Unblock Your True Essence: A Holistic Guide to Prioritizing Self-Care, Creativity, and Spirituality

Like many of my thoughts and writings, I got the inspiration for this post during a fairly difficult challenge that I went through recently. It had a little bit to do with an emotional crisis of a friend and a loved one stemming from the fact that we live in an overly-stimulating and fast paced society. Our society today, does not take the individual into consideration and leaves very little time and space for those who are immersed deeply into its interconnected web that some might call the Matrix.

This can manifest in many ways, however the most common outcome of this lifestyle leaves an individual disconnected from their true selves, their creativity, and their spirituality. We sometimes label this as anxiety, depression, schizophrenia, eating disorders, stress, etc. Not really taking the time to go to the root.

The root is the fact that many people are so disconnected from their true nature which leads to hopelessness, dis-ease, and unhappiness.

There could be several reasons for this such as: their environment, their job, children or a spouse, school, childhood trauma, unresolved emotions, etc.

Whatever the reason is, I’m going to give you some simple tools to begin making more time for yourself to then open up the channels of creativity and expand your spirituality. These tools require a lot of discipline so my first piece of advice is to make a commitment to this process and to yourself because the results will be worth it.

Before you invest too much time into this reading, I will provide you with just a FEW of the benefits of incorporating these tools into your daily life to see if this is the right practice for you:

Results:

Solve life problems with ease.
Find ways to work through stored emotions.
Healing.
Increased energy to go after the things that excite you.
Increased creativity throughout all daily activities.
You'll begin to get spiritual insights, synchronicities will begin to take place, you’ll start to notice a paradigm shift in your life.
Life takes on a whole new purpose and meaning.
You're able to help so many people by simply existing in your truth.

Now for the tools to begin taking back your true essence.

Meditation

Ask any successful person, creative, or spiritual leader you know, "How do you do what you do" and unanimously, they will tell you at least one thing that incorporates meditation.

This is a must to begin silencing the outside world. This doesn’t mean eliminating all thoughts, but it does mean entering a state where you are observing your own thoughts, not thoughts that someone else told you or what you were taught to believe. Try not to think about your to-do list or any future plans you might have for the week.

For someone who is just beginning, this may be hard, but as you observe your thoughts over time, you will begin to notice your own thought patterns, you’ll begin to get answers, and you’ll get divine inspiration.

The beautiful part about this tool is that you can literally meditate anywhere doing anything. For example, most people find cooking or painting or walking to be very meditative. Start off with just 10 minutes a day meditating in the shower, the car, or at work. The purpose is not to silence the mind, but to connect with your higher self and to learn more about self and unhealthy attachments through observation. There are many benefits to meditating and in the future I will expand upon this topic, but for today, all you need to do is start.

Food = Fuel

Being intentional about what you consume is crucial to your personal and spiritual development. I know that the fast paced, time dependent society we live in makes this part very difficult causing us to grab whatever is available or skip meals altogether. You're going to have to be very determined to go against the grain with this one. You can begin now by searching for quick and easy HEALTHY recipes to feed you and your family. Here are somethings to note:

You don’t have to go full out vegan Instagram influencer with your meals, but you can start small and simple. Most fad diets and meals on social media don’t account for the fact that most people prefer not to buy expensive ingredients that they can only use for one meal, or that they don’t have time to make most ingredients from scratch.
HEALTHY does not mean vegan or plant-based. It does mean reducing and eventually eliminating processed foods, saturated & trans fats, refined sugars, and oils high in saturated fats because the human body was not made to process and digest this.
Snacksss. Im not one to say snack are bad unless they include anything I listed above, but snacks are essential to fueling your body throughout the day especially if only eat 2-3 meals per day. When I say snacks, I am referring to fruits (fresh or dried), nuts, raw veggies, granola, natural protein bars, etc. All of which can be homemade in under 15 minutes.
Meal prepping will become your best friend. And if meal prepping is not your thing, keep in mind this is just to get you to the point where you've created enough time for yourself to cook everyday (if this is what you want)
Make sure your meals are nutritional and contain as much essential vitamins and minerals as possible.

This step alone will give you the energy and clarity you need to power through and to properly fuel your mind, body, and spirit.

Financial Awareness

I've taught financial literacy for the past seven years and one of the most common themes that I've noticed are fear or lack of knowledge regarding finances. I'm not going to go too deep here on this post, but I will say that its not nearly as scary as it seems. Many people believe that the solution is to get a high paying job and work as many hours as they can just to pay the bills for all the things they didn’t want in the first place, but this isn't the solution.

This tool is directly associated with our root chakra which is located at the base of the spine. The root chakra is responsible for our sense of safety, grounding, rooting, and security in life. When this chakra is out of balance, all other chakras inevitably follow.

We must change the way we view money and finances and recognize that it is an exchange of energy. If we are working jobs that we hate or that feel like they are sucking the life out of us, that is exactly what we will get in return.

I am not saying that we should all quit our 9-5’s, however we should find work that is aligned with who we are. We must make it a priority to do something that provides balance and doesn’t feel like a job or at least try many things until we get to that point. Even if you believe it doesn’t pay much, work on changing that belief through re-affirmations and notice how opportunities begin to present themselves on your path to alignment.

A lot of people are unsure of how to do this, but during your meditations, ask for insights and journal about the messages you received. This brings us right into our next tool: Journaling.

Journaling

No matter where you are, like meditation, journal as much as you can. I like to call this free therapy. Journaling allows you to get your thoughts out. I recommend keeping a personal journal just for you and no one else. Even though you're keeping it to yourself, its still important because suppression leads us to disconnect from our true selves even more.

Additional benefits of journaling include: revealing things that you didn’t know about yourself, and providing a roadmap of the mind to help you further develop your problem solving skills. I personally like to go back to my journal entries from 2012 and beyond as a reminder of how far I've come on my own journey and how all the experiences from then have beautifully shaped me into who I am today.

Remove Negative Consumptions

I recently made a video called "The Light Formula", which goes hand in hand with this tool.

All of this won’t happen overnight, but take inventory of your consumptions: environment, nature, diet, your thoughts and your habits.

This includes social media, cleaning your home, walking instead of driving 5 minutes down the block, certain friend groups, eating healthy snacks instead junk food, and leaving the relationship that causes you stress.

Your consumptions directly affects your reality. And by cleaning them up, you will automatically notice how much more time you have taken back for yourself. This is time that could be spent on self realization and the pursuit of your own passions.

Remember that none of this magic happens overnight. You must first decide that you want to make the change, and then begin to create habits and reframe your beliefs. Overtime, you will gradually see the results until one day, you wake up and you no longer identify with being lost or not knowing your true self.