Feel the Burn!

Have you ever gone through an amazing, groundbreaking experience, only to crash and burn the day after? Everything that went right doesn’t feel right any more, all the “what if”s come up, Imposter Syndrome crashes down, and you foresee staying under the covers in bed for the next three months. Or years.

This feeling is natural and part of the process.

Bentinho Massaro describes this as the “Day 2” experience of his 3-day creation process. To prevent our lives from changing spuriously with every passing thought, he describes this resistance as a built-in “Are you sure this is what you want?” safety mechanism. By pressing forward through the resistance you prove that this is actually an intentional change.

While this explanation has some merit, it doesn’t speak to the experience. Why does it appear in different ways for different challenges for different people?

I call it feeling the burn.

In the gym of life, we are building up our metaphysical muscles. Strengthening our manifestation muscle groups, improving our capacity to handle flow, building our compassion core, all the exercises.

When we exercise, if we’ve really made our muscles work, we’re going to feel sore for the next day or two as those muscles rebuild and release the built-up lactic acid.

The same thing happens metaphysically. When we exercise a particular quality of our being, we’ll see the expansion, relax, then feel the ache in that same area:

• Expanding our capacity to feel grounded is followed by feeling uncertain.
• Expanding our capacity to enjoy our sensuality is followed by feeling shame for being too hedonistic.
• Expanding our capacity to be confident expressing our power is followed by feeling guilty or powerless.
• Expanding our capacity to feel compassion is followed by feeling hurt.
• Expanding our capacity to feel safe expressing our truth is followed by a feeling that we said too much.
• Expanding our capacity to see clearly is followed by getting lost in fantasy.
• Expanding our capacity to feel connected is followed by feeling alone.

I tend to view development and relating to the world in terms of chakras. So the above examples can be related to different chakras, from the root to the crown.

Some exercises can cause burn in multiple areas. Expanding our ability to speak our truths can impact how we see things, and also change our relationship with our power. The solar plexus might feel tender and we might push our vision on things versus seeing them as they are.

Like with any exercise regimen, when we are expanding our abilities we’re going to feel shaky and uncertain about the process. As we get more used to using those muscles, we’ll be able to refine and smooth out our technique.

Where we once needed to yell to be heard, we learn to speak slower and more quietly but also more deeply. Where we once needed intense experiences to feel our senses come alive, we find ourselves exultant in the simplest breeze. Where we once needed to control the outcome, the best outcome for us presents itself.

We learn mastery as we gain strength.

So when you wake up the next morning and feel the pain, despair, anxiety, and uncertainty, just remember: It’s a good burn.