Hello, and welcome to this week's Choosing Happy Podcast.

I'm Heather Masters, your host, and this is the place where we dive deep into the tools, insights, and practices that help us not just find happiness, but choose it every single day.

Today, we're exploring something truly transformative.

How we can manage our state, our mental health, and our energy in a way that allows us to what I call expand our vessel and increase our capacity to handle the evolutionary changes life throws at us, especially during these crazy and strange times.

So whether it's personal growth, global shifts, or the daily challenges we face, this episode is about building resilience, staying grounded, and unlocking a deeper sense of possibility.

So grab your favorite cup of tea, find a cosy spot, and let's get started in this week's Choosing Happy Podcast.

Hello, and welcome to this week's Choosing Happy Podcast.

Let's begin with a question.

Have you ever felt like you're running on empty, even when you're doing all.

All the right things?

Maybe you're eating well, you're exercising, you're being disciplined, you're ticking off your to do list, but something still feels off.

Your patience is thin.

Your stress is high.

You may be losing it at smallest things.

And the idea of taking on anything new, whether it's a new job, a new relationship, but even a new mindset, feels overwhelming.

If that resonates, you're not alone.

What we're talking about today is the concept of expanding your vessel.

Now, think of your vessel as your inner capacity, Your ability to hold stress, joy, change, love, and everything in between without breaking or burning out.

We're talking about your ability to hold energy.

We're all made of energy.

And during these times, if you've read any of the astrology, or if.

Even if you.

If you've looked at the NASA website, you'll know that there's more energy coming into Earth than there ever has been before.

And just like a muscle, we can strengthen our capacity to hold this energy.

But it requires intention, it requires awareness, and it requires the right tools as well.

So how do we do that?

Let's have a look, and let's break it down.

So one of the first things is state management.

Your state is essentially how you show up in the world at any given moment.

Your mood, your energy, your focus, how you're being in the moment.

And if your state is chaotic or depleted, it's like trying to pour water into a cracked cup.

Nothing sticks, nothing grows.

So step one is learning to stabilize and regulate your state.

One powerful technique is something That I call the anchor breath.

And it's simple but effective.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, take a moment to pause.

Inhale deeply through your nose for four counts.

Hold for four and exhale slowly for four.

And hold again for four.

And as you breathe, you visualize a grounding cord extending from your spine down into the earth, rooting you.

This is better done outside.

And bare feet.

If you can get barefoot in the grass, that just adds to it.

This isn't just woo woo, it's science.

Studies show that deep, intentional breathing activates your parasympathetic nervous system, which calms you down and brings you back to center.

Coupled with standing with your feet in the earth, you're really grounding yourself.

And you're allowing the energy of the earth, the electricity from the earth, to flow into your body and to realign your system.

So just try the breathing with me.

Now, inhale, hold two, three, four.

Exhale, two, three, four.

Hold, two, three, four.

Feel that?

That's you reclaiming your power by inhaling and exhaling through your nose with your mouth closed.

It actually activates your nervous system as well to go into that parasympathetic system.

Now let's connect this to mental health.

Expanding your vessel isn't just about managing stress in the moment.

It's about building long term resilience.

It's about increasing your capacity to hold different energies and to control your energy.

It's about evolutionary change.

Whether it's adapting to new technology, societal shifts, or personal transformation.

It all requires a flexible mind and a healthy emotional foundation.

And one of the biggest barriers I see is what I call emotional clutter.

And just like physical clutter in your home, it can make you feel.

Feel stuck.

Unresolved emotions, limiting beliefs and old traumas can clog up your mental and emotional space.

So how do we clear it out?

One of the great places to start is journaling.

Each morning, write down three things.

Number one, what you're grateful for.

Number two, what you're worried about.

And number three, one action you can take to move forward.

And this practice helps you process, prioritize, and let go.

One of the other things you can do is to instead of pushing down emotions or ignoring emotions or shifting your attention so that you're not dealing with the emotion that may be unconsciously screaming at you to be dealt with is to give yourself a timeout.

Where you sit and you get in touch with your body and you ask your unconscious, what is the emotion?

What.

What is it that wants to be processed that you've been avoiding and Allow yourself to go there, allow it to show up.

It might not show up all at once.

It might show up over a couple of days.

I know over this weekend I've had an experience where something I had no idea about has shown up.

And it's shown up weirdly through the random books or not so random books I've been reading.

And I felt this shift take place unconsciously and become conscious and come into my awareness.

And rather than pushing it away like I may have done in the past, I've sat with it.

And it's not about holding on to any negative feeling, it's about experiencing it and allowing it to move through you.

And you can practice this through mindfulness.

You know, everyone talks about mindfulness by Hear me out.

It's not just about sitting cross legged for hours.

It's about bringing your attention to the present moment, even just for five minutes a day.

And it's also about bringing your attention to those emotions, to how your body feels, to what's happening inside, and just allowing it to flow.

So if you've ever done any meditation or mindfulness, it's about observing the thoughts.

Take it a step further.

Observe the feelings and allow them.

Just notice you're not making any judgment.

You're allowing.

So apps like headspace or Calm can guide you.

Or you can simply sit quietly and notice your breath, your surroundings, your thoughts, your emotions, how you physically feel without judgment.

Over time, this builds a buffer between you and the chaos of life, making you more adaptable to change and allowing you to process.

And things that in the past you may have pushed away to process the emotions that might be blocks in your body to process trauma that might be traps once you give yourself permission to address it.

Now let's talk energy.

Your energy is your currency.

And if you're constantly giving it away, whether to toxic people, endless scrolling or over committing, you're leaving little for yourself.

And expanding your vessel means protecting and cultivating your energy like the precious resource it is.

Your energy should come before anything else.

One strategy I love is what I call energy auditing.

At the end of each day, ask yourself, where did my energy go?

Was it spent on the things that light me up?

Or was it drained by obligations, negativity or distractions?

Then make a plan to adjust.

Maybe that means saying no more, often setting boundaries with technology or scheduling recharge time.

Whether that's a walk in nature, hot bath, something like qigong or tai chi or yoga, or just sitting in silence.

We can all manage our energy.

We're more powerful than we think actually learning to circulate your energy, to take control of your energy through something like har breathing, to actually access that energy from the universe so that you're constantly refilling that vessel and expanding that capacity for you to hold energy.

And here's a pro tip.

Surround yourself with people who expand, not contract, your energy.

You'll know the difference.

The friend who leaves you feeling inspired versus the one who leaves you feeling drained.

Choose wisely.

Your vessel can only grow when it's nurtured by the right influences.

Your vessel can only grow when you tap into your own energy.

You tap into the energy of the universe and you learn how to create energy and renew and refresh your energy and circulate it so that you're letting go of old, stale influences and allowing the new in.

So how does all of this tie back to evolutionary change?

Well, think of it this way.

Life is constantly evolving.

Technology advances, cultures shift, and we're asked to adapt faster than ever before.

And if your vessel is small, if you have a small capacity for stress, uncertainty, and your growth is limited, you'll feel like you're drowning.

You'll feel contracted, you'll feel trapped and overwhelmed.

But if you've expanded your vessel through state management, mental health practices, and energy channeling and protection, you'll not only survive change, you'll thrive in it.

You learn to adapt, you learn to flow.

Let me share a quick story.

A few years ago, I was working with a client who felt completely overwhelmed by a career transition.

She was stepping into a leadership role at a time when her industry was undergoing massive disruption.

And she came to me feeling anxious, exhausted, and unsure if she could handle it.

And we started with the basics.

Daily anchor breath journaling to clear emotional clutter, and an energy audit to reclaim her time and focus.

And remembering that energy is everything.

It's energy first before results.

And within weeks, she not only adapted to her new role, she excelled.

She told me later that she felt like she'd grown a bigger container for her life.

And that's the power of this work.

And before we wrap up, I want to leave you with a challenge this week.

Pick one of these tools, whether it's the anchor Breath journaling, mindfulness, or energy auditing.

And commit to it for seven days and notice how it shifts your state, your mental health, and your capacity to handle whatever comes your way.

Now, I love yoga.

I did a seven day challenge last week and I've noticed how my body actually begs me to stretch and to release the trapped energy and to allow the new energy to flow.

And if you're really feeling brave, share your experience with us on social media using the hashtag Choosing Happy.

And I'd love to hear from you.

Expanding your vessel isn't about perfection.

It's about progress.

It's about choosing every day to show up for yourself so you can show up for the world.

Because when we expand our capacity, we don't just change our own lives, we contribute to the evolution of everyone around us, to the energy of the universe.

So that's all for today's episode of the Choosing Happy podcast.

If you enjoyed it, please subscribe, leave a review, and share it with someone who might need a little inspiration.

Until next week, keep Choosing Happy and keep expanding.

Thank you so much for taking the time to listen to this week's episode.

If you enjoyed it or think it would be valuable to others, please do share.

And if you really enjoyed it, please leave me a review.

It really helps the podcast.

All of the links are in the show notes and I look forward to seeing you next week on the Choosing Happy podcast.