Hello beautiful,
Today, I want to talk about our periods. Yes, you read that right. And, why it’s important to track our cycles.
Have you noticed that you feel different before, during, and after your cycle?
Do you feel more sensitive, irritated, or possibly angry before your menses?
What about during? And afterwards? Do you notice what day in your cycle you feel like yourself again, and your energy returns?
The phases of our cycles ask us to listen closely to ourselves and our own needs, desires, and inspiration.
Let me tell you a story that inspired a new relationship between me and my period.
Three or four years ago, I had a session scheduled with one of my mentors. A few days before our session, I decided to reschedule because it landed on or during my period. I rescheduled because I never knew how I would feel during my period, and I wanted to have an “enlightening” experience. I emailed her to reschedule and was totally surprised by her response.
Her response went something like this: “Often times, doing a session during or around our menses can be super powerful and potent, because what has been hidden, may come to the surface to be healed.”
Our session was super powerful and offered me a greater understanding of myself and my cycle. Perhaps, my period offered me the gift of slowing down, practicing kindness towards myself, and softening my edges.
It’s a time where I am asked to go inward. Let go of all the distractions, such as social media, and be present with myself. It’s also a time where I am encouraged to treat myself with extra softness and kindness.
During or before our period, many emotions may surface, and for me, it isn’t the time to try and figure out why I am feeling the way I’m feeling, but instead, offer myself compassion and kindness. There is a time and place to makes sense of our feelings, but for me, the first few days of my period are for presence, kindness, and being with what is.
Once the emotions have passed and I am a few days into my cycle and my energy returns, I will use my tools to tend to whatever is present for me. Kindly and softly. Often, what I need is to kindly parent the parts of myself who feel angry, sad, misunderstood, etc.
So, what if instead of resisting our periods, we slowly learned to embrace them?
Here are a series of questions you can ask yourself during or after your menses:
What emotions have I been experiencing lately?
What emotion feels most triggering?
What part of me feels this (emotion)?
How old is this part of me?
What does this part of me need to feel safe, seen, and loved?