stay calm in the chaos

How to restore emotional balance and let go of anxiety and worries with journaling

Quarantine brings its undisclosed challenges.

The nervous systems for people are in overdrive.

Resistance to change, no sense of control and the fear of the future, worries of the health and finances can manifest in feelings of anger, anxiety and tension in our minds and bodies.  

It is completely natural to be anxious about the current situation. We dwell through the different phases of the crisis, collective, generational and personal trauma are activated.

And all that makes this the perfect time to heal it. 

Some people are facing big, obvious obstacles and some seem to be flowing through this successfully but feeling tremendous guilt about it, afraid of destroying their luck.  

Whatever you are going through I want you to know that there is nothing wrong with you.    You haven’t manifested the obstacles or pain. It’s not your fault. 

I want to invite you to see it differently: this crisis is offering a possibility to transform your life big time, maybe in the ways you have wanted for a long while.

The triggers and obstacles you are personally facing now are showing you what is actually standing in your way. 

When you do the work and heal the core issues now, you can experience dramatic shifts already now and change the trajectory for your near future.

  • Such as feeling happy and joyful instead of tense and anxious.

  • Finding deeper intimacy in your relationship.

  • Feeling more connected and fulfilled, being able to enjoy your accomplishments.

  • Being confident about your possibilities to create and make the changes that you want and need to.

  • Enjoying presence with your children.

What do you want your “new normal” look and feel like?

Throughout this crisis I’ve been offering the tools and practices that help you feel good, calm and connected daily in my Facebook group and with the free self-empowering mini-course.

When you do the work and heal the core issues now, you can experience dramatic shifts, get unstuck which will help you to change the trajectory of your near future. 

I want to support you and show you that you can do a lot to heal and empower yourself right now; get through these challenging times in the best ways and make this experience work for you.    

Today I want to share this wonderful practice of journaling for restoring your emotional balance.

Sometimes, when the anxiety or negative feeling take over, the breathing exercises and meditation are not always bringing the results you want. 

I want to share an amazing tool which will help you let go of tension, anger, frustrations, and fears in a healthy way so that you can feel calm, more connected and confident daily during this challenging time. 

In quarantine and lockdown - like in our normal busy lives - it is important to help yourself feel good and energized every day. 

Daily practice of journaling will help you feel connected with yourself, emotionally balanced, hopeful and energized.

I invite you to share your deepest thoughts in your journal, and take the first step to healing and connecting your ‘Foundational’ authentic self.

This practice will give you sense of relief in the mind and body, insights and opens the vault to the answers - and next steps that you have been craving for. 

We are naturally resistant, push away to negatives and avoid talking about the real pain and hurt we are feeling. It requires some courage to allow yourself to go deeper but I’m encouraging you to do so.

It’s easy to feel guilty, blame yourself for having the thoughts and feelings you have, and believe that there’s something wrong with you. It’s not true.

I want to gently and lovingly remind you, there’s nothing wrong with you for having those thoughts. Your shadow side is a natural part of you, and everyone else. 

When you listen to your mind and it’s chatter with honesty, you give yourself an opportunity to start healing and changing your thoughts and feelings, and the core reasons of the patterns that keep you stuck and looping. 

When you become aware of what is going on in your mind that’s already healing the tensions, energies in your body, your nervous system. 

Then you become free to act differently and start programming your mind to think better thoughts and feel more of good feelings. 

The words on the page give you access to the big picture and you will see how silly and untrue those beliefs and stories of the mind sometimes are.  

Create Clarity- How to journal

Pick up a pen, grab some paper. 

What is going on in your mind? 

Start journaling. Flowing out your thoughts, write them on the paper without limitations.

Let go of any anxiety, overwhelm and fears that you may be feeling. 

Write about the obstacles you are facing.  

Go into the details and let your pen speak your mind.

When you are done, start asking yourself questions: 

  • How is this (your biggest issue) protecting me?

  • What is the worst thing that could happen to me? 

  • What is possible for you when you let go of this issue?

Journaling helps you bring clarity, feel calm and connected and become more aware of your patterns so you become free to change them. 

Your journal is your soundboard and trusted friend that loves to listen and see you as you are.

In my free mini-course you will learn the full empowering process of releasing and working with the anxieties and fears - and the related patterns. Get access here

How do you help yourself feel good and energized daily? Let me know your thoughts and comments below!

Love, Jenni

Feel like you need to fight, take a flight or freeze?

Working from home, taking care of the kids, household, home-schooling and being forced to stay inside with your loved ones who are trying to do the same IS chaotic and overwhelming.

Finding time for yourself, your work, self-care and handling all your responsibilities can be extremely difficult now. Even if you don't have kids.

Worries, fears and anxieties can take over. You might feel so drained and unmotivated.

You might feel that you need to fight or take a flight. Or freeze. 

It's okay to have all those feelings and feel exhausted.

We've been locked down for almost 4 full weeks now in Spain, so I can relate.

The first thing to do to change these feelings is:

Give yourself permission to feel those feelings and then, forgive yourself for having them. Accept where you are, right now. 

Also please, please, know that you are doing a lot (more than you know) and going through a lot.

I know work can be as demanding as it was before. If you have a family it can be that your bosses are not understanding your situation at home with the kids and that it's impossible to respond to those demands like before. 

I know how it works, I had over 13 years in the corporate world.

It could be that your business is under thread and you simply can't work right now.

I get that too! As an entrepreneur, I needed to sit down to create new offerings, strategy, and plans. After I dug myself out of the darkness I momentarily dropped, I created new ideas that I'm working on now and… they are actually super fun and I have no reason to avoid doing them anymore (you will see this in social media and my emails)!

I realized I thrive in challenging situations.

I've gone through so many drastic shift storms, so I know deep down in my gut that the obstacles are the way (you maybe want to check out the book by Ryan Holiday, it's quite fantastic) — I will always get up and get back on track, even when being a bit wounded

Like you too! You have gone through so many obstacles in your life that now it's time to remind yourself of the hardest ones!    

But it also means that I also need to calm, change my thoughts and re-connect with myself with breathing consciously multiple times a day by using the Clarity tools and habits to relieve the overwhelm daily! 

I am empowering myself to trust I will make my visions true while I have to prioritize how to use the very limited time I have for working, and self-care as I'm balancing all this with my husband, cooking, and child care. 

Instead of letting your inner stories overwhelm you and believe everything is falling apart, you can take responsibility for how you feel, what's happening around you and help yourself feel energized. 

Now it's not time to push yourself to do more but stop to see where you are and focus on self-care. 

That will make a HUGE difference in how you feel right now and release the anxiety, worries and overwhelm.  

Like my mentor Marisa Peer says:

You are in control and you can control your thoughts that are creating your feelings. 

That doesn’t mean to stop doing things but focusing on your needs; self-care, healthy, productive habits and using the tools that are helping you to create a structure for your days. So that you get things done more efficiently is helpful right now.

Looking into how you do things and helping yourself feel better, will give you more time and energy. 

To help you in this situation I have put together a list below of the resources to relieve the unwanted feelings and help you feel, calm and focused in this crisis - while trusting in your own abilities to get through this with high confidence.

Little action makes a huge difference and releases the negative energy from the body.  

Anytime when you hopeless, please remind yourself that this will pass!

We can get through almost anything just knowing that it doesn't last forever.

Get the free mini-course self-empowering tools and methods that will not only help you navigate through this feeling calm, focused and connected but create structure, healthy habits, self-care routines that you will benefit from forever!

Much love and courage,

Jenni

 

The best hacks to staying resilient, focused and productive in lockdown with your family

I know many people are struggling at home in quarantine feeling overwhelmed when they are not getting things done as they want and need to, just because they don’t get enough time for themselves!

Over the years I've been going through all the challenges that many have to face quickly right now so I know it's not easy at all when you have to spend a lot of time at home, take care of your kids, household and work while being with your loved ones in the same space, who are also trying to do the same.

I am an online entrepreneur and I've worked from home for the last 6 years. After I left corporate and started working for myself I needed to learn to lead myself in a whole new way.

It took a good amount of effort until I found the self-discipline, habits of high productivity and the planning tools that give me clarity and balance daily — without forgetting self-care, my daily routines and personal needs.

When I became a mother a little over a year ago, my time became incredibly limited and I was at home all the time. This crisis and locked down experience reminds me a lot about last spring.

I then needed to learn to plan things out even more carefully and work more efficiently. It was actually really good for me as I didn’t have time to procrastinate anymore or overthink things too much. I had to teach my inner high-achieving perfectionist to calm down and trust less doing and more focus would be more!

So I consciously aligned my habits and the ways I worked again, my productivity actually peaked and I got so much more things done in a short time.

It made me wonder what on earth did I do with all that time before I had a child.

Again, after my husband, Joonas quit his day job a couple of months ago we had to learn how to be together all the time.

It took a little practice for us but we were able to find the ways to agree on things in a new way, take care of the household and Stella as a team, and learn how to express ourselves and our needs and feelings better (big one!). This requires constant, daily discussions.

So now, to be honest, my daily life hasn't changed that much during the complete locked down. 

We are all forced to adjust to these sudden, shocking changes. There's no office to go, social interactions and daily transitions are not happening naturally. It can feel there's no place to escape and get a breather.

This, plus all the health concerns and the fear of the unknown future can cause a lot of stress and add up insecurities and anxiety - so please be very compassionate and gentle with yourself, you are doing the best you can.

I collected the best productivity hacks, tips, and habits that I have found to be mental, emotional and financial (we all have to make our income) lifesavers when you spend 24/7 with your family and work from home.


How to get things done and feel calm and productive when working from home:

  1. Be present and feel good in the moments: Inhale “receive” & exhale “release" mantra every time you feel tension or fear pops up.

  2. Meditate daily - 5 minutes does miracles. 

  3. Agree the house rules and make a weekly schedule with your spouse. This should include:

    1. Work meetings and taking care of the house hold, groceries & meals. Now we need to prioritize a lot and be flexible.

    2. If you both work, agree when the other one is taking care of the kids and the other one can focus on work better.

    3. Make sure everyone gets some alone time daily.

  4. Take a shower daily and dress up to get ready for work — this makes a big difference on how you feel.

  5. Talk about your feelings with your loved ones. Sharing helps to release blocks and vulnerability connects people intimately. Listen to what your loved ones say to you! Just being heard and seen is most often enough helpful.

  6. Plan your days: Including the breaks, mealtimes, exercise and decide when you stop working. Follow your daily plan. 

  7. Cook healthy, yummy food. Enjoy and appreciate every bite. 

  8. Move your body somehow (have a morning dance party or take online classes) - even a couple of minutes of movement is helpful and helps you let go of the excess energy.

  9. Communicate your friends and family daily; thank goodness for the technology it fulfills our social needs <3

  10. Consume news and social reasonably. It easily adds up more stress and anxiety.

  11. Enjoy and appreciate the time you get to spend together. 

Remind of yourself daily that this too shall pass!

It is not possible to act normally as we did before in this situation - we have to align and adjust a lot. 

To see the positives, this crisis can be a possibility to get closer and more connected with your spouse. You may get some ideas with your career or business and actually this can be quite creative time, like transformations often are. Even it’s difficult and painful.

Now it's not time to push yourself forward but allow yourself to go through this experience and feel your feelings along the way.

With these tips and habit changes, you will help yourself feel good, which is the most important thing now. 

To help you actualize all this you can download my the Daily Life Planner page CLICK here.

It gives you structure and simple guidance on how to create a morning routine and plan out your days while staying productive and knowing you will get everything done.

Take really good care of yourself, rest and focus on going through this day by day.


Much love, Jenni

Photo by Paige Cody on Unsplash - thank you so much!