Overwhelm – it’s a feeling that we can all experience from time to time but not one that I’ve ever heard anyone say that they ever loved. The other thing with overwhelm is that it can be extremely insidious. It can sneak up on you and you can feel overwhelmed without even knowing it.
This week a client asked me how do you keep your vibe high when you’re feeling overwhelmed? She said while she knew it was important to feel good she often feels overwhelmed when thinking about future goals and the many things on her to-do list that need to get done today. I thought it was such a great question that I wanted to devote this podcast episode to it.
The Cambridge Dictionary defines overwhelm as this: “to defeat someone or something by using a lot of force.”
And I have to say when I read that definition it really rang true with me. To feel extremely overwhelmed is to feel quite defeated and overcome by quite heavy emotions.
Yet there are also times when overwhelm seems to be just under the surface – not that obvious but certainly not helping us to keep our frequency and vibration at a really high level.
Why is it so important to keep our vibe high? When our vibe is high we feel google we feel much more love and can create amazing things in our lives.
So today I just wanted to share with you a few tips I’ve learnt about dealing with overwhelm when it’s extreme – and also when it’s lurking under the surface – impacting my overall vibration. These are things I practice every day!
Tip #1: Recognise Overwhelm is Simply Another Natural Emotion
My first tip is to realise that overwhelm is simply another emotion – which means it is like any other other emotion on the whole spectrum of human emotions – we’re going to experience it and it can be managed.
The trick is to be aware of when we’re feeling it so we can manage it even more effectively.
The thing is that we can experience overwhelm on a scale. We can go from feeling we have a few too many things on our to-do list to feeling completely overwhelmed and defeated.
This means it’s really vital to be self-aware so that we can actually deal with overwhelm when it’s at the minor end of the spectrum that I just explained.
Tip #2 Accept Overwhelm Rather Than Push It Away
Tip #2 is to accept the feeling of overwhelm rather than pushing it away. What we resist persists! This has been one of the things that’s really made all the difference for me. Once we just let it be there and say: “Okay. Hello overwhelmed. Here you are and it’s ok”, we can start to calm down.
Just by accepting overwhelm we reduce the resistance in our energetic field and the anxious feelings that we’re feeling can settle down.
Tip #3 Listen To What It Has To Say and Write Down The Thoughts
Once we’ve said hello it’s a great idea to take a calm breath and listen to what overwhelm has to say. The key here is to actually write down the thoughts that the overwhelm is creating in your brain. Here I’m talking about a stream-of-consciousness brain dump of all the things that are concerning you right now.
This works at a couple of levels. From a neuroscience perspective, we’re calming down the fight or flight response that is occurring in our body. By writing things down we’re distracting the mind and telling the body there is no need to run anywhere! We’re reducing stress hormones and we’re allowing a sense of calm to re-enter the body.
When the body is calmer then our executive function – our pre-frontal cortex or our thinking brain – can turn back on. When this turns back on we’re able to start to sort out the braindump we’ve just done into an organised list. We can see the truth of what is going on with our priorities.
In this step we’ve cleared out the anxious jittery feeling of overwhelm and allowed logic to re-enter the room. This has always helped me when I’ve been feeling extremely overwhelmed. It has helped me calm down my anxiety and move into an emotional space or frequency where I can see what is really going on and take positive action.
Tip #4 Have a Morning Routine
When I’m coaching I find that overwhelm can happen very quickly for people when they do not have a regular routine to work with. If we’re dealing with lots of different things every day and “shooting from the hip” without a clear plan, it can feel very overwhelming very, very quickly.
The best thing to do is to put in place some daily regular routines that work for you.
I’m a big believer in having a very, very powerful morning routine and I share with my clients a set of particular practices that make all the difference.
The key here is to do whatever works for you in this space but put in place a routine where you have some quiet, peaceful time daily. This allows our mind, body to connect with our Source selves and to reset and replenish.
Why does this work? For two reasons – as humans we love routine. When we have a strong morning routine we can come to trust ourselves. Just as we trust the sun to come up and go down every day we can start to trust ourselves. When we trust ourselves we are naturally calmer and less likely to have feelings or thoughts of overwhelm.
Also our physical bodies also must rest and reset every day. A lack of sleep and rest is more damaging physiologically than anything else. According to Harvard research a lack of sleep can “lead to a host of health problems including obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and even early mortality. A lack of sleep also impacts our mental health.
So in our very busy daily lives it’s vital to have some quiet time built into our day.
For me, my morning routine is focused around, meditation, a specific set of journaling exercises, yoga and walking my dog Lucy. Those are the four key things that I find I need to do every morning to help me get off my day off to a great start.
I notice if my morning routine drops out – for whatever reason – I can start to feel not so good. It’s like I’ve cut the foundations of my house from under me. That’s how important these daily, grounding practices are.
Tip #5 Do You Really Need to Do Everything?
If you’re feeling consistently overwhelmed then maybe it’s time to really assess what is on your calendar and in your life. What is it that you’re doing and are you trying to do too much in your life?
Are there some things that you could let go of that would free you up and help you feel calmer? Do you need to be doing all the things you’ve committed yourself to do?
Are you doing some things out of habit? Are you doing some things because others expect them of you? What is it that you really want to do in your life?
Remember time is our most precious resource. Are you looking at how you are really using it? Are you using it wisely?
Tip #6 – Remember We Only Have The Now
Finally we need to remember we really only have the now moment. From a quantum physics and spiritual yogic perspective now is all there is. Time is made up of a series of “now moments”.
If we’re overwhelmed we’re generally thinking about things in the past, or we’re thinking about things in the future. Typically it’s about things that we haven’t done in the past or things we feel need to/should do in the future.
This is future pacing and rear vision anxiety. It does not support us at all.
So, remembering that there is only the now, and when we focus on feeling good in the now, we are automatically aligning ourselves with the best possible future. When we feel good we’re much more likely to achieve our dreams and goals.
If we are feeling overwhelmed in the now then we’re more than likely to feel overwhelmed in the future – and not get things done.
If you are someone who worries about achieving your future goals – please listen to this.
Our task is to focus on feeling as good as we can in the now moment. To focus on love. When we are feeling good in this now moment we’re going to create more good feelings in the now moment. If you’re feeling very anxious and uptight then that is a fear based response to life.
As I’ve said before in this podcast many times the observer affects the observed so what you are thinking and feeling at any given moment is going to impact that moment and the moment after that. Unless we choose a different perspective.
So the key here is to recognise that all we have is the now moment and we need to do the best that we can to keep our vibration high in the now moment.
Does Feeling Good Feel Like Too Much of a Stretch?
If you’re feeling extremely overwhelmed or tired then “feeling good” might feel like too much of a stretch.
The next best thing is to move to a feeling of neutrality.
Why neutrality? Because feeling neutral is certainly better than feeling fearful. It is also the zero point of creation – where all things are possible. In Episode 42 I spoke about the “superposition” in the field of quantum reality. This is what neutrality is.
How do we move to neutrality?
Take a breath and think of something you feel grateful for.
The very interesting thing about this is that when we’re feeling gratitude other feelings can not come into the space. So if you’d like to get into the softer space of feeling neutral then take a breath go inside your body and feel something you are grateful for. It could just be the air you’re breathing, a glass of water or the seat you are sitting on. It doesn’t need to be anything too over-the-top. It needs to be something really easy for you to feel grateful for.
Once you’re feeling grateful you can then move into neutrality. After a little while of feeling neutral you’ll then receive the inspiration, you need to deal with whatever it is that’s overwhelming you.
Over To You
So that’s a wrap on my six simple tips to help reduce overwhelm and live a happier, purpose-driven life. If you find this useful, please practice them every day.
Also please share with me in the comments to the podcast or via email how you’re going with all of this. Just email me at hello@jenramsey.com.
Again today I mentioned the benefits of meditation. You can get my “How to Meditate for Beginners Guide” absolutely free by visiting jenramsey.com/begin.
This is a super simple guide to help you start a beautiful daily meditation practice. I encourage you to get access to it. It shares with you:
- how to meditate
- how to deal with things that could be blocking you things like the amount of time it might take the fact that you can’t sit still
- Two free guided meditations you can start to use right away.
It’s completely free and easy to get at jenramsey.com/begin.
Until we meet again take great care and I look forward to talking with you soon.
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