Feeling Dumpy or Depressed?

What can we do when we feel dumpy? Something just doesn’t feel right. You may not be able to put your finger on it, but you know you didn’t awaken with that ‘take on the world’ attitude. There will be those days where our energy just won’t be as high, our outlook won’t be as positive, and we will just feel out-of-sorts. Even for those of us who are usually highly energized, positive, and action-oriented, there will be times when our vibe is low.  These are the days when we might just want to lie in bed, cancel our plans, and retreat. Or, perhaps we want to break our healthy eating routine, skip our workout, and put our phone on silent. We might even feel teary or extra sensitive. All of us go through this at some point and it feels icky-just plain ole icky!

On these days, its nice to have a set of resources we can pull on that will help us to remember that like everything in life, the way we feel is temporary and this too shall pass. Usually these days come when its time for us to examine something in our lives. For me, its when something has gotten out of balance and a reassessment is needed, or I’ve neglected myself in some way. A lesson needs to be learned and so an informing energy comes in to make me aware of something I need to address by first making me feel discomfort. After all, the universe’s way of getting our attention is to make us uncomfortable. As we experience dis-ease, we start to look for the cause.

The first thing that helps is to assess the situation and try to determine why it is you are feeling what you are feeling? Are you overworked and burnt out? Is there a relationship issue? Is something causing you anxiety or making you feel depressed? Have you changed something in your diet or exercise routine? Is something stressful going on in another area of your life? Are you resting well at night? Are you taking on someone else’s issues? Frequently, there is something we can point to in our lives that is sapping our energy, even if its just a dysfunctional way of coping with everyday situations. Other times, there may be things lingering in our subconscious trying to work their way to the surface.

BUTTERFLY STEPS TO TAKE

STEP 1-Tune in to your body and ask the following questions:

1. What am I feeling? Give yourself time to reflect and respond. Feel into your heart, your tummy, your throat. These areas provide key information about what’s going on in certain energy areas such as love and relationships, communication and truth, and boundaries, courage, and creativity.

2. What is creating dis-ease in my life? Determine whether the dis-ease is your baggage or someone else’s. Does the situation even have a solution or is time and patience the solution?
3. How am I dealing with some of my challenges right now? Assess your default responses to the unpleasant things in your life.
4. Am I happy in my life? Assess your happiness rating. What would it take to create more happiness in your life? What small action(s) can you take to move in this direction right now? What will you commit to and by when?
5. What would it take for me to feel better RIGHT NOW? This question is critical, as it provides clues into what short term or long term adjustments you need to make in your life. It also helps you to quickly itemize some things you need to seriously consider or take action on and shifts your focus. Make every attempt to DO THAT THING! If not, take some action towards that thing.

STEP 2-Realize you must shift into a higher vibration quickly by taking action for the following reasons:

1. If you don’t, you will spiral downward.
2. You will fall off the bandwagon with the habits and things in your life that you have cultivated up to this point that keep you on track.
3. The longer you allow the ‘dumpiness’ to last, the more entrenched in it you will become. You could even start to give yourself permission to feel this way or encourage a W-I-M-S (Woe is me syndrome).
4. There’s a short window between waking up feeling like crap and giving in and intentionally deciding that you get to chose your thoughts, your emotions and ultimately the outcome of your day.

 STEP 3-Take Action
The key to feeling better is shifting to a higher vibration as quickly as possible to salvage the day and your overall perception of what’s happening to you. There are a lot of things you can do to facilitate a mental and emotional shift away from the disempowering energy you might be feeling. Consider the following actions below:

1. Know you are not alone. Quickly tap into a short inspirational or motivational video on YouTube. Know that spirit will lead you to exactly what you need to see. Or, call someone you love and trust who will empower you.
2. Play some upbeat music that you like.
3. Consider 10 things you have to be grateful and start a mental list.
4. Start a set of deep breathing exercises to help you center and tap into the endless reservoir of uplifting energy that surrounds you. You may need to do this outside.
5. Remember life is a series of peaks and valleys. All things are temporary. We mustn’t let externalities dictate our inner joy or lack thereof.
6. Go for a walk with your shoes off.
7. Do a series of deep yoga stretches.
8. Enter into a short meditation and visualize white light radiating from above down into your crown chakra and throughout your body.
9. Play with your pet.
10. Hug and kiss your child. Being in the energy space of young people is very energizing.
11. Eat something light and nutritious.
12. Cry if you need to so that negative energy is not trapped in your chakra system. After a good cry, move to another item on the list.
13. Be very intentional about the internal dialogue you have with yourself throughout the day. Quickly negate anything that doesn’t serve your highest good. Remember that we create our reality in each moment and we need only shift our perception to experience a higher consciousness.
14. Expend less energy throughout the day. Talk less, be less intense, and be more patient with yourself and those around you.
15. Don’t get caught up in watching TV or spending the day using technology. This will only make you feel worse, unless you are watching educational programming.
16. As your vibration starts to increase, celebrate how you turned what could have been an awful day into a better day. What can you do to rejoice in your win? Get up and repeat the steps again the next day if needed.