Do You Feel Stuck with Distressing Emotions?

I grew up in a large and busy farming family. For the most part, we didn’t pay much attention to emotions. We worked hard. We trusted giving our problems to God. We moved on. And for the most part, life treated us well. It certainly wasn’t always easy but we didn’t expect it to be.  Be strong. Work hard. Get it done. These traits also served us well in our professional careers.

Therefore, I may be an unlikely person to talk about using your emotions to unlock your potential. I have been conditioned to use hard work, perseverance, and speed to achieve my goals. Yet I have come to appreciate that without paying attention to emotions, this approach leads to getting stuck in reactive patterns. Without even being aware, these patterns can easily interfere with my goals.

What caused me to take note of my emotions? I was working in a corporate sales position at Kraft Foods. The pace of change and the complexity of the processes kept increasing. When Heinz bought Kraft in 2015, the pace exploded. It was harder to keep up but I was still programmed to do it all – at work, at home and as a volunteer in my community. I noticed that I was more reactive. Everything was important and I felt responsible to do my part and support others. The intensity continued to escalate and I continued to power forward.

At this time, I was exploring an innovative healing and personal development model, Logosynthesis. It worked to resolve intrusive mental images. When the images shifted, the stress response also shifted. Long-standing patterns of distressing, automatic reactions were resolved. This was being used not only to heal a variety of trauma-related issues, but also for the self-care of psychotherapists, psychologists, and coaches who were training in this model. This group of professionals stated it was their preferred method to support both clients and their own personal growth. Working at an energetic level, it offered a fast and targeted approach to relieve distressing emotions, thoughts, and physical sensations.

I was curious to give it a try. I took time to connect with my emotions. I was able to shift old memories and beliefs that were linked to my everyday feelings of frustration, such as: rushing to pile the hay wagon; chasing slow cows on a hot summer day; and the belief that ‘Everyone needs to do their share!”. As I shifted these triggers, I felt calmer to focus on my job and achieve my goals. The emotions fell away and I had a greater sense of calm and clarity for what was important.

You don’t need to stay stuck in stressful patterns

This solution has been powerful for me because I now know that this ‘frustration’ is not an unchangeable personality trait. I don’t have to keep re-experiencing unwanted emotions over and over again. I can interrupt stressful patterns. I am also more aware of how intensely people can experience emotions and physical sensations. I feel blessed that I have made it to this point in my life with relatively little trauma. I do not experience the level of intensity of emotions and physical sensations that many experience. Based on my training, observation, and guiding others, I am now better able to appreciate both the intensity of suffering and the challenges of ‘coping’ and ‘learning to live with it’.  And I am aware of the sustained relief that people experience when their mental images and perceptions are resolved.

When we focus on “positive” thoughts, we are not resolving the underlying mental images and sensory perceptions that trigger the distressing and limiting emotions.

While ‘thinking positive’ may feel good in the moment, distressing patterns repeat. These may be unavoidable situations at work: the ringing of the phone; the sight of your boss; the pressure of joining a team meeting. In some cases, this can make it feel impossible to do your job. You think the current situation is the issue and yet it is a memory or belief that is triggering the distress. It is a past experience. And now, rather than needing to change your current circumstances for comfort, you can shift the memory to experience relief. 

You can start from where you are now

Why suffer from distressing emotions when you can shift the intrusive mental images?

Why live with intensely distressing body sensations when you can shift the memories?

Why limit your potential when you can resolve the limiting belief?

Each of us starts from where we are now by paying attention to our own emotions and reactions. In the book “Logosynthesis: Enjoying Life More Fully.”, I share my introduction to Logosynthesis at a very busy time in my life. I was stuck in a pattern of trying to do it all. And for the most part, I did. Yet it felt intense. I now see that how I reacted in situations was, at times, intense. Using Logosynthesis, I was able to shift specific patterns to feel calmer and focus on my work.

Mary has a different set of experiences that have shaped her emotions at work. She initially reached out for support to deal with intense emotions and anxiety, which were getting in the way of her ability to work. Her limit of holding down a job was three months. We focused on what was currently bothering her. Layer by layer, she is resolving distressing and limiting patterns. I asked Mary to describe her experience in her own words:

When anxiety hits, it hits me hard. It’s all to do with my thoughts and the way I think. It gets me into a real mess when it comes to social interactions with work colleagues and other team members.

I now have held a job for nearly a whole year in, and I still have the same problem. It’s frustrating and annoying. I have been taught a really amazing method that helps shift the energy in any problem I have, in order for me to move forward. Logosynthesis can help you shift the energy in those thoughts, because they can cause physical and emotional problems too, that can get in the way. I have learned a lot from having coaching sessions and doing a lot of research.

One step at a time.  Life is a journey, and so is working your way to your true potential. Which is Essence.

You can resolve the barriers to unlock your unique potential

You may experience barriers to using your emotions to unlock your potential. To start, it’s not comfortable to get in touch with distressing emotions, especially if you don’t know how to let it go. It is not widely known that you can shift the intrusive mental images and perceptions for sustained emotional relief. You may be conditioned to believe that you need to change your situation to experience relief or that you can ignore the situation and it will go away. You hold the power within yourself to resolve these barriers. Would you rather live with distressing emotions or use them as information to unlock your unique potential?