Finding Freedom From General Tiredness: Emotions
General tiredness, where there is no diagnosed medical condition behind it, can be such a frustrating enigma. It can seem that no matter what we do the draining sensations of tiredness stubbornly persist, restricting what we can do in life and zapping motivation, a blanket of fog that can’t be taken off. There are many aspects to consider to reduce tiredness and increase energy, and in true kinesiology style we can look at various angles, so let’s explore the emotional angle here, and diet, hormones and structure in future blogs.
Working to free up trapped and buried emotions that can manifest as fatigue (among other issues) is a particular area of interest for me as a kinesiologist and PSYCH-K facilitator, and if we don’t work to release in this area in therapy the presenting issues won’t clear properly. Please send this blog on to anyone who you think will benefit from it.
Tiredness: ‘Resistance, Boredom & Lack of Love for What one Does’?
Metaphysical teacher, and queen of self help during the 1980s and 90s Louise Hay says fatigue relates to ‘resistance, boredom and lack of love for what one does’. Many of us have an inkling of why we are tired, but feel there’s no hope to do anything about it. Disliking our job, living situation or present state of health can in itself be very tiring, we may have resistant, angry thoughts about it. We can start to take our power back by considering that we can do something to change how we see it, and that support from others is available.
Exploring why we are tired, what we are resisting and fearful of can become a great opening to transformation. It’s not an easy path to look within, but is very much worth it for the new beginnings that come after clearing blocks, and I personally wouldn’t live my life any other way.
There is a great difference between stressed- or bored-tired and happy-tired. Happy-tired can come at the end of a long day working in a fulfilling job, having positive relationships, and taking steps to look after our health. Stressed-out tiredness is unpleasant and takes far longer to recover from. What’s the feeling tone behind fatigue for you?
Key to Releasing Tiredness in Describing it
What words would you use to describe the tiredness you suffer with? Is it draining, frustrating, boring, hopeless? Where else in life might you be experiencing this? Your own description of tiredness can point to feelings that are much more predominant and significant to your experiences and state of mind than you’d realise. Repetitive thoughts and stuck feelings can offer clues as to what beliefs and memories are draining us - maybe life is something unpleasant that happens to you, that you have no control over, beliefs such as these can be explored and let go of. We are never going to have lots of energy feeling like a victim.
Suppressed feelings, those we have long ago buried, are a significant drain. It uses up a lot of energy to keep these old hurts locked away inside memories we don’t want to return to, and the body/mind will try to flag up this hidden hoarding of old pain. If, for example, as children we felt confused and guilty for needing, and not getting, love and attention from an unwell parent, the buried and misunderstood pain could resurface in adulthood as an stubborn untameable sweet tooth in stressful times. We wonder why we compulsively eat chocolate to the point of nausea, but it is a strange substitution for being able to get love in abundance at last, while also punishing ourselves for it mentally when we stand on the scales in the morning or get blood sugar crashes mid-afternoon. So we are tired and drained by the self-punishing feelings, the physical effects of too much sugar as well as the original buried feelings, which are difficult to identify.
Low self-esteem, shame, guilt, self-hatred, unforgiveness of ourselves or others are frequently hidden away. These skeletons in the closet can be released when we have the courage and support to face them, and the energy wasted by keeping the bulging closet door shut can be freed up for more positive feelings such as self-love and deservingness. Happy and peaceful feelings give us more energy to go for what we enjoy in life.
Letting Go
In his book Letting Go David R. Hawkins explores the topic of releasing negativity at length and encourages readers to practice his simple technique for letting go. To let go of negative thoughts, focus on the feeling behind it, don’t resist it, but allow it come up in your awareness. Understand that a negative feeling is just a feeling, resistance makes it stronger, makes it stay with you. So let the feeling be there and surrender any urge to modify it, letting it run its course instead. Echoes of the same pain may come up again afterwards – apply the same technique Hawkins advises. This process reminds me of mindfulness meditation practices to explore difficult feelings, where you explore the accompanying sensations in the body with curiosity, rather than pushing it away. I have been recommending this book to many friends since I read it!
To keep up with day-to-day demands painful feelings and reactions often get stuffed down because it seems we don’t have the time, know-how, or desire to address it, and have varying levels of resistance to looking at it. That’s understandable, it is scary to face feelings. The freedom in allowing and releasing it far outweighs the benefits of pushing it away, which isn’t really a benefit at all as it will keep showing up in other areas of life in how we are short-changing ourselves. The more blocks we release the easier life flows.
Fatigue as a Communication From our Body/Minds
How empowering would it be to consider the tiredness is a message from our body/mind for us to see and understand something that needs to be let go of, seen in a different way or just to acknowledge where we are not happy? Just like with physical symptoms the body is communicating unexpressed, stuffed down emotions with fatigue, the energy has to come up and out somehow, as Louise Hay would say, and it will persist if not heard.
Positive feelings – love, joy and peace - give us more energy, that zest for life feeling. Negative feelings – unlovable, stuck, stress – are very draining, we want to hide away, sabotage ourselves, and we feel angry at others and at what we read in the news. We have more power to change tiredness than we realise, and our inner talk, spoken words, feelings and emotions are indeed very influential on our health. Instead of regarding painful thoughts as one more thing we are subjected to this can be an empowering discovery to improve the quality of our life and energy levels.
Exercise: Sit quietly for a few minutes, with no distractions or noise and ask your intuition what you need to understand and how to release this tiredness. Trust the answers you get. What can you do to start addressing them, after heeding your own wisdom?
If you want some support to uncover and release blocks/buried feelings in a gentle, powerful way I’d be more than happy to help you, and can do so online.