Intense emotions: watch the energy move

Just about anyone healing from a serious chronic illness knows that stress can worsen symptoms. Chronic illness (Lyme disease in particular) can feel like a crash course in building our awareness of internal stress. We’re forced to become conscious of anxiety and tension in our lives, and to do what we can to relieve the pressure.

Stress and adrenal fatigue

For most people with chronic illness or Lyme disease, adrenal fatigue is a contributor. Healthy adrenal function supports our ability to handle normal stress. But as the various chronic stressors of modern life build up over time, our adrenal function can become overwhelmed.

Without a healthy adrenal response, we can become more susceptible to infection, toxicity, and resulting illness. I have a hunch that if my second kid had been a better sleeper, I might not have gotten sick – or at least my symptoms of Lyme disease wouldn’t have become so severe.

Difficult thoughts and emotions can be sources of chronic stress

Obviously, to heal we need to make sure our external environments are non-toxic and supportive. Sometimes this means over-hauling relationships, moldy living environments, or an evil boss. But even low-grade, internal stress can be hard on the adrenals, especially if it’s ongoing.

Over my years healing Lyme disease, I’ve noticed that on days where my thoughts or emotions are difficult or intense, I’m more symptomatic. This is not to blame the victim! Negative thoughts and feelings are normal, human, and necessary. But they can also be a source of adrenal-taxing chronic stress. We can support healing by working with their energy.

Buddhist tricks for moving emotional energy

There’s the energy of pure emotion, and then there are the sticky, repetitive thought patterns we create to try to control that energy. Making the distinction is a healing tool.

Buddhism teaches that there exist eight worldly concerns that trap us in spirals of anxious thinking. The eight concerns are pairs of opposites: things we chase after and things we avoid. I’ve noticed that if I’m stressed, I can always distill the issue to one of these eight concerns. Here they are:

• Gain or loss

• Pleasure or pain

• Praise or blame

• Good or bad reputation

For me, it’s very helpful to notice when I’m experiencing stress, and categorize it into one or another of these concerns. It reminds me that every single human chases and avoids these eight concerns.

Buddhists also suggest that we bring our attention to the energy in our bodies instead of the story we’re telling ourselves. In this way, we can distill emotional energy to its essence – watching it shift and move without getting too wrapped up in the context.

I love to experience my emotions as color. If I focus on my body, my emotions bloom and shift, changing locations in my body, turning into images, always moving. For me, this is a beautiful way to honor difficult emotions while releasing attachment to my stories around them. (Some days easier than others.)

You may find another way to feel the energy of your emotions – there’s no right or wrong way. Simply being willing to experience emotion as moving energy and release our storylines is a radical act of meditation and self-healing. It goes against our very human habit of controlling, repetitive thought patterns, and puts us in contact with the divine. This is a boon to adrenal health, as it creates the space to rest and relax with whatever comes up.

To wrap it up

Experiencing emotions as energy in motion (the meaning is apparent in the word “e-motion”) is one way to avoid buildup of chronic stress and adrenal fatigue. This kind of awareness practice is a radical shift, and can support healing on a profound level.

Thank you for reading! If you need support harmonizing your adrenal response, try my Calm Stamina meditation. It’s there to help you boost adrenal function along with metabolism, and might make Buddhist practice just a bit easier.

You are radiant,

Shona