Feeling Shitty?
Let’s get real. Sometimes you simply feel like shit. That may be a little vulgar, maybe off color, but when you are feeling that way it is definitely accurate.
We have all been there before. Sometimes its the flu, sometimes its the weather, sometimes it’s nothing specific at all; all you know is life sucks during those moments and a positive, optimistic thought seem as far away as Mars. During really shitty times we don’t even care that we don’t care, and we don’t care to care.
What are we to do when that dull, murky, icky, shitty feeling seeps into our lives?
How do you shift toward something that feels better, so you can start thinking clearly again?
The answer is easier than you think and inherent in the above question.
Whether you are feeling a little shitty or are in a full on shit storm, the way out is in the shift!
Next time you feel shitty, or if you are feeling that way now……
Escape by feeling SHIFTY!
Change the first T (Thought) in ShiTty toward your F (Feelings) and you will feel shiFty and start gaining control, clarity and better feeling space immediately!
Instead of feeling Shitty
Feel SHIFTY…S.H.I. F. T..Y…
Shifting How I Feel Toward Yes
Let’s start with the simplest easy steps and then move to the more advanced techniques for those manure pile moments when every thought, feeling and sensory experience feels pungently putrid. Like Shit!!!
1/. Simple Easy Bandaid approach:
Whenever you have that shitty feeling, look for that SHIFTY feeling.
Look, listen, smell, feel, think, sense around you for anything that is YES to you.
The simpler, the better.
Use all your senses and gather the kindling wood of YESES that you will use to start the fire of warm better feelings.
It could be a color, a song, a photo, clothing a stranger is wearing.
The only caveat is, when your attention senses it, it is a YES to you.
For instance, if applied to myself, right here, right now, here are samples of YESES.
Do you like Garth Brooks music, which I’m listening to as I type this Whispering? YES!
Do I like the photo of myself, Brenda Lee and Katleen on my mouse pad? YES!
Do I like the coffee to the left of my laptop? YES!
Do I like my MacBook Pro? YES!
Do I like my Ipad? YES!
Do I like the cold and snow? No
Do I like that the cold weather is giving time to write this whispering and catch up on paper work? YES! ahhh..back on track, had a little brain fart there, not quite a shitty feeling because I was able to follow with a SHIFTY feeling.
Do I like my electric heater? YES!
Do I like that I will be leaving the office after this is done and go see Brenda Lee and then get a massage? YESSSSSSS!
Get the picture. Small obvious YESES can start the fire that will bring you warm your good feelings while melting away those shitty ones.
All you have to do is feel SHITFY!
2/. Critical Care “SHIFTY” Technique
O.K. so life is feeding you a shit sandwich with manure mayonnaise. We have all been there.
Death, loss, habits that no longer work and keep getting in he way of your dreams, mirrors, break ups…..you name it. Life has a list of those things that you get sick and tired of being sick and tired of.
Complacency!
Apathy!
Conformity!
Settling!
What can you do during those deep, turbulent shitty feeling times?
Again the answer is quite simple and obvious. As obvious as the nose on the front of your face. Can you see that?
During the shitty monsoons, do the same SHIFTY technique and add one line to the end of all your YESES!
When you recognize those little YESES that agree with you, that you appreciate, that you are grateful for and you have said YES to, add this line to the end of every YES…….
“Thank you, Next …..or Something Better”
It looks like this: Do I like the photo on my mouse pad?
YES….Thank You, Next….or Something Better
The THANK YOU, is the gratitude glue that keeps the YES in your life.
The NEXT, is the momentum to keep the good feelings flowing.
Or SOMETHING BETTER is a meditation, a prayer to your source of inspiration to act on your behalf so we never sell ourselves short in what life has to offer us.
So there you have it, or maybe not.
This skill of turning that shitty feeling to something that feels better by focusing on that SHIFTY feeling must be practiced to be real. Your understanding only gives you permission to do it. Notice I did not say “try”.
The act of doing it will give you relief while simultaneously releasing your toward what matters in any given moment of your life.
YES, Thank you, Next….or Something Better
Your inspired life awaits you, calling you home.
Feel the connection
Brian
p.s. I missed that massage because I enjoyed writing this Whispering so much and now I can spend more time with Brenda Lee and take Katleen to the movies for and early Valentines gift surprise. Oops, I forgot she is editing this Whispering. OH well I guess I need another SHIFTY feeling, quick, help me, type your suggestions below.
p.p.s. A point to keep in mind. I’m not asking you to push away those feelings you don’t want. All our feelings are telling us something. I’m suggesting that you balance what feels shitty with what feels SHIFTY so you can move toward what matters in a balanced state, in a balanced way. That way you can move, shift, adjust, accelerate, and create momentum toward what matters and the my friend is your true HorsePower.
Leave your comments below. To keep our Blog clean, we filter each comment from spam so please allow up to maximum 12 hours for your comment to show up below in the comment-section.
Sign up here to start receiving Brian’s weekly Whisperings in your mailbox
Yes! Thank You! Next!
Off we go
Yes!!! This post really resonates with me, because it is at the heart of so much suffering to get ‘stuck’ in those shitty feelings and events. I am hearing – the way to get ‘unstuck’ is to move on. Instead of sitting there on the manure pile, get up and walk toward something/someone/some idea – that feels better and gives you some momentum again. Think about those things that you are grateful for – like Brian’s mousepad! For me – the three horses to start, my grandmas quilt, my special teacup that makes tea taste the best! I can do this and I am always sharing this with others! When we fill up our thoughts with all the things that are great, we push out the things that aren’t so good. The horse is a great model for this. When something is ‘wrong’ for him in the moment, he ‘makes a shift’ if he can – moves to another, more comfortable location, expresses his emotion/intention and desire to another horse(s) (like ‘move out of my space or get away from my hay, or stop bugging me!’) – and then gets on with the day – moving toward another nice patch of grass of hay or a friend who will groom him, or a sunny spot to have a little doze, or the human at the gate with the bucket of something tasty . . . . The ‘shift’ you are talking about – for me, it’s about movement, flow. Move to the next step – either to solve the thing that is the problem, or focus on something else that is more positive and can get you to a better place. Love this post!
Terry,
I like a cup of tea in that favorite cup and starting the smallest of pieces in your grandmothers quilt
YES !!!!! NEXT !!!! …. Thank-you <3 … Love it !!!! While it is so easy to get stuck, sometimes we need our "Shitty feelings" to help us value our "Shifty Feelings" and this is so clear about how to achieve that !!! The more we can say "YES" to the things we need to get to where we need or want to be, the easier it becomes to say YES and the closer we become to connecting with what will bring us HOME..Leaving behind the things that hold us back like regret, shame,negative thoughts and so on, allowing ourselves to be filled with, I can, I am ,I love, Thank-you and NEXT !!! This is a great tool to have in life allowing us to feel shitty, but also knowing how to feel shifty and move on from anything life hands us, after all most times we have no control over what we are handed, it IS all about how we handle the things life hands us and not let it define us as a person .. Thank-you Brian and HKTWH for this VERY useful message..P.S. Brian, is that the NEW Garth boxed set you are listening to… I was given it for Christmas and it is wonderful !!! xxooxx Have an OUTSTANDING Day ..Next !!!
Joni,
You are a Shifty person, keep it up. I have all the Garth Brooks original stuff, I was listening to he live albums which I like better than the recorded ones. HE is also a Shifty person and spreads his Shift
I was stuck for over a year, from 2008-2009….I was stuck in “grief”. I had lost my Mother & Father, 6 weeks apart, my Aunt, a dear friend, 2 dogs….and the circle was completed with my brothers’ death 1 day short of the year ending….I was in a fog, I couldn’t function….I never had a chance to grieve, death just kept coming at me. I was like a rag doll that you could just flop anywhere….I did not feel, I no longer knew how to. I remember thinking I needed something….something that would make me move….I found a flyer….it said “Horses Know The Way Home”….put it in my purse and thought I’ll look at it later…well 2 days later was the “later”….it actually flew out of my purse into the air and landed at my feet….I thought “oh a course on horses, think I’ll go”….little did I know what a shift that this would create in my life. I met Brian, Brenda, Lucy, Red, Eddie and the HKTWH team….I learned how to look at thinks differently, how to look up again, how to have hope and how to release that grief and move forward….I cried for the first time in a year….I could actually feel the shift in my body, at the time I didn’t know what was happening….each day that passed that turned into a week and into a month….I grew, I was alive again…..that’s why I keep coming back, to keep me aware and keep me moving….I am grateful every day for that push that Brian gave me (and it was literally a push)…he helped to create my “shift” and gave me back my smile….thank you….
Hi Carol,
I am very touched by your story, and so glad that HKTWH ”miraculously” came into your life, helped you shift, and brought back your beautiful smile (as seen in the photos recently posted of you when you first met Kylian).
Thanks for sharing your circumstances with us, and I wish you all the best,
Affectionately,
Jane Skreslet,
Magog, Québec, Canada
Thank you Jane for your beautiful comments, they meant a lot to me….
HI Carol,
You have touched our hearts, and it’s always a joy to read your posts. You’re so lucky to live close by to Brian and Katleen.
Like you, I feel very blessed to be part of the HKTWH family.
My goal this year is to drive down to Rhode Island for a nice holiday and spend some quality time with all the gang.
Jane
Carol,
You continue to be SHIFTY and inspiring to all who get to know you. I hope you keep opening up to see what’s next.
Thank you
Brian
Thank you, Brian…..for all that you are and all that you do to help people realize they have it within to move forward….to make that “shift”…
feeling shitty can be a terrible thing. It sets the mood for the day ahead. I don’t like feeling shitty. I’d rather feel shifty. Feeling shifty motivates me to do well for the day. I like feeling motivated for the day ahead. When I feel shifty, I feel like I can accomplish anything. Feeling shitty puts me in bed for the day. Feeling shifty puts me outside and doing what I love doing most. Spending time with those I appreciate and love. Feeling shifty lets me spend more time with Mosely and Diamond.
I like the bucket of poopscicles!
I have had to learn how to make shift soup out of shit piles. The way I have seen it, the deeper the shit the higher I need to shift or climb. I’ve had to, in order to survive or keep my sanity. I’ve not had the (luxury?) of staying in shit piles. Some self created and some just there. Carol, I can really relate to you story. And, at a critical moment, I typed in Horses and found HKTWH also. How grateful I am. Thank you. Thank you all for acknowledging the shit…I cling to people who dare to speak of shit.
I create shifty situations. Like, right now, I have on some really beautiful music that will play for two hours. I hear water behind a light, slow piano. Mornings are the roughest/shit for me. I wake up in a panic every day of my life. I have to shift out of it as soon as possible, otherwise, I become very overwhelmed and tired. The basics I’ve learned from the academy have helped me tremendously. Posture, smile, BREATH, clapping my hands and begin to create a beautiful day. “Its all in the prep”, I’ve taken to heart. I have created for myself, shifty situations all around me and I can always choose to stay in the shit or shift, by walking Howie and much more…….Howie was a recue Dog I got soon after joining HKTWH. Being in the city did not allow me to have horses anymore. But, the videos of the Dogs with Brenda Lee inspired me.
I do feel that to shift is a very natural occurrence. The Earth shifts, the weather shifts, trees shift before a rain, etc etc……babies shift in the womb, a butterfly shifts miraculously.
Here, while I write, I am surrounded by flowers and water and music. For me, its work and my job, really, to get out of the shit that naturally accumulates in my life.
“Something Better” as I slip and fall in a pile of shit is really kind of funny. Laughter for me also is a beautiful shift. Shifting is putting people IN my life. Calling others and making plans. I guess you could say, I’m a shift cultivator. Planting seeds that create a shift. And, then harvesting them. The seeds of change. I will never stop planting seeds. Something better…..that is awesome and feels great!. I see Nature and the natural flow of life, its always shifting and I want to be a part of it. With every action is a reaction. For survivals sake I choose to shift out of the shit always. Sometimes it takes me time though. I will share one huge shift that changed my life a lot. As a child I grew up with the story of my birth be connected to rape. I found some very magical words that shifted me out of feeling like I was the shit pile to celebrating my own life daily. These words are, and I say them with all my heart and mean it…..”I’M GLAD I WAS BORN!!!!”…..I actually tell people this and feel telling others is the secret to those magical words. And I also tell others, I am glad they were born. The shift feels so good inside that I want to give it away, celebrate it. I am grateful for the courage and strength I have had to shift. I’m grateful people like Brian who have encouraged me to consider looking this other way. Moving my feet, or my eyes/focus is often all it takes. I am grateful for the willingness to dare to fly into something better always. Much Love…..
Karen
Yes, even on top of the world feeling, still, asking for something better. I’ve always gotten something better. I will always want something better. I Love how those magic words feel.
I love your analogy about a “shitty sandwich with manure Mayonnaise” , ha ha ha ha ha!
I laughed so much it will make it easy to remember to make myself a shifty sandwich with creative mayonnaise! I agree with Terry. We get stuck in our to do lists and lose sight of our passions. We cant have perfection and creativity, so let it slide and be passionate about life- and eat lots of shifty sandwiches!!
Interesting. I think identifying that shi*ty feeling first is the step for me to acknowledge the state I’m in isn’t going to help my mood. For example, my Mother being very ill has put me in a shi*ty state(for obvious reasons-concern about her outcome, health, wellness, etc.), but then I remember something I’ve learned over and over again which is…. “take today for what it is, today is today. All I have is today so make the most of if. Being anxious over events which haven’t transpired yet and acting out emotions based on those events is crazy.”(I forget the exact quote) If I refocus on the present moment, whether it be looking around outside, listening to music, seeing a picture, a funny moment, it doesn’t really matter the technique as much as it matters that I momentarily allow sensory input different from my current state of emotions, it helps me “shift”.
Brian Reid I like it and I would have to agree-they are truly beautiful examples of what we can aspire to be. I am always in awe when I am witness to a person transforming right before my eyes while doing a session with a horse. <3 Soul