This past week felt incredibly intense, with a number of cities in the United States participating in protests that escalated to violence and looting.

I fully align with the intention to end violence, fear and physical and mental suffering on this planet.  And I have known more than my share of loss. I know what it feels like to have your world implode upon you and I know what helped me personally pull myself out of the rubble so that I might begin to rebuild a new life.

The ability to speak my truth – to express my feelings freely and have them validated by others – allowed me to move through them and discharge them.  Speaking your truth is an incredibly important step and the healing process.  And it can be easily sidetracked if you allow others to diminish your voice through their projections of blame, shame or guilt.

While I would love nothing more than to put an end to all violence on this planet, I do not believe that violent riots and looting of businesses is the best strategy to achieve this end goal.  I also worry that attempts to shame or diminish certain segments of the population into self-censorship and silence will only serve to further divide those of us who might band together and lift each other up.

While I would never pretend to understand the struggle of any group or individual, I can guarantee that suffering is universal.  The friends, family and professionals who were the most helpful to me after Max passed away had never lost a child.  They had no personal knowledge or experience with surviving the loss of a child.  One especially helpful therapist even said, “I have never gone through anything like what you are experiencing and I don’t even know anyone who has suffered that level of loss, but I am committed to helping you work through it.”

We do not need to walk in another person’s shoes to empathize with their suffering.  And suffering is not solely determined by skin color or social economic status.  It affects everyone.  In grief therapy, they encourage you not to compare your grief.  One person’s devastation over losing a cat should not be compared to my devastation over losing a child. Loss is loss.  Suffering is suffering. It is not a competition and no one should be diminished, especially in their effort to lift others up.

I learned this early in my grief journey.   People really don’t know what to say.  And they worried that they would say the wrong thing and possibly offend me.  But holding their tongue for fear of saying the wrong thing just trapped those painful emotions in their field. We all hold space for each other.   In that space, we should all be free to voice our love, support and compassion for our each other without the fear of being shamed or diminished.  No one needs to be less so that another can be more.  Your voice, your thoughts, your feelings, your opinions and your perspective are all valid and all deserve to be heard.

I invite you to share your feelings in the comments below and would love to share my favorite blend for helping to speak your truth.

Essential Oils for Speaking Your Truth

My favorite blend to help support clear expression and overcome feelings of humiliation, inhibition and denial is our Thyroid Support blend that helps both the physical and energetic thyroid and throat area to help enhance your ability to both communicate your thoughts, opinions, desires and feelings and listen to, hear and hold space for each other.

As you many know, your thyroid gland, located below the Adam’s apple on your neck, coordinates the metabolism (growth and rate of function) of almost every cell in the body. It controls how quickly the body uses energy, makes proteins, and controls the body’s sensitivity to other hormones.

Your thyroid also relates emotionally to self-expression and the struggle to communicate. This includes speaking up for yourself as well as not suppressing your truth, failing to ask for what you want and or feeling you do not have the right to ask for what you want. Suppressed communication can give rise to feelings of shame and humiliation, never getting to do what you want to do, or never prioritizing your own wants and need.

An inability to speak one’s truth – including difficulty in self-expression, feeling suppressed or shut down in creative endeavors or “swallowing” or “stifling” your words to keep the peace or win people’s approval — will often cause physical problems in the thyroid, mouth, and neck area around the throat.

Thyroid Support™ blend contains a proprietary formulation of organic and/or wild crafted essential oils:

Angelica Root:

Helps enhances mental powers, removes creative blockages and allows you clear communication with your intuition. Angelica Root also promotes feelings of balance and helps to release or let go of negative feelings and overcome difficulties. It also assists in strengthening the heart, and helps alleviate fatigue, nervous tension, and stress-related disorders.

German Chamomile:

Brings balance to emotional intensity, calming anger and anxiety, to help support clear and grounded communication.  On a physical level, German chamomile, or blue chamomile contains anti-inflammatory properties, which can reduce brain inflammation and support higher energy levels and enhanced communication.

Frankincense:

Resin essential oils, such as frankincense, help you ground your energy so you can communicate from a clear and centered place.  Frankincense™ is especially useful for relieving feelings of grief or emotional trauma and for relieving nervous tension and stress related conditions. Contains sesquiterpenes, which enable it to go beyond the blood brain barrier to assist in increasing oxygen in the brain.

Geranium:

Known as the oil of love and trust, Geramium helps you re-establish trust in the world and in others to tear down barriers and open up or express emotions. Geramium also helps release anger, manage overwhelming emotions such as overcoming abuse, acute fear, hurt, and emotional crisis.

Hyssop:

Invigorates the mind and the nervous system to help increase concentration and reduce mental fatigue.  Hyssop can help calm any anxiety or nervous tension that might interfere with your ability to communicate with others.

Lavender:

Lifts mood and helps balance and normalize emotions which helps calms insecurities and support confidence to aid verbal expression.  Lavender™ can help calm fears of being seen and heard which can block self-expression.  Lavender encourages emotional honesty that helps you speak your truth.

Lemon:

Supports communication by stimulating the brain which clears thought and aids concentration.  Lemon also helps clear many emotional and anxiety issues and give way to clarity, awareness and clear expression. Lemon can also support the liver, a critical organ for thyroid hormones, and emotionally support self-judgments and self-approval.

Myrrh:

Supports healthy attachment, especially relating to trust and feeling safe to clearly express ourselves. Relieves apathy, lack of incentive or energy. Because of its warming and stimulating nature, Myrrh is good for all stress-related conditions and anxiety.

Neroli:

Helps to calm anxiety and depression so that you are able to communicate from a calm and grounded place.  A 2014 study found that neroli essential oil significantly reduced feelings of stress. Anxiety and nervous tension can interfere with your ability to calmly give and receive open, honest communication.

Orange:

Often used as an antidepressant because it helps you clear stagnant thoughts and strengthen focus which helps improve communication.  Orange™ also has a sedative effect on the nervous system and helps calm anxieties, stress, tension, and nervousness.

Rose:

Helps improve mental well-being and boost compassion and joy.  Rose™ helps us alleviate barriers to honest communication including worry, grief, anxiety and anger.  Balancing our emotions contributes to more balance communication and connection.

Rosewood:

Helps you ground, stabilize and balance your  central nervous system, which helps you calm depression, fatigue and stress so you are more clear, calm and kind in your communication.

Sage:

Helps to dispels confusion and illusion, supporting the ability to see and communicate with vision and clarity. Sage also helps to clear your energy so you are better able to clearly prioritize and focus on what really matters.

Sandalwood:

Helps boost self-confidence, and alleviate emotions that can distract from healthy communication, like grief, fear and egocentric or anxious behavior.  Sandalwood oil is also known to move stagnant energy, helping with centering or grounding. This can help clear any stuck communication energy.

Spruce:

Helps support your nervous systems and ground your energy for calmer, cleaner, more productive communication.

Ylang Ylang:

Soothes the nervous system, calms the mind, relieves mental fatigue, anxiety, depression, and insomnia. It has strong antidepressant properties and it helps to bring the emotions into proper balance.

Apply 2 -3 drops of Thyroid Support™ over the throat or heart throughout the day as needed to aid with speaking your truth.  You may also consider  the following affirmation in conjunction with Thyroid Support™ blend.

“I move beyond old limitations and now allow myself to express freely and creatively.”

Featured Oils:

Ready to get started? Click the links below to order today:

• Frankincense™ available here
• Orange™ available here
• Rose™ available here
• Thyroid Support™ available here

Resources:

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25024731/