Working through intensity: Energy, intuition, & finding calm in a difficult week

This week has been emotionally heavy for me. I went through a deeply distressing interaction with a neighbour who has, over time, consistently displayed behaviour that I experience as aggressive and destabilizing.

Recovering from trauma.

When he first moved in, he made a statement that he intended to “drive me out of the neighbourhood.” Since then, there have been ongoing incidents that have left me feeling unsafe, overwhelmed, and emotionally worn down.

Some of these experiences have included environmental disruption that significantly affected my use of my own property—such as beehives placed near my balcony that made it difficult to use my outdoor areas during the warm summer months.

There was also major excavation work on his property that destabilized the ground near my driveway, followed by a prolonged open pit that contributed to visible damage and issues with my driveway. There were other border-related events that I won’t get into detail about.

My life was chaotic and exhausting. I built this custom workbook to map out the exact spiritual tools I used to reclaim my sanity. You can download the complete $12 framework here.

Attempts to address these concerns directly were not productive, and I was instead met with dismissive responses and belittlement. Over time, this pattern has left me feeling demeaned and traumatized and struggling in how to handle the situation.

There have also been moments where I’ve felt physically intimidated—behaviours I experienced as threatening, including confrontational presence near property boundaries and unsafe driving incidents. The cumulative effect has been one of sustained stress.

The breaking point

Over the weekend, another incident occurred that left me extremely shaken. I felt deeply traumatized afterward and was unable to sleep through the night. The event triggered me to remember all of the past incidences and these replayed in my mind. The sense of being unsettled stayed with me into the next day.

When I finally sat in meditation the following morning, my mind produced a strong symbolic image: a snake.

It startled me at first. I was already feeling fragile, and the image carried intensity. But I also recognize that in many symbolic systems—especially Jungian psychology and various folklore traditions—the snake can represent conflict, transformation, or hidden tension rising to the surface. In that sense, it felt like an internal mirror of what I had just experienced.

Turning toward tools that help me regulate & find calm

When I feel overwhelmed like this, I often turn to esoteric and intuitive practices I’ve gathered over the years. These tools don’t solve external situations, but they help me regulate internally so I can think more clearly and feel more grounded.

One of the first things I did to find calm was a simple intuitive yes/no exercise. I wrote out questions and answered them quickly, without overthinking—trying to access intuition rather than analysis.

Some of the questions included:

• Do I want to sell my house?

• Do I want to move because of this situation?

• Can I manage this dynamic as it is?

• Am I going to be here long-term?

• Am I afraid?

• Is this part of a larger karmic lesson for me?

The purpose was to use my intuition to better understand my feelings and understand my level of trauma. It also helped me to identify areas to concentrate on over the next few days as I try to resolve this trauma at a physical level.

Energy work & emotional release

I also used an energy-based healing practice I’ve learned previously, where intention and visualization are used to work with areas of tension in the body.

I focused on areas where I feel I store stress—especially my root chakra and shoulders—and visualized working with energy in those spaces. I also brought attention to my full energetic system, moving through each chakra centre with the intention of clearing and calming with the energy.

For me, the experience of this kind of practice is about shifting attention away from overwhelm and toward a sense of internal peace and removal of negative energy in the body. After completing the exercise, I did feel a noticeable softening in my body and nervous system.

Meaning-making, not certainty

I’m still sitting with the symbolism from my meditation. The image of the snake felt powerful, but I don’t see it as a fixed message so much as an expression of inner and outer conflict converging at once.

It may reflect fear, stress, or transformation—or simply my mind and spirit processing intensity in symbolic form.

What feels important is noticing how my inner world and physical being responds to stress and how I can support myself through it.

Moving forward

Life has its cycles of ease and difficulty, and this past weekend felt like a clear low point for me emotionally. I’ve asked for clarity and resolution around the situation, and I’m thinking that practical, human-level action may be necessary alongside any internal work.

For now, I’m continuing to focus on grounding practices, emotional regulation, and connection with spirit. The esoteric tools I use are part of that process—they help me find the essence of who I am. 

And from that place, I can move towards healing and make clearer decisions about what comes next.