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If You Have A Hard Time Speaking Up For Yourself, This May Be Why

Do you ever get that feeling of being tongue-tied when you talk to people? The feeling that you just don’t know what to say, like you literally have something stuck in your throat that prevents you from forming the words in your mind. If this sounds like you, you might have a blocked throat chakra. The throat chakra, or the fifth chakra, is located at the center of your neck in your throat, and balances the energy between the lower parts of the body and the brain. This chakra blends the functions of expression and communication, but a blocked throat chakra can make you feel suppressed and frustrated.

Below, let’s talk a bit more about the throat chakra, and what you can do to get it unblocked.

If You Have A Hard Time Speaking Up For Yourself, This May Be Why

The Sanskrit name for the Throat chakra is “Vishudda”, which means “pure” or “purification”.Obviously, this chakra relates to sound, as your thoughts form into words, which create a sound from your throat. The throat chakra is represented by a blue color most commonly.

speaking up

Characteristics of the throat chakra:

  • Verbal expression – speaking up for yourself
  • Communication, both verbal and non-verbal
  • Connection with spirit and intuitive abilities
  • Creation, ideas, and creativity
  • Understanding your purpose in life
  • Punctuality

Ultimately, the throat chakra symbolizes your ability to communicate your authentic truth to the world. The throat chakra is also closely connected to the sacral chakra, which also governs creativity and emotions.  You want to use your throat chakra to communicate your ideas and deepest expression with the world.

A second function of the throat chakra deals with connecting to spirit, nature, Oneness, God, or whatever you’d like to call it. The throat chakra helps to align the purposes and intent of the lower and upper chakras, and acts as a balance between them. However, oftentimes, the energy of the lower chakras can get stuck in our throats, making it difficult to communicate our ideas.  Opening the throat chakra can help you to bring your ideas to reality, and also may alleviate tightness in your chest, associated with your heart chakra.

Signs of a blocked throat chakra:

A blocked throat chakra can make you feel insecure, timid, and shy. However, an overactive throat chakra can lead to too much talking, in the form of gossip, rudeness, and harshness. It can seem as though you have no filter, and this will affect your relationships.

The following are symptoms of an imbalanced throat chakra:

  • Losing control of one’s ability to filter words and emotions; speaking too much
  • Inability to listen effectively to others
  • Anxiety about speaking
  • Quiet, almost inaudible voice
  • Inability to keep secrets
  • Spreading lies and gossip
  • Overwhelming shyness and isolation
  • No purpose in life

A blocked throat chakra can affect your ability to communicate ideas easily and effectively. A throat chakra blockage can also make it difficult to realize your truth in the world. Upon opening this chakra, you will find it easy to speak up for yourself, and will feel able to approach any social situation with confidence.

Some common physical symptoms of blockage include:

  • frequent sore throat
  • frequent headaches
  • dental problems
  • ulcers in the mouth
  • hoarseness
  • thyroid problems
  • laryngitis
  • Temporomandibular disorders of the jaw (commonly known as TMJ)
  • neck pain

Emotional Signs of Throat Chakra Blockage

  • fear of speaking
  • difficulty expressing oneself
  • shyness
  • contradictions in words and actions
  • social anxiety
  • inhibited creativity
  • stubbornness
  • detachment

An imbalanced throat chakra can lead to isolation and severe self-esteem issues. You might feel as though you have no worth, and no one will listen to you because you have nothing important to say. If you feel that you have a blocked throat chakra, read on to find out how to clear this blockage so you can speak with confidence and ease.

speaking up

What To Do About A Blocked Throat Chakra

Clearing the throat chakra involves a lot of inner work, including quieting your ego and learning to tap into your higher self.

A few beginner steps to clear the throat chakra include:

  • Becoming honest with yourself about your emotions. If you need to cry, then let the tears fall. The top reason for a blocked throat chakra is suppressed emotions, so you need to make sure you check in with your emotions often and release any negative ones in order to clear the blockage.
  • Practice talking honestly with people you feel close to. Don’t hold back, and express yourself confidently and clearly. Speak up, and don’t allow others to talk over you or make you feel insignificant. Exercises on self-confidence can really help here.
  • Incorporate blue colors into your life to help boost this chakra’s energy. Wear blue clothing, eat more blue foods, and put blue items around your home.

This Is For Every Person Who Has Ever Been Depressed

In our society, it seems that more people express they have been depressed than ever before. According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 350 million people globally suffer from this horribly debilitating mental illness.

However, just because you or someone you know suffers from depression, does not mean you have to go through it alone or feel misunderstood. Almost everyone goes through depression in some part of their life, even if they don’t have it chronically. No matter how long you’ve been dealing with the illness or how badly you suffer from it, please keep reading for a little inspiration to get you through the day.

This Advice Is for Any Person Who Has Ever Been Depressed

stephen hawking

Read Stephen Hawking’s words of encouragement.

Depression hurts – it can feel like the darkest abyss, like a storm that never ends, or a jail cell inside your own mind. Unfortunately, many people who don’t suffer from it can’t understand the feelings of those who have to live with it every single day. Many only understand the illnesses and suffering they see right before their eyes, but depression doesn’t like to cause a big scene. In fact, it hides behind the scenes, only appearing behind closed doors when no one else can see how much damage it has done.

If you suffer from depression, it can seem like the days are long and the nights are even longer. You want to escape your mind. But you have no idea how. You want someone to hear you, to understand how you feel. But you don’t have the words to express it sometimes. You want to run away. But you don’t know where to turn. You want many things, but most importantly, for the sinking feeling in your chest to dissipate somehow.

Light at the End of the Dark Tunnel of Depression

If you currently suffer or have suffered from depression in the past, please don’t give up. Someone out there will hear your pain and understand your sadness, and can help you get back on your feet again. Just don’t turn out the lights, because then, you won’t ever give yourself that chance to recover. You CAN start to feel better again, with time, commitment, and dedication. Nothing in life comes easily, but the first step to feeling better is to admit that you need help. We weren’t meant to walk through this life alone, so don’t feel that you have to.

Depression can make you feel like you never want to climb out of bed again like you just want to sink into the sheets and pretend like the world outside doesn’t exist. If you feel like some days you don’t want to get up, just remember that you don’t have to. You don’t have to fight your feelings every single day – remember to give yourself a break sometimes. You’re only human, and you deserve to get honest with your feelings and honor your inner voice. This world has unrealistic expectations oftentimes, and no one can live up to perfection. If you want to spend all day in your bed and not pay any attention to the outside world sometimes, then do it. Do whatever you need to recharge, and don’t feel remorse about it.

Take Care of Yourself

Forget about the expectations of others for a second, and look at the person in the mirror in front of you. Depression often exists because we have forgotten our connection to our true selves, the selves underneath the masks that we put on each day to live in this world. We have forgotten our inner child, the person in all of us that longs to play, to have fun, to express ourselves authentically. Don’t forget about the voice inside. It’s crying out for you to remember it, to honor it, and to listen to it whenever you feel down in life. We take this life so seriously sometimes, but often forget it’s all just a game anyway. Don’t allow depression to win – though it might be unforgiving, cruel, and a tough monster to beat, you have the ultimate power, not the false voices inside your mind.

depression

Final Thoughts for Anyone Who Has Ever Been Depressed

Depression can often sneak up on you when you least expect it, so when this happens, go outside your mind for a second. The mind likes to rattle on endlessly, oftentimes about the same things we thought about yesterday. Remember to take time away from the voices inside your head, to breathe, to rejoice in simply being alive, to feel, to experience nature in all its beauty, to laugh with loved ones, to smell the flowers in your garden. This life is a miracle, and though it might be a battlefield all the same, we should learn to love both sides of the story. The hardships, the heartache, the pain, the confusion, the love, the compassion, the hope, all of it.

Depression can seem all-encompassing, lonely, and fearful at times. But just remember to zoom out sometimes and look at the bigger picture. Depression isn’t your whole story. In fact, it’s only a part of it. Depression isn’t your only identity, so don’t look at yourself as if that’s all you see. You’re a work in progress, a walking miracle, so don’t think anything less of yourself.

This Is The Most Important Question You’ll Ever Ask Yourself…

It may come as no surprise that most people feel unhappy with their jobs and careers, and many of them have no idea what to do about it.

According to a report by the Conference Board, a whopping 52.3% of Americans feel dissatisfied with their jobs, and this percentage has only increased since 1987 when the Board began doing job satisfaction surveys. So, with over half of Americans feeling unhappy with their work, then what can we do about this growing epidemic of people who don’t feel fulfilled by their occupations?

Obviously, no one can decide for you what you should do in life, so the ultimate decision for how you should go about living lies in your hands. However, making such a huge decision doesn’t just happen overnight. It often takes a lot of soul searching and contemplation to come up with what you’d like to spend your life doing, and even then, you could change your mind the very next week, month, or year if your passions have changed.

Many factors come into play when discussing career choices, but we all deserve to feel happy in our life’s work, and not just waste away our time doing things we don’t enjoy just to pay the bills.

If you feel stuck in life and don’t even want to get up for work any longer, keep reading to find out one simple question you can ask yourself to make the decision a little less difficult.

This Is The Most Important Question You’ll Ever Ask Yourself

Related article: 4 Messages From The Heart You Should Never Ignore

In this world, we often feel as though we have been thrown into a system we can’t control, into a life we didn’t sign up for, into a complicated machine that we can’t quite figure out. No one said this life wouldn’t come with challenges, and no one said the system played fairly, but we don’t have to simply act as servants and slaves to corporations. We can follow our passions in life by going deep within to figure out our core passions, and not allowing ourselves to become swayed by the opinions of others.

Do you enjoy what you do each day for a living? Or would you rather be doing something else, anything else? If so, then you need to ask yourself the following question.

“What would you like to do if money were no object? How would you really enjoy spending your life?”

Of course, we must use money in this current system, but think about things in a hypothetical manner for a second. Picture yourself living in a moneyless society; what would you spend the majority of your time doing?

In order to find your passion, you have to think about it this way in order to really hone in on your ultimate dream. If you thought of things in only a practical manner, you might end up staying in a job you really don’t like the rest of your life just because you didn’t think outside the box for a second.

The Inspiring Story of J.K. Rowling

If you need further inspiration, think of the author J.K. Rowling. She worked in a small cafe on her books after getting divorced, living on welfare, and reaching the end of her rope. She didn’t care about anything else but following her passion – life meant nothing if she couldn’t pursue her dreams. By listening to her inner voice and blocking out everything else that told her not to dive into her work headfirst, she might not have become as successful today.

You can read countless success stories like this, and most of them have a common theme. The person seemingly had no options left and had reached rock bottom. They were running on empty, yet somehow found the strength and willpower to follow their dreams relentlessly.

Related article: 5 Things You Need To Release If You Want To Follow Your Dreams

So, once you find out what you’d like to do with your life, don’t let ANYONE tell you that you can’t pursue your passions. The only difference between those who follow their dreams and those who don’t is perseverance. You don’t have to possess any special talent or intellect or personality in order to make your dreams a reality – you just have to never give up on yourself. 

Back to the main point of the article, though – after finding out your passion, then you just need to make actionable steps in order to achieve it. Everyone must start somewhere with their goals, but you’ll certainly have more of a chance at succeeding by getting the ball rolling with your dreams than by never taking that first step.

10 Things You’ll Regret Not Doing Before You’re 30

While a number doesn’t define you, doing certain things for yourself before you turn 30 can prove beneficial to you later on. Plus, during your teens and 20s, you likely have more freedom than you will in the years to come.

Of course, everyone will have different things on their bucket lists, but if you haven’t turned 30 yet, you should consider doing the following things for yourself.

Here are 10 Things To Do Before You Turn 30 You Don’t Want to Regret:

Related article: 25 Things You’ll Never Regret Doing

1. TRAVEL TO FOREIGN COUNTRIES BY YOURSELF.

You have probably spent most of your school years in history or geography class reading about foreign countries, but this won’t give you the true experience of visiting the actual places. Travel can do so much for you – it helps you to think on your feet, become comfortable with new environments, gets you adapted to a variety of cultures, increases your knowledge of languages, expands your mind, and helps you make friends all over the globe!

Doing all of this alone will help you deepen your relationship with yourself. Before you turn 30, make it a point to do some solo overseas traveling – you will look back on all the memories and feel thankful for doing this for yourself.

2. BECOME PART OF A GROUP OR ORGANIZATION THAT YOU FEEL PASSIONATE ABOUT.

Nothing feels better than to become part of something bigger than yourself. If you have a certain issue that you feel passionate about, such as gay rights, racism, sexism, or something else that still plagues our world today, look online to see if you can find a group that combats these issues. It gives you a first hand understanding of the human experience.

While the world probably won’t change overnight from your efforts, at least you can feel good knowing that you made a contribution to bettering the world around you. Before you turn 30, reflect on your goals and see what organizations align with your dreams. Then, go out there and make a difference!

3. MAKE YOUR PASSION YOUR JOB.

We’ve been programmed practically since birth that we must figure out what we want to do in life before we graduate high school, spend thousands of dollars on college, and then spend 40+ years working towards retirement in a job we may or may not enjoy. This doesn’t mean that some people don’t feel happy following this path, however, the statistics speak for themselves – 52.3% of Americans feel unhappy at work.

So, if you happen to be one of those people, sit down with yourself and figure out why you continue to work at a job you hate. If you can’t find a reason other than to pay the bills, get honest with yourself and figure out what you’d rather be doing, and then take steps to make your dream a reality. There’s no use wasting this beautiful life working for someone else in a stuffy office when you could get out there and do what really makes you happy.

4. LEARN HOW TO COOK.

In this world, we have access to so much food, but very little of it actually resembles the real food that it originated from. We hardly consume food anymore – we mostly eat “food-like substances.” Most of our foods in the world have been so altered that they hardly do anything for us nutritionally. Before you turn 30, learn how to cook for yourself using fresh, healthy ingredients. You’ll save money, save time, and save your health. What could be better than that?

5. LEARN TO HAVE A HEALTHY RELATIONSHIP WITH YOURSELF.

Many industries in this world profit off of people who don’t really love themselves. Think about it – the beauty industry mostly profits off of women and men who somehow feel inadequate with their appearance and want a quick fix to make them feel better about themselves. The diet industry profits off of vulnerable people who have struggled with weight loss and/or simply getting healthy, and want a quick fix for slimming down. Advertisements urge us to buy this because we deserve it, eat this because we’ve had a long week and need to indulge, or do this because it will make us feel more confident. It never ends, but within yourself, you’ll find all the answers.

Loving yourself means to go within and accept yourself the way you are. Nothing outside yourself will ever match the love you can give to yourself.

6. SET MONEY ASIDE FOR EXPERIENCES, NOT MATERIAL ITEMS.

We have covered this topic before in one of our previous articles that you may have read. Science now proves that we don’t get as much satisfaction out of buying material items as we do buying experiences, simply because the items don’t come with memories. We create memories when we try new things, and people are more likely to bond over a shared experience than, let’s say, the TV they both just bought. Before you turn 30, try to use your disposable income on experiences that will stay with you for years to come.

7. DO SOMETHING THAT SURPRISES YOU.

Like we mentioned before, helping others gives you instant gratification. It will improve the lives of others while also helping you to better yourself and your life. You can find tons of local opportunities for volunteering if you just Google your city + volunteering, or talk to people from your community. Before you turn 30, learn to look out for others as much as you look out for yourself. This will truly bring you inner happiness and fulfillment.

8. DATE PEOPLE THAT MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON.

We sometimes end up dating people that become toxic to our mental, emotional, and physical health, simply because we feel afraid to leave a relationship where we’ve felt comfortable for so long. However, comfort doesn’t always equate to happiness. Try to date people that will challenge you, change you for the better, and make a mark so deep on your life that your world can’t help but be overturned by them. A relationship should make you better, not bitter, so don’t ever stay in relationships that make you anything but happy.

9. LEARN HOW TO CLEAR YOUR MIND.

Before you turn 30, learn how to disconnect from all the worries and stress in your mind. This might be the most important thing on this list, because so many people live in a continual state of anxiety and fear. Allow yourself to let go and ride the waves of life. You can’t control the outcome, but you can control your own reactions to it.

Meditation can do wonders for an overstressed mind, so before you turn 30, why not try out this amazing practice for yourself and see what it can do for your life?

10. TAKE CARE OF YOUR HEALTH.

Before you turn 30, commit to eating healthy the majority of the time, and exercising regularly. Many people sadly experience health problems later in life that could’ve (most likely) been prevented with assurance of health.

Have you done any of these things before turning 30? Are you still doing them after 30? Let us know in the discussion below!

7 Reasons Why Empaths Make The Best Partners

Overly caring people, empaths, or highly sensitive people make up a considerable part of the population, so the chances of you dating one of these special, extremely generous people is fairly high. Before the 1990s, this trait in humans was not very well researched, but in 1991, a psychologist named Dr. Elaine Aron began to study high sensitivity more closely.

Surprisingly, she discovered that 15-20% of the population carries the trait that classifies them as highly sensitive, which means they respond to external stimuli more noticeably than non-HSP’s. They simply have a different way of processing sensory information due to parts of their brain that regulate emotions being more responsive than the brains of their less sensitive counterparts.

If you have been lucky enough to find one of these amazing souls, you’d better hold onto them. Empaths might seem “too sensitive” for this hardened world, but they serve a special purpose on this planet and make some of the best relationship partners.

Here are 7 reasons why empaths make some of the best relationship partners:

Related article: 5 Things You Need To Know About Loving An Empath

1. They will make your life more positive

Empaths have taken the time to battle their most powerful demons, and have realized that the only way to truly conquer them is to surrender. By doing so, they have opened up many doors and opportunities in their lives, once they gave up negative thinking patterns and replaced them with more positive habits. If you date a highly sensitive person, they will help you to see the silver lining in the clouds, and not dwell so much in harmful, negative thinking.

Caring people shine their light brightly in the world, and surrounding yourself with these types of people means you will inevitably become infected by their contagious happiness and laughter.

2. They will help you get over your past

Empaths can sit down with anyone for hours and hear their life story. If you date a highly sensitive person, they will want you to know you from the inside out, and help you to heal past wounds. They have been through a lot in life themselves, and understand that everyone comes from a different place. No matter what battles you have faced, they will shower you with love, understanding, and a shoulder to cry on should you need it.

3. An overly caring person will show you love in its purest for

Empaths see the atrocities in this world and feel them on a deeper level. They know that true love, not set by certain conditions, can heal this planet, and try to bring as much of it out into the world as possible. They have gone deep within to cultivate more love within themselves so that they have more to share with others, so if you date one of these beautiful souls, you will know love on a deeper, more meaningful level than ever before.

Highly sensitive people don’t know how to give love in any other way than with their whole hearts. So consider yourself lucky and special if you have one of these souls in your life.

4. They will show you the bright side of everything

Like we said before, highly sensitive people are eternal optimists, so they don’t believe in gossip and spreading hate for no apparent reason. They don’t engage in such low vibrational activities, so if you date one of these souls, expect deep, positive conversations centered around how to make the world a better place. They will see the best in everyone and everything; this doesn’t mean they always feel cheerful and vibrant, but they don’t allow themselves to stay in a negative mindset too long.

They know that enough hatred exists in this world already, so why add to it by bringing down others and making life harder than it has to be?

5. They will never betray you

Empaths know what it feels like to become abandoned or betrayed by someone they love, so they would never do this to you. Caring people obviously don’t want to hurt other people’s feelings, so they will put your needs first and do everything they can to make sure you feel loved and cared for.

6. An overly caring people will love you unconditionally

Also, empathic people have so much love to give, and if you happen to be the lucky person to receive it, then make sure you tell them how much you appreciate them. Highly sensitive people don’t know how to love half-heartedly; they only know how to love full throttle. They won’t love only the parts of you that you show to the world; they’ll love every bit of you, no matter how dark your shadow side can get.

7. They won’t hide their emotions from you

Finally, they will share their honest feelings with you, and will open a space for you to do the same. They don’t believe in suppressing emotions, as this can only do more damage in the long run. Overly caring people have gotten comfortable with feeling vulnerable, and won’t shy away from their emotions.

10 Ways To Create A Love That Lasts Forever

Whenever we think of “true love,” we immediately picture the fairy-tale romance. We think of Romeo and Juliet. We go to a place of false expectations. True love exists. It’s always available for creation, but you must find a balance within you that manifests such love. You must know the real you, and then another will align with your life.

Here are 10 things you need to create true love:

Related article:  5 Feelings Couples Experience In A Loving Relationship

1. Love yourself first.

This is a given, yet the hardest of all things to do. We project love and expect it to find us. Then when the love is not in alignment with our desires we fall apart. Loving yourself is necessary. When you know yourself, every flaw and beautiful insight, you get to understand what you truly need in a relationship. If you cannot love the most important person in your life then no one else can do it for you.

2. Acquire a sense of humor.

Laughter is the best medicine. Sometimes in the journey to find love you hit a few speed bumps. Don’t take life so serious. Enjoy the ride. You might meet several people along the way who are not meant to be your true love. They will let you know that love is one giant prankster waiting for the right timing. Find the joy in all that comes your way. Your true partner will join you in the adventure of laughter.

3. Depend on yourself.

You are responsible for you. You cannot, and should not, add all the dependency upon someone else. There are no halves in love. There is your whole and that other person’s whole. You connect as one but holding on to your own individuality. Co-dependence plays a toxic role in relationships.

4. Learn from another.

We are each others’ mirrors. We arrive into this world with unbelievable agendas while partaking in endless lessons. When you find true love, that person will show you parts of yourself that might not feel good. They might be parts that you haven’t looked at. True love and partnership will bring out the dark and light of each others’ personalities. Allow for these moments.

5. Embrace each others’ quirks.

If you are looking for a romance novel type of love you will be disappointed. You are not required to live in a romance state of bliss all the time. You and your partner will have quirks, eccentricities, goofiness, and all sorts of irrational behavior. Find the person that lifts you up and enhances your quirks. You will enjoy life to the fullest.

6. Open up your heart.

Tear down the walls. Past loves tend to break the heart in a million pieces. Often times we carry those fragments into other relationships. We put up guards and endless miles of barbed wire around ourselves as not to get hurt. The point of looking for love is allowing another person to enter our lives in entirely. Vulnerability is sexy and courageous.

7. Place your focus on giving.

A relationship is made up of giving and taking. But, give of yourself first. You are responsible for what you bring to this new union. If you are focusing on what you can get, then you aren’t truly allowing love to flow. It’s your job to love unconditionally.

8. Let go of expectations.

If you expect nothing, you will not be disappointed. Expectations are irrational in a relationship. You are responsible for you. To expect another to know how you feel or do things your way is not a partnership. It’s a dictatorship.

9. Be honest with yourself.

When you know what you want you attract that. You know the things that you can tolerate and those you will not entertain. If it doesn’t feel right, it isn’t. Your gut always lets you know what feels right. If you are having doubts, step back and begin to take account of those things. You are not just falling in love with another. You are aligning with them to the highest form of energy. Be honest on how that feels.

10. Live your life with purpose.

When we enter into new love affairs, we tend to forget our roles in life. It becomes all about the other person: making them happy, fulfilling their life, doing the things that they want to do, etc. Don’t forget your individuality and the purpose of living authentically. Your love should be able to have his/her own agendas and purpose. Do not abandon your calling just to answer theirs.

Love is magical in a every way. From the moment you set eyes on that person life seems to stop. Love another with all that you are but don’t forget to take your mind along for the journey.

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