RESCUE PLAN

The connection comes with overcoming boundaries

This rescue plan is created for daily life situations you are probably familiar with.
With freediving and retreats that we offer, we invite you to go deeper. Let’s explore together!

We are here to teach you how your freediving experiences apply to your daily life situations and vice versa. You will discover that water intensifies your sensitivity and awareness. With practice you gain more insights, better coordination and strength that will change your life forever.

Feelings are created by our mind whether they are conscious or not. What we focus on determines the way we are feeling. We can change our focus and thoughts, thus we can change our feelings. Awareness and acceptance with compassion and love is the key to make different choices. Taking one step at the time is the path to the goal. Once you start making conscious choices, you will understand that you always have a choice. Being in charge of it and being responsible for the consequences gives you great power. You have more self esteem, discover your full potential and learn to be your best self. Life does not just happen to you rather YOU choose to live.

GOOD TO KNOW:

  • Emotions/feelings: know that having emotions is very good. Feeling means that energy is flowing and changing; Welcome emotions and be aware of what you are feeling.
  • Mind: Know that all feelings/emotions are created by our mind (sometimes unconscious); Remember that thoughts can be changed, thus feelings/emotions will change too!
  • Feeling “stuck or numb”: If you get distracted from feeling or sense numbness, your emotions have created a blockage/stagnation. The way out of it is to engage  your mind and awareness more until the feelings are acknowledged and emotions can flow again.
  • Shallow breathing and lack of exercise: Exercise can increase the breathing cycle and evoke emotions to come up, which is a good thing! Lack of exercise supports shallow breathing, which invites fear to be more present. Fear is a strong emotion that overrules consciousness and awareness. Through conscious breathing all emotions and feelings have room and can come forward. This will bring more balance to body, mind and soul.
  • Hormones/ brain chemistry: Sometimes brain chemistry, especially for women during different phases of menstrual cycle, can have an influence on how things  and situations are perceived and dealt with. Be compassionate with yourself, nature always finds a way to restore balance again. 
  • Our Focus: What we focus on determines how we are feeling.
  • Loosing weight means loosing and gaining: Loosing some pounds means getting rid of old patterns and habits. In return more self esteem is gained. 
  • Other things that affect: Climate change, weather, “outer” circumstances… basically everything that you perceive through all senses (sight, hearing, smelling, tasting etc) can create a link to past events in your life. Complex mind/cell memory functions affect your feelings and emotions. For example sometimes you just don’t feel good and don’t really know why. There is always a reason for your body to react and for you to perceive something in a certain way. Trust your body and appreciate the signs. It gives you a chance to explore and work with.
  • Different phases of life pulse: it is completely normal that different phases (expansion, contraction, and stasis) appear during different periods in life at each moment. It is wonderful to feel “good” at all times, but in order to experience “good”, you need to know how “bad” feels. In other words; there is no light without shadow. There is no need to get rid of one or the other. A successful learning tool is to relax into the moment through all phases in life.
  • Your choice: You have a choice every moment and even though you might think, things just happen to you, it is always a choice and creation that you are responsible for. Often, the biggest mistake is that only the “outcome” is seen and judged. For example you hate the addiction and want to get rid of it as soon as possible. At the same time the path to get there is ignored. It takes many little steps and actions each moment that creates the path and the change in the end. 
  • Each step: The conclusion is that each step counts and each step is made by learning. Keeping the focus on the goal distracts from walking the path that leads to the goal. 

From consciousness to liveliness

INSTANT ACTIONS AND SUPPORT STEPS:

  • Start feeling “down”: All you need to do is be aware that you are feeling “low” at the moment and accept that. There is no reason to fight or deny since it is inevitable. The question now is only how you deal with it. Kind of “It is what it is…so what you gonna do about it?”
  • Acceptance: First and most important after becoming aware of your feelings, is acceptance. Instead of judging or denying your feelings, have compassion for yourself and accept the situation. 
  • Allowance: After accepting the way you feel and have compassion for yourself; knowing that there is always a reason why you feel that way, allow yourself to feel. If you are sad, angry, depressed etc. welcome all those feelings and work with it. Allow yourself to be yourself. You have a choice each moment what you want to do. Most of all: do it with compassion, consciousness and love. 
  • Consciousness: This is where you have brought your consciousness into play and decisions were made by taking responsibility for all your actions. The consequences are only the byproduct of your choices that you made. Whatever you are doing, do it with consciousness and responsibility.
  • Past events: Now you will see that perceptions and feelings in the present are triggered by the mind based on past events. What you have experienced in the past highly affects your mind and how you see and deal with the present. You find out how you are in transference (which means you see the present through the veil of the past) and you have more compassion for yourself. This is a huge step forward since you are stepping into your power, taking responsibility and leaving the victim place or blaming defense away.
  • Your choice: Maybe you discover that there are more than one voices telling you different things. For example one voice would say “you cannot change, it is impossible after having this and this” etc. Another voice would say “ I can change, I have changed things in the past and I can apply it now”. You see that you have a choice to pick the voice you want to pay attention and listen to. No matter what, allow all voices to be heard. Pay the same attention to the voice that says “nothing can be changed” as to the voice that says “I can change right now”. Choose your ally, choose which thoughts you want to give more attention and let that voice be your guide. 
  • Defense/resistance: You will find a place where you go most likely into your defense. This means for example, if you feel “down” and someone would say “lets go for a swim”, you would act as if this was the most stupid idea and the last thing you would do. This is your defense. The moment you face the most resistance, you will experience the longing for and beginning of change.  
  • Step by step: Again, nothing is impossible… you don’t need to swim across a lake when you feel low but maybe you can start by taking a bath or go for a short swim. If you choose to do what you have tried so many times in the past without success (for example sleeping instead of taking actions, procrastinating etc.), you will be confronted with the same voices and similar situations over and over. Each step will bring you over the ocean. You cannot aim for the goal without walking the path.
  • Give credit to yourself: Slowly you will notice a new pattern in your behavior. Maybe each time you are confronted with something, you make slightly different choices. Maybe you spent only four days on the couch watching Tv instead of a whole week. Or you eat two plates of comfort food but resisted that one package of cookies for desert. It could be that you called your friend even though you first did not feel like socializing. Most important: Notice the changes you made and how you take a step. This is empowering. Take the support offered if you want. It is much easier and helpful most of the time. Keep in mind that no one can walk the path for you. If you want to have the life experience, you will need to walk the path yourself. Be proud of yourself! 
  • Contact/support: The best thing is that support is always somewhere and somehow offered. It is only one aspect of you that would say “no one is helping me”.  You are resisting change and thus listen to that voice. Make a choice, listen to the other voice that would say “I am not waiting for help, I reach out for support”. This empowers you to be supported.
  • List: Create your own list of what helps you the most to make different choices. Maybe create a list where you put all things down that you would do the least when you are not feeling good. Those are all the key points where you can start. Taking little steps, one at the time. Prepare the list when you are feeling balanced. Once you are off balance, your defense system is preventing you from being creative. 
  • Take action: Change happens when you take action. You will see that all effort that you put into avoidance is strenuous and self destructive. It takes at least as much effort to stay in a comfort zone that is clearly not comfortable anymore, as it takes effort to create a new comfort zone.

The courage starts where fear ends.