Now I want to share what happened to me before flying from LA to Chicago yesterday.

As I prepared to leave LA, I caught myself making a “tidy package” of my emotions.

I was writing a thank you card to my dear friends and their dog who hosted me for 2 1/2 weeks as I figured out next steps. My 9 weeks of research and artist residency travel had obviously fallen away.

If you don’t already know, I’m a #digitalnomad of sorts, after having let go of most of what I owned in NYC and storing a closet-full of remaining things at my parents’ home in January.

Tears of gratitude and goodbye were flowing down my face, as I wrote a letter to my friends, in the room they gave me when things really started shifting in mid-March.

And then I heard a noise in the house and caught myself in an old pattern of “I have to compose myself.” In other words, stop feeling and shut down what was flowing through me.

My body registered memories of so many well-meaning parents, adults, and teachers encouraging me to not cry, calm down, and suck it up.

So I took a deep breath, let my body open up again, and told my emotional self it was all okay to be here now and feel.

I’m sharing this with you because right now is a crucial time to make sure you aren’t shutting yourself down emotionally.

It’s an easy moment to numb out with self-destructive behavior, or to become emotionally washed-up by paying too much attention to the news (often designed to keep your nervous system on alert, which is counter to its healthy state of healing, repair, and growth).

I’m not encouraging you to go hog wild and flail into emotional tornados. The healing is deeper than that.

This is about taking tremendous care of that tender, inner child part of yourself that has always known what he, she, or they need to feel safe.

This is about seeing a part of yourself that has repeatedly been ignored, or even feared, yet can bring about a tremendous amount of healing.

And, the most important part of this message is here:

Shutting down how you are truly feeling cuts off your heart’s ability to clearly guide you through life.

Please make note of that!

When you love yourself deeply, you know what to do, where to go, and who to talk to…

Because the inner compass of your heart is fully activated rather than shut down!

Right now it’s essential to connect to the tools, people, and systems to help you hold yourself with love as the emotions come and go.

I will be talking more about this in a free workshop on expanding self-love that I’ll be announcing soon.

Please stay tuned!

And please share this message with your friends and loved ones.

By staying “connected,” we can get through this time, and even thrive and come out stronger on the other side.

With love,
Michelle