What Are You Really Made Of?

When life is going smoothly, it's relatively easy to go through the day with a positive attitude and a kind demeanor, but what happens when life starts throwing curve balls?

There are all kinds of curve balls life throws at us with various levels of severity.

At some point, all people deal with health issues and even the passing of loved ones. Loss of work, home, or relationships can be devastating.

Sometimes all it takes is a conversation or a harsh word to make you feel like your world is being turned upside down.

These experiences can push us to the limit, and in these moments of being pushed to the limit, we can discover what's really on the inside.

These are opportunities for powerful experiences of self awareness, learning, and personal growth.

Dr. Wayne Dyer once shared a powerful object lesson about what happens when a situation seems to have us in an unpleasantly tight grip.

He invited a young man to the stage and asked him what would come out of an orange if he squeezed it really hard. The boy stated the obvious answer that juice would come out of it.

Dr. Dyer went on to ask whether apple juice or grapefruit juice would come out, and the boy answered in the negative to both of these questions.

When asked what kind of juice would come out and why. The boy responded that orange juice would come out, because it was an orange.

Dr. Dyer than pointed out that like an orange, whatever comes out of us when we're under pressure is what's inside of us

If bitterness, hatred, and fear come out when a person or a situation is placing uncomfortable pressure on us, that's an indicator that we have bitterness, hatred, and fear inside.

Dr. Dyer ended by pointing out that what's inside of us is our choice. We can choose to rid ourselves of negative things inside and replace them with kindness, love, and peace.

Of course, it's never wise to be too harsh and judgmental of ourselves, especially when we are in a difficult situation.

On the other hand, it's definitely wise to practice a healthy amount of self awareness, recognizing these emotions inside so that we can figure out what is triggering us to experience them and how to experience more love and peace in the future.

I know that replacing negative thoughts and feelings with more positive ones can be easier said than done, so I wanted to share a few tips that have helped me in the past.

Here are a few of my favorite go to tools:

• Prayer and scripture study (If this falls in line with your belief system, this is absolutely my number one!)-Pour out your concerns to your Heavenly Father, and seek out peace and guidance in reading your scriptures.
• Self Care-Eat healthy, make sure to get plenty of exercise as well as plenty of sleep. It's hard to stay in a good place emotionally if you aren't in a good place physically (and vice vesa). Qigong is an incredibly relaxing exercise I've discovered that helps me practice self awareness.
• Journaling-Writing in a journal is a great way to experience clarity of mind and work through difficulties you are experiencing. Writing about the things you are grateful for will help you to recognize the good in your life and improve your attitude overall.
• Practice self awareness by taking some slow deep breaths
• Take a break-Sometimes you just need a break. Get out into nature, read a book, enjoy some time with friends. Do the things that make you happy!
• Meditation-practice guided meditation or relaxation techniques.
• Tapping-this technique that involves tapping on pressure points is an effective way to release negative energy fast.

Recently, I moved from Utah to Washington. I love both of these places dearly, and while I was excited about the move back to the beautiful state where I grew up, I was also sad about leaving my friends and home in Utah behind.

Our move was greatly anticipated since my husband had been looking for a job in Washington for quite a while, but unexpected, because we only had three weeks from the time my husband was offered his new job until the day that we moved.

To say this situation was a little bit stressful, is a huge understatement. Although we felt good about our decision to move, the actual project of cleaning, packing, and putting a house on the market in under three weeks was quite daunting.

I had a lot of sleepless (and sometimes tearful) nights as feelings of anxiety found their way to the surface. At times I even found it difficult to breathe as the anxiety became completely overwhelming. (I'll be the first person to tell you that anxiety is real and not just something that people imagine is happening. It can be extremely debilitating at times.)

Initially, I experienced some relief as we proved the impossible to be possible and had our house cleaned, packed, and listed to sell before our departure date.

I felt even better when we arrived in beautiful western Washington, and I was able to breathe in the moist, fresh air and take in the lush green vegetation that surrounded us.

Then the panic set in a few days later as I realized I didn't have a home of my own, I had very few friends in the area, and it felt my life had been turned completely upside down.

If you haven't figured it out yet, when I get squeezed, fear is what has a tendency to come out.

I recognized that this wasn't the response that I wanted to experience whenever faced with challenges and changes in my life and reminded myself that in order to remedy the situation, I had to choose to remove the negative things inside so that I could more fully experience the positive.

When I recognized anxiety symptoms coming on, I would consciously take deep slow breaths and listen to myself breathe so that I could live in the present moment rather than worrying about the future.

I treated myself to lavender oil aromatherapy if I felt tightness in my chest or a racing heart.

I chose to love myself and take care of myself rather than beating myself up for the anxiety symptoms that felt like weaknesses in the moment.

I reminded myself that my destination is my journey, and I chose to trust that I was exactly where I was supposed to be at that point in time. I reminded myself that I am a child of God and that I am loved by my Heavenly Father.

It took some time, but I became my happy, optimistic, peaceful, laid back self again. I replaced the negative inside with something I liked better.