The Core of Courage

The Core of Courage: The heart, soul’s purpose, and other authentic tools

How do you define courage? Are you living up to your own definition and expectations?

For me, courage means living the life I have imagined from an open, genuine heart space. It means that I am kind, act from a place of compassion and grace even when I am feeling sad, betrayed, discouraged, or facing any sort of adversity. It is the gap in between raw vulnerability and incredible strength. IT is taking responsibility and striving to be the best version of yourself each day.

 Courage is where I go when I need to dig deep and tap into my heart space. Courage is writing this blog, teaching yoga, practicing as a visually impaired doctor, and living in this crazy world. Courage is my authentic self and a place I choose to live.

Originally, courage meant to tell one’s mind by expressing themselves from their heart. It comes from the Latin “cor” which means heart. Over time it warped into this distorted definition about being physically strong or capable and moved away from the heart. We shielded our hearts and taught ourselves that emotions are bad and that we must build walls around our hearts for protection. We moved away from telling our authentic self because we feared rejection, being vulnerable and possibly getting hurt.  

Personally I feel most in my power when I am vulnerable. This is where I thrive and can hopefully role model ease and grace. As I go in deep I find ways to show more love when someone is hurting me. This is not something that came naturally to me, this is a lifetime of practice and mistakes. This is 31 years of being hurt, hyper sensitive, and closed off.  I had to constantly feel rejected by my peers, community, and society before I learned true courage. Courage was not going under the knife for 30 eye surgeries… it is showing genuine compassion for a friend in need after giving everything I have to my patients for 12 hours. It is digging so deep and asking that friend, “How can I best support you right now?” Courage is knowing when to be quiet and listen to a friend or to your own body.

Setting boundaries is an act of courage. Knowing that your friends or lovers will respect you more when you set boundaries will decrease stress and enhance your self-esteem. Pragmatism is not an act of true courage; being practical is fear disguised as selflessness. Role model this behavior for your friends and loved ones! Express and show them unconditional love while respecting yourself. This is expressing deep love for others around you and most importantly for yourself.

Another way to show true courage is to act with complete grace under the most stressful situations. If someone is verbally attacking you, breaking up with you, or insulting your character in any way… dig a bit deeper? What are they going through? Why are they acting out of fear and not from a space of genuine courage? When you can be calm, go deep into your heart center and show them compassion…. You are being super courageous! This does not mean that you do not care or that you are weak. It is the complete opposite! As you tap into their stress, fears, anxiety, self-doubt, or negative emotions it is important not to take on this energy.  Stay grounded, wash your hands or even arms if you were hugging them and then took on some of their energy.  This is so important for health care workers, massage therapist, even yoga teachers. I recommend taking a shower to help remove the energy you collected from your patients or clients that day.  It will cleanse your soul and allow your energy centers not to be drained. Do this after work, before your evening plans, so you can show up fully for yourself and the people around you.

If you are constantly searching for instant gratification your mind or out loud say what you are grateful for and do this daily. Gratitude vibrates on almost the same level or frequency as love.  As you practice an attitude of gratitude you will vibrate at a higher frequency, express your authentic self from your loving heart space, and practice complete courage.

Did you know that the heart has an electromagnetic field that is 60x stronger than the brain? Think about all of that energy! Releasing a mechanistic mindset that is obsessed with instant gratification will allow for an attitude of gratitude. Recognize that everything in your own body is connected and through energy centers like the heart space, we are connected.  Place your hand over your heart space when you meditate, hug heart to heart, drop into your heart and feel yourself become more grounded. Stop over analyzing, trying to be practical, and allow yourself to feel! If you are stuck in your head, you will never feel fully the amazing expression of love radiating from your heart. If you are stuck in your head, you are hiding from courage.

Courage tool kit

1 Set a timer for 10 – 20 minutes each morning and just write!

2 Meditate / pray every day and practice gratitude

3 Get daily movement through exercise or yoga

4 Set boundaries for yourself and people around you. Give permission to yourself to be upset about something for x seconds or minutes a then let it go!

5 Practice courage through compassion.  Ask yourself “what is the greater lesson here?” move away from looking for a cure.

6 Wash hands, arms, or bathe / shower to remove stagnant energy or negative energy you may have picked up during the day. Cleanse your energy centers this way before going back out into the world.

7 Breathe!

Are you ready to be courageous? Are you excited to live a fully authentic life and radiate love???! I hope so and I am here to support you.

Dedicated to authenticity,

Dr.Elizabeth M. Wisniewski

Vitalistic Visionary, Yoga Teacher, Chiropractor

www.GenuineChiro.com

Redirect rejection

Rejection Into Redirection: Embrace Your Innate Journey

I am on an innate journey to be rejected. Does this sound harsh? Yes!  We are constantly being rejected by people we are close to, random people out in society, main stream news, social norms, and we are constantly being rejected by ourselves. A lot of people have such negative self-talk which leads them to constantly reject themselves. Often times this cycle starts-up when you have been rejected by another person and a constant cycle of negative thinking begins.

Last night I was at the beach with some newer girlfriends of mine. We were having a beautiful open heart conversation and grounding down i.e. connecting with the earth through our barefeet and free spirits. One of my friends said, “Rejection is merely re-direction”. This hit me harder than the waves pounding the shore! It resonated with all 70 trillion cells of my body and found perfect communion with my innate.

With each rejection from someone else or self-proclaimed we have the option to re-direct our life path, our energy, attention, love, and sense of self. This is how we break the cycle! This is how fear can and will transform into whole hearted love!

As we stood there under the half moon, we all cast out our fears with the waves and decided to dive deeper into our trust of the universe.  It was a profound act of pure, unadulterated surrender.

In that moment the heart ripped opened fully and my spirit felt a sense of renewal and rebirth. I faced all of my fears head-on, there was nothing left to fear, and in that moment I chose to surrender.

This morning I woke up and my meditation of the past 11 months had shifted without me making a conscience decision to do so… it moved away from manifestation into complete surrender.

My friend talked about when you place an order to the universe you must surrender once that order has been placed. If you go to a restaurant you do not keep placing the order over and over again… you trust that the chef will put everything together for you. Similarly you must trust that the universe knows your deepest heart’s desire and will always provide.

Here are some simple tools to stay grounded:

1 Walk barefooted and connect with the earth.

2 Walk or swim in the ocean; Take a visit to the beach.

3 Anoint your feet daily with essential oils like myrrh oil.

4 Meditate daily and use imagery like a red light to connect with your root chakra.

5 daily exercise and yoga

6 Use red colored crystals which are associated with the root chakra

7 Journal daily, write morning pages, express yourself fully

8 Attend a sound healing bath.

9 Trust!

Even implementing a couple of these into your daily rituals will make a tremendous difference in your life. Most days I do at least 5 of these practices and I find that my mind – body- spirit are more connected. It allows us to stop over analyzing every situation and to be more mindful in the moment.

When we have a sense of being grounded, connected to the nurturing mother earth, it is become easier to stand in our truth. Being grounded lends its self to authenticity and therefore great open heart space communication.

If you are in a partnership or any type of relationship ask that person their definition of open heart space communication. Do they have strengths as a talker or listener?  Personally, as a health care provider, I find myself listening more to my patients and will often ask a few questions and then listen while directing the conversation.  I was trained not to ask leading questions and work hard to provide a safe environment for my patients to open up to me.  Through my blog and teaching yoga I open myself wide and attempt to role model vulnerability and open conversation. I realized that in my personal relationships that I need to communicate better and fully step away from doctor and yoga teacher. I am always interested and want to learn from others but realized that perhaps I appear disinterested because I am not asking questions. There is always a lesson to be learned. You can always turn rejection around and redirect your attention, energy, love, and goals.

Set your rejections aside and join me on the yoga mat tomorrow evening, 6:30pm, at 123B El paseo. We will drop deep into ourselves, conquers fear, manifest love, and find strength in our vulnerability. Please bring $5, a yoga mat, and an open heart. *** Get clear, Be inspired, Cultivate Vitalism***

In love & light,

Dr. Elizabeth M. Wisniewski

Vitalistic Visionary, Yoga teacher, Chiropractor

www.GenuineChiro.com

  

Fire V Water: How to achieve balance

Men are from mars, Women are from Venus… how the hell can we find balance?

People approach me like I am all fire. As if I am all business, all of the time. I can play this role and I am good at it. But is that really me?  I realized this weekend, while listening to author John Gray speak, that I have been denying my authentic self.

He says women are like waves and men like rubber bands. I feel myself consnstantly floating, shifting, evolving, slipping back, and once again gaining momentum. I love being in the business world but want to do it from a more divine feminine perspective. I am a relationship builder and paradigm shifter. I do not want to compete with you, yell over you, or fight to get what I want. Rather I want to connect, collaborate, and use communication to better myself and the world.

Lately I am really into my meditation practice and writing, which is great but my personal yoga practice has been struggling. It is that constant practice and striving for balance that serves as a motivational force in my life.

During Grays lecture I realize how many stereotypical arguments I have been in over the years and how that was not honoring my authentic self. I realized that my current partner is giving me the type of communication I desire and that I need to thank and honor him. The lecture was transformational and is helping me find the balance that I seriously crave.

I have an unpopular opinion that I really do not identify as a feminist but I identify as being feminine.  When I tap into that power, deeply surrendering to it, then I can be the best version of myself. I can go to work and be successful but then I can come home and be relaxed, happy, and tender.  I realized that I do not like titles for myself, I just want to be me!  I do love / desire  n… know that I am water, ever changing… ever shape shifting… ever flowing with pure love and positive intentions. The fire in my like the struggle or fight or the balance. The water in me like once I near balance the constant transformations that occuras I dig deeperinto my soulspurpose. I am grateful for these opposing forces and for the daily adventure of achieving balance, harmony, and heart space communication. Get clear, Be Inspired, Cultivate Vitalism.

Come find balance with me this Tuesday evening at 6:30pm at 123B El Paseo – Yoga Rehab with Dr.E! Please bring $5, a yoga mat, and an open heart. This week we will focus on finding balance within ourselves so that we may better serve the world.

In gratitude,

Dr. Elizabeth M. Wisniewski
Vitalisticvisionary, yoga teacher, chiropractor
www.genuinechiro.com