Crown | Wood Pecker | Clematis
I Like Myself.
Have you been living in lala-land where magical thinking or checking out feels like the safest place to be? Woodpecker brings the steady drumbeat of the heart, calling you back into a fully embodied and present state. Living in a virtual reality will always leave you feeling empty and vacant. It can be uncomfortable to feel your feelings, but it is a requirement if you are to stay in your body and fully anchored in your life.
Maybe you’ve been feeling disliked by others or that you have a hard time finding things that you like in them? If this is the case, you may also feel people around you are always dissatisfied and disappointed in you. Feeling the negative projections of others, especially family and loved-ones, can lead to wanting to “leave our bodies” to escape the discomfort. Woodpecker brings a mirror to show you that you can only like another as much as you like yourself. This is a truth you will always get reflected back to you. Woodpecker brings the keys to feeling interesting, likable and fun to hang out with, whether alone or with others.
If we don’t work on becoming our own best friend, we avoid spending quality time developing a connection to ourself. Maybe you have been over-using your phone, TV, or video games, sleep, food, caffeine, sex, or drugs and alcohol to distract you from yourself? Even over-exercising or over-meditating can be a way of disassociating. Checking-out too much not only keeps you from knowing yourself, it also keeps you from truly connecting and enjoying the people and activities that surround you. Let woodpecker bring you back into your body and into the steady rhythm of a grounded and fully embodied life.
Bach Flower Essence:: Clematis
Key Words: disassociation, fully embodied, checking-out and escapism, mother bond, grounding, addiction, connection to self, being your own best friend, scapegoat, mirror work, central nervous system, skin, cysts, moles, hives.
Action Steps:
Do you often worry your partner is dissatisfied or doesn’t like you? This often times is a mirror of how much you like yourself. Take action steps to befriend yourself again and truly like your own company.
Practice feeling your feelings.
Sexual shame from a young age can lead to disassociation and many times pornography addiction, sexual disfunction or intimacy issues. Meditate around any sexual shame you may carry from past experiences and find holistic therapies to release this.
We internalize how our mother felt about herself and think it’s how she felt about us at a young age. If we felt her dislike we then dislike self, this leads to wanting to leave the body in various ways. Contemplate this dynamic and how it has played out for you.
Meditate on your 15-year-old self. Let memories and feelings surface around feeling disliked by a parent or friend.
Notice next time when you feel inspired and it’s easy to accomplish the task at hand, you probably like yourself in this moment. Take note of what got you to that creative, embodied state and do more of it!
Do you reject parts of yourself inside or out? Journal to bring light to any areas you dislike or hold shame and find ways to like all of you.
Try a Cranial-sacral session.
Do you often feel like your body isn’t yours or doesn’t look the way you think it should? This can be a sign you are out of your body. Practice grounding exercises like walking barefoot in the grass.
Take time away from electronics and spend time in nature.
A yoga practice or stretching routine helps to get you back into your body.
Do literal mirror work! Stand in front of a mirror and see the good, compliment yourself. Say things like, “you have such beautiful skin, you are so strong, etc.”
Practice spending time alone. Take yourself out to dinner, find interests and hobbies that you can do on your own. Practice self-like.
Were you the family scapegoat? The scapegoated child takes on and embodies all that the parent denies and hates in themselves. Research and journal.
Listen to Native American drumming music or join a drumming circle to connect with the ancient, primal drum beat. Many times we felt dissonance or negativity in the womb of our mother, the drum beat can be like the mother’s heart beat in the womb. This is a crucial piece for those who were unwanted or almost aborted.
