Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sheila Zayas. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sheila, so good to have you with us today. We’ve always been impressed with folks who have a very clear sense of purpose and so maybe we can jump right in and talk about how you found your purpose?
My purpose emerged from my quest to relieve my stress and anxiety. Demands from work, errands, family, and everything in between kept me busy moving from one thing to the next. Time seemed to be moving faster than I could handle.
Feeling frustrated and depleted, all I wanted was a break from it all, but I had no choice. I had to keep going because I had to pay my bills and handle my daily responsibilities. At night, it was hard to shut the mental chatter in my head that looped around about the million things I didn’t get to during the day or re-hashing a conversation I had with someone. This made it difficult to sleep. So, I constantly felt tired and short tempered.
Everything was suffering – my relationships were chaotic, my finances were messy, and my mental state was foggy. I was so deep in my shit show that I couldn’t see a way out of my situation. Thinking about my purpose was the last thing on my mind.
Tired of not resting and feeling worn-out every day, I began to look for ways to feel better. I wanted a natural, holistic approach without medication.
That’s when I discovered modalities such as breathwork, which saved my life from a sense of despair. I also found sound healing, meditation, and crystals. As I engaged with these vibrational ways to heal, I started to feel peace and calmness in my mindset and my body. I created more mental clarity and energy. I befriended my anxiety and listened to what it was trying to tell me. The mental clarity and replenished energy levels are what led to my purpose. It had been lying underneath the surface of the chaotic feelings and life.
My purpose is to help others find relief from stress and anxiety so they can live within their purpose. Sharing the tools and techniques that got me out of survival mode, so that others can experience the same inner peace I have found lights me up. I believe everyone has the potential to find their purpose, and I am committed to helping others do just that by way of deep relaxation.
Great, so let’s take a few minutes and cover your story. What should folks know about you and what you do?
I am owner of Mindful Vibes, a holistic wellness practice that helps people deeply relax and find inner peace so they can lessen stress and anxiety and open mental space for living out their purpose.
Services include breathwork and energy healing with reiki and crystals. My clients report feeling more happiness and joy in their lives as well as taking more time to better care for themselves. What makes me unique is my ability to hear between the lines of what someone is saying. I remember when I was in the thick of my stress and anxiety that I couldn’t see the other side of my situation and I thought that is how life went – stressful and with more to do than I could handle. Being there, I can lovingly and gently reflect to people their mindset and give them ways to change it into one that is more aligned with what they want.
Everyone receives a spiritual prescription of energetic practices and rituals to perform at home to calm down the stressful feelings. I love it when someone returns to my office after a session with newfound hope and brightness in their eyes!
I offer a free workshop for women, but men are welcome to attend. It is called The Go-getter Woman’s Guide to Inner Peace: How to Turn Stress and Anxiety into a Living Purpose. Visit my website for an upcoming date. I also conduct Reiki Circles and New Moon Intention Setting workshops.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
One of the principles that impacted me the most is taking responsibility for my life. I spent many years playing the victim role and blaming everything and everyone around me. I thought my boss at the time was stretching me too thin or that my partner was acting up. When I took stock of my own contribution to my life and realized that no one was coming to save me, I shifted my mindset into understanding the lessons that the hardships brought.
From this vantage point, I became conscious of another tenet – that I am the Source of all I see. I must be, otherwise, every single human being would have the same perspective and experiences. It is my background, failures, fears, traumas, and successes that shape the situations and people I manifest into my life. Now, whenever something difficult happens to me, I still get frustrated and angry. But now I ask what is this trying to teach me? From which place within me am I creating this experience? The more I practice this, the faster the answers come and the more I can consciously create my experiences as opposed to letting life happen to me.
A third and powerful skill is learning my own stress warning signals. How I react to stress physically and emotionally gives me clues when I’m going over the edge and swelling toward anxiety. Paying attention to my body and mental state via meditation and stillness has helped me to stay in balance. Now, when I notice stress creeping up, I make sure to stop, do something creative, get some rest, or watch a comedy to lighten myself up. I have a Stress Quiz on my website as a resource because I think knowing one’s stress warning signals is super important in finding peace.
What do you do when you feel overwhelmed? Any advice or strategies?
The first thing is to recognize when I feel overwhelmed. It can be different for everyone, but for me, it is feeling chaotic, I’m rushing from one thing to the next, I feel a sense of terror that I’m going to drop the many moving balls, I feel anxious and like I have too many things to do and not enough time.
The second step is to cut the hamster race and put myself in a much-needed time out. This could be going for a walk, playing a silly block game on my phone, sitting out in nature, or making a warm cup of tea that I sip on while doing nothing.
Next, I analyze my massive to-do list to see what my priority should be and what could wait. I don’t have to do it all at once. I set boundaries with people without the guilt of feeling like I’m failing or disappointing them. It is better to disappoint another when that means taking on the task will send me into a mental spiral.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mindfulvibes.net
- Instagram: www.instagram.com/yourmindfulvibes
- Facebook: www.fb.com/yourmindfulvibes
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sheilazayas/
Image Credits
David Muir
