Happy Sunday Friends,
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When life hands you lemons you decide to eat them raw and enjoy every single puckering sensation it brings you. It goes something like that I think.
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Life will show you where you're not free and crisis always leads to the opportunity to do something real about that. Not just talk and strategize about it but do something with it. Which is exactly what I've decided to do this summer.
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This modern world has this sneaky way of constantly introducing stimulation into our lives. It's easier than every to get lost in our phones, binge watch Netflix or get caught up in drama that will never lead us to a meaningful life.
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I set the intention of this low stimulation summer to be self discovery, inspiration and a deeper connection to something bigger than myself. I know the power of intention but incase you did there is some science to support it's importance.
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While I like intention setting because the spiritual scientist in me needs to be set free more often, the science of intention is called "Cognitive Priming".
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​A research study went out to see that if cognitive priming would increase attention span and our ability to have goal based behaviors. They discovered a strong effect (d.65) which simply says, yes when we have cognitive organization our brains have a much higher affinity to acting on those goals.
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The spiritual side of me also is going to chime in here and say that I often find more signs, personal connections and relief in my everyday life when I'm building these type of energetic tools. I strongly believe that there is so much more beyond the physical world and while I don't talk about it often I do strongly believe in it and have my own beliefs I around our ability to create circumstances and outcomes for our highest good. (This is talk for another day)
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​Lesson 1: I Choose Violence
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Little dramatic maybe, but it's true. I've been leaning into emotional regulation for nearly a decade now. Distraction, dissociation and stimulation are the enemy of progress in this modern world. I also have leaned into emotional regulation so hard because I know the absolute trash fire that suppressed emotions turn into. From self sabotage, to destroying confidence and everything else.
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This really low stimulation environment that I'm sitting in really is creating the opportunity for the voices in my head to surface. As many of us know those voices can be... unkind to say it gently. For me they often times attack me at my weakest points, showing me exactly where I have scars that need some healing.
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​***Word of Caution***

This low stimulation environments will surface up whatever has been under the surface. If you're in a rough season of life and haven't built up the emotional skills to lean into that discomfort it can absolutely create some spirals. I want to make sure that I'm sharing this because no matter what the emotional bill always comes due. However don't try chopping down trees with a plastic fork. Get the right tools, practice and build up your abilities. You got this. (if you want a quick tool to help you with this I've made a small toolbox for just this occasion, check it out here.)​

At this point in my life, I can sit with those voices, stories and listen to them without being reactive. They attack, scream and do a little bit of everything they can to attempt to evoke a feeling.
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Often times they succeed, but even in these big feelings I'm not letting fear frame the experience. I can still just sit in the mud with these feelings. Letting them be seen, heard and validated but not judged, punished for existing or belittled for taking up space.
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It feels like trying to meditate on the shore line. The waves keep hitting you over and over however if you really sit in it, you find a rhythm, a balance to it.
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The more I do this, the more I see the wounds, the cracks and areas to heal.
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Lesson 2: Sit in the Mud, Get Dirty

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This one... this one is me calling myself out. Let's call it spiritual high roading, gas lighting myself it really doesn't matter what I call it, at the end of the day it's compartmentalization instead of vulnerability and feeling.
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How fun is that. 🤮
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I'm really good at compartmentalization and doing really healthy alternatives to just sitting and feeling my feelings.
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This low stimulation environment has called me out, a lot. This for me has been eating lunch with nothing but me and my food. Watching the sunset with just me and the sunset. Sitting in the grass with just me and the grass.
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So many of these different opportunities to listen and feel. This is taking Lesson 1 and allowing the emotional need of those voices to be taken care of on repeat.
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Lesson 3: Connection and Community

At the end of it all the connections and love you share is what makes you rich. The smaller my circles become the deeper I can connect and more fulfilled those relationships have becomes. What I've realized that has shown up to be invaluable is that relationships in any form are a learning curve. They require letting go of people who just don't align with you and being really really okay with that. Not the fake, or cover up or talking poorly behind closed doors. That's not the vibe.
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It's just a matter of social and spiritual hygiene. These past few weeks my inner circle has had my back on these changes and the diversity of how they're showing up and the depth of those connections is making all the difference in my own life.
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I can really confidently say that the quality of your questions, conversations and community make up the quality of the individual.
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If you spend lots of time with people who simply validate your excuses but never hold you accountable to your own life status or mental health state then you're going to have a massive resistance to change.
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These friends are not for the faint of heart and will show up in the most mysterious ways. For example one of my absolute best friends is a chicken farmer in South Carolina. I love this guy and we've been having weekly discussions for 6 years. You truly never know and you've got to be willing to try.
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Lesson 4: Do I Really Love Myself When I'm Alone?

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I have an interesting believe that the amount of love you're able to curate within will be matched and reciprocated by the external world. This will show up in a million different ways, from money, to relationships, to discipline. The more silence and space I grant myself access to the deeper my understand of myself becomes and that is a portal itself to another version of self love. This space is not only letting me know where I'm not fully integrated due to experiences in my past or just unmet needs.
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The space calls for more patience. Slow growth and more than anything an understanding of self respect.
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The answer for me is, yes. I do love myself and I'm super excited about what more there is to explore in my inner world, my own heart and my future.
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Lesson 5: Making Money and Slowing Down

Tricky tricky this one is. It often reverts me back to lesson 2 and making sure that I'm not using a "healthy" outlet to avoid my feelings. It requires lots of checking in for reasoning and why I'm doing certain things. However the less stimulation I have in my life the slower it becomes, the more time I have to sit in a cafe like that I am right now and play with ideas for 90 minutes. Doing this is absolutely crucial for me because 99% of what brings value to my clients is my idea to integrate and transmute these inner emotional and cognitive perspectives. If I don't create the space for my own work and insights the inspiration well dries up. Just over the past 2 weeks my ability to understand this and lean into more creative time has me creating such more powerful content and ideas. Thus turning into more opportunities for business and connections.
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​Wrap Up

The process of all this work wasn't gentle for the first 2 weeks. It has felt like breaking literal addictions to simulation but 2 weeks into all of this, I'm way happier and grounded than I've been in such a long time.
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I'll continue updates as time goes by and excited to see how this evolves.
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See you on the next one.
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⭐️ PS: if you're interested in my burnout cohort that is going to help out with getting grounded in tools like the ones I'm talking about here please click the link below to apply. We start in just under a month.
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​Apply Here. ​
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See you on the other side.
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Dr. Chris Lee