Thoughts vs Emotions & Simple Steps to Move Energy

“I hurt my toe and suddenly found my anxiety skyrocketing, worried I would need to go to the hospital. I have anxiety about the hospital because of past experiences that didn’t go so well.”

My client was telling me about her anxiety and how it just seemed to spiral out of control sometimes. She was wondering what to do, how to navigate this. She wants it to go away but can’t seem to shake it.

I deeply believe knowledge is power so let me explain something to empower your own moments of irritation, anxiety or worry.

Looking at my client’s situation, there are two things at play here: the emotion of anxiety and the thought of having to go to the doctor.

Did you know that thoughts create emotion? Let that sink in a sec. Thoughts create emotional energy.

Thoughts like “the sun is shining, it’s going to be a beautiful day” cause us to feel happy. Thoughts like “everyone drives crazy here, someone’s going to hit me” cause us to feel anxious or angry.

Now consider the average person has approximately 60,000 thoughts per day. Of these, most are repetitive and the same as the day before.

That’s a lot of emotion being generated! So you see the power of the mind…

Now the tricky part…over 80% of our brain’s function is subconscious. We are not even aware of most of our thoughts. They run as a constant chatter in the background, often causing negative emotions like anxiety, worry and self-doubt.

That’s where energy healing shines because it can access subconscious trauma, experiences and belief systems to heal the root cause of old negativity that is stuck in the body.

But back to our lesson.

Point 1: Thoughts create emotion. Negative thoughts must be interrupted: they do not serve us at all.

Point 2: Emotion must be recognized, allowed, and given permission to move. Often this means expressing it – to yourself, to a journal, to a therapist, to a healer, to another person, it doesn’t matter. The emotion just needs to be able to move (vs. being controlled by the mind suppressing it).

Once emotion has been expressed and felt, it leaves the body. Yeah, you read that right. By allowing yourself to feel angry, anxious, sad, or other, you’re doing your own healing. CELEBRATE.

The trick then is to identify belief systems that might be needlessly generating more negativity and reprogram. Using our example, “It’s OK, I feel the anxiety that my toe might get worse but I’m safe and it’s OK,” then bringing awareness back to the present moment where the toe is likely already starting to heal.

This redirection back to the present moment is key because that’s where life happens. In the present. Not in the future (anxiety, worry) or in the past (regret, anger, grief).

Follow this simple process when you’re in a moment of dis-ease:

1-Take a couple of deep breaths, focusing on the feeling and sensation of the breath coming in and out of your body. This gets you present and out of the mind.

2-Notice any sensations in your body. Tightness, heat, burning, pain, emptiness, an emotional feeling, anything goes.

3-Allow the sensation to be there. Just hold it in your awareness. “I see you. I allow you to be here. I allow you to leave when you are ready.” This usually takes no more than 15-30 seconds before it shifts.

4-Repeat. (Move onto the next sensation.)

Phase 2:

5-Ask yourself what stories your mind was creating. For instance, “I might have to go to the doctor.”

6-Remind yourself this is just a story and might not be true.

7-Bring yourself back to the present moment. What does your body need right now?

This process can identify emotional energy that is ready to leave and give it space to do so. It can also help you identify thoughts generating negative emotion and interrupt the pattern.

If you can’t seem to get the thoughts or emotional energy to move, you likely need assistance. Sometimes energies are too big for us to shift on our own. Let’s connect and get it cleared out of your body and mind – you’ll feel so much lighter and freer afterwards.