In this article I’d like to offer you some suggestions of how to raise your vibration after you’ve experienced a setback, because when the way ahead seems unclear, this will get you back on track in no time.
When things have gone belly up, leaving you reeling, because of Law of Attraction, self-flagellation, criticism and judgement will only lower your vibration and further perpetuate the negative cycle. So you have to break this cycle and take charge of your energy.
If things get bumpy for me I practice this and I coach my clients to do the same. When you make your energy management a priority you can turn things around surprisingly fast – even if you currently feel completely lost or stuck.
Our setbacks are tied to our spiritual up-levelling
Hey there! How are you doing? Good I hope.
I’m doing really well this week… I seem to have bounced out of the other side of that particular dark period that I wrote about last week.
Hooray!
In fact, writing about the failure I’d had in my business, and deep-diving into what success and failure really mean to me in my blog article, What if failure is the key to success? was quite a cathartic and healing experience.
It helped me to process and integrate some remaining difficult feelings. So right now, because of that and the practices I’ve written about in this article, I feel on top of the world and life feels much more in flow. I have more clarity, more energy and opportunities are opening up for me.
It amazes me how some things can shift so quickly once you’re ready to let go, move on and you’ve got your energy in the right place!
It’s interesting that when we experience a setback we usually have a strong compulsion to DO something to FIX the situation. Our minds get really busy, trawling through the mental filing cabinet, looking for the solution that will restore the status quo and stop us feeling so uncomfortable, uncertain and out of control.
While that may have worked out more easily in the past, now, as we are going through an evolutionary leap in consciousness, the solutions that we’re hoping to find seem to be more illusive.
Because many of our current setbacks are more often tied to our spiritual uplevelling and stepping into as yet unknown parts of ourselves, our minds simply can’t work out what to do. There is no file from the past to refer to as this is all new ground.
And it seems we can’t fudge our way ahead through difficulties, avoiding the things we don’t want to feel, without doing the proper inner work any more.
If we didn’t fully get and integrate the lesson our soul wanted us to learn then, like a boomerang, it will quicker than ever bring it back to us for another go – with more intensity and discomfort – until you let go of resisting feeling what needs to be felt, and commit and surrender to the process of healing and transmuting whatever needs attending to.
Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself?
And this is where faith comes in, and trusting the universe to bring you what you need, which is not always the same as what you think you want – and is often the exact opposite!
This is not easy to do because our ego-minds can’t grasp higher dimensional intelligence at work, so it takes time, awareness, experience and a lot of courage to trust that you will make it through to a higher version of yourself. This is especially so if your fears are triggered, the old tapes are playing in your mind, you find yourself in dark places that seem to have no clear route out and you don’t have any support, leaving you stuck with your limiting thoughts.
And when you’re dealing with things on your own it’s a tricky balance to allow yourself to feel all your uncomfortable feelings without falling into them and getting pulled into the downward spiral.
The temptation is to do lots and lots of clearing and shadow work, but take care that you’re not doing it simply to fix things, to avoid feeling or to move through discomfort faster. That would indicate that you still have some resistance, and that the intelligence of life is somehow wrong. Do your inner work, but hold things lightly and let them unfold in their own time, otherwise it can bite you in the bum!
If you are courageous enough to meet your shadows be careful not to get stuck there. Dip in and out, and in between, to stop any downward spiral of emotions taking hold, do the things that make you feel good. Explore and experiment with what helps you raise your vibration and how to keep your vibration high, do practices that take you out of your head – and do it a lot.
If your intention is truly to let a pattern go, then you don’t need to keep focused on it until it’s done. Hand it over and ask the universe to handle it for you. Your part in the process is to allow what comes, reflect, observe with detachment best you can and remember that nothing ever stays the same. The wheel of fortune is always turning; any down will soon become an up, and vice versa.
Get your energy right first: Focus on raising your vibration
Of course, we can move beyond the discomfort, the frustration, the fear and uncertainty, but we have to rely on other parts of ourselves than our thinking minds to get our breakthroughs, and often this goes against logic and how we’ve been conditioned to respond.
We need to get our energy, our heart and our mindset into right alignment.
When we come back to our true essence and vibrate from our authentic core frequency – that is, more of our soul-self than our small-self – we become magnetically attractive to the specific good that is already ours and is lined up for us on the quantum level. Once our frequency is a match and divine timing is right, our next opportunities that are meant for us show up effortlessly.
This is particularly useful advice when you’re feeling lost, lacking clarity, unsure of your next steps and stuck in a pattern. You don’t need to know what’s next. You just need to choose how you want to feel, take action to raise your frequency, surrender to the process and trust that the intelligent universe that knows how to grow every life toward its potential, is working its magic on you.
While the way through is different for everybody depending on what they are needing to integrate at a soul level, there are many things that will make the journey smoother. Below are a few tried and tested practices, many of which I’ve used recently to powerful effect.
Here are some suggestions of how to raise vibration
To start, simply find things that lift you, divert you from your problems and bring you joy.
If you’re someone who is typically quite spiritual and have easy access to the higher chakras then it is important and powerful to also find things that ground you into your body. If you’re more at home in the lower chakras then it helps to find practices that open you and connect you with your spiritual self. Either way, being mindful and finding joyful practices that distract the destructive monkey mind will really help.
1. Make your energy management a priority
Hold a clear intention to raise your vibration. Nothing is more important. You can find all sorts of practices online, buy a course, do the practices written in books on energy medicine – but DO the practices and do them multiple times a day if you can. Make these practices as normal and regular as cleaning your teeth. Don’t just read about them. You have to embody them to get the benefit.
2. Watch your head talk like a hawk
Your head talk will influence your energetic state of being, and that activates Law of Attraction, so be really mindful of what you’re saying to yourself about yourself, or critical words you have towards others. We are all interconnected as part of the Oneness, and whatever you send out will come back to you.
3. Take regular pauses
This is where you just stop everything that you’re doing for one or two minutes and notice what you notice. The purpose is simply to scan, no judgement, no long focus on anything or making any one sensation more important than any other.
4. Journaling
It’s so good to brain dump, let go of all the messy thoughts and vent negative emotions – the poor me, the anger, the disappointment, the shame, the guilt, the sadness and grief. Just giving expression to whatever is present without judgement and acknowledging what’s true in the moment through your writing – or art journalling if that’s your thing – can bring a lot of inner peace and restore equilibrium.
And not too far underneath these denser layers are the more creative, uplifting thoughts from your wise and loving inner being, and they will have much more helpful things to tell you if you ask.
5. Practice gratitude
Gratitude is a very high frequency energy and is a great way to bring you out of a negative spiral and back into neutral when you focus on the many things you already have in your life that you are thankful for and appreciate.
6. Singing, music and healing sounds
I joined an accapella choir. I enjoy how singing makes me feel, especially in a group because you can feel how the different sound waves created in the room move through your body, and when everyone is in sync you can feel it vibrating through your heart and being. It’s so joyful. But you don’t need to join a group if singing in the shower is your thing!
Playing the right kind of uplifting music can have a huge positive effect on your energy. A sound bath with gongs or crystal bowls which resonate at very pure frequencies can move stuck and dense energy in your body, and are deeply relaxing. Similarly, you can find many tracks on Youtube that are set to binaural beats and different frequencies to lift serotonin, dopamine and endorphin levels.
7. Dancing
I get my 80s and 90s indie rock playlist on and dance round the house. In my teens and twenties when life was difficult, dancing was my happy place where I could lose myself in the moment and get out of my thoughts.
8. Gardening
Another happy place! There’s nothing more grounding than getting your hands in soil, doing physical jobs outside in the elements, slowing down your pace, seeing the bountiful abundance that Mother Earth creates as if out of thin air, and connecting with the cycles and rhythms of nature!
9. Mindful walking
Nature, nature and more nature! I try and go out every day, whatever the weather, to be in the full experience, mindful of how my body feels, detachedly observing my head talk, and taking in the environment.
10. Daily core strength yoga
A friend challenged me to do a 10-12 minute yoga practice every day for a week from a free 30 day series on Youtube – Yoga with Adriene. It was tough to start with, but it really makes you present. And everyone can spare 10 minutes, so it’s easy to create a daily habit.
Core strength work includes your sacral and solar plexus chakras. Working on the sacral increases aliveness, playfulness, pleasure, sensuality, sexuality and joy, while reducing a sense of shame and the pain of disappointment.
Working on the solar plexus increases your fire, your will, your sense of power, courage, confidence, resilience, dignity and helps steady your nerves, while reducing fears of failure, rejection and humiliation.
11. Get creative and experiment with new things
Try doing something new that’s creative. I joined a ceramics course because as well as being relaxing and creative fun, you have your hands on clay, which I find gives the same benefits of having my hands in soil when I’m gardening, so it’s very grounding. Plus, there’s quite a lot of technical stuff to learn, so my mind is occupied and not available for worry, stress and less helpful states.
You don’t have to have any talent as an artist to benefit from trying something creative. Playing with colour, texture, different materials and mark making in 2D or 3D, especially as part of a course with peers, can be really good fun and absorb you in the present moment.
And why not try something you’ve never done before just to see what it’s like? For example, I was curious about making flower essences, so I looked up how other people have made them and had a go, adapting instructions to what felt intuitive to me. You can read about how I made a bluebell flower essence here.
I also started learning to dowse and getting out into nature with friends who were fascinated by this wonderful practice that connects you with yourself, with nature and with one another. You can read about ‘Dowsing for Beginners’ here.
The important thing is to adopt a mindset of innocence, curiosity and play to discover what
12. Cooking and eating nourishing food
I’ve been getting creative in the kitchen with my weekly organic veg box. It uplifts me to know that I’m looking after myself with clean, good, high vibe food, and it’s relaxing to do some cooking when I’m not under time-pressure. Often I’ll do a big cook up of different dishes on the weekend and freeze some for later in the week when I don’t want to cook from scratch.
13. Be mindful of what you’re feeding your mind
Outside stimulus has a strong effect on our minds, and there is a lot of negativity online, on tv, in the media and that pours out of some peoples’ mouths.
So be mindful of what you are consuming, where you’re hanging out and who with.
14. Let go of toxic relationships
A bit like the above, you have a choice about who you give your time, attention and energy to. Be discerning, choose wisely and notice how being with different people leaves you feeling.
15. Be kind to yourself and speak lovingly to your inner child
When you speak to yourself with harsh, critical words, judge yourself as bad, not good enough, flawed or lacking in some way these words are not really coming from you. They are a recording of the criticism we received from authority figures and peers when we were children. It stays with us and tortures us over and over until we find a way to deal with it.
When we speak to ourselves in this way, our inner child, who was first wounded with these words and held onto them, believes them to be true, and it causes them to shrink their light. Learn how to connect with and speak loving, encouraging words to your inner child and they will bounce back and be a loving, joyful and naturally beautiful presence within you.
This can be powerfully transformative when it comes to raising vibration.
16. Use empowering words and statements, or affirmations
One of the most empowering things we can do is to start choosing more loving thoughts and then think them on purpose. You can take this a stage further by connecting to words that bring up powerful, positive emotional states as you say them. This activates Law of Attraction and influences the field to bring you back the better experiences that match the higher vibrational energy you are transmitting.
17. Laugh and smile
When you laugh your brain releases feel-good neurotransmitters, including dopamine, endorphins, and serotonin. These brain chemicals aid in calming your nervous system by lowering heart rate and blood pressure, they give you energy and motivation, reduce your perception of pain and trigger good feelings in the body.
Smiling has similar benefits to laughing, and amazingly, even when you don’t feel like smiling, a fake smile can produce a lower heart rate, release stress and have a positive impact on your mood because your brain can’t differentiate between real or fake smiling. It interprets the position of your facial muscles in the same way and so tricks your brain into thinking you’re happy!
18. Cold water immersion
I have jumped on the Wim Hof bandwaggon after having gone into cold water a few times with a friend at a local reservoir in the past month or so. Being cold is something I hate, so the fact that I did this felt amazing to my body, mind and spirit.
You cannot be in your problems when you’re so present in your body because of the cold. And the effects on the body last. You feel the buzz for a long time, and it has loads of incredible health benefits as well as a feeling that anything is possible! It also raises your vibration by helping to release anxiety and deeply suppressed emotions, so it can have a very strong impact on you.
It made such an impact on me that I started taking cold showers every day, too, and it’s a fantastic way to start the day.
Here’s a link to Wim Hof’s Youtube channel where there are lots of inspiring videos.
19. Breathwork
I’ve been following Wim Hof’s guided breathwork videos, too, but there are lots of guided breathing practices to music that you can find on Youtube.
20. Meditations and activations
There are numerous ways to meditate. Some ways will suit you while others won’t. Some days you might find that sitting in silence fits your mood and other days following a guided meditation might be what you need. But the intention of relaxing and being present in your body and quietening your mind in any way that feels good to you will help to restore your energy and equilibrium.
21. Support, support and more support!
Don’t struggle on alone if you’re suffering with your own thoughts, feelings and emotions. Isolating ourselves when we’re on a downward spiral can lead to more harmful states of being.
Get support, talk to friends and family you trust whom you feel comfortable and safe enough to open up to. Or if that’s too close to home, talk to a therapist, healer, coach or counsellor. Investing time, energy and money in my wellbeing and putting it at the centre of my life has been a total game-changer for me.
22. Declutter your space, clear the energy around you and surround yourself with beauty
Set an intention to get rid of the stuff you don’t love, need, want or use.
There are so many benefits to decluttering. Keeping hold of the stuff around you that doesn’t give you any joy could well be draining you of energy, adding to your stress and keeping you from having a peaceful mind. Ruthlessly freeing yourself from years of clutter has a tremendous effect on your energy levels.
If you’re not ready for a physical clear out, you could instead cleanse your environment and your energy field by burning sacred herbs like sage, palo santo wood, lavender, juniper, cedar, rosemary and frankincense.
Here’s a nice blog on ways to use cleansing herbs and the benefits of individual herbs.
Add beautiful things to your environment that indulge your senses and bring you joy.
23. Do what you love
Focus on the things that lift and inspire you. Bring to mind the people you love or memories that fill you with a sense of expansion, lightness, warmth and happiness. As you let these energies permeate through you your energy will soar.
24. Generosity
Help someone else in need. Any time you contract through fear or negativity of any kind, the natural antidote is to give to someone else, because the very act of giving is an expansive, energy-raising one if done unconditionally with no expectation of return.
25. Ask for a hug
The restrictions of the lockdown has shown just how much our mental health and wellbeing has been affected by not being able to hug our loved ones and feel physical affection and connection.
We humans are wired for hugging. It gives us all kinds of benefits that make us feel good and lift our energy.
Do you have some catching up to do?
There are many reasons right now why your energy might take a dip, particularly when the fate and future of our planet and humanity hangs in the balance. So it can be tempting to succumb to a feeling of helplessness and worry, which lowers our vibration.
By focusing your efforts into raising your energetic frequency you are giving the world a huge gift. You will not only be raising your own vibration, but the ripple effect you create radiates out, lifting others around you and contributes to raising the collective consciousness of the whole planet.
You are that powerful!
And that’s why consciously choosing to be in your highest vibe is purposeful work that contributes hugely to creating the new world we want to live in.
If you’re ready to get back into the driving seat, reconnect with your energetic super-powers, create a life full of passion, purpose, joy and satisfaction and move through your own up-levelling process with more ease, I would love to support you.
Email cathy@cathyballard.com to connect and let’s set this up!
Much love,
Cathy Ballard – Mentor and visionary coach for spiritual paradigm-shifters and sensitive empaths.Cathy teaches her clients to develop and trust their connection to Source, master their spiritual power and reclaim their worth and value, creating more joy, satisfaction and abundance as a natural by-product of authentic alignment.
Email: connect@cathyballard.com
