Alignment vs. Absorption: The Subtle Shift That Changes Everything
There’s a moment on any healing or awakening journey when you suddenly pause, look around, and think:
“Wait… what happened? I was doing so well. How did I end up back here?”
It can feel confusing, disorienting, and even discouraging when something you thought you’d moved beyond suddenly reappears — whether it’s a habit, a craving, a thought pattern, or a physical or emotional response.
But what if that backward step wasn’t actually a regression?
What if it was a sign — not of failure — but of absorption?
Alignment Is Remembering Who You Are
Alignment is that grounded, steady internal knowing — a settling into your true rhythm.
It’s the feeling of being in integrity with yourself.
It’s when your mind, body, energy, and spirit are working together rather than competing.
In alignment, decisions feel clear.
Your body feels steady.
Your emotions feel honest and present — not overwhelming.
You feel like yourself.
Absorption Is Forgetting Yourself by Taking on What Isn’t Yours
Absorption is the opposite — but it happens quietly.
It isn’t dramatic. It doesn’t announce itself.
It can happen in a single moment, a conversation, a boundary crossed, or even a silent exchange of expectation or energy.
Absorption is when you step into someone else’s energy — their emotional landscape, their patterns, their stress, their unresolved grief or urgency — and somewhere internally… you begin to treat it as your own.
This isn’t intentional.
It’s not weakness.
It’s not lack of awareness.
For highly attuned, intuitive, or sensitive people, absorption is often an old protective instinct — a way of making others more comfortable, safe, or regulated… at the cost of yourself.
A Practical Example: The Sweet Tooth That Came Back
For nine months, I had no cravings for sweets.
None.
Not even during emotional days, special occasions, or moments when sweets were plentiful.
It wasn’t willpower — it was just alignment.
Then, over the course of two or three months, something shifted.
Suddenly:
I wanted sugar.
I reached for candy.
Sweets felt irresistible.
My body had cravings I hadn’t experienced in nearly a year.
And I found myself wondering:
“What happened? Where did I go off track? Why am I acting from a space I moved beyond?”
It wasn’t until I paused — truly paused — that the clarity came.
Nothing inside me had regressed.
Something external had been taken in.
I had absorbed energy — someone else’s emotional weight, urgency, patterning, and stress — and my body responded through an old coping mechanism.
The craving wasn’t the issue.
It was the indicator.
One Choice Can Reset Everything
Once I recognized what happened, I made a single, simple, aligned decision — a clear No where I had previously said Yes.
Not from anger.
Not from shutdown.
Not from self-protection in fear — but protection in truth.
It felt like holding myself the way you’d hold a baby bird or a newborn animal:
Gently.
Lovingly.
With deep responsibility.
Within minutes, something shifted.
My breath deepened.
My nervous system softened.
My energy returned.
And just like that — the cravings dissolved.
Not resisted.
Not fought.
Released.
This Is the Power of Discernment
Absorption often happens when we act from:
Obligation
Unspoken expectation
Old patterns
People-pleasing
Caretaking roles
Emotional or energetic habit
It can be as subtle as agreeing to a client who isn’t aligned or walking into a space without energetic boundaries in place.
And the body — wise as ever — will signal the imbalance long before the mind catches it.
If You’ve Slipped, Pause Before Judging
If you’ve been on the healing path for a while and find yourself suddenly:
Returning to old habits
Feeling emotions that don’t make sense
Making choices you thought you moved beyond
Experiencing physical symptoms seemingly “out of nowhere”
It may not be regression.
It may be absorption.
Not everything you feel is yours to carry.
Returning to Alignment Is a Practice, Not a Performance
You don’t have to fight your way back.
You don’t have to work harder.
Sometimes, all that’s needed is:
One boundary
One realization
One moment of clarity
One choice that honors you
And the body — once again — remembers its true rhythm.
A Final Thought
This season — with its sweets, indulgences, gatherings, noise, and emotion — can make the energetic waters fuller and more textured.
And yet…
Here I am in early December, surrounded by all of it, and not craving what once pulled at me.
Not because I’m resisting —
But because I’m aligned.
And alignment doesn’t ask you to restrict yourself.
It simply removes the desire for what was never truly yours.
If this resonates with you:
Take a breath.
Place a gentle hand over your heart.
And remind yourself:
💛 “I can honor others without absorbing them.”
💛 “My energy belongs to me.”
💛 “I choose alignment.”
Take a breath.
Place a gentle hand over your heart.
And remind yourself:
