Feeling Feelings

How are you feeling today? Are you grateful, in fear, overwhelmed, feeling anxious, depressed, happy? Or maybe some other list of feelings entirely! Identifying emotions is the first step in making space for them. The more we allow our feelings and emotions to be here the less power they have to control and overwhelm us. Can we allow our feelings to teach us? In this episode, we share our feelings and experiences and then the tools we are using to make peace with our current reality. Join us!

Want to share your experience or tools with us? Find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!

What Is Courage?

How To Be Courageous

This week on Pretty Spiritual Podcast, we're talking about how to be courageous. For so many of us, the idea of courage makes us think of alliance and bravery, the absence of fear. But it turns out in practice, it looks pretty different. So, what is courage? It's not the absence of fear. Courage means we do what we need to do despite the fear. Join the fun as we talk about how to have courage to face the life that's right in front of us one moment at a time. We'll share about where courage is alive in each of our lives. This includes courage required to live our fullest lives, to be present with our own experience, and to love ourselves exactly as we are. 

Want to share your experience or tools with us? Find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!

Unmet Needs

Find soothing from within. There's a current of anxiety in the larger world and maybe in our own homes. From covid and systemic racism to fear and disconnection, we share our current fears and unmet needs and wants. Then, we discuss the spiritual tools we’re experimenting with to address our unmet needs. Many of us notice an impulse to reach for soothing from outside things. Can we find that soothing and sense of belonging from within? This is a tender time, be gentle with yourselves.

How To Ground Yourself

Sweet friends, today we offer grounding techniques for uncertain times. It's natural to feel anxious or ungrounded at times, and especially during coronavirus. Here we talk about how to calm down when the world is topsy turvy. We share our own experiences with feeling anxious, scared, or ungrounded—and then we share practical tips and spiritual tools for ways to calm down. We may not be able to control pandemics or covid-19, but we can find safety within. Sending you love. You're not alone.

Feeling Lonely

How To Deal With Loneliness

These are some weird and stressful times! What better topic for our newest episode than feeling lonely. We recorded this episode about a month before the coronavirus reality started impacting our lives in the United States, but we’re hoping that it can still be helpful, especially if you’re feeling alone with fear or anxiety about our present circumstances.

All of us have some experience with feeling alone. In this modern time, we are more connected than ever, but that can also make us feel farther away. Join us as we explore the question of how to deal with loneliness, especially in these unique, global circumstances. 

Annie takes the lead in episode 49 and offers this definition of loneliness: “a state of mind characterized by a dissociation between what an individual wants or expects from a relationship and what that individual experiences in that relationship.” Or, in very simple terms, it’s perceived isolation. We’ll borrow that definition from Stephanie Cacioppo’s study of loneliness.

Feeling Lonely

If you’re dealing with loneliness, we want to assure you that you are so not alone in the struggle! These numbers reflect the impact of loneliness pre-quarantine, so we can only imagine that more and more people are starting to share in this difficult experience. 1 in 3 Americans is impacted by loneliness and 1 in 12 is severely impacted. And get this: loneliness is actually contagious. So we’ve got a lot of good reasons to dive into the topic and learn how to fight loneliness together.

It turns out that loneliness is a piece of biology that helps us recognize our social needs. This was a really useful signal to ourselves that we need other people. It’s our biological cue to get into connection. If we don’t tap into the great connection that exists between all of us, we can get really stuck feeling separate. This can be especially hard if we have learned how to live life without deep connections, which can manifest as a state of chronic loneliness.

Often, we don’t let people into our deepest and most painful experiences because we feel like outsiders. Perhaps we feel ashamed of our process or experience. Or maybe we just can’t connect to our true sense of belonging. No matter the reason we’re feeling cut off, healing means turning toward connection with ourselves and with others. If we want to learn how to overcome loneliness, we need to let people in. 

What To Do When Feeling Lonely

Wondering, why do I feel so alone? There are places inside of us that feel separate, disconnected, and like they don’t belong. The lonely places can seem even bigger because we feel like we’re the only ones having this experience. So we get to ask ourselves, what unmet needs are asking for my attention?

We get it and we’re here for you! We’re so grateful to have each other and our spiritual community as our spiritual bffs. We need this loving support system and we want you to feel supported, too. We are so grateful when you reach out to us and want to urge you to reach out when you’re feeling alone. So start where it’s easy and feels warm (we hope!)

We know how scary it can feel to extend yourself to others, especially when you’re feeling cut off. But in order to heal from loneliness, we need rich, reciprocal bonds. It’s a two-way street of connection where we let people get to know us and we also show up to get to know them. 

We Are Always Here For You

Instead of struggling through this life by ourselves, we want to share and celebrate our vital, human connections. Thank you so, so much for listening and being part of our virtual community. Please reach out and let us know what you need during these difficult times and how we can help support your spiritual journey. We are always here for you!

And as always, we can’t wait to hear what you think. Please let us know by emailing us or connecting with us on social media and commenting there. We’re all one big team. We’ve got to stick together!

So come find us in all the places: Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!

How To Heal A Broken Heart

How To Heal A Broken Heart

Wanting to know how to heal a broken heart? We’re with you friends. Turns out, how to get over heartbreak is something everyone deals with, sooner or later. In this very sweet and very tender episode, your spiritual best friends dive into the topic of getting over a breakup.

We may not have a magic potion for you, but we do have some experience and hope to share around breaking up with someone you love. You see, we all have had a broken heart, too. Ella shares very sweetly about the experience of being in the midst of a breakup. Annie talks about being in two different loving relationships, one where she was the person breaking up with someone she loved and the other where she was the person being broken up with. Poni shares very tenderly about breaking up with someone you love, even if that someone is not a romantic partner. This means you might be experiencing a breakup with a family member or a friend if the relationship has become troubling.

Sometimes we have to create space to protect our hearts, even if it breaks our hearts for the short term.

How To Get Over Someone You Love

In this episode, we talk about how hard it is (and how possible it is!) to get over someone you love. We know that getting over a breakup with someone you love sometimes needs more than just time and patience. That’s why we we don't just share our personal stories. We also share proven research about down-regulation of love to help your heart heal faster. That’s right, science! Who doesn’t love a little bit of science to help heal that sweet, tender heart?

Are you curious what down-regulation of love means? Here is one example of how to heal a broken heart with down-regulation of love. First, you catch yourself staring at photos of your ex on social media, and fantasizing about them. Second, we encourage you to immediately stop following them on every social platform (always a good idea). Third, if you do happen to start dreaming about your ex, you can practice down-regulation of love by shifting from the positive, “Oh, they were so wonderful and perfect,” to the negative, “They actually never showed up for me in the way that I wanted them too.” Typically, we don't encourage negative thinking. However, this shift from negative to positive can actually help retrain your brain to ease out of the love with that person. That is to say, get over heartbreak faster. 

What To Do After A Breakup

We know that broken hearts hurt so bad. We love you and are cheering for you. That’s why we decided to do this episode. Sometimes we need loving support and to know we’re not alone. Other times we need a basic instruction manual for life and serious spiritual healing to help us get through a hard time. 

In that vein, Ella demonstrates in real time the tools of being present that she uses to walk through her breakup. Annie shares tips and tools for how to handle life after a breakup whether you are the breakee or the breaker. (Do you like when we make up new vocabulary words, just to better accommodate the heartbreak episode? Breaker seemed like a good word to describe the person who is choosing to end the relationship and Breakee seemed like a good term to describe the person who is getting the breakup handed to them.) Poni shares some fantastic online resources that are linked in our tools tab, plus great somatic experiencing tools that can help you be present in moments of pain. 

You Are Not Alone

Seeking out a loving support system is always important after a breakup. In addition to safe friends and family, building up your internal support system so you can self soothe is also important. We love meditation and prayer for finding space in scary times. Also, sometimes a sudden breakup can be experienced like trauma and can knock you off your feet. If you are suffering and need extra support, we always encourage you to reach out to your therapist for extra guidance. You don’t have to do any of this alone. 

To sum it all up, we want you to know that whether your heart is hurting and you’re unsure what to do, you are not alone. We are here for you with this special podcast episode about how to deal with heartbreak. We hope it opens up a spark of light in your heart so you feel safe, loved, and some sense of peace that even in sad or hard times you will find joy again. 

Plus, there are so many cute people to kiss in the world! We can’t wait to hear what you think. Please let us know by emailing us or connecting with us on social media and commenting there. We’re all one big team. We’ve got to stick together.

How To Heal A Broken Heart 

We may not have a magic potion for you, but we do have some experience and hope to share around breaking up with someone you love. You see, we all have had a broken heart, too.

Ella shares very sweetly about the experience of being in the midst of a breakup. Annie talks about being in two different loving relationships, one where she was the person breaking up with someone she loved and the other she was the person being broken up with. Poni shares very tenderly about breaking up with someone you love, even if that someone is not a romantic partner. Sometimes we have to create space to protect our hearts, even if it breaks our hearts for the short term.

How To Get Over Someone You Love

In this episode, we talk about how hard it is (and how possible it is!) to get over someone you love. We know that getting over a breakup with someone you love sometimes needs more than just time and patience. That’s why we’re sharing not only our personal stories but some proven research about down-regulation of love to help your heart heal faster. That’s right, science! Who doesn’t love a little bit of science to help heal that heart! 

Are you curious what down-regulation of love means? An example of down-regulation of love would be, when you catch yourself staring at photos of your ex on social media, you would disengage from following them at all (always a good idea). Then, if you did happen to start dreaming about your ex, you’d practice down-regulation of love. This means instead of saying, “Oh, they were so wonderful and perfect,” and viewing your ex through neon pink rosy glasses you'd shift to the negative. You might think to yourself, “Actually, they never showed up for me in the way that I wanted them too.”

We don't usually promote negative thinking. However, this shift from negative to positive can help retrain your brain to ease out of the love with that person. That is to say, get over heartbreak faster.  

What To Do After A Breakup

We know that broken hearts hurt so bad. We love you and are cheering for you. That’s why we decided to do this episode. Sometimes we all need extra love and support and to know that we are not alone. Other times we need a basic instruction manual for how to get through a hard time. 

In that vein, Ella demonstrates in real time the tools of being present that she uses to walk through her breakup. Annie shares tips and tools for how to handle life after a breakup whether you are the breakee or the breaker. (Do you like when we make up new vocabulary words, just to better accommodate the heartbreak episode? Breaker seemed like a good word to describe the person who is choosing to end the relationship and Breakee seemed like a good term to describe the person who is getting the breakup handed to them.) Poni shares some fantastic online resources that are linked in our tools tab, plus great somatic experiencing tools that can help you be present in moments of pain. 

We Heal Together

Seeking out a loving support system is always important after a breakup. In addition to safe friends and family, building up your internal support system so you can self soothe is also important. We love meditation and prayer as two tools to help create internal space and internal support when we are feeling overwhelmed. Also, sometimes a sudden breakup can be experienced like trauma and can knock you off your feet. If you are suffering and need extra support, we always encourage you to reach out to your therapist for extra guidance. You do not have to do any of this alone. 

To sum it all up, we want you to know that whether your heart is hurting or you’re unsure what to do, you are not alone. We are here for you with this special podcast episode about how to deal with heartbreak. We hope it opens up a spark of light in your heart so you feel safe, loved, and gives you some sense of peace that even in sad or hard times you will find joy again. 

Plus, there are so many cute people to kiss in the world! Just think of all the fun you'll have once your heart is on the mend.

We can’t wait to hear what you think. Please let us know by emailing us or connecting with us on social media and commenting there. We’re all one big team. We’ve got to stick together.

Much Love,

Pretty Spiritual Podcast

Annie, Ella, & Lindsay Poni

How to Have Fun

Why So Serious?

On the special one year anniversary of Pretty Spiritual Podcast, we are talking about how to have fun in life. Yes, even when it feels like the end times. Even in times of global pandemic, presidential elections, and whatever other fun stuff might be happening in your personal life. Smile!

But seriously, life is hard enough. How can we learn to let go of some of our seriousness? How can we be more exuberant with our lives and laughter? How can we relax and let ourselves play...even as adults?

If you’ve ever tried to lighten up, you’ve probably discovered that fear and pride can keep us really invested in looking good and being right. In so many ways, fear gets in the way of our ability to play. So how do we notice when we’re taking ourselves really seriously and what can we do to let go of all that seriousness? Let’s get into it.

Don't Take Life Too Seriously? Um, okay... How?

There are some really good reasons we started taking life so seriously. Maybe we had to act like adults when we were children and learned to equate seriousness with safety. Perhaps we thought that seriousness and severity were good ways to protect ourselves and keep ourselves safe. And we want to honor the fact that those equations may have saved our lives when we were little. 

But now as adults, these attitudes and beliefs are actually getting in the way of our lives. So how do you wake up in the moment when you find that you’re taking yourself too seriously? We have some fun suggestions.

Of course, we’ve all heard that one annoying suggestion at some point or another: don't take life too seriously. (And if you were offended and slightly irritated by this suggestion, join the team!) Okay fine, even if we want to learn how to do that, where do we begin? It has been our experience that the more tools and resources we have, the greater the chances we can wear the world like a loose garment.

How to Have Fun in the Thick of It

As Suzuki Roshi once said of the spiritual path: “What we are doing here is so important, we better not take it too seriously.” So let’s learn how to laugh kindly about ourselves and our lives even when we’re in the thick of it.

Want to learn how to laugh more? Or how to have a sense of humor about yourself? That’s right, friendies. It’s time for spiritual tools. Let’s pick up some tools that help us be lighthearted when we're in transition or life feels stressful, heavy, serious and overwhelming.

For the record, not taking ourselves too seriously doesn’t mean we dismiss or undermine our own experience. Before we can start to not take life so seriously, we usually need to learn how to soften into the experience of suffering we’re having. We often need to learn to be kind with the fear or tightness we’re feeling in order to love ourselves into healing. We can appreciate the gravity of circumstances or situations while still maintaining a cheerful attitude. 

And by the way, if you're struggling with mental health issues or trauma, we really want you to trust yourself and take your healing seriously. Please get your sweet, tender self all of the help you need. If you’re struggling with that first step, please get in touch with us so we can support you with encouragement, accountability, and love.

Spiritual Tools to Have Fun with Life

Let’s get those tools. First of all, attitude is a choice. OMG, how annoying is that! Sometimes the fastest way to have a shift in attitude is to watch our thinking. Having the container of awareness gives us the space to witness ourselves and our thinking. Because, just, wow. It’s nonstop comedy gold up here, people. 

Ready to take your one-person comedy act on the road? Chances are you can lighten up by sharing all that serious thinking with another person. Letting safe people into the obsessive or self-centered thinking helps us remember we’re not alone. Plus, sometimes just saying the thoughts thinking out loud can make so much room for our sense of humor.

Another tool that helps us so much is curiosity. What changes when we can get curious about our experience? Being of service to others is also such a powerful way to get out of ourselves and feel good about the lives we’re living. And hey, just to be clear, we are always advocating for service with boundaries.

And just a casual shout out to God or gawd or goddess or whatever name works for you. Can we surrender our controlling and managing to something greater than ourselves? Especially something that cares deeply for us and is taking care of us at all times? This kind of trust in the process can help us relax into the flow of the present moment. Say a prayer to whatever speaks to your heart.

Play Is a Real Spiritual Tool

Ready for the final tool? We want to suggest that you play! Wondering how to be playful? Ask yourself, where can you be silly and let loose without caring too much about getting it right or what other people think? In other words, do you have a puppy (or other fur baby) around? Please hold hands with it immediately. Get in there for some in-depth ear kisses. Aaaaaand repeat. 

For even more fun ideas, check out the spiritual resources on our tools page. Come on, y’all. Join the fun and discover for yourself why laughter is good for the soul. Find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!

Self Reflection

The Benefits Of Self Awareness

Welcome back to Pretty Spiritual Podcast. So glad we can be together for today’s topic: self awareness. First off, what is self awareness? We love this simple definition: being self aware means knowing what we’re doing when we’re doing it. 

We’re going to look at questions like, why is self awareness important? What happens when there are parts of our lives that are below the level of awareness? How do we check out and dull our awareness? And what tools can help us start to bring these habits and patterns into conscious awareness? 

Self-awareness is often the link between our emotional lives and our actions. In other words, when we are practicing self-reflection, we have a choice about how we act. And, conversely, lack of self awareness can mean that we cause harm to ourselves and others. The unacknowledged parts of our lives can cause us great fear we don't even know exists. And this fear can actually drive our impulses and actions.

And when we’re stuck in patterns or habits that are causing harm, we’re usually acting out and repeating dysfunctional learned behaviors. Chances are, we all know what it’s like to be caught in a cycle of addictive numbing or checking out.

While more self-awareness can help us feel better longterm, it can often feel worse in the shortterm. Why? Well, we’re getting a front row seat to the patterns we’re not yet able to shift or change. If this is where you’re at and it feels like too much, don’t worry! This is just the first phase. With continued effort, the space to choose will open up. And often it feels like a moment of grace when it does.

Self Reflection Changes Our Behavior

We know this might sound obvious, but we’re going to feel stuck until we are aware. Maybe self awareness will start to infiltrate our lives for brief moments. And we can’t help but be unaware of the stuff that’s still below the level of consciousness.

That’s okay, too! When we are stuck in patterns for long enough, we become willing to open our hearts and minds to a new experience. 

Self reflection is the first step to changing patterns and behaviors. Once we see what we’re doing, we start to get an opportunity to make different choices. The more awareness we have of ourselves, the more space there is for us to choose. 

Like so many other parts of our spiritual lives, self reflection is a muscle. The more time and energy we put into exercising that muscle, the stronger and more flexible it becomes. How can we start? If we look underneath our actions, we have an opportunity to see the attitudes or beliefs that are driving our behavior. 

Especially when we’re acting on patterns we learned when we were very young, this comes down to a matter of feeling safe or being okay. For core beliefs that are deeply ingrained, learning and watching out for our triggers can be really helpful.

Tools For Self Reflection And Growth 

Okay, ya’ll, let’s get that wellness and spiritual healing! Here come our favorite tools for growing self reflection and gaining awareness. 

Our favorite tool is the A-B-C model, which teaches us that “external events don’t cause our emotions, but our beliefs do.” A is the activating event (maybe even in the moment, if we’re super lucky). B is for the beliefs we formed after the activating event… and chances are these are old ones. C is for consequences. What was the result of these beliefs on us and others? You can get even more info on our tools page.

The good news is that we have more awareness than we’ve ever had and we are exactly where we’re supposed to be. So we can relax and trust ourselves. We see more and more that we’re creating our reality and our relationships based on our beliefs. When we look at what’s going on below the surface, we get the opportunity to live more authentically. Maybe it can even help us be softer and easier on ourselves and others. 

Plus, reflecting with other people (especially spiritual besties) can help to introduce new perspectives and information. There might just be a different way to look at something! (Fingers crossed.) Also, we want to put in a plug for positive self affirmation. What if the practice of doing this helps bring old ideas and beliefs to the surface and helps us choose a new perspective? The key to all of these spiritual practices? Repetition.

Meditation As Self Reflection 

Finally, meditation is a forever tool that helps us to be aware in truly miraculous ways. It can literally change our brains and create space between our feelings and what comes after them. Maybe we can just trust that the process is happening according to plan. When it’s time for the self-awareness to blossom, it will probably feel like grace.

When meditation is a daily habit, it actually creates new neural pathways in our brains. The more we practice, the more ingrained they become in our brains. This means that the more we repeat a practice, the more available it will be in the midst of our lives. The state of open awareness that we practice in meditation gets carried over into our busy, full lives. 

The power of meditation can actually break through our habitual modes of dissociation. This means that self reflection can change our relationship with the stuff that’s still below the level of self awareness. It works on us even before we realize it. And often, we only see it when it shows up as grace in our lives.

And, hey, when all else fails, putting thoughts and motives to paper can help us see what’s going on underneath. Writing is an incredible tool for self introspection. So take a few minutes to write about your thoughts and feelings. See what you’re believing about your sense of self and maybe some new perspectives will open up. Maybe we can love the person who's here right now.

What tools are you using to grow self awareness and practice self reflection? Please share them with us! Find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!

Spiritual Healing

The Pains Of Spiritual Healing

Welcome back to Pretty Spiritual Podcast. We’re so happy to be back together. Today, we’re talking about spiritual healing and spiritual growing pains. 

Okay, wait what does that even mean? Truth is, we’re not totally sure. But here’s what it feels like to us to have these emotional growing pains. We’re not who we were before but we’re not yet where we want to be. 

Usually, our brain has a lot to say about spiritual growing pains. It tells us stuff like, “you should be past this” or “you should be farther along.” Maybe it even tells us that people are tired of us going on and on about what we’ve been struggling with. Eventually, we start to feel like our “slow” spiritual growth is some kind of burden. 

So that’s the topic. We’re going to dive in and see if we can find a way to be with today’s spiritual healing in a way that is loving and tolerant. What’s it like to be in the in-between place when it comes to emotional growth? How can we learn to love and accept the messy, work in progress we are right now?

What Does It Mean To Be Spiritual?

It’s normal and okay to be uncertain or scared or extra stressed sometimes. Plus, it makes sense that sometimes those feelings come up on our spiritual journey. We can’t always see where we’re going, why we’re in the place we are today, or how we’re growing into the people we’re becoming. 

And we’re never sure, but maybe what it means to be spiritual is to practice patience (and even gratitude?) for the people we are at this very moment. One way that we can gain a little perspective is to look at where we’ve been and where we are today. We can actually zoom out, using tools like writing, to appreciate how far we’ve come. 

And the great news is that we are not stuck. We are not supposed to be better or know better or do better. Our best, right now, is exactly as it should be. Spiritual healing is a slow process. We’re working to shift lifelong attitudes and behaviors. It makes sense that these changes should happen slowly, sometimes so slowly that we’re not sure we’re even still growing in spiritual maturity. 

And it’s normal that we want to be further along than we are. Of course, sometimes we all want to suddenly just be “better” and be rid of all the squirmy, uncomfortable stuff we’re working with now. So many of our spiritual growing pains come from resistance to being who we are and where we are, just for today.

Tools For Spiritual Healing And Growth 

Thank gawd, it’s time for tools! Spoiler alert: we’ve got no shortcuts. We’ve got no quick fixes. And when your first spiritual tool is patience, that’s when you know you’re really in trouble!

Want to learn how to heal yourself? We love what Lindsay says about following spiritual breadcrumbs back to the heart. Yes, we can always take small, daily actions that lead us home to our own loving hearts and the safety and acceptance available in this big, old universe. 

When we feel stuck in our spiritual development, we can trust the process. How do we do this? By just showing up for the full, spiritual life we have right in front of us.

There are things that help us let go and soften into the experience we’re having right now. We can tell the truth about where we’re at to safe people. And we can ask for encouragement in safe relationships when we need it. We can trust our friends and rely on our support systems.

We also know from our own experiences that we can tolerate more discomfort in our spiritual life. Why? Because loving ourselves through the process helps us tap into the great strength of the universe.

What tools and strategies work for you when you’re struggling with spiritual healing? Please share your experiences and tools with us. Find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!

Feeling Overwhelmed

How To Deal With Overwhelm

Today on Pretty Spiritual Podcast, we’re talking about what it's like to be stuck in a state of anxious overwhelm when it comes to daily life.

Feeling overwhelmed with yours? Firstly, we want to say that you’re not alone! We all have times where we are caught up in obsessive thinking or we’re barely coping with anxiety. Secondly, we want to spread the good news. We can get through it together. To start, let's look ay the ways overwhelm shows up in our lives, both emotional and physical.

Often overwhelm looks like the monkey mind, spinning around on all the things we need to do (hello, looming to-do list), all the things we haven’t accomplished, and why we’re never going to be quite enough to get it all done. 

The story overwhelm and anxiety tell us is that the solution to this problem is “getting things done” or “getting ourselves together” or “getting control of our life.” And yes, of course, these can be healthy ways to engage with our lives and take responsibility for what is ours to do.

On the other hand, and as far as the chronic state of overwhelm goes, these beliefs can actually keep us trapped. So what happens if we engage with overwhelm in a new way? Instead of getting hooked by the story and trying to control life by getting things done, what happens when we look underneath or beyond the anxiety of feeling overwhelmed? 

What Is Anxiety Trying To Tell Us?

That's why we want to use this episode as a chance to invite overwhelm in for a nice cup of coffee with gingerbread eggnog creamer (shoutout Kitu!). That is to say, we want to see what it has to show us or share with us about ourselves. For example, we'll ask ourselves questions like these:

• Why is overwhelm here right now? 
• What caused or created this feeling? 
• How has this served me in the past? 
• What are the causes and conditions in my life that are giving rise to this emotional state?
• What am I believing about myself that’s creating this?

For instance, many of us experience overwhelm as a natural result of growing into adulthood with leftover anxiety from our childhood. Those broken core beliefs often hide inside us. As a result, we might feel compelled to stay one step ahead of life and try to control the outcomes. These old coping mechanisms helped us to find safety in unsafe situations as children. But chances are, they're no longer serving us as adults. 

Certainly, big life changes can also carry a heavy dose of overwhelm. When things feel too big to manage, fear can take over and we can get stuck in overwhelm.

Tools For Anxiety And Overwhelm 

Finally, it's time for tools. We're so grateful to have spiritual tools and practical tips to help us navigate the overwhelming parts of life! Ella, Annie and Lindsay Poni (aka your spiritual best friends) talk about what we're doing to move through overwhelm. Maybe even with a little grace. In other words, we'll talk routines, how to even notice if you’re stuck in overwhelm, meditation as a tool for overwhelm, and so much more. 

Above all, we hope you join our conversation! As with all of our topics, we’re constantly learning new things and changing as we go. And we bet you are, too. If you get inspired, we’d love to hear from you. 

In conclusion, we want to know what tools and strategies work for you you're feeling overwhelmed? Please share your experiences and tools with us. Find us on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Insight Timer, Google Play, Spotify, Soundcloud, Podbean, and Stitcher (or our Contact page) and share your feelings, thoughts, and anything else! Thanks for listening to our spiritual podcasts. We love ya!