November 13th New Moon Intention & Affirmation

The new moon is here so I have a new tarot curated intention and affirmation for us to work with. This moon cycle I used the Tarot of the Golden Wheel, and we pulled the Ace of Cups, the Nine of Swords, and the Two of Pentacles.

You might recall that we pulled the Ace of Cups on the full moon, which makes me feel like finding flow and ease are going to be important over the next two weeks. Be sure to have a look at the cards to see what they awaken in you, lets dive in!

Intention: Sometimes life is overwhelming. There’s so much going on in the world today, and I feel like many of us are experiencing some level of exhaustion, upset, and fear. Pair that with personal challenges and you have a perfect recipe for feeling like everything is falling apart.

I’d like to point out that we can experience overwhelm and not realize it, especially if we spent much of our childhood in high stress situations.

Affirmation: In the face of overwhelm I trust my inner strength and resilience to help me find ease.  

An important first step in recognizing overwhelm is being able to identify when our nervous system is in survival mode. This might sound easy, but there’s been many cases when I didn’t recognize I was having a survival response. I’m a high functioning stressed out person, which is why I do regular self-check ins as part of my care practices.

Feeling overcome with stress can look a lot of different ways, but in a general, symptoms can be categorized as mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral. Here are some symptoms to be mindful of.

MENTAL: Having a hard time concentrating, ruminating, getting wrapped up in repeating thoughts, focusing on things you can’t immediately address or change, brain fog, having a hard time making decisions, and blanking out.

EMOTIONAL: Feeling constantly stressed (often without a specific reason), irritability, agitation, frustration, annoyance, experiencing a sense of helplessness (or hopelessness), finding yourself unable to cope with the challenges of day-to-day life, increased emotional sensitivity, becoming tearful in situations that don’t normally provoke such a response, indecisiveness, negative self-talk, losing interest in things you used to enjoy, and perfectionism (being hard on yourself and others via incredibly high standards). 

PHYSICAL: Fatigue, which manifests as feeling constantly tired (both mentally and physically), sleep disruption (including trouble falling asleep, staying asleep, or restless sleep), headaches, muscle tension, changes in appetite, digestive issues, and increased susceptibility to illness.  More intense signals include dizziness, shortness of breath, and rapid heartbeat.

BEHAVIORAL: Social withdrawal (avoiding interactions with others, or isolating oneself from friends or family), procrastination (delaying tasks and avoiding responsibilities), increased substance use (turning to alcohol, drugs, or certain behaviors to self sooth), doom scrolling the internet, neglecting self-care, not wanting to go to bed, not wanting to get out of bed, having a hard time doing simple tasks, or difficulty getting through each day.

When it comes to mental, emotional, physical, and behavioral symptoms of overwhelm take a step back to consider which ones you’ve encountered either in yourself, or others.

Are you experiencing any of them now? Do you notice others around you suffering?

If the answer is yes, you’re not alone. Many of us are feeling similarly, and that’s ok. Part of the human experience is feeling completely overwhelmed at times. 

Here are few things that might make you feel better.

BRAIN DUMP: I like to write out my thoughts, my worries, and the things I think I should be doing. I set the list aside for a day or two. When I return to it, I often have a different perspective. As a bonus, I usually discover much of what I was worried about naturally falls off the list, and other items no longer feel as urgent as they did before.

BREATHE: The breath is never a bad place to begin when you’re looking to get centered and grounded. Practicing deep, slow breathing activates the vagus nerve and stimulates the parasympathetic nervous system. Breathing in slowly for a count of four, holding your breath for a moment, and exhaling for a count of six, is one breathing technique that has been shown to increase calm.

GROUNDING: Combining deep breathing with grounding techniques can help as well. To do this, focus on your senses. Touch something comforting, listen to soothing sounds, or observe calming visuals while taking intentional breaths. This technique can bring you back to the present moment.

MAKE SOME NOISE: Vocalizing and humming are also known to stimulate the vagus nerve and regulate the autonomic nervous system. Sing a favorite song, chant an affirmation, or whoop and howl to attain relief. I recently howled at the moon, and I have to say, it made me feel better.

MOVEMENT: I like to do to gentle jumping and tapping on the body while humming or singing to move energy and clear clutter from my awareness. Engaging in rhythmic activities like rocking, swaying, or gentle dancing also have a calming effect. So does going on a walk and taking time in nature.

FOCUS ON THE SENSES: I was recently reminded of the 54321 (or 5, 4, 3, 2, 1) method of grounding, which is designed to manage acute stress and reduce anxiety. It involves identifying 5 things you can see, 4 things you can touch, 3 things you can hear, 2 things you can smell, and 1 thing you can taste. I must admit, when this was recommended to me, I did an internal eye roll and thought, “that won’t work.” But I tried it anyway, and it did.

The main thing is, be gentle with yourself. Take some time to do self-check ins. Scan your body to see what sensations you feel. Take a moment to describe them from a place of non-judgement. You’re going to be okay, even if you might not feel that way in times of stress.

You’re doing the best you can. Whatever you’re experiencing is likely a common reaction to stress. Be sure to seek help from others if you need it. Community, connection, and looking out for each other is important. We aren’t meant to do everything on our own.

Have you tried any of these techniques? How did it go? Do share, you know I love to hear from you.

Perhaps what you share is something someone needs to hear. If you’re okay with it, I’ll pass your wisdom on to our Blooming Wand community.

Take good care of yourself, and don’t forget to listen to the Blooming Wand podcast where I dive more deeply into this moon cycle’s intention and affirmation. Get those journals out! I’ll see you on the full moon.