How to Release Stress That May Not Even Be Yours

We certainly have much to contend with in these unprecedented and challenging times, but it becomes unmanageable if we carry the “weight of the world” as well, which is easy to do as we collectively are more connected than ever to so much scary and sad news.

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What if much of the stress you are experiencing isn’t even yours??

The denser energies of doubt, fear, isolation shroud our true nature and our light and our ability to navigate these unique times. Many of the modern day prophets and wisdom-holders, myself included, feel that we are in amazingly powerful and transformational times, with mass awakenings and portals to new and higher dimensions opening up at ever increasing rates. However, we can’t access these higher dimensions with all of this extra baggage. Airlines now charge extra for heavy baggage, but on this higher consciousness trip we won’t even get on the plane!

Sages, past and present, teach that there is nothing outside of ourselves that we really need, that we are whole, connected beings of great beauty, strength and light. It is the covering over of this reality with identification with the ego-mind which tells us we are small, insignificant, powerless and ultimately separate from All That Is.

Letting Go is the Spiritual and Healing Path

During these challenging times, we are witnessing everyone, myself included, being prodded and yes, sometimes forced into letting go of extraneous “stuff”. It could be in the form of old limiting ideas and ways of behaving, relationships that are dragging us down, work that is not fulfilling, or even homes or lifestyles that no longer fit us. It is sometimes quite painful to make these shifts. Our “stuff” has become a familiar old friend, despite the “stress” and burden it causes us.

Whose Stress is This?

The more open and aware you become, sometimes also the more sensitive and empathic. When dealing with stressful thoughts and feelings, one question that can cut through a LOT of work, is this: “Whose stuff is it? Whose thought, or feeling, or concept, are you struggling with? Is it even yours??”

I have used this countless times in my energy healing sessions to find that it always leaves the client, and myself feeling lighter. Sometimes it is as if a layer of saran wrap literally peels away from the whole body. We are working so hard on our “Stuff” and often it isn’t even “ours.” What do I mean by this?

We Absorb the Energy and Vibration Around Us

We may believe we have a host of behaviors, reactions and thought patterns that are causing havoc in our lives. We may have clearly identified them and are working on them diligently. The problem is, some of them are not even our thoughts or feelings! They originated with a parent, teacher, or elder. We gave over our power to these adults’ thoughts and feelings, because after all, we were only little humans at the time. We didn’t know any better.

If an adult told us we were stupid, or not athletic, etc. we tended to believe them. But it didn’t even need to be spoken. We absorbed the vibrations all around us: anger, hopelessness, worry, all of the versions of “I’m not ok” the way I am, and began to assume that if we felt it or thought it, it must be true…it must be ours…it must be who we are.

So many times lately when I catch myself having a reaction to something, or find myself irritated, if I examine the underlying thought or feeling, I can trace it back to my early childhood, and I realize I actually don’t feel irritated by that person’s behavior, that it was my mother’s issue, for example. And voila, it becomes much easier to drop it.

“Peeled so many layers that counseling was no longer necessary”

It might be clearer if I let my client “Cheryl” explain how quickly and effectively this worked for her:

“For years I struggled with many emotional issues which caused me to seek counseling. I can honestly say that I was and remain in ‘awe’ from just one session with you for it was then you taught me about harboring other people’s energies. Imagine my surprise when I realized that the ‘stuff’ I juggled for years wasn’t even mine!!

I gained a new perspective on my life and peeled away so many layers that even my therapist agreed that counseling was no longer necessary. I am able to re- establish my power by beginning everyday with the intention to release any energies that are not mine and are not for my highest good. Having the ability to identify the source of an emotion and then accept or reject it has made all the difference. I truly am a new person without the weight of someone else’s world on my shoulders!”

Release Energies No Longer Serving You

A corollary to releasing the heavy or negative energies of others, is to also realize that you also may be carrying thoughts, feelings and concepts that are no longer serving you.

While these older patterns may once have been helpful or okay in the past, they may no longer be serving you at the highest levels. An old belief, though pattern or behavior that may at one time been useful, may now be holding you back from your personal growth or spiritual expansion. So while it is technically your energy, it is no longer something you choose to hang onto.

As we grow and evolve, our perceptions, outlook, and truths shift, and these release techniques are a great way to consciously clear out the mental and emotional closets of things that no longer are a perfect fit for you now.

Don’t Need to Know What it is to Let it Go

The great news is that you don’t need to know anything about an issue to let go of other people’s energies. You can just intend to let go. You do this by consciously choosing differently, with awareness. This new conscious choice has power to set you free.

Try this simple yet powerful Conscious Release Technique:

1. Sit quietly, feet on the floor and take a few deep breaths
2. Call all parts of yourself back to Present (mental, emotional, spiritual and physical bodies) from wherever your attention was.
3. Take a few slow and deeper breaths
4. Bring your focus to the center of your head.
5. Proclaim (aloud is even better): “I release any energies that are not mine, or are no longer serving me.“