Latest / Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul / Ep 9 | When Sensitivity Leads the Way: Nervous System Care, Nature, & Inner Guidance

Transcript

Ep 9 | When Sensitivity Leads the Way: Nervous System Care, Nature, & Inner Guidance · Rise & Realign: Conversations for the Sensitive Soul

0:02
Welcome to Rise and Realign, conversations for
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the sensitive soul. I'm Melissa, and this space
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is for those of us who feel deeply, love fiercely,
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and sense the world in ways that are hard to
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explain but impossible to ignore. Here, we honor
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your sensitivity as a strength, not something
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to fix. Well, this is Wednesday, December 31st,
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the last day of the Gregorian calendar. And,
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you know, this time of year can bring up things
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for all of us, but especially, again, as those
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of us who... Have a more finely tuned nervous
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system, right? You feel more, you sense more,
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you think on things more. There's just so much
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that can be overwhelming to our systems. You
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know, this period of... You know, the holidays
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can also bring up a lot of deeper emotions, right?
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We've talked about, you know, grief, anticipatory
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sorrow. But it's really important that, again,
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we allow ourselves the time and the space that
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we need to... tend to ourself in the sense of,
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you know, feel what you need to feel, you know,
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write about what feels unresolved, but yet is
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coming up to the surface to be witnessed. Because,
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you know, that's part of the process. You know,
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sometimes we may think that if an old memory,
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right, is is coming up for us that it means there's
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a problem. But when you understand that things
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happen in cycles and, you know, healing is a
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spiral, you know, old, whether it's memories,
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emotions, can even be physical symptoms that
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seem to be resurfacing. You know, it doesn't
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always mean what our first thought tells us.
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Because once we have the space to really witness
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the patterns and the process, we can see that
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this is part of the integration. This is part
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of the healing. So I really want to honor wherever
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you are today and whatever you are experiencing
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and to remind you that you are so important.
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And it's not easy, you know, being on this planet
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at this time. Not to say that it's been, you
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know. not difficult at other time periods periods
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because of course everybody has had their challenging
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periods collectively individually as families
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you know but it just seems that there's so much
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exposure now with the use of the internet with
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the use of all these different social media apps
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and You know, we can just be inundated with,
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you know, what's going on in so many different
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places in so many different circles. And that
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can be unsettling to our nervous systems as well.
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So I really want to take this time to just remind
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you how important it is to, again, be slowing
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down and really tuning into your breath, your
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body, your heart. And to really honor your path.
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You know, something that I wrote in my Rise and
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Realign Lunar Letter on Monday was knowing thyself
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is the path to healing thyself from previously
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accepted, incorrect notions about thyself. What
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I'm speaking to, you know, is how each of us
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are so unique. Again, even if we're in this 20
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% that have this more finely tuned central nervous
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system, right? A unique neuroanatomy of how we're
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sensing our inner and external worlds. It is
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about knowing yourself. It is about connecting
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with yourself. It is that inward journey, which
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is what I'm here, you know, sharing. Part of
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my The Realigned Journey is to speak to You know,
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we all have our own inner guidance. We all have
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our own sacred geometry within us. We all have
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our own paths to walk. And if you were raised
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similar to me or even in other... Countries with
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other religious, you know, dogma, you know, the
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point is, is we were often raised in ways that
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didn't honor who we truly are. And so when I
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say from previously accepted, incorrect notions
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about ourself, as highly sensitives, you know,
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We take on beliefs about ourself that aren't
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true, but because we're trying to make sense
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of something that others didn't have the language
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for. And that is, again, why I'm so grateful
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for Dr. Elaine Aron's dedication to the research
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on highly sensitive individuals and how there's
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an evolutionary reason that we're designed this
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way. and that it's in over a hundred species.
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So when I'm speaking about knowing thyself is
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the path to healing thyself, again, it comes
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back to understanding what makes you different
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in the sense of 80 % of the population roughly
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don't have this more finely tuned central nervous
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system. What they can do in the way of exposure
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to environmental situations and places and toxins
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and relational, right, whether that's family
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gatherings, social gatherings, it's different
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because It's not that these things are more harmful,
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in a sense, to those of us who are sensitive
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than those who don't have the trait. It's more
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that our sensory intelligence is letting us know
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sooner that, hey, this really isn't the best
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for you. I'm encouraging you to really know thyself
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because, again, we didn't always have the language
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for how we were designed differently. And it's
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so important that we understand what's different
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about how we're designed so that we can reframe
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our past. Because as we reframe our past and
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how we view ourselves, that changes everything
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for how we show up, for ourselves and how we
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show up for others. You know, I know there's
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a lot of different areas that people focus on
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things, you know, and their approaches to it.
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And to be honest, I've lived long enough with
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this knowledge and understanding that I can see
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that there's no right way. right? Even as a highly
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sensitive woman, and mom and soul led entrepreneur,
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right? What works for me is ever changing. I
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mean, what we do know is the only constant is
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change. But sometimes I know for me personally,
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like I used to think like, oh, I figured it out.
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I finally know how to do this thing. I finally
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know how to live my life with more ease. But
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my journey would show me that, oh, that was just
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temporary. So that was just for that time period.
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You know, that was just for while I was in that
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environment or, you know, while I was doing that
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portion of my career. I really, really want to
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make it clear that each one of us needs to know
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ourself so that we can understand what our inner
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guidance is showing us as far as what is best
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for us. And I consider this, you know, from all
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perspectives, for mental health, physical health,
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emotional health. energetically right spiritually
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what however you want to look at this um because
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more people are experiencing shifts right whether
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we want to call it shift in consciousness raising
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of awareness spiritually awakening or even just
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saying waking up out of old subconscious programs.
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There's more out there. And so I'm wanting to
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share my voice with you because I have been walking
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this path. Well, the awakening path I've been
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walking for 17 years. I did have a spontaneous
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awakening that opened and shifted my consciousness
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and awareness drastically. And I've had to walk
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that path without having mentors because I really
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couldn't find any that could really understand
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and meet me where I was. And even now, I walk
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my path being true to me. and what my own soul,
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my higher self, you know, what my true essence
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reveals for me. And so I, again, am encouraging
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you to believe in yourself, you know, that the
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more you tune inward and you connect with your
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breath, with your body, with your heart, you
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know, the more you will feel confident in what
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you choose that's best for you because no one
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else knows what it's like to walk your path.
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But having, you know, this type of sensory intelligence,
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it is an invitation to tend to yourself because
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You know, those old patterns that a lot of us
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grew up with, where we outsource to others, whether
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it's our family members, our partners, our, you
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know, our friends, the medical, you know, establishments,
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and of varying types, right? The point is, is
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it always has to come back to you. It always
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has to come back to, does that feel true and
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correct for you? So I'm just taking a moment
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to pause as I am reminded of the places that
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You know, as a soul -led entrepreneur, the places
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that I visit per se socially, you know, places
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like LinkedIn, Alignable, I guess Instagram is
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probably the one that I visit the most that I
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enjoy. I don't necessarily post a lot on social
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media because I've learned that that's not what
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lights me up. You know, if I'm forcing myself
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to show up on a platform to present myself in
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a way that's not true to me, then it's not going
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to reach the people who are meant to work with
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me anyway. When I do visit, like I mentioned,
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LinkedIn and Alignable or Instagram, you know,
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I'll see like, where's the common theme? You
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know, what's the pattern that's showing up? And
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some of the things that I've noticed recently
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are, you know, people talking more about how
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the outer world is a reflection of our inner
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world. that's wonderful to see that that's coming
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out in what perhaps may be more mainstream because
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living the path that i have i've often felt um
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you know that my inner world was way more um
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fun in a sense expansive um than what I was seeing
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in the mainstream. And so I really didn't read
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a lot of it. I was more, again, tending to myself
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and my health and the different approaches that
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were working because, you know, I was someone
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who had an autoimmune condition. You know, roughly
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20 years ago, I was diagnosed with Hashimoto's.
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hypothyroidism. And it was something that I just
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knew medication was not my lifetime companion.
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And I did stop that medication. I don't know,
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somewhere between 17 and 20 years ago. But I
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also knew that I really wanted to understand
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what my body was experiencing and how to really
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care for my body. So I've definitely walked a
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path where I have gotten to learn through working
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in a clinic what people will pay for to reverse
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aging, um, you know, extend their life to, um,
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improve their health, right. Um, if they've had
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an injury or, um, other, other conditions. Um,
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and what I found was, I mean, I was exposed to
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so much and you know, what many would call the
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biohacking world. And what I discovered was,
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um, The things that are free are what excited
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me the most. You know, I learned that the sun
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is so amazing and powerful to healing, which
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is why I'm so grateful that I ended up. connecting
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with Catherine Clinton and joining her first
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cohort in the quantum biology health training.
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Because that felt so liberating to be like, yes,
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you know, people don't need to have, you know,
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an enormous bank account to be able to improve
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their health. You know, we just need to, again,
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know ourself in the sense of what is our body
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um you know what are the messages what are the
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symptoms what is the communication from our body
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and what are the natural approaches that best
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support it because again it feels like one of
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those things that we weren't raised many of us
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to understand i mean i certainly played outside
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as a kid an awful lot you know um But it seems
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like, you know, as we become adults and have
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careers, a lot of those careers ended up having
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us, you know, inside so much more of the day
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than we were outside. So I've definitely learned
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a lot about how nature can support our healing.
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And that's so important too in this. You know,
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being able to tend to yourself, you know, to
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understand what actually supports a sensitive
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body, you know, a sensitive mind, a sensitive
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soul. And so that's what I'm talking about too.
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When I say like, there's not one right way or
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one right approach that works. For a time for
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me, I... believe that it was that medication.
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And then my body said, no, you know, it's time
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to get off. And I got off, but I didn't know,
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you know, right away, like, well, what else is
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possible? It just took. you know, experimenting
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and trying different things. There was certainly
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periods of time when I took a lot of supplements,
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you know, I really wanted to understand how depleted
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my body had gotten, you know, not just throughout,
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you know, pregnancies and, you know, breastfeeding,
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postpartum, things like that. But just because
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I didn't have the healthiest eating style, you
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know, growing up, I I ate a lot of candy and
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had a lot of gut issues long before candy became
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a common treat. But yeah, we need to know ourselves
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because our unique paths are what contribute
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to what's really going to benefit us as far as
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tending to ourselves. And again, the path to
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healing thyself. So I really want to just continue
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to remind you that, you know, the medicine for
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your healing is within you, is within nature.
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You know, it's within really knowing thyself.
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you know, honor what you're experiencing, what
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you're, you know, navigating, because that also
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plays a part in how we take care of ourselves,
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right? Like, I've certainly gone through my periods
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of cold exposure. And that was a time when I
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definitely felt you know safer as far as you
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know what my circumstances in life were like
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so my nervous system could handle it um there
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were other things that i tried that my nervous
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system could not handle and i thought i was going
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to die so I really want to encourage you to be
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true to you in every decision that you make and
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trust your nervous system's capacity, you know,
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to do that thing. So when we talk about cold
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exposure, you know, there's a lot of research,
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you know, and of course we have Wim Hof and his
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approach, which I've also done that. But, you
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know, realizing that as women cold exposure especially
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as sensitive women that needs to be seriously
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moderated with where you are as far as you know,
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your nervous system? And, you know, are you at
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a place where your nervous system is more oscillating,
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you know, between sympathetic and parasympathetic?
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Or are you sympathetic dominant, meaning, you
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know, chronic stress? Because that's not safe,
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you know, and that's why, you know, when we don't
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have a greater awareness in our, you know, collective
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that 80 percent right do not have this sensory
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processing sensitivity trait and 20 percent of
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us do like again it's really up to each of us
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to know ourself and to really tend to ourself
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and really know that nature and breathing and
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Again, just fresh air and the sun, the moon,
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like all of these are really supportive to understand
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and how it influences us. So I just want to invite
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you to join me to just pause, you know, let's
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take a break. Let's breathe. Again, always going
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at your own pace, but inhaling through your nose,
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exhaling out your mouth. Let me just remind you,
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we're here together to rise, reclaim, remember.
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Where the heart leads, the body remembers, and
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the soul awakens. So again, I invite you to place
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a hand on your heart. Inhale through your nose,
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nice, deep, slow. Breathe love back into yourself.
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And exhale, nice and slow. And just relax into
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this present moment, because right here, right
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now, is all any of us have. So if anything in
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today's reflection resonated with you, and if
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you'd like support integrating it into your own
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life, I do offer Rise and Realign, an integrative
25:33
intensive for sensitive women. It's a contained
25:37
one -to -one experience, approximately four hours,
25:42
designed to help you reconnect with your rhythm
25:47
and inner authority. It's really about reorienting
25:53
you so that you are tuning more into you. And
26:00
whether it's that or subscribing to my Rise and
26:04
Realign Lunar Letter, you'll find everything
26:08
at realignwithmelissa .com slash links. So again,
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this is from my heart to yours. Take really good
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care of you. Much love and light.