Marian Buck Murray

EFT and IFS for Sensitive, Creative People. Empower yourself self-compassion and deep understanding.

Connect With Yourself

by Leave a Comment

I hear from many clients that they feel distracted and overwhelmed.  A variety of obligations compete for space on their overcrowded to-do lists. They explain that they spend much of their time focusing on others’ needs.  Often, they feel disconnected from their own needs and desires.

To me, the obvious remedy is to shift their focus inward, on a daily basis.  In other words, to take moments throughout the day to focus on what’s going on internally. Yet, for many people, practicing meditation, sitting quietly, or tending to emotions seems difficult and out of reach.  Though it does take disciplined practice, I believe that inner exploration is the best way to transform disconnection into self-connection.

Taking the inner path opens the door to deeper creativity, focus, and a sense of inner peace.  It’s the only way to enhance your intuition, and discover who you really are. It’s the best way to form a stable connection to anchor you through life’s inevitable storms.  Best of all, daily practices don’t have to take a lot of time.  Below are some of my favorites.

A few ways to deepen  your connection with yourself:

Sit quietly for a few moments.  Breathe deeply.  Tune into your breath and your body.  Notice your thoughts and feelings.  Connect with yourself in the present moment.  Repeat throughout your day.

Meditate.  Meditation is a way to observe, rather than engage, your thoughts and feelings.  Meditation primes the brain to deal more effectively with stress.  It also trains the brain to tune out distractions, strengthening your ability to focus.  If you’re new to meditation, start with 5 minutes and build up gradually.  The Insight Timer  app has a vast variety of both guided meditations and music for meditation.

Journal – Write in a journal or notebook, or try an online service, such as 750 words. Journaling is a fabulous way to connect more deeply with yourself.  Ask questions to uncover information, or solutions to problems. Talk yourself up on a day when you need extra encouragement. Get in touch with part of you who is facing a challenge. Allow your words to flow, doing your best not to censor.

Tune in for Clarity.  Before you make a decision, or start a project, close your eyes, and tune in.  Ask yourself what your intentions are.  Clarify what you want to accomplish. Take time to envision your process, and the energy with which you’d like to show up. 

Read or Listen to Something Just for You.  Read poetry, or an inspirational book or article.  Listen to music, meditations, or a podcast which stirs your soul.  Find what speaks to you.  Have these goodies at the ready so you can dip in and out with ease.

When you regularly tune into your inner world, you will strengthen self-trust and inner guidance.  By listening to your heart, your feelings, and your body, you deepen self-connection.  In a world which strives for the best next thing, the journey within never gets old.  Let it take you on the adventure of your life.

Peace,

Marian

Contact me to find  out how EFT Tapping can help you form a deeper connection with yourself.

Coming Back to Center

by Leave a Comment

Centering, it’s what we need more of right now.  The holiday season is full of distractions, pulling us here, pulling us there.  Top it off with a contentious election season, and the seemingly non-stop series of tumultuous events —  it can feel nearly impossible to stay centered, calm, and relaxed.

Getting pushed off center is like losing our power connection.  Every time we get pulled away, thinking thoughts of how things should or shouldn’t be, we lose power.

Our minds sometimes have us convinced that we need to be worried, concerned, or somehow attentive to all that’s going on. The emails, the tasks, the phone calls, the news, the problems, all grabbing at our attention.  If we’re not careful, these distractions will continually force us off center.

Problem is, when we’re off center, we’re out of sync with our intuition, and our connection to all that is.  We may think we’re doing something important by worrying, or obsessing, but if we’re pulled out of the present moment, we’re off center.  When we’re off center, we’re weakened, and we limit our access to fresh ideas, solutions, and insights.

Getting back to center means letting go of distracting thoughts and concerns, so we can settle into our intuitive, powerful strength.  It means dropping from a busy beta brain wave state, into a slower, more relaxing alpha brain wave state.  This alpha brain wave state is where we find access to new insights, intuition, and deeper connection with the universal field. This alpha state is what helps our brains work more effectively, allowing us to function more powerfully.

Here’s how to get back to center

Meditate.  I know. I talk about meditation all the time.  I talk about it because it truly is that powerful.  Sitting quietly for even 5-10 minutes in the morning, and/or at different times throughout the day, does wonders to center the mind.  Don’t worry if you can’t ‘get rid’ of distracting thoughts. Allowing yourself to observe the distracting thoughts, as opposed to engaging with them, will help you come back to center.  As you get more practiced with meditation, it will help you deepen your sense of inner peace and connection.

Use the Heart Breath.  The heart breath is a very powerful way to drop out of a busy mind, into the peace and calm of your heart. The heart’s electromagnetic field is far more powerful than that of the brain.  By breathing slowly and deeply, while imagining that you’re breathing through your heart, you will help yourself become centered in your body.  This heart breath will increase the power of your heart’s electromagnetic field. This expanded heart field will entrain your brain, bringing it from the beta brain wave state, to a more relaxed alpha or deeper.  For a video to learn more about the Heart Breath, click here.

Use Insight Timer — Insight timer is one of my absolute favorite apps.  It’s free, and it offers thousands of free meditations. Find the meditations, music, and sounds that work best for you.  Check out the binaural beats, which will work with your brain to help it come to a more relaxed, centered place.

Take a Magnesium Salt Bath — Step out of the fray, into the soothing comfort of a nice, hot, bath.  Magnesium will help you relax.  Water will help you feel more centered.

Take a Walk in Nature — Being fully present in Nature, without the distraction of phones and computers, is one of the best ways to come back to center.  Help yourself stay centered by doing a walking meditation, observing and expressing gratitude for Nature’s gifts along your way.

Practice Yoga — Yoga will help you feel more aligned, grounded, and centered.

Use EFT Tapping — Tapping is one of the most effective ways to bring yourself back to center.  Just by tapping on your karate chop, you begin to bring yourself back into your body.  By continuing with the points, you help reduce the cortisol that keeps you on edge. Often, you don’t even need to use words while tapping.  You can simply tap through the points, breathing deeply, and allow yourself to come back to center.  Click here for more info.

Come back to your center, it’s where you’ll find your beautiful Self.

In Love and Courage,

Marian

 

How to Stand in Your Truth

by Leave a Comment

 

As I write this, the autumn wind is blowing hard.  Leaves swirl and fall.  The trees and their branches creak, and sway.  And yet the trees keep standing, rooted in strength and purpose.

Of course, there are storms that fell and uproot the trees.  But so often, it’s the trees with a compromised root system, or some sort of decay, that fall.  Healthy trees, with strong wood, and deep roots, are most likely to weather the storm.

As a sensitive person, I know what’s it’s like to falter and stumble in my own truth.  Not so long ago, I felt consumed by a persistent cloud of other people’s opinions, swirling around me, distracting me.  So many differing ideas to consider and conform to.  So many rules to follow.  I was pulled in too many directions.

And while I stumbled around in that cloud of other people’s stuff, I somehow felt responsible for it all.  Speaking up for myself, felt onerous.

But of course, I am not responsible for it all.  I am only responsible for myself.  And when I let go of believing I’m responsible for other people’s reactions, I am free to stand in my Truth.

It’s a continual process, but one I enjoy.  The deepening of WHO I AM, and the letting go of all that impedes my natural flow.

In my work with myself and with my clients, I can clearly see the distracting swirl that attempts to obscure the truth of who we are. I can also see the beauty of Truth, waiting, and ready to be seen.

So how do we stand strong, when we feel like hiding?  How do we speak up, when we doubt our own voices?  How do we honor ourselves, when we’re pulled in so many directions? How do we show our true colors, even when it feels so scary?

Embracing Truth is not always easy.  It doesn’t happen overnight.  But believe me, the experience is truly sacred.

Here’s how:

Get clear about Who You Are. Only you can know the Truth of Who You Are.   Write a list of what you love about yourself, what you love to do, what you know to be true.  Spend time with this list, and add to it as you need.

Meditate – sit quietly, daily. It’s by sitting with yourself, that you will come to know yourself on the deepest levels possible.  Practice by sitting in silence, or with meditative music, for 5-10 minutes to start. Work up to 20, 30, and 60 minutes or longer.  Results are cumulative, and profound.

Use Your Imagination. See yourself standing in a bubble, in the midst of a field of other people’s opinions, reactions, and worries.  Next, imagine a white light (or any color you like) filling your bubble.  As the light fills your bubble, allow it to wash away everything but you.  See yourself standing strong, and peacefully, in a clear, clean space.   Call upon this cleansing bubble as you move through your day.

Practice. Experience will help you move forward. Experiment sharing your truth, and unique forms of expression, with people who support you.  This could be with a friend or family member, within an online group or support group, or with a therapist or counselor.  You can even practice recording yourself with your smartphone.  The more you practice, the easier it will get.

Get Started. What is it you want to create? So often we hold back, waiting for some sort of permission to get started.  Express yourself creatively, just for the experience.  This will assist you in clarifying, and expanding, your unique style.

Connect With Your Intuition. Use EFT Tapping, Meditation, and the Heartbreath Meditation  to connect with yourself.  It’s within this deep connection, that your intuition is strengthened.  Become familiar with this space, and allow it to inform you.  Take direction from your intuition, and let the rest go.

Reveal your true colors, share the beauty of who you really are.

In Truth and Love,

Marian

For more information on how EFT Tapping and Matrix Reimprinting will help you stand in your own powerful truth, contact me.

Your Body Tells All

by 2 Comments

Listen to love.

It’s amazing what your body will tell you.  In essence, it will tell you everything you need to know.

Take for example, something as simple as a scratchy feeling at the back of your throat.  You know that’s your signal to do something quick to avoid on oncoming cold.

Taking a closer look, there may be even more to it than physical discomfort.  A scratchy throat might be telling you something else you need to know — it’s up to you to listen.

A headache, for example, could be just a headache. Or it could be a sign that you’re spending too much time in your head, and not enough time doing what you love.

A sprained ankle could be the obvious result of tripping off a step, and/or a sign to be more careful.  It could also be a signal that your life is somehow out-of-balance, and that you need to slow down.

A stomach ache might be caused by something you ate.  Or, it might be a trapped emotion, hiding in your gut, trying to get your attention.

As a volunteer at the Gagnon Cardiovascular Institute in Morristown NJ, I’m continually amazed at what the body will do to protect the heart.    Chest pain, shoulder pain, jaw pain, shortness of breath,  bloating,  palpitations —  these are  just a few of the alarms which signal heart trouble.

The alarms continue to get louder, until they are finally heard — and responded to.  Sometimes it takes a heart attack, or a completely ‘unrelated’ accident, injury, or surgery to uncover the needs of the heart.

Taking it one step deeper — I believe that all heart trouble, and serious illness, is the body’s ultimate wake-up call.  A call for transformation.

Listening  is the first step.   Next, following the body’s guidance is what empowers us to transform.

Illness is body poetry, asking to be understood.  A gift to help us wake up to the beauty of our lives.

Not quite sure what your body is telling you?   EFT (Emotional Freedom Techniques) is a fast, effective technique to find out.   Contact me to set up an introductory session.    Learn more about EFT here.

Be Well & Keep Listening!

 

Marian

What has your body told you? Post below.

Share this with someone you love.