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Janice Gill, MSW, RSW, RYT(200)

Janice Gill, MSW, RSW, RYT(200)

Recent Posts

A letter to my 20 year-old self… February 24, 2019
On bed-making: Lessons from the Swiss October 23, 2018
On Feeling Your Feelings October 22, 2018
Feel Your Feelings October 22, 2018
On making conscious choices: What do you mean you don’t eat avocados? October 21, 2018

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What I’ve come to learn is that when I’m feeling a certain way, the majority of my suffering stems from resisting what I’m actually feeling and trying to get myself to feel or be some way other than what I am, more so than the feeling itself. For example, Grief is awful and can zap us of our energy but what’s even more awful and energy-zapping, is trying to stuff down the Grief in order to try to present a certain way—usually happy, positive, upbeat—because well, for one, we’ve been subjected to relentless societal conditioning such as “Happy girls are the prettiest.” For me, this leads to an almost unbearable heaviness and lethargy (hypoarousal) that creates a lingering darkness that generally only passes when I have a good cry. (Historically, I was the person who barely ever cried. My friends would make jokes about it and express concern but I honestly didn’t know how to do that any differently at the time. I didn’t have the template or safe haven to experience safety in emotional expression). This has also been true for folks I’ve worked with, who grapple with low mood or low energy. When they can accept their inner state (acceptance, by the way, is not to be confused with approval, agreeing with or enjoying), and respond to that inner state with self-compassion, as opposed to with resistance, shame, anger, or frustration, the suffering is much less and typically, the duration is much shorter. In short, if you’re feeling sad, let yourself feel sad. If you’re feeling low energy, rest, and allow yourself to move slowly. Give yourself the space. It will pass eventually. You don’t have to be happy, upbeat, energetic, or enthusiastic every hour of every day. And, believing that you do, is only going to add unpleasant layers to you’re already uncomfortable inner state. The body knows what it needs to do to return to equilibrium, we just need to get out of its way and allow it! ✨💕

When allowed to ebb and flow, emotions will arise, produce sensations in the body—often reminding us of historical experiences with those same feelings and sensations—and then, will eventually pass. When suppressed, emotions do not get to go through the natural ebb and flow rhythms, and instead of working their way out, are forced to work their way in. Deeper and deeper. When that charged energy has nowhere to go but in, it begins to find other ways to be expressed—typically, either in physical manifestations of pain and dis-ease, or chronic mental health symptoms, such as Anxiety and Depression. Experiencing a felt sense of safety during the presence of emotion on an ongoing basis, with someone you trust, who can hold that emotion with you, as it makes its way out, is a fundamental part of the healing journey. Of teaching our bodies and minds that it’s safe, healthy, and okay to feel these things. It is also something we can learn to provide for ourselves with a little self-nurturing, compassion, and acceptance. #reparenting #selfhealers You can be a positive, loving, grateful, spiritual person, who generally loves their life AND still experience emotions, such as anger, sadness, fear, etc. Don’t let all of those toxic positivity messages of “good vibes only” make think that you can’t! We are human feeling beings✨💕

This has been my mantra for the past while. When I’m in need of some grounding—which has been often lately—I come back to this. A shedding of the ego (and all of its constricting definitions and attachments)...as well as the physical body, and there I am...pure loving awareness. My new favourite little ritual is to go for a walk in the woods or along the water and pop in my headphones with @babaramdass and @eastforest “Loving Awareness” meditation track. It is so powerful. So pure. So simple. And, exactly what my soul needs to remind me of who I am and what I’m here for. ✨

When we choose fulfillment over achievement, we can experience a deep, grounded sense of joy and satisfaction from within, as opposed to the externally motivated, false and fleeting sense of joy that is dependent upon outside factors (and, often, outside praise and approval). ✨ How do YOU know if you are prioritizing fulfillment over achievement?

Shame is a different kind of inheritance—it’s an inheritance of inherent unworthiness. Inherent badness. Inherent not-good-enoughness. If you feel not good enough, chances are your parents felt not good enough, and your parents’ parents felt not good enough, as well as your parents’ parents’ parents, and so on. Basically, our parents’ internalized shame becomes our own internalized shame over time because with each, small, perceived transgression, outside of their conditioned conceptions of what makes a child “good” and therefore, a parent, “good,” over time, our sense of self becomes increasingly constricted. The end result is a self that is conditioned to think/feel/behave in ways that protect the parents’ sense of worthiness at the cost of the child’s (and one day, adult’s) own freedom, spontaneous, authentic, expression, and self-governed autonomy. Research has found Shame to be the most powerful and painful affective state (which for many becomes a long-term trait)...So, incase you’ve been looking for it, here is your permission: It’s okay for you to let go of that which no longer serves you. Whether it’s unsightly China patterns or an unrelenting sense of Shame; if you didn’t ask for it, and it’s doing nothing to serve you, do the work to Let. It. Go. 🎈

Miracles are occurring every day to keep us on our path. We are always on our path. It doesn’t mean we can’t change our direction... it means we can! We always can and, regardless of the outcome, there we are, on our path! ✨ 👣 💕

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Inside Health Clinic
2486 Old Bronte Road Suite 107

Clinic Phone: (905) 842-6654