Feeling Grimy? / Or Cleansing Your Energy When You’re Feeling Polluted

Returning from London, I felt wired, burnt out and jittery.

This could have been the 6 hour combination of trains, ferries, more trains, taxis, underground trains and cable cars required to both reach and exit our North Greenwich hotel. It could have been the nutty night of stunts and superheros at the Marvel Universe LIVE at the O2. It could have been sharing a bed and minute hotel room with a five year old who has enough energy to keep Hulky, Captain America and Nebula in rocket fuel for a century.

It could have been all of it.

And probably was.

Either way, when I got back home, my body felt tenser than an ironing board abandoned in the Arctic Circle. I had an early night. I tried to meditate. Yet, on waking up I still felt somehow tense and definitely a bit polluted.

Whether we like it or not, we all move through “spaces” that our bodies/spirit do not love.

Physical environments, geographical locations and phases of time in our lives that drain, absorb and somehow reduce our vital energy can not be avoided at all times. On top of this, we’re peppered with zappers that come in the form of people, conversations, screens, newsfeeds.

Add to that certain thought processes that are activated within us about the environment … and it’s no wonder that we can end up feeling like small quivering jelly-beasts, shaking and stuttering on the floor of life.

And as these environments aren’t eternally avoidable, we need a few go-to strategies to reground ourselves and clean out the pollutants quickly.

Here are my go-tos:

  • Put your phone away for a day. Avoid looking at social media at all costs. When we’re feeling weak, the urge to escape into a screen can be seductive, but while we’re weak we’re also susceptible to absorbing negative information or have low self esteem beliefs triggered by what we see other people doing. Be kind to yourself and keep your brain focused on the here and now.

 

  • Get out into the forest. It may be autumn/winter and there may be a double yellow weather warning for rain, but so what? Get your wellies on and however much you want to stay in bed and vegetate, take yourself out into nature. There are multiple benefits to surrounding yourself in nature to recharge. If you don’t believe me, Google it.

 

  • Whilst you’re walking in the trees, breathe deeply. Get a feeling of the rhythm of your lungs filling up and emptying out. Begin to visualise each breath you take in, filling your body with clean, pure, natural energy. Each time you breathe out, imagine that breathe taking all of the toxins and stress from your body and releasing it into the forest where it will be transmuted by the trees.
  • Tidy up your world/house. This could start simply with your bedroom. Use the “spark joy” principle from the Chinese house clearance maven, Marie Kondo. The act of creating order in your environment restores a sense of empowerment over your inner environment. Release from your environment everything that does not feel joyful to you.
  • Look back at your day and track which thoughts about your life/world are draining your vital energy. Identify and capture these thoughts on paper. Now look at the thought one by one and ask yourself “what do I make this mean about me and my life?” For example, if you happened to catch a news story about something going wrong in the world, ask yourself how you believe this news story impacts you. Does it make you feel hopeless? Disempowered? How can you reframe that news story or respond to it consciously and from an empowered position?
  • Go and do something physically active. By this, I mean get your heart racing and your muscles remembering that they are alive and vital. By doing physical exercise we release feel-good endorphins, blow away the cobwebs and clear stagnant emotional and mental energy. Make this a daily practice if possible.
  • Be conscious of where the drains are. Explore the environments that enliven you and those that weigh you down. Are there certain coffee shops, stores, walks and towns that make you feel happy and alive? Are there other places, offices, streets and online environments that make you feel uncomfortable in your skin or in your life? How can you lean into the places that make you feel good and furnish your week with those spaces? If there are some environments that you can’t avoid, are there ways to make travelling through those places better?

 

  • Be conscious of your thoughts. It’s not always the external world that is causing your energy to become drained. Often its our own thoughts, inner critic, unmet needs and perfectionism that can suck us dry like an old withered lemon slice. As mentioned in the medium term fixes, when you find yourself triggered or exhausted, track what you’ve been thinking and whether that mindset/thought process is true, kind and helpful. If it isn’t, change it. You’re the thinker … not the thought.

 

  • Look after your body – it is the most important space you’ll ever have. You are born in in and you’ll die when you leave it. Your body is vital to your experience of life in this sphere of existence. When your body is loaded with toxins via the food, drink, substances you consume, it’s going to eventually start complaining. Sleep, fresh food, plenty of water and exercise, clean oxygen, rest and fun will clear and build your chi like nothing else. Ultimately, keeping your energy sparkling and gorgeous involves a holistic lifestyle choice and doesn’t come down to any one thing. Love yourself and look after yourself like the precious thing you are.

 

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