When the fire starts to dwindle

burnout recovery clarity emotional surrender hermit phase of healing introspection reflection for evolution self-awareness self-care shadow work spiritual depression symptoms spiritual sudo-depresesion spiritual transformation vital qi Nov 08, 2022

When the fire burns and blazes, change comes quickly and with force. When that very same fire begins to dwindle and smoulder, we are being asked to slow down.

I've been hearing many stories of being unmotivated, lacking drive, in grief and sadness, yet without clarity over why. This can often be seen as a spiritual sudo-depression. This state offers us the symptoms needed in order for us to rest, reset, re-evaluate and reflect on our lives as it is being currently created. When we are so caught up in the day-to-day, using our vital Qi to complete tasks, maintain a household and pursue work, it becomes almost impossible to access deeper levels of thinking and reflection. Your nervous system is actually designed to keep deeper thoughts at bay when you're in "work mode". In my years of coaching I have noticed that it takes up to 40 minutes of a therapeutic session with someone for them to reduce their cortisol levels and answer complex questions about their lives. In fact, it takes most of us sickness, loss, chaos or trauma to really access the deepest parts of our "big picture" thinking. A reason for this stems from the ego's ability to block any part of our thinking that might threaten our current life situation. This is how we manage to ignore vital signs from the body and mind surrounding disharmony or imbalance in the body, and in our lives. Certain individuals can hardly even notice as grave conditions are developing in any part of their lives..why? Because we have prioritised and glorified what it means to be busy, important, time poor and stressed.

The biggest threats to such states is anything that requires surrender. Surrender, a practice of emotional and spiritual bliss, is actually more commonly seen as failure, illness, "things not working out" and burn out. But yet, as humans, we need change in order to evolve, and nothing brings change more than surrendering to a sense of control over your life.

Have you been experiencing discomfort? Tiredness, lack of motivation, hopelessness or even sadness?

Sometimes we need to simply experience states of discomfort in order to understand the deeper meaning to life. When are called to go within ourselves, some call this "shadow work", or the hermit phase of healing, the deep introspection needed to revaluate our lives and see it from a different perspective. Shadow work can be very uncomfortable at times, as it will draw out of your shadow anything necessary in order to find what you are ignoring, running away from or even hiding from yourself. As our levels of self-awareness rise, many make a conscious decision to allocate time for shadow work, rather than let it find them through illness, loss or turbulent change. For these brave souls, they find ways to initiate themselves into the deeper thinking of life necessary to change their perspective. As they prepare to venture into their own reality of darkness, hopefully they can find the space and time away from those that they love, finding environments that will facilitate healing and support along the way.

Now, you might be asking yourself...why would anyone want to facilitate such a process?

When you reflect on the parts of your life that facilitated the most change and growth, you can look back over the heartache, the death of loved ones, traumatic events and moments when "the rug was pulled from under your feet." This tells us that unexpected events cause a strange undercurrent of powerlessness that facilitates surrender. We also know that the emotional states that accompany deep loss are what fuels the human soul to discover experiences of time that need our patience and trust. With this understanding, shadow work becomes part of a conscious movement towards self-care. To embrace discomfort and change, before a complete life overhaul is necessary often shows wisdom towards one's own evolutionary growth.

In order to preserve a life long flame of passion, growth and inspiration. We must first embrace times of rest, reflection and replenishment as the necessary ends to chapters of movement, and preparation for the next. This deep understanding will also meet resistance within our success driven, hyper-stimulating and fast paced world, bringing most of us towards soaring cortisol levels at early ages. It's up to you to realise when your body is signalling to you for rest & reflection. It will never be convenient, and its not meant to make sense. Learn to read the messages from your body with help from qualified practitioners that genuinely want the best for you.

Sending you all love from my heart to yours.

Heather

When the fire starts to dwindle

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