powerful retreat is for you!

Join the waitlist to be the first to know when you can officially sign up and for your chance at a special 🤑

Tears rolled down my face as I saw her––arms wide and ready to embrace me, eyes kind and wise. I didn’t feel so alone anymore.❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

I’ll never forget the first time I met my higher self.

I was deep in a Shamanic journey (a type of visualization meditation), the soft drum beats calling me home to myself.

Since then, I’ve felt more connected to who I really am, what I want to do in life, and how to make more aligned decisions based on my intuition.✨

This is the magic of ceremony.

If you’ve never experienced ceremony, it’s hard to explain how it feels, and how profound an impact it can have on you, your personal growth, and your life.

For me, ceremony helped me heal core wounding around my body, relationships, self-worth, spirituality, career, and so much more.🙏🏼

In essence, ceremony helps you return home to yourself.

Like a meditation, breath work or yoga class, ceremony cultivates space and a permission slip for you to let go of old energy and move into a more embodied state of being.

I’ve found in both leading and participating in it, ceremony can awaken us on a whole other level, revealing inner truths and enhancing feelings of unity with Spirit / the divine / the universe, your higher self, and the mystery of life––or whatever terms resonate with you.

And because one of my gifts is to make the complex accessible, I teach ceremony in a way that blends science-backed research AND spiritual wisdom.🧠🔮

That’s all to say that this ceremony doesn’t require you to fast for days, swear off your job, or travel to the far reaches of the world.

It’s also playful, light-hearted, AND powerful. Spirituality and personal growth can be fun too :)

I’ve been leading this ceremony, which combines breath, Oracle cards, and Shamanic journeying, since October of 2022.

👉🏼Today at 4pm PST / 7pm EST, as a gift for the Earth, you can join this ceremony free for the first time ever.

So if you’re curious about what it means to live connected even amidst the mess of modern life...

If you’re curious about opening up a more subtle world and activating your intuition in a grounded and accessible way.

Peep the 🔗 you know where.

Replay sent to all who register.

“Radiance is safer than protection.” 💗
 
Last week, I was at a conference hosted by the wonderful Kate Northrup and my new friend said this to me while we connected at lunch. It all clicked, and yet felt counter-intuitive.

💥 When we shine our true self out into the world, we are safer than when we don’t. 💥

Earlier that day, Kate Northrup led us through one of my favorite nervous system regulation tools––the 20-second hug––but with complete strangers. 😅
 
“Find someone who you haven’t met yet and greet them like you are greeting your best friend who you haven’t seen in 10 years,” she said.  
 
We did this 3 times with different people, hugging heart-to-heart for 20 seconds.

As you may imagine, the first 15 seconds were rather uncomfortable. But after surrendering into the feeling of being heart-to-heart…something unlocked.
 
➡️ I felt safer than I had before––even when I was tucked into my conference room chair with my notebook, snacks, water bottle, and cozy jacket. 
 
I was safer when I was vulnerable, open, and connecting. 🥹
 
I think this epiphany is so important. 
 
We often think that we’re safer in our own bubbles, doing familiar things, and creating protections around ourselves. And for much of the time, especially in certain environments, that’s true. 
 
And yet… 
 
I left that conference with more genuine new friends than I had made in the last year. 🫶🏻 Why? Because I dared to be radiant, heart-to-heart. 
 
I wonder what would happen if we could all show up this way more often…what the work environment would be like if we dared to greet people with (metaphorical) open arms rather than at arms-length with judgments and protections. 
 
At the very least, we’d be less stressed. 
 
And maybe we’d also feel…
🔸 more accepted
🔸 more expanded
🔸more empowered
🔸and free to be ourselves. 
 
P.S. If you’re looking for your own heart-opener that’s supported by a safe container and community, I invite you to join my upcoming (virtual) Metamorphosis ceremony on Monday, Feb 19th. More info you know where 😘

It’s been a while since I’ve done this… I’m hosting my first in-person event since 2022! 🤩

Last week I shared a key tip for overcoming overwhelm. Want more?

Here are a few of my favorites:
✨ Card reading.
✨ Breathwork.
✨ Connecting with supportive people.
✨ Meditating with your higher self.
..and it just so turns out that I’ll be guiding a group of busy folks through ALL of those practices in a cohesive and sacred way this week––twice. Once in-person in the SF Bay Area on Friday, and once online on Thursday.

And you can be a part of either (or both!) if it feels aligned––I’d love to have you join us.
You’re invited: Metamorphosis, a sacred ceremony

In the ceremony I’ve been leading virtually for the past year, you’ll:
✨ Release stress and overwhelm through a powerful breath work experience and live sound bath
✨ Reconnect with your authentic self through a guided Shamanic journey (visualization meditation), accompanied by live drumming
✨ Reclaim your intuitive power through a group intuitive card reading that helps you get really clear on what you want and how to move forward in 2024

In-person ceremony details:
When: Friday, Dec 8th, 7-8:30pm
Where: Peacebank Yoga Studio in Redwood City, CA
Bring: cozy clothes (wear layers), yoga mat (or borrow the studio’s)

Get your ticket by swiping to the QR code and tapping it to go to the studio’s website 🙂
If you’re new to ceremony and not quite sure what that means...

you can think of ceremony as a supercharged ritual that’s done in the same way each time with a deep level of presence and sense of the sacred. Ceremony allows you to access deeper levels of insight and power that you haven’t been able to before.

💁🏻‍♀️ And for this ceremony, I also teach the science behind the spiritual practices we’ll do so your mind can relax and you can feel the magic.

Dayana Mayfield, SaaS Copywriter & Content Strategist describes it best:
“Metamorphosis always gives me the exact insight I need to completely shift my resistance to whatever I’m going through and tune in with my true needs. It’s a dose of clarity and calm, and I look forward to it immensely!”

See you there? 🤷🏽‍♀️

When we’re trying to create the life we don’t need a vacation from, we often do the opposite of what will actually set us free. 🔄

We hold on tight. 🤲

We plan and scheme, and dream and vision... willing it all to happen.

We try to control the outcome.

But here’s the cheeky thing about this personal and spiritual development work––in the end, we need to surrender to the wonder of the universe for it all to work.

In other words: true growth requires both action and rest in equal measure.

Let’s take gardening as a metaphor:

Imagine, you plant a seed. 🌱

You give the seed fertile soil, water, and sunshine.

Every day, you continue to nurture that seed with more water and sunshine. 🌧️🌞

Sure, you can add more nitrogen, maybe move the pot for different sun exposure... but at a point, you need to surrender to nature.

Life takes over.

And all you can do is give it space and trust that seed is growing under the soil. Eventually, a sprout appears, and you can bask in the wonder that is growth. 🌱

Yet... when it comes to our personal development, we often think we can skip the part where we surrender to the unknown, trust, and rest. Or we do our very best to avoid it.

And when we skip it, we burn out. 🔥😩

To craft a magical life that’s aligned with your authentic self, you need ALL of these...

Playful experimenting to see what clicks

Choosing to trust yourself above all else

Making space for magic to unfold around you ✨

Taking powerful, aligned action (you create your reality!)

Surrendering to the wonder of life that’s working to support you 🙌

So as we close out the year (can hardly believe it), and enter the final season of winter, I invite you to ask yourself: how can I carve out more space for rest? How can I honor this last step in the cycle? Feel free to pop some ideas below! ❄️🌬️

🤫🎩💍 Confession... I got married two weeks ago and totally spaced about getting these posts up in a timely way. However, the magic that occurred makes me believe it was divine timing. ✨

After all: making room for magic is the 3rd key in reclaiming your power and crafting an authentic life you adore. 🗝️💖

We made space for magic in the weeks leading up to and after the wedding. Despite the errands, setup, and coordination for a backyard wedding, we lounged in the sun with our pup, enjoyed a YA audiobook, visited an outdoor hydrotherapy spa, and went wine tasting. 🍇

While we could have been more efficient, both of us were more present and relaxed when the ceremony finally arrived (more on the magic during that experience next time). 🎉

Making room for magic is essential: releasing your grip on what you think you need to do allows you to enjoy what’s right in front of you.

Many friends have shared that their wedding day flew by so quickly they couldn’t fully enjoy it. And this applies to more than weddings...

Imagine savoring every bite of lunch away from your desk, rather than wolfing it down in-between frenzied typing.

Truth: we rush through things because we don't trust ourselves. 🤔💼

Think about it... if you trusted that you could get something done in time, or if you trusted that you could advocate for yourself well enough to take 10 minutes to eat... you'd probably slow down and enjoy that bite.

And as I shared in my last post, trust grows on itself, which creates magic and magnetism––leading to more compliments, opportunities, and deeper connections.

Like the couple getting married sets the tone for the wedding, you set the tone for your life. So, what tone do you want to set?

Comment with the kind of life you want for added power. The words we share cast spells - both positive and negative! ✨✍️

Stay tuned for the 4th key in crafting your most authentic life… and in the meantime, feel free to check out my new course on mastering the art of intuitive card reading (you know where to look). 🔍

🤔 You may recognize this scenario: You’ve taken a job, studied a subject, or attended events not because you WANTED to, but because you thought you should for success.

I’ve done that countless times.

Truth is, following these “shoulds” often lead us away from our authentic desires and self… which then at some point or another we get hit with burnout because we’re not living our authentic life.

Welcome to the third post in our series on becoming your most empowered and authentic self.

The 2nd key to doing just that? Radically trust yourself.

If you don’t trust yourself, you’re more likely to follow societal conditioning’s view of what you should do with your life…like “work hard, be rewarded,” “you don’t own your time,” or “you must do X to be successful.”

The reality is that these statements aren’t authentically you, and deep down, you know it.

The 2nd key is about getting brutally honest about what’s authentically you and taking aligned action.

And the more aligned action you take, the more you begin to trust yourself. And the more you trust yourself, the more magic unfolds around you.💫

Here are 4 steps to start:

STEP 1: Identify the limiting beliefs and pressures in your life.
STEP 2: Reconnect with joy and play.
STEP 3: Trust your authentic desires and inspirations.
STEP 4: Support your nervous system through self-care.

💁🏻‍♀️This process has transformed my life––from burned out techie to spiritual entrepreneur who adores her life. And it’s the same process I guide my coaching clients through.

Your invitation: Take a small step this week to cultivate self-honesty and trust. Keep it simple.

Stay tuned for the 3rd key in crafting your most authentic life. And if you’re already ready for more, my new course on mastering the art of intuitive card reading without memorizing anything so you can reconnect with your authentic self is now enrolling with an early bird special! 🦜

As we grow up, all too often our childlike sense of play gets replaced by work, rules, "shoulds," and expectations.
..and as a result, we lose touch with our authentic self, power, and magic––which affects ALL aspects of our lives. ✨💫

Instead, we end up following the shoulds, expectations, and rules that have been told to us. 📜🚶‍♂️

For example, one of the things my clients dream about is having a consistent self-care practice, especially with all the responsibilities they juggle. (You, too?) 🤔💼

Traditional self-care and habit advice usually emphasizes commitment, consistency, and follow-through above everything else. 🗓️

While repetition IS key for building a habit, I've found that folks are more likely to stick with and benefit from a self-care practice if they take a more playful approach and create a ritual that feels like an adventure. 🌟

When we treat life changes as adventures and experiments, it automatically evokes what I call a play mindset––we take the pressure off, try something new, and reconnect to our authentic desires. 🚀

Say you have a goal to connect more with your intuition, for example...

OLD APPROACH:
Meditate for 10 minutes every morning. 🧘‍♀️☀️

PLAY MINDSET:
Make a menu of intuitive practices to choose from, pick an adventure timeframe (like a week), a time chunk (like 10 minutes), and a frequency (like 3 times / week) to try that feels doable and fun. Give yourself permission to mix up which practice you do––based on your intuition, energy level, and mood! 📅🤹‍♀️

Now I'm curious... which sounds like you'd be more likely to do it––and keep doing it––long-term? 🤔

Play is powerful––we often don't know what is going to feel best until we try it, and if we heap on pressure to commit to the same thing with no wiggle room, we are more likely to quit. 🙅‍♂️

💁🏻‍♀️ But when we focus on play instead, we rediscover what is truly, authentically us along the way and create sustainable consistency. 🔄🌟

I dare you to try it - comment if you plan to! 😄👍

🔍 What we really mean by “authentic self” and why it matters

You've probably heard people talk about becoming more authentic or "stepping more into your true self" ... but what does that really mean?

Your authentic self, simply put, is the "stuff" that makes you you without all the societal and intergenerational beliefs that you picked up in utero, as a child, and as a young adult.

Neuroscience shows that we receive ~2.3 mil bits of information through our senses at any moment, and because we can't process that much information consciously, we delete, distort, and generalize down to 126 bits of information based on our mind's filters––including everything from time, location, and mood down to our values, beliefs, and identity.

That information then informs how we feel, which affects our behaviors, and which in turn determines our experience of life.

That's all to say that we have access to so much MORE than we think we do AND everything we've experienced up to this moment affects our perception of reality.

But who ARE we underneath all that noise and information?

From a psychological point of view, we are a consciousness.
From a spiritual point of view, we are a soul.

And regardless of how you look at it, there is an essence there––despite all your mind's filters are doing to delete, distort, and generalize reality... You are you.

You are the common thread.

So imagine... if you could bring your essence to the forefront, you'd know what you really wanted vs what you "should"...

Then imagine if you could reprogram your mind’s filters so they pay attention to the info that helps you realign your life and reach your goals...

✨ Magic.

That is what it means to become more of your authentic self.

And to support you in this process, I have some exciting things coming including more posts in this series and a new art workshop and course in November. Here for it?? Drop an emoji to let me know. 💫👇

🌙✨ I've been thinking a lot about this week's new moon in Leo, which is asking us to step more into our authentic self-expression – in work, family, friendship, partnership, hobbies, you name it – and release what isn't aligned. 🦁🌟

And this fun journaling prompt came to me:

🪔→ If you had Aladdin's magic lamp and were granted 3 wishes from the Genie, what would they be? And once granted, what would you change, and what would you keep? 🧞‍♂️

For me, the first wish is to heal the planet; that the earth and everyone's needs of safety, food, shelter, love, warmth, thirst, respect, healthy environment, etc. would be met. 🌍💚

The second is for me to have more than enough money and then some so I wouldn't even need to think or worry about that as a resource anymore. 💰🛍️

And the third would obviously be to free the Genie :) 🧞‍♂️🔓

When I then asked myself what would stay the same and what would change... I started thinking more about my business. 💼🤔

I realized most of my business and life would stay the same –– a good sign! –– because a lot of it IS in alignment with my true calling and highest self. ✨📈

But a few key things would change:

1) I would lower my prices and create even more accessible, low ticket, and affordable options to get more of this powerful work out into the world and to help more people. 💸🌱

2) I wouldn't take any calls on Mondays or Fridays and would use those days for creative work, for making new courses, for thinking strategically, and for spiritual development. I'm already halfway there on this one :) 🗓️🎨🧘‍♀️

So then I asked myself...

🌟→ Do I actually need to wait for my wishes to be granted before I make these changes? Nope!

So... I've lowered my coaching rate, and I'm excited about the mini offers I want to make. Stay tuned for some exciting things coming soon! 🎉🚀

What about you? What would your three wishes be? What would stay the same and what would change?
..And what's stopping you from making those changes today? 🤔🚦

With Pride month almost over (shout-out to my fellow Q***r friends and family) and July around the corner, summer is in full swing in the Western hemisphere. ☀️🌈

And with that, our bodies are more inclined towards pleasure––whether that’s lounging poolside, traveling, spending time with loved ones, feeling sensual, adventuring outdoors, or simply gazing out the window.

Today, I’d like to talk about the counterpoint to last week’s email about pain: pleasure and feeling good in our bodies and lives. 💖🌟

Most of the time, we talk about burnout as a symptom of over-working.

But, I like to think of burnout with a bit more nuance, especially after working with hundreds of clients who have struggled through it. 🤝

Burnout happens because we’ve over-indexed on pain and missed out on––or even denied ourselves––pleasure.

We often place pleasure at the end of a string, like a dangling carrot, that we’ll get IF and only if we work harder, faster.

We set ourselves up with a never-ending marshmallow test––we resist the temptation to rest, to listen to our bodies, to feel good so that we can achieve more.

We silently tell ourselves that we’ll get more recognition, earn more, and feel better after we’ve accomplished this project or hit that milestone or achieved a certain body composition.

Unconsciously, we as a culture believe that we have to earn our pleasure––that we don’t deserve it otherwise.

But, as you may have personally experienced and I most certainly have, this tendency to continually put off pleasure has terrible consequences…

By the time we “feel” we’ve earned our just rewards, we’re too damn exhausted to feel them, let alone enjoy them. 😴😩

A few months ago, I wrote a blog post about the cap on the amount of pleasure we allow ourselves.

You can read it on the blog.

…it’s kind of like how I wrote about our certain capacity for discomfort last week. 😅

But what I didn’t add in that post was that pleasure is necessary.

Pleasure isn’t some conditional reward––it’s a basic necessity for being a regulated, balanced, and embodied human. It’s a prerequisite for being our best self.

Pleasure:
Releases dopamine, the feel-good hormone ✨

Read the rest on my blog here: https://www.emilyschickli.com/blog/why-we-burn-out-it-s-not-only-what-you-think

I've been having dreams of an invisible, energetic Grid that blankets all of Silicon Valley, my hometown. I see it floating above the trees and the buildings, cutting us off from the rest of the sky.🌠

It's like the mesh top of an aviary that keeps the birds from flying away––but this Grid glitters with power, electricity, and the agreements we've made to keep this whole system running. As we work, as we play, and as we rest, it whispers down to us...

Keep going, keep doing, keep working.

It whispers the often unspoken agreements like:

🟡 "Work hard, be rewarded."
🟡 "You don't own your time––your employer does."
🟡 "The more you work, the more worthy you are."
🟡 "Even fun has to be productive."
🟡 "Relaxation is distraction. Distraction is relaxation."
🟡 "We are each other's competition."
🟡 "Self-care is the break you take so you can do more."
🟡 "Trust no one, least of all yourself."
🟡 "You can never earn enough money."

Have you heard or felt these before, too?

Whether or not you live in Silicon Valley, I've felt the same pressures in other areas, especially cities, as well. Maybe you feel them now.

I've been undergoing a personal inventory and recalibration of all of these toxic agreements that we've allowed to run in our collective consciousness.✨

When I was growing up in Palo Alto before either of the tech booms, these agreements weren't here. I felt like I could laze outside with a good book all day, school was fun, and I could play with ease. I remember when that started to change and the pressures to succeed in a certain way began to override that carefree feeling.

You could chalk that up to a happy childhood transitioning into the awakening of adolescence, but I think there's another layer here.

We came up with these agreements with the birth of big corporations and technology and the influx of thousands of workers. And they were probably necessary at that point in time to a certain extent––which is why we created them. We needed to be focused on working hard and innovating.

💁🏻‍♀️ Read the rest on my blog here: https://www.emilyschickli.com/blog/healing-the-way-we-work-for-personal-empowerment

I’ve been navigating some physical healing over these past few weeks––months. And in addition to doing all the things my physical therapist, doctor, etc recommends, as well as some alternative therapies, I’ve been working on my injury energetically.

A few powerful messages have come through that may resonate with you too…

When we are in pain, overwhelmed, or uncomfortable, we often experience the phenomenon of tunnel vision––we focus on how sick, stressed, or tired we are.

And while to some extent that hyperfocus supports our recovery––we prioritize getting well or getting out of a bad situation––it can also put us into a reactionary state and even feeling like a victim.

Our physiology supports this too––when we encounter a stressor, our vision literally narrows, creating that tunnel vision effect, so that we can focus on survival. But when we’re focused on survival, we feed our power to the situation.

For example, when I first tore a tendon in my ankle 3 months ago, I went right into story (before I caught myself). I started worrying about how long it would take to heal, how I’d been doing well in my workouts and now this disrupted that…and even how frustrating my healing journey was the last time I was injured. It felt like I needed to stop everything and heal and yet I all I wanted to do was to keep participating in my normal rituals despite needing to rest. Relatable?

All I could focus on was the pain and stuckness of my situation. And the same is true of most of us humans––whether we’re experiencing physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual pain.

Discomfort has the tendency to consume us. We lose our sense of perspective, and we lose our sense of power.

We forget that we are sovereign beings and have the capacity to affect our experience of this life––even when and especially when it’s uncomfortable.

Rather than making the pain, stress, discomfort, exhaustion, overwhelm, or sickness our focus, we need to get bigger than it. We need to expand our capacity so that it no longer overtakes us.

Read the rest on my blog here: https://www.emilyschickli.com/blog/exploring-the-truth-about-discomfort-for-personal-growth-and-transformation