I used to keep things bottled up within. From the big to the small things in life. I hated confrontation and the fall out that pursued it, so I did my upmost to avoid them. I felt like I was the ‘better being’ as I wasn’t causing a scene or an unnecessary argument. But unbeknown to me I was doing way more damage than I ever intended.
Although I was keeping things to myself, the body has a way of giving hints as to how we truly feel. Our eyes may roll, our facial muscles react in response to words and actions. Our body demeanour has a language of its own that speaks volumes to the people around us who in turn, react and have their own responses.
Within us our thoughts start to grow like a cancer. They spoil into other areas of our mindset and before we even recognise what’s happened, we start to change our underlying feelings over the course of time. Sticking to our temperaments and seeping into our personalities. Emotions of bitterness, resentfulness, hurt, anger, frustration, jealousy, fear can overcome us and start to influence our world without us even realising.
This process takes it toll on us from the inside. I used to suffer terribly with swollen glands in the throat area. Never a sore throat, but painful to swallow and tender to touch. It tended to appear during periods of personal stress and/or juggling a busy life. The doctor’s couldn’t detect anything that may be causing it.
When I started to work on my own self-development I became aware of the effects of ill thinking was having on my well-being and body. I finally made the link between keeping schtum and my throat. As soon as I started to open up to others about how I was feeling as well as writing my thoughts down on paper I noticed the positive changes that I felt within. I had removed the ‘blockage’ within my throat as I had found my voice, that had liberated me from my over thinking.
Having a ‘safe space’ to dump your thoughts allows you to play the emotion and scenario out. It gives you the time for reflection, acceptance and understanding of the situation that triggered the original thought. When you put pen to paper or you are physically typing out your thoughts it provides you a moment of clarity. Forming a sentence to reflect your inner most thoughts requires a level of cognition. This process will create new insights and perspectives with the scenario.
By the time I have completed the ‘dump’ I personally felt so much better. I have released the emotions I had felt, amended my opinion and ultimately felt lighter. If I found that some feelings were lingering I may explore it further in my journal. I may write a letter to that person explaining to them how I feel. This letter will never be sent, it may well be burnt, but either way it’s off my chest.
I can also highly recommend a session of verbal vomiting. This is best done alone when no one can hear you (for obvious reasons). My favourite time to do this is on a dog walk. I chat out loud about the situation that has irked me and have a little rant. I let the words flow, with as much emotion as I deem necessary and then I stop. I take a metaphorical step back and sense how I am feeling. I ask myself, is there still unrest within me? Has my opinion altered? Do I still feel consumed with the same thoughts? Most often I don’t. I feel calmer and continue my walk in bliss and chat with Buddy (my dog) as normal.
The Science bit Where we hold our stress within our bodies is personal to each of us; some have increased heart palpitations, sweating, aches and pains or stomach upsets. There is a reason for this. We have a nerve that runs from our brain stem and entangles itself through all the major organs called the vagus nerve (aka the wanderer). This nerve acts as a two way transmitter. Not only does it react to the brains signals it receives from our thoughts about our worlds or reality, but more often it communicates from our organs to our brain. The vagus nerve is part of our parasympathetic nervous system (PNS), which is the calming part of the autonomic nervous system (ANS). The ANS is responsible for regulating many involuntary processes within our body. So rather important wouldn’t you say?
If we remind ourselves that our thoughts trigger our emotions, that drives our actions that give us our results. In this process our bodies will produce the relevant emotional chemical i.e. serotonin, endorphins, insulin, adrenaline etc depending on the thought we think. Which is why it’s so important we direct our thoughts.
So, if you find that you are consuming yourself with negative thought patterns your body is going to feel a regular surge of chemicals that put your body in a ‘get ready mode’. You’ll have adrenaline and cortisol being released after thinking a negative thought. If this happens over a period of time our bodies can actually become dependent on these chemicals and will start to crave more of this energy zapping emotional chemical. Your mind will want to recreate the thoughts that enable those chemicals to be released and you’ll find yourself in a pattern.
When we build up our negative thoughts, we are unwittingly creating surges of chemicals within our bodies that have negative side-effects. Over time, we can develop physical aliments due to our consistent thoughts such as high blood pressure, gastrointestinal problems, reduced immune symptom, so we are more susceptible too diseases, we have a higher risk of experiencing anxiety and depression.
Becoming more mindful of our thoughts and directing them in the way we want helps us to heal from within. A wonderful consequence of this means that we start to create a new habit and a more healthy thought pattern. We are also protecting our relationships with the people we want in our lives. This isn’t or shouldn’t be deemed as avoidance; this allows time for you to gain a different perspective so if and when you choose to speak to someone about the ‘subject’ you can do so at a different emotional state and better vibrational frequency. Hopefully achieving a better outcome for all involved.
Looking through the eyes of Law of Attraction, this exercise is perfect for up levelling your vibrational frequency. When our vibrations (energy) is high, we are automatically manifesting things at that level. The higher the vibrational frequency the more your emotions are leaning towards love and joy. The perfect energy to ensure that you are manifesting what you want in to your life now.
Doing a thought dump and verbal vomit regularly acts as a release valve that allows you too safely reset yourself back to a neutral equilibrium. It paves the way to a more positive well-being that ultimately protects us from the inside out.
Win win!