Are You In An Emotional Rut?
by Mark Ivar Myhre
For me, the best part about growing up in Northeast
Mississippi was the great outdoors. The rural setting
offered ample opportunity to get back to nature, to
get in touch with the earth.
I grabbed those opportunities every chance I could.
I practically lived in the woods - always exploring a
little deeper, a little further into new territory. Oh, how
I longed to be an American Indian! Too bad wishing
couldn't make it so...
In high school, my best friend ended up being a guy
who *was* part Indian. Or so he said. I couldn't quite
make it out by looking at him. (But I was still envious.)
Either way, he knew quite a bit about living off the
land.
Since we both were named Mark, we called each other
by our middle names. He was Otis and I was Ivar.
On one of our many memorable adventures, he took
me to the Old Natchez Trace. In case you're not familiar
with it, the Natchez Trace is a scenic highway that runs
from Natchez, Mississippi up to Nashville, Tennessee.
A nice drive, if you can put up with the 50 mile per hour
speed limit.
Besides that nice new highway, every now and then
you could find little snippets of the Old Natchez Trace.
And that's what my good friend Otis wanted to show me.
I wasn't too impressed at the time. It appeared to be
nothing more than a gully that extended for about 100
yards, located out in the middle of nowhere.
I really didn't pay much attention as Otis enthusiastically
waxed on about the many activities that must have
occurred in the exact spot we were at. To him, it was a
living, breathing, part of history. He obviously saw more
than I did in that old abandoned ditch.
He aroused my interest, however, when he started
talking about how the road had worn down over the
years, so that now it was several feet deeper than the
surrounding ground.
That must've taken a LOT of traffic. (I guess I was
thinking maybe they'd dug it out with shovels, which,
when you think about it, would've been an incredibly
stupid undertaking!)
Instead, it was thousands of years of animals and
Indians walking back and forth. (And starting in the
late 1700's, frontiersmen from Kentucky and Ohio
and thereabouts walking back home after floating
down the Mississippi River to sell their goods in New
Orleans.)
Thousands of years of walking the ridges - the high
ground - to avoid the swamps and creeks as much
as possible. Taking the high way. (Which explains
the origin of the word highway that we use today.)
When it comes to emotions, you and I took the high
road also. We all started out in virgin ground, with
a certain innocence, emotional and otherwise.
It didn't take long, though, before the world started
coming down on us in one way or another. Whether
through so-called discipline from well-meaning
parents, or through nursery school playmates, we
soon learned the hard facts of life.
We developed coping mechanisms, usually
beginning with judgments and self-pity. We found
something that worked, and we stuck with it.
Pity and judgments both put you to sleep; they're
anesthetics. They're handy and easy to use. For a
child dealing with the big bad world, they're about
the only things available.
Problem is, they become habits. They start wearing
down ruts. They become like the Old Natchez Trace.
Then when you start adding the anger, the fear, the
righteousness, the depression and all the rest - the
rut grows deeper and deeper.
By the time you realize it's your emotions, and not the
world, that's the *real* source of your problems, often
it's almost too late.
We become stuck in our emotional ruts. To get from
point A to point B, we have to travel that well-worn
high way. Or so it seems.
How do I cope with the world? I get angry. I impose
negative judgments on myself and others. I feel sorry
for myself. I get scared.
Just like I did yesterday, and the day before, and the
day before that. Just like I did last week and last year
and last decade. All the while, that rut digs deeper
and deeper.
When I first tried to climb out of my rut, I found the walls
were too loose, too crumbly. I couldn't get a grip. I
couldn't find a foothold.
It seemed hopeless, so I retreated. I gave up. "Learned
helplessness", they call it.
"It's not so bad down here. Besides, I'm getting a little
tired. I think I'll take a nap," as I cuddle up with my self
pity.
It's so frustrating and exhausting trying to climb
those walls.
So what's the answer?
First ask yourself - am I in an emotional rut? Am I
stuck with one or more emotions that trouble me on
a regular basis?
It might not seem like a rut. It may seem like a forest
fire of rage or anger. Or a dark cave of fear, or the
mushy pit of pity. Or the degutting pain of shame.
It may seem overwhelming, but it's still just a rut. An
emotional rut that also exists physically as a series of
strong neurological pathways, made stronger and
deeper by decades of repetition.
To get out, the first step involves recognition: "Yes,
I see what's happening to me. I recognize. I
understand."
After you clearly recognize what is going on in your
life emotionally, you have several different options.
For example, you could ask for more love and more
healing. Step back from any current struggles you
may be having, and allow yourself to receive help.
How? Start by simply asking for it!
"I allow more healing."
"I allow more love."
"I am letting in greater healing."
"I am letting in more love."
"I am asking for more healing."
Or however you choose to phrase it. Simply by
honestly and sincerely asking for more love and
more healing, (and being willing to receive it!)
you're creating the space for it to appear.
It's like digging a hole in saturated ground. If you
create the space, the water will always come to fill
the hole. In fact, you can't keep it out.
Same here. If you can ask (without pity!) for more
love and more healing, it will surely appear. The
love and the healing can float you up to the surface.
They can change your life.
Imagine yourself in your rut. Then imagine the
love and healing flowing down from above and
lifting you out.
This isn't the complete answer, but it's a start. You
still need to feel the impact of your emotional rut,
along with various other things, but asking for more
love and more healing offers a great starting point.
For more information on getting out of an emotional rut,
go to -
http://XXXX.jointhefun.hop.clickbank.net
It explains how and why you make things the way they
are right now, and then provides useful, practical, and
specific techniques to change things... to make life
the way you always wanted it to be.
click on the link below -
http://XXXX.jointhefun.hop.clickbank.net
all the best,
Mark
Mark Ivar Myhre
The Emotional Healing Wizard
PS - You'll also learn exactly how emotions help to
create your reality -
http://XXXX.jointhefun.hop.clickbank.net