“Girl, you better raise your vibration fast!”
That’s the voice I heard interrupt the heart-racing-can’t breathe-feel-like-a-caged-animal desperation I was feeling. I was in the middle of what I'd later realize was a panic attack.
In the moment I heard that voice, I happened to be standing in front of my piano. So I just sat down and started playing, praying all the while for some kind of salvation.
And I boy did I get it.
As I played my favourite song from my childhood - Mendelssohn's Song Without Words - something miraculous happened. Things started shifting. I could actually feel the thick fog of anxiety that had been gripping me for weeks begin to dissolve.
I felt this beautiful stillness emerge. Ahhhhh.....
The next day, I sat down again at the piano, but this time from a place of curiosity. What would happen this time? The music just poured out of me. There was a song emerging that wanted to be sung. More shifting. More release. More calm.
The next evening I decided to do something I haven't really done before: make intuitive art while chatting with a friend. I allowed the picture to emerge. More lightness. More freedom. More joy.
This is what "raising our vibration" looks like. Engaging in activities we enjoy actually raises the vibration frequency of our energetic state. It also helps us break free from the emotional patterns run by our negative egos and connect to who we truly are.
I've long kept a list of what I like to call "Magical Marna breaks" - activities that have heart and meaning for me. Over the years, I've been learning how to give myself permission to pause from all the responsibilities (the Doing) and embrace the experience of connecting to myself (the Being) that comes when I engage in those activities. Expressing myself through art and music are on that list. Sitting in stillness is definitely on it too.
What about you? When you feel constricted - overwhelmed, stuck, trapped, or like your wheels are spinning - what do you do to move yourself into a more expansive state?
If you find it challenging to get yourself out of anxiety or overwhelm, I invite you to create your own "magic break list". Here are some ideas to get you started:
What activities currently have heart and meaning for you?
What activities did you love to do as a child?
What energizes you?
What would you do if time and money weren't a concern?
