Safety Vs Freedom
How is your second week of this strange new world going?
Here is something I've been chatting about on my Instagram this week.....
Safety.
I’m a freedom seeker. I hate being boxed in, having too much structure and routine. That’s why I like working for myself, so that I can run with my ideas, have plenty of variety in my days and be spontaneous every now and again. But I’ve learned that there is no way I can experience freedom without safety. Feeling safe is a fundamental human need. When I first learned this through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, I secretly thought ‘I know I’m safe, I don’t need to work on that one’, like as if I had ticked the box on it - got a roof over my head, money, nice people in my life, not running from danger. But what I’ve learned more over the years is the importance of emotional safety.
Our brains can’t tell the difference between a real imminent danger or an imagined/perceived one and so most of the time our conscious mind knows there is no ‘real’ danger but underneath, our unconscious mind is telling us we are not safe.
You know when you just have that uneasy feeling of unrest and restlessness but you can’t put your finger on what you’re worried about? That’s your mind telling your body there is danger and you’re not safe.
This is why it’s so important for us to learn how to soothe our bodies, soothe our nervous systems so then our body can tell our mind we are safe. When we don’t feel safe, we do all kinds of crazy shit - react and snap at people, make mad decisions, get anxious, ill and rundown.
Right now (and always...) we need to soothe ourselves daily! Not once a week at a yoga class and then bang on at 100 miles an hour for the rest of the week. Daily!
10 mins to meditate or just sit in silence.
Physically soothe yourself like a child - hug someone, your pet or yourself! Wrap yourself up in a warm blanket, have a bath.
Move your body, yoga, dance, run, anything to release those soothing chemicals.
Do something creative, that relaxes you.
Get near a tree! Listen to the birds, breathe.
Please don’t say you don’t have time. Act as if you’re life depends on it. It does.
Photo by Jametlene Reskp on Unsplash