Excitement? Anxiety? Intuition? Fear? What are your nerves trying to tell you? Does this sound like the start of an infomercial?
What is like an odd gratification to others as it is not adrenaline I am after. It is inner peace. Having done extensive work on self and continually making concerted efforts to better understand others, I have come to realize that an excited nervous system can be great. An overworked one in constant stress is not as appealing.
Remember as a child before all the BS conditioning you took on and traumas you faced, the simple things gave you the rumbly feeling in your tummy (I'm speaking to your inner child here, so rumbly tummy is the appropriate terminology) and you got all giddy? For me it was driving up and down big hills, my tummy would ride that wave along with the car. As we age, however, we move into a place of fear. It really is the loss of innocence. We start to feel the stress and our bodies hold onto that as we grow. We begin to replace the 'fun' nerves with the negative ones derived by lower vibrational feelings of sadness, anger, jealousy, guilt, anxiety, all the yucky stuff kicks in. The waters become muddy when we muffle our intuition as we are told we are wrong and things should be a certain way and if we don't acclimate and choose to think for ourselves, life will be really hard. Oh and it can be, I assure you, but at least I got my rumbly tummy back.
The more we evolve and explore our own depths, the more we shift. I initially wrote this piece awhile ago and now that I find myself in a calmer state, the dialogue has evolved into a different piece for your pleasure. As my intuition strengthens, the health of my nervous system is of the utmost priority. It is an interesting process to go through, rediscovering the magic of nerves and it is part of the liberation of self. Nerves are the butterflies you feel when you see someone you love. They are the rush of doing good for others, small acts of kindness and they are expressing yourself in your own way, as I do here.
Writing and slowly but surely building this new platform for myself, has generated moments of both sides of nerve perception of course. The joy I feel from writing, sharing ideas and anecdotes, and also the anxiety and fear of sharing ideas and anecdotes. But alas, it is in the slaying of the dragon mentality matched with action that we free ourselves and part of the challenge is accepting that you just have to go through it instead of around it.
After you bite the bullet and you do what you were nervous about doing, how do you feel? Exhilarated? Free? Or scared of repercussions? If that is the case, your intentions weren’t pure. That is how you decipher the good from the bad as it is true that more often than not you can wire your nerves toward that positive outcome. We seem to forget that and 'accept' that the stressful times are a 'necessity' and a 'regular occurrence' in life.
There are many ways to calm the nervous system in addition to eliminating toxicity from your life and also reflecting upon where that toxicity resides within you. It's reframing what you have thought was normal. Plant medicine in all its glorious forms from teas to psychedelics to a healthier diet in addition to regular exercise help. Supporting and sharing with trusted allies, being creative, meditation, energy healing in its various modalities. I have become a certified reiki master, but am also learning EFT, acupressure, and massage, and other practices to help myself and others relax and release. There is no need to have frenetic energy which is a telltale sign of an overactive nervous system and it is not a chronic state we need to remain in. It is again, in facing the pain, suppressed or present in tandem with peaceful practices that we can reattain that childlike excitement again and be present in that sweet vulnerability because it feels good.