3. FROM STRESS TO SERENITY: Authenticity is the key to alignment

Unlocking abundance: 

How to transform the energy of anxiety by embracing authenticity

After a period of working in an increasingly toxic environment, I became increasingly ill, suffering from chronic stress. My health deteriorated because I was being ‘unheard’, ‘unsupported’ and stifled through ‘micro-management’ to such an extent that my soul could not breath. I was suffocating. I suffered from increasing anxiety & depression, and my body became so dysfunctional that I nearly died. Previously I had enjoyed my job because I had been allowed to contribute value to myself, my town, and the people in it. Hoping to feel like that again I ignored the increasing toxicity unaware that it was leaving me ‘begrudging my life’. Every night I went to bed crying, every morning sad that I had woken up again.

If you are feeling like this and need someone to talk to right now https://www.samaritans.org  are waiting for your call 16 123. 

Spring 2024 a time of reflection

 

A little about 'power-dynamics': how they can make you ill

 

Why re-aligning to a healthy environment is key

In order to recover, I use the practice of gratitude [see blog 2]. Through this practice I realised how a mindset of ‘begrudging one’s life’ has a seriously detrimental effect. In closing-down (to protect myself) I had cut myself off from the source of life itself. My body literally began to fail (attack itself) because my soul did not want to be ‘here’ anymore. 

It took me a year to realise (just as my team-mates had done before me) that I needed to remove myself from this toxic work environment because it was making me ill. 

Previously a positive enabling place (‘a place to thrive’) my working life had become an unsustainable hellhole where unfair treatment and discrimination had caused unnecessary stress and hardship (the very antithesis of a place to thrive). Existing disabilities and health conditions had been exacerbated, and new ones had emerged. 

I needed a culture change. I needed a safe space to heal. I needed to re-align. 

A healthy environment is one where you are enabled to express yourself. If your authentic self is repressed by people or systems around you, you will experience stress.  You will begin to exhibit stress behaviours. If you are not in a safe space and your authentic self is not given a place to thrive, this repression will cause chronic stress. 

Over time almost every system in the body can be influenced by chronic stress. Unsupported chronic stress suppresses the body’s immune system and ultimately manifests as illness. This is why it is crucial that you allow the whole of your authentic self to exist. 

The act of allowing the whole of your authentic self to bloom re-aligns you with life-source healing energy. Authenticity is the key to alignment with source. Alignment is the key to living an abundant, healthy life.

Here's a couple of links to easy reads about how work related stress impacts your health.

·      https://www.unison.org.uk/get-help/knowledge/health-and-safety/stress/#heading-4

·      https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/work-related-stress#bhc-content

If you are looking for a more academic approach in understanding how stressful environments and traumatic life events cause illness, you could start with these two papers: 

·      https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3341916/#:~:text=Research%20shows%20that%20almost%20every,and%20ultimately%20manifests%20as%20illness.

·      https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0263966

Remember: abundance isn’t just about material wealth 

It is about enabling yourself to live authentically. It is about aligning yourself with supportive people: people who share your values, desires, and intentions. People who value, not gaslight, you. It is about health. As you reveal and celebrate more and more of your authentic self, you will quite naturally leave toxic environments behind. Authenticity is the key to alignment; and alignment will re-position you into a place you can thrive.

But what is ‘Authenticity’?

Authenticity is more than just being true to oneself—it’s about embracing your unique identity and values without pretence or self-sacrifice. It involves aligning your actions with your innermost beliefs and desires, allowing you to live with integrity and sincerity. It’s about embracing your imperfections and vulnerabilities, knowing that they are an integral part of who you are.

When we embody authenticity, we exude a genuine sense of confidence and self-assurance, unafraid to show our true colours to the world. Authenticity fosters deeper connections with others, as we attract genuine relationships based on mutual respect and understanding. Ultimately, authenticity empowers us to live a life that is true to ourselves, free from the constraints of societal expectations or external pressures.

If you  need someone to talk to right now https://www.samaritans.org  are waiting for your call 16 123. 

How you can find your voice

By embracing authenticity, that anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach disappeared. My solar plexus became calm offering space for abundance to flow into every area of my life. Quite naturally I navigated toward a space of wellbeing: a space to heal. As you deepen your personal gratitude practice you will begin to notice the shift in your mindset mirrored in your environment. In Buddhist terms this relationship with our environment is called ‘Esho Funi’ (being at one with one’s environment). As you reveal more of your authentic true self you will become aware of your re-alignment. 

A pivotal moment in my journey of self-discovery came when I was invited to attend a ‘Find Your Voice’ workshop (in the Hen & Chicks pub garden, Baldock, North Herts, UK) with healer and singer Bianca I’Ego. 

In this supported space finding my voice (through all seven chakras) enabled me to embrace my authentic self and speak my truth; and as I did so everything began to align. Bianca exudes positive energy and projects abundance (it’s catching). If you find yourself in the North Hertfordshire area you might be lucky enough to catch a live performance by Bianca. You don’t have to be local to feel the love. 

You can download her beautiful offerings here: 

If you’re up for a deeper, more existential, understanding 

...of how to unlock abundance by embracing authenticity. I highly recommend these three books by best-selling author Deepak Chopra: 

If you've ever found yourself stopping to wonder if it is possible to venture beyond daily living and experience heightened states of awareness? This narration by Deepak Chopra is for you. But don't just take me word for it:

"Metahuman helps us harvest peak experiences so we can see our truth and mold the universe's chaos into a form that brings light to the world."--Dr. Mehmet Oz, attending physician, New York-Presbyterian, Columbia University. 

Waking up allows life to make sense as never before. To make this as practical as possible, Chopra ends the book with a 31-day guide to becoming 'metahuman', wake up, become transformed. Understand how pure consciousness (the field of all possibilities) dawns in your life; and your infinite potential become your personal reality. Let's do this together!

If you'd rather take time to read a tangible hardback. The Healing Self is a revolutionary new plan to supercharge your immunity (heal & stay healthy for life). For over twenty-five years Deepak Chopra, M.D. & Rudolph E. Tanzi, Ph.D., leading experts in the field of integrative medicine, have revolutionised how we understand medicine, our minds and our bodies.

The Healing Self examines how we can optimise management of  chronic stress and inflammation conditions (emerging as a common primary link across C21st dis-eases).  

In the face of environmental toxins, potential epidemics, superbugs, and accelerated ageing processes, the significance of achieving optimum health has never been more crucial. With ever over-burdened healthcare systems (think UK NHS) the path to achieving health & wellbeing now rests on individuals. This cutting-edge, seven-day action plan outlines the key tools you need to develop your own effective and personalised path to self-healing. 

Your body is calling out. Answer this call to action now.

Remember: alignment isn't just about physical & mental health. It is also about material and financial security.

In Abundance - the inner path to wealth, master of modern meditation Deepak Chopra invites us to work past self-generated limitations and focus your attention & intuition.  and fear and providing meditations to help you focus and direct your attention and intuition, Providing a practical guide to applying meditation practice in order to develop a life of stability, prosperity, insight, creativity, love and true power.

I love a good guided meditation especially in a safe space.

And do remember:

1.    gratitude is the key to abundance
2.    authenticity is the key to alignment.