I decided I am going to start a monthly personal growth series on the blog where I can share with you all the books I’m reading, podcasts I am loving and practices I am applying in my own life. Really my intention of these posts is to give you a more “behind the scenes” peak at where I’m at in my personal growth journey and what I am working on.
These are going to be less polished posts and more of a “this is what I’m actually going through right now”. I always find it so helpful when the coaches and personal growth experts that I follow share with me a behind the scenes look at what they are doing every day, so I hope that sharing my experiences with you can be beneficial as well.
April was such an unusual month for me, as I’m sure it was for most of you as well do to the quarantine. I spent 21 of the 30 days of the month of April, in a pretty isolating lockdown. I was in a studio apartment in Da Nang Vietnam living alone in a foreign country. I was allowed to leave the apartment for things like groceries and to go for walks. I was also lucky enough to live in an apartment building with other expats and so had some semblance of community during the isolation, however most of my days were spent totally alone.
Being in lockdown, gave me an unprecedented chance to turn inwards and start doing some more intense inner work. As well as develop some rock solid routines and foundations that I’ve been missing in my life.
Manifestation Babe Academy
I decided one thing that would help make the lockdown more bearable was to sign up for an online course and work towards some personal growth with a community of like minded women.
I signed up for the Manifestation Babe Academy, when Kathrine Zenkina relaunched it in the wake of the quarantine. I thought it would be just this fun game of playing with manifestation rituals, but it turned out to be so much more than that.
I realized how much forgiveness is part of the manifestation process, and how important it is to accept the past, to clear your slate in order to move forward and manifest the life of your wildest dreams. Here are some of my notes from the course and some takeaways about forgiveness that were the most impactful for me.
“As long as you are resisting forgiveness, you are repelling your dream life. Your low vibe of resentment is just attracting more things to resent and be upset over.”
I also realized sometimes the person we need to forgive most is ourselves.
“If you made a mistake in the past, it’s just a moment in time that you are creating this HUGE story around. Every day you are becoming the best version of yourself and as you know better you do better. At that moment in time it was the best you could do. Release and forgive the old version of yourself”.
During the course we also learned about and implemented the Ho’oponopono meditation, an ancient Hawaiian practice for self healing and forgiveness. Ho’oponopono is something that can be practiced daily to forgive yourself, a situation or others and continually clear out the negative energy in your life.
The premise is simply to focus your intention and attention on the situation or person that you wish to forgive. Imagine your heart opening and connecting to their heart or to that moment in time. Then repeat the following mantra:
I love you. I’m sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
Here are some youtube video meditations that may be helpful, since I am by no means an expert in this practice.
The amazing healing power of Ho’oponopono
Tapping/ Emotional Freedom Technique
I have dabbled in the Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) before, but during this month, I have taken my tapping practice to a whole new level, using it on an almost daily basis. What I love about tapping is the way it helps me to process emotions and the physical calming effect it has on my nervous system. Having a powerful tool like this makes me feel like I can handle any emotion. I am much less scared of “feeling the feelings”, because I am confident that I can tap through any emotion that comes my way.
Emotional Freedom Technique involves using your hands to physically tap on meridian points on your body while repeating various affirmations or mantras to process emotions. The idea is that by tapping on these points you are moving energy around and are able to actually release and clear out old, trapped emotions from your physical body.
In my experience, EFT is a tool that helps me process through emotions, like anxiety, loneliness, and overwhelming sadness, especially ones that I am feeling on a physical level. After a tapping session, I feel so calm and peaceful, almost like I’ve taken a sedative, that’s how powerful it is.
I tend to carry much of my stress and tension in my neck, so when I’m feeling anxious I tend to get neck pain. During one particular week in April, I started experiencing these physical symptoms of stress. In the past I would have tried to power through and keep going, ignoring the physical pains in my body, but this time I decided to double down on my self care. This meant spending at least an hour a day tapping away the stress.
After just two days, the physical tension left my neck and my pain resolved completely. So, if you are someone like me, who experiences anxiety or other emotions on a physical level that feels debilitating, tapping is truly a magical solution.
I practice tapping through guided taps, meaning that I watch youtube videos and essentially follow along and repeat after the experts. My absolute favorite tapping guru is Sonya Sophia of the world tapping circle. Her tapping videos are longer, most of them around 60 minutes and they are so helpful for processing and clearing out the deeper emotional pain. Tapping along with Sonya has been supremely effective for me and although it takes up a significant chunk of time, the benefits I’ve seen are outstanding.
She has many free videos on youtube and is offering a donation based membership right now during this global pandemic for anyone who needs tapping. Usually the membership is $30/ month, but right now she is accepting whatever donations people can afford.
Another person who offers taps of the short and sweet variety is Brad Yates, who has an epic youtube channel. He is truly an OG in the tapping world and has been doing this for years, with videos dating back to 2009. Most of his taps are <10 minutes and are a perfect addition to a morning routine of if you need a quick pick me up during the day.
Try it out, see which person resonates with you. If you have any questions about tapping, or how/when to use it, please don’t hesitate to ask me about it. I would love to guide you through using this tool that I am newly obsessed with.
Archangel Michael Prayer
This is a prayer I discovered on James Wedmores’ Mind Your Business podcast and something that has become a key part of my morning routine. Saying this prayer fills me with so much comfort and peace that I am being divinely guided.
I want to share the prayer with you and if it is something that resonates with you, I invite you to incorporate it into your daily practices as well.
“Directly connected to the divine and to all that is, I now call upon Archangel Michael.
Archangel Michael please come in an connect with me now. I ask that you protect me, uplift me and inspire me to live in alignment with my highest and greatest good.
Surround me with your wings of love, stand before me blessing my energy with your angelic qualities of strength, courage and truth.
Please clear my energy and vibration completely releasing any and all negative energy, limiting beliefs, fears, illusions, and negative energetic imprints present in my energy and physical being.
Please release anything that is blocking me from truly and completely experiencing the love and light present in every moment.
Release all that no longer serves me into the light of the divine and fill the void with unconditional love, light and compassion.
Archangel Michael, I ask that you use your sword of light to cut away any and all doubt, fear, guilt and negativity that are around me.
Cut any and all cords draining my energy and vitality across the lines of time and assist me in reintegrating into my physical being any of my light and personal power that have been drained.
Please guide me on my path and help me accomplish my authentic purpose according to divine will for the highest and greatest good.
And so it is.
Thank you.
Amen. “
Podcasts I’m loving
One of my favorite practices and ways to consume content is listening to personal growth or business related podcasts and going on powerwalks. This is something I do on a nearly daily basis. Here are some of the podcasts I’ve been loving recently:
The Perfectionism Project | Sam Laura Brown
Perfectionism is a topic I’ve been doing a personal deep dive in recently and something I am just now starting to realize is a huge underlying theme in my life. This podcast has been so eye opening for me. Sam Laura Brown does two, long form (30-50 minutes) solo casts a week; each one provides so much value on how to overcome some of the main struggles of perfectionism, especially as it relates to chasing down big goals. It is so full of actionable techniques and mindset shifts and I think is a must listen for anyone who struggles with perfectionism.
Unlocking Us | Brene Brown
I think Brene Brown essentially writes the handbook on how to be more human. It sounds absurd, but I feel like one of the biggest things I’ve been grappling with since leaving medicine is basically becoming a human again. In so many ways, the medical field tries to beat the humanity out of you, so I am unlearning so much of that.
Brene is someone I’ve been following for a long time and has just recently started this podcast. She interviews experts on different topics such as loneliness, sufferring and just offers such a fantastic and vulnerable perspective on all the struggles of being a full human.
I hope this post was helpful in sharing with you the things I am working on right now and the practices I am trying to implement into my daily life.
I’d love to hear from you as well. Drop me a comment and let me know- what are you working on, what are you struggling with. What are some of the practices you are trying that you are seeing results from. Let’s do this personal growth journey together.
