How Do You Feel – Right Now?

Dr. Michelle Kmiec, Founder OHH

How many times has this happened to you? One moment you are feeling really good, on top of the world even, then in a matter of seconds, and “seemingly” for no apparent reason, your mood takes a dramatic downturn.

And you weren’t in the company of others, nope, you were all by yourself. What is that all about?

Now when this occurs in public and if you are a man, it is often shrugged off and assumed that you are simply in a bad mood. Some may go as far as thinking, “That guy’s a jerk!”

However, if you are a woman, then it absolutely must be either premenstrual syndrome, post-menstrual syndrome, perimenopause or menopause. One way or another, there is no way around it… it must be your hormones!

But is there more to the story? Well, of course, there is!

Emotions aren’t just meaningless and fleeting “feelings” that should be tamed or ignored; emotions are your built-in personal navigation system that can lead you toward many different life paths, good and bad.

The key is learning to follow how you feel.

However sadly, most of us don’t attempt to understand what our emotions, thus feelings, are telling us, so they simply remain misunderstood, ignored and/or suppressed. And this can ultimately be devastating to not only your state of well-being but also your physical health.

Over time, if you don’t try to understand your emotions and the meaning behind them, you can end up feeling:

• Angry and frustrated, which can lead to depression, insomnia, and fatigue.
• Worried and fearful, which can lead to anxiety and pain syndromes.
• Critical and Cynical (to not just others but also about yourself), which can lead to heart issues and/or autoimmune.

Whereas the opposite is also true, feeling:

• Happy and joyous leads to a strong immune system and feeling full of energy.
• Calm and peaceful leads to restful slumber and tolerance of others AND of yourself.
• Open-minded and grounded leads to hope and prosperity on all levels.

Your emotions live in the place somewhere in-between your conscious and subconscious mind, a virtual intersection with a traffic light that permits you to go forward if the feeling is positive, or directs you to pause and reevaluate if the feeling is negative.

Consider those negative emotions are the red lights encouraging you to stop and redirect your inner narrative to one of a different perspective.

A good example of this is when you say yes to someone when you really wanted to say no, but you felt that by saying yes meant you’d be better liked, accepted, or simply because “society” says it is the right thing to do.

And let’s not forget that if you said, “no”…some other unwelcomed feeling will likely pop its ugly head into the mix – Guilt.

But why would you feel guilty if you chose to follow your own inner guidance system, your emotions, and thus allowed yourself to say no to others and instead said, “YES” to yourself?

Further, the definition of guilt is when you purposely do something wrong, so are you doing something wrong by following what your heart is telling you?

When you feel guilt chronically, what physical manifestations do you think that could lead to?

Overwhelming, guilt brings about depression, loss of self-worth, self-acceptance, and self-love, and eventually… more serious conditions such as autoimmune, cancer, and heart disease could manifest.

Well, I whole-heartily believe this concept of the connection between emotions and health to be true. When I look back at my suppressed emotions over time and my unwillingness to change my perception of them, they eventually did manifest as paralyzing anxiety and ultimately the autoimmune condition of multiple sclerosis.

My inner guidance system was flashing red lights all over the place! My emotions – my feelings – were definitely trying to tell me something that ignored until I could not ignore them any longer.

If I was to regain my health, then I needed to change the perception of my life in its entirety! It was my emotions that were lovingly laying out my path to ultimately achieve not only physical wellness but more importantly a reemergence with my authentic self. And why is so important to align with your authentic self?

Because the current “you” who has developed over time is shadowed by all the false personas you show to the world as a reality, when in fact it is just an illusion because it is not real. 

• This is the “you” who goes along with others so you “fit in”.
• This is the “you” who is afraid to say how you really feel for fear of being ridiculed.
• This is the “you” who would rather deny the truth of your own self so others will feel more comfortable.
• And of course, the list goes on and on.

On the other hand, the authentic you is the real you who you lost touch with and is buried under all those false personas. This is “the you” screaming to live, grow, learn, play…to expand in every way!

One way or another, your authentic self will get your attention. For some, it takes an injury or an illness (like with me), for others it comes with a dramatic event, and for others still, it may occur in the last moments of life.

Now don’t get me wrong, I am not saying that your authentic self is some kind of drama queen that can only make an entrance into your life with all the bells and whistles because this could happen to you at any time, at any moment, and to everyone. You don’t need some kind of major event to occur. All you need is the desire to live true to yourself and above all, take full responsibility for your life! 

Once I made that shift in perception, my life was never the same (Thank Goodness!).

And there was something else that was amazing, I started to notice how when I changed my perception of life by following my inner guidance system, it seemed that the whole world changed with me!

Have you ever noticed that when you are happy, it seems that everyone you come in contact with is also happy? On these types of days as you make your way through your busy schedule everything seems to go smoothly and wonderful things happen.

Interestingly, when you are operating at this positive emotional level, your energetic frequency becomes higher, so you’d likely not even notice the “negative “things around you because you simply would no longer be in line with those negative lower frequencies.

However, the same can hold true for days you are experiencing a bad mood.

Now it appears that everyone you associate with on this particular day is also in a bad mood, people at the grocery store, at work, the coffee shop and certainly everyone driving on the road, and all of this adversity only reinforces your negative state of mind.

It becomes a self-fulfilling negative prophecy.

But let me ask you this. What is the likelihood that the entire world is in the exact same mood (negative OR positive) that you are at any given time?

Well, I asked myself this very question, and of course, the answer could only be…not very likely. In either case, I was the only one responsible for my mood, no one else.

I alone was, and is, responsible for interpreting my perception of my life experience, and when I am truly authentic is when my life becomes happy and healthy – in other words – I feel alive!

But does all of this answer the original question of how can our moods change on a dime without any viable “reason”?

I believe it does.

Because the answer revolves around not choosing to ignore sudden mood shifts but instead choosing to focus on how you are really feeling in that moment, or at any given moment for that matter. Pay close attention to what you are feeling because any mood shift has more to do with you than with any circumstance. 

Your life is not meant to be stagnant with each day a cookie-cutter version of the last. It was meant to be fluid and flowing and vibrant! The difference between these two versions of life is your perception of it. And if off track, your willingness to allow your feelings, your built-in personal navigation system, to guide you back to your authentic self. And that is the key!