Knowing Yourself is Important. You could say it’s the First Step towards Happiness. The Better you know Yourself as an Individual and a Human Being, the Better you will be able to Respond to and Make of Your Life.
Getting to Know Yourself Better Deserves putting your Time +Energy+Effort and Making it a Major Priority in your life because it will Radically Affect the way you Experience and Live your Life.
By developing a Deep Understanding of Yourself and your Behavior, you will be able to easily Utilize your Strengths and Overcome your Weaknesses. But Most Importantly, you will learn Extremely Valuable Information about Yourself and How You Work on All Levels, as well as your fellow Human Beings and your Life in General.
You are a Complex Being. More than you may Initially Realize. But in the Most Basic level there are two main aspects to all of us: our Physical Selves and our Non- Physical Selves.
Our Physical Selves are the ones we are usually most in Touch with: your Body, Name, Gender, Age, Health, Shape + Size, Race and Roles in this Physical World. But in reality, our physical selves only constitute a small percentage of Who We Really Are - we are More Non- Physical than Physical.
Your Non- Physical Self is: your Thoughts, Feelings, Emotions, Intentions, Desires, Inclinations, Impulses, Tastes + Preferences, Opinions, Concepts, Ideas, Values ect ect ect. You could call it your Personality but it’s Deeper and Bigger than that.
Your non -physical self Influences + Shapes + Directs your Physical Self and as a result, it is the Physical Expression of your Non- Physical Self.
I am sure you have experienced, as have I, doing something not knowing exactly why just to realize later it was really the perfect thing to do at that exact time. This usually happens when you’re Going With The Flow. Your non-physical side is the Bigger+Deeper+ Wiser side of you that Drives You and your Life from the background. You call it: Instincts, Vibes, Hunches, Gut-Feelings, Destiny, Fate, Sixth Sense, ect… So when You Know Yourself you Trust Yourself because you realize that you know more than you think you do.
To take the Time and Make the Effort to Get to Know Yourself, like you would with your Lover or Favorite Friend is a Radical Act of Love for Yourself.
All Human problems - whether they’re personal or global - stem from a basic Lack of Self-Esteem, Love, Acceptance and Appreciation. This happens when you Don’t Try To Find Out Who You Really Are or Who You Have - over time and experiences - Become. The temporary end result of who and where you’ve been.
It’s a result of the way in which you have behaved or responded towards your life and its events. The balance between actions and reactions. The level of consciousness or unconsciousness, acceptance or denial, resistance or allowance. It’s the equation of how in touch with yourself you’ve been and how much you’ve gone with the flow and how fast you’ve adapted.
And all these things have always been more or less out of your control depending on how much you’ve gotten to know, love and appreciate yourself.
So, Get To Know Yourself :
1. Understandwhere you are coming from. Understand why you feel the way you do and the relationship between How you Feel About You and What You are Living.
2. Be Awareof your Feelings+Attitudes + Values and how they are Shaped and Affected by your Environment +Culture+Beliefs.
3.Comprehend the Meaning and Importance of your Desires +Emotions + Impulses and How They Color Your Experience of Your Life and Determine its Outcomes.
All Humans are 99% alike, so Truly Knowing yourself is Also Knowing about Human Behavior, which will Make Your Life Experience Much Easier+ Pleasant +Effective.
So you’re feeling positive and you’re doing good with your life…but somehow you still get anxious sometimes. And you deal with bouts of depression that come out of nowhere.You want to not give importance to these feelings (or maybe you do, and so do your parents/partner) but the fact is that they are there, they come and go and you have to deal with them.
This is for sure what happened to me. I used to be very depressed in my teens, I was even on medication & therapy for a while. But now I am really quite happy with my life, with myself, with my choices…but I still had to deal with occasional, seemingly random bouts of depression & anxiety. Recently, during one of those, I thought it was enough. So I did, what I always do when I decide that enough is enough, I went and did a ton of research. I read something very interesting.
Depression and Anxiety are byproducts of supressed anger.
Oh, boy. I had heard that before, but this time I actually dealt with it…
I realized maybe…I was really fucking angry. I was angry about a ton of things, so many in fact that just thinking about it overwhelmed me a lot. It made me literally dizzy.
I did what I read is helpful. Start punching pillows, or something soft and easy to punch….until it comes out . At first I thought it was silly, but man, did it come out. In fact, it’s been coming out everyday ever since.
It’s been quite revolutionary in my life, actually. But it hasn’t been an easy ride.
So, why do we suppress our feelings in the first place?
We’re raised to. We all are, for the most part. Your parents most likely were and their parents even more likely were as well. When you are a kid, you are taught not to talk back, not to defend yourself when adults punish you (even if they do so physically), you’re even forced not to express your anger towards them after such treatment. When you are a kid and you are mad at another kid, instead of teaching you how to express you anger in a healthy way, they scold or ground you for expressing it at all.
Depending on how severely punished you were for expressing your anger it might be more or less difficult for you to express it.
But the fact that we are raised to be that way, means that most adults are acting this way between each other.
It doesn’t feel good to suppress our anger. When we do, we feel depressed and anxious.
Anger isn’t really bad in the first place. It is a coping mechanism. When something happens to you that threatens your life, your mental stability, your wellbeing. It is normal and healthy for you to feel angry and that you would stand up for yourself and do something about the situation. It’s helping you survive and protect yourself. We’ve just domesticated ourselves and each other to believe that, somehow, that’s not acceptable behavior.
What happens also is that when we suppress it, the anger becomes a whole new problem for you to cope with. It’s how we make problems complex and difficult to solve. We lose track of where they really started.
So once you’ve decided that you want to stop suppressing your anger, you want to express it when you feel it and then let it go, you might find that things get a little difficult.
You start flipping out on people. And then you feel really guilty afterwards. You start to feel lost.
This happens to so many people because, again, most of us have learned to only express our anger in very mean, destructive ways.We’ve watched plenty of people let their anger bottle up until they finally exploded.
It’s important for us to not get lost in the feelings and identify with them. You are feeling really fucking angry. Possibly even furious. Now might not be the best time to talk to that person you are so furious with. Now might be the best time for you to go somewhere where it’s safe for you to scream, or punch a pillow or something.
A lot of people use exercise as a coping mechanism for anger. It works MUCH better than depression & anxiety
The interesting thing about anger too is that it doesn’t even last that long. Once you allow yourself to fully feel your feelings, you feel better and they are gone. You don’t have to dwell on them. You just need to get things off your chest.
Another way in which people cope with anger is expressing it to someone else or by just complaining, instead of expressing it directly to the person they are having an issue with . For example, spouses often express their anger towards each other to other people, instead of each other. They’ll talk to their kids, friends, siblings, family members, co-workers…
but if you want to have a different kind of relationship with your partner, friends, family members…
If you want things to always be clear and good between you, whatever your relationship. If you want all the cards to be on the table. You need to find a way to express anger that works for you, and talk to them about it, tell them how you feel, do something about whatever it is that made you feel angry. Without getting mean or destructive, once you have gotten that original rage out of your chest.
It could eventually become something really helpful, if you learn to deal with it in a way that works for you. It could help you learn about yourself, about the people in your life that are important to you, and better your quality of life in general.
Ever since I had my first period I knew there had to be another option besides pads & tampons!
Apparently there’s been another option for quite some time, actually. The first menstrual cup was developed in the 1930’s and distributed by several companies. None of the early cups stayed in production for long though, because of advertising restrictions, social taboos on discussing menstruation, the reluctance of women to use an internal device and the fact these products required washing and reuse (in a time when disposable products were becoming available) all had a role in the products not becoming successful. Then the tampon came along and to deal with the fear of touching of the body for insertion they also came up with its applicator, which made the product much more marketable. They even brought out a new marketing strategy that allowed women to take a box of tampons off the counter themselves (placing the money in a tin beside the display), rather than asking the pharmacist for them. It wasn’t until 1987 that “The Keeper”, a rubber menstrual cup, was manufactured in the USA, the first commercially successful menstrual cup, as it is still in manufacture today.
Nowadays there is a number of brands that specialize in menstrual cups. There is two types available : a bell-shaped 2 inches long (5cm)
menstrual cup with a tab or stem at the bottom,which usually lasts up to 5 years ;and a disposable menstrual cup that looks similar to a contraceptive diaphragm, about 3 inches (7.5 cm) in diameter
I have tried a both types, and the one that has truly changed my life & I go around recommending to any female that will listen is The Diva cup, which falls in the first category.
This is what their website has to say about it:
“The DivaCup is a non-absorbent menstrual cup that simply collects menstrual flow. It is inserted in the vagina and sits at the lower base of the vaginal canal. It is worn internally, yet because it is soft and smooth, it cannot be felt nor will it leak when inserted properly.
The DivaCup is the most clean and convenient method of feminine hygiene protection. No need to touch the flow. It is worn low in the vagina, not near the cervix, so it is easy to remove. No mess!
The DivaCup ends hassles with unreliable disposables in endless absorbencies, shapes and styles. It is perfect for all activities “ giving women true freedom without the worry, guessing and unreliability that disposable feminine hygiene products pose.
The DivaCup can be worn for up to 12 hours before emptying, washing and reinserting for use for another 12 hours. It can be used for light or moderate flows and is emptied more often to accommodate heavy flows. Perfect for overnight use.
The DivaCup’s expert, proprietary, patent-pending features make it comfortable and assures ease of use and reliability. Perfect for traveling, running, biking, hiking, dancing, camping, swimming, diving, scuba, yoga, extreme sports and more…”
I have found all of their claims to be true if you learn to place and wear this product correctly. It can take a little bit to get a hang of it, but after some practice, it’s quite easy. The most important thing is to place it in a way that is air tight sealed. If you follow the instructions carefully, it shouldn’t be a problem.
As they mentioned it usually takes up to 12 hours for it to be filled. The cup holds one ounce (30ml). The entire average monthly flow is approximately 1 to 1.4 ounces (30-40ml). By monitoring the fullness of the cup over a couple of periods, you will quickly learn how often to empty it according to your specific needs. If your periods are pretty regular, you can use the Diva Cup before your period begins to avoid “surprises”.Most women, myself included, find that the cup is not even half full after 12 hours. For those with heavier flows, it’s just a matter of emptying it more often. But the cup should always be emptied and washed at least twice a day.
Another thing is that some women find the cup a bit uncomfortable because of the stem or tip, but it has a simple solution : trim it a bit with scissors and it should keep working just fine.
You don’t need to take your Diva Cup out to go to the bathroom, however, you should always take it out before having sex. You should never use it as a birth control method, or as prevention against STD’s.
The Diva Cup is available in two different sizes, a smaller one for women who haven’t had any children or are under 30 years old, and another slightly wider one for women who have gone through labor or are older than 30 years old.
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One of the most interesting things about this process is how out of touch, as women , we are from what really goes on during our periods. In the beginning it was really surprising to me to realize not only how different the blood looked than the one I am more “used” to, but also how little I actually bleed. I realized that while using tampons & pads I had a completely unrealistic view of my period.
All these things make the Diva Cup a whole different way to experience your period. In my opinion, it’s more raw & real & natural and even though the first couple of times I felt sort of uncomfortable or grossed out, soon I developed a completely different relationship with the whole thing than I had previously
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The Diva cup is made by the Canadian company Diva International. Run & founded by two women Francine & Carinne Chambers (mother & daughter) that decided 15 years ago to resurrect the 75 year old menstrual cup concept because they recognized a need to provide an alternative to unreliable and bad for the environment pads & tampons. Francine & Carinne first were involved with a rubber/latex version that they sold for 10 years doing marketing and sales for the company that made them. Finally in 2003 they decided to start Diva International Inc.and develop a modern redesign, made from soft, top-quality silicone, to meet the needs of today’s woman. It brings me great pleasure to support a company like this because as many of you may know, most “female hygiene” products are made by brands led and owned by men! And also because in this day and age making responsible consumer decisions will make a huge difference in the future of our planet and choosing every month to use this more environmentally friendly option can be an easy way to contribute.
“Not every woman can afford a hybrid car nor easily convert their home to solar power. Yet, by choosing to use a menstrual cup instead of disposable tampons and pads, any woman is able to make an environmentally responsible choice each month. This is no small matter. In the U.S. alone, billions of tampons and pads are dumped into landfills and the environment each year.” Carinne Chambers
“With all the state-of-the-art conveniences Western society has developed, it baffles us why outdated feminine products are still being used. We believe that reusable menstrual cups are the next generation of feminine hygiene because they are the most environmentally responsible choice. They are also the most convenient and reliable option available and are not linked to Toxic Shock Syndrome.” Francine Chambers.
You can usually find the Diva Cup at health food stores or alternative medicine shops, you can see if there’s store that carries it near you here and you can also buy it online here .
It is usually more pricey than what we are used to paying for something to deal with our periods, (retail price is usually $30) but it is definitely worth it !
You can do the math and see that in a few months you will have made your money back!
Diva International recommends that the Diva Cup be replaced annually or when the silicone material is compromised in any way . Of coarse, proper care and cleaning of the Diva Cup will assure its best performance, and there’s even a special soap formula they offer The DivaWash to mantain the integrity of the silicone material. It is also very important to carefully follow the cleaning instructions in order to assure that the cup is clean and without soap residue.
I’ve heard from other females that if taken care of properly and washed with The DivaWash it can last up to 5 years, but ultimately, it is a woman’s personal decision as to when to replace her menstrual cup.
I’ve personally gotten all of my girlfriends into it, I even give it to people as christmas and birthday presents!
Extra-cool things about the Diva Cup:
♥It comes with a silky little bag to store it in.
♥The Diva Cup comes with measuring marks if you ever have any issues with your reproductive system, your gynecologist, physician, naturopath or acupuncturist will often ask about your menstrual flow and change of menstrual flow to determine if these problems have to do with your overall health, hormones, fertility issues, ect.
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