Introducing the Emotional Shift Project
The Emotional Shift Project—blending art with emotional awareness for better resilience in turbulent times.
When I began creating mandala videos last year, I was motivated by the frenetic pace of social media. So many of the videos I was being shown had a lot of quick cuts and were very high energy. I wanted to create something that was the antithesis of that; something slow and relaxing.
I really enjoyed the process and was somewhat happy with the results, but there was something missing and I wasn’t quite sure what.
When I revisited the videos late last year, one of the thoughts that came up was that I needed more substance to help guide me when I got stuck. “Something calming” was too vague. I also had an urge to create more than only a visual to look at. To figure out how to pull everything together, I reflected on my personal development.
One of my biggest struggles is being an intense person. Any emotions I feel, positive or negative, are BIG. It can be quite overwhelming.
With the help of a lot of reading about neurodivergence and trauma, as well as a therapist who specializes in sensorimotor psychotherapy, I’ve learned how to be a better outward observer, a detective about what is happening inside of me and how that’s connected to my tornado of thoughts.
I’ve been able to not only look at myself and others with a bit more objectivity and understanding, I can give myself a little more grace about what I struggle with. (Little is a deliberate word choice. I’m nicer to myself, but let’s just say I’m not always the best boss to work for. 😄)
Two of the things that have helped me most are connecting language to my emotions and understanding my feelings more in order to surf the wave a little better when it hits. (Yes! Emotions and feelings are different!)
ANNOUNCING THE EMOTIONAL SHIFT PROJECT
There is so much tension that surrounds us this year. So many of us, myself included, are feeling anger, dread, grief, and defeat about the upcoming days. There is a lot that we don’t have agency over.
Finding what’s controllable in what seems completely out of control is incredibly important to our physical and mental well-being.
Anybody can become angry - that is easy, but to be angry with the right person and to the right degree and at the right time and for the right purpose, and in the right way - that is not within everybody’s power and is not easy. — Aristotle
I created this project to blend my art with my journey of connecting language to my emotions. My aim is to help you deepen your emotional connections in order to better navigate the turbulence we're all facing. Our emotions drive our action, and taking action is important now more than ever.
This project is not about shifting out of negativity into positivity, but out of negativity into neutrality. It’s not about making the storms go away, but accepting that storms are going to come and having the tools to be ready for them.
I recognize that what has worked for me may not work for others. I went through many different things trying to figure out what clicked. My hope is that some of what I share clicks for you.
ALL OF THE DETAILS
I’ve broken 2025 down into 4 quarters and 4 emotions.
January - March: Anger
April - June: Grief
July - September: Defeat
October - December: Dread
There will be 2 mandala videos published to YouTube each month (except January) that focus on expressing and releasing the emotion of that quarter. The beginning of the video is an exercise to follow along with that transitions into a relaxing mandala. There is no paywall or exclusive link to the videos, they will always be available for free.
If you would like to dive a bit deeper into the emotion beyond watching the video, there is an accompanying PDF guide that includes the meaning behind the mandala and how to work with it, an essay about a topic relevant to the emotion, additional release exercises and/or other suggestions for how to connect with the beauty of the world, and audio/reading resources.
Guides are available for purchase the following ways:
Individually
Quarterly membership
Year-long membership
Individual Guides - $5 each
Guides will be available on this webpage, in the description of each YouTube video, as well as in each monthly Positively Disintegrating newsletter.
The first video is out TODAY and the first guide will be available as pay what you wish for 24 hours!
Want the guide for FREE?
Type “0” in the box on the product page that says “Name a Fair Price.”
Quarterly Membership - $22 for the first quarter
Membership gets you access to every Emotional Shift guide in a quarter as they become released. You’ll receive a notification each time a new video and guide becomes available. Quarterly membership for quarter one gets you a 12% discount off of purchasing the guides individually (a $3 savings). Your guides will be available for download until the end of 2025.
Because there is one fewer guide and video in the first quarter, the price is less than the next quarters will be. Quarters 2-4 will be $27 each.
Membership does not automatically renew at the end of the quarter; you will only be billed for one quarter.
Year-long Membership - $85
A year long membership gets you access to every Emotional Shift guide for the entirety of 2025 (23 guides) as they become released. You’ll receive a notification each time a new video and guide becomes available.
Year-long membership gets you one quarter of guides (6 guides) for free! Membership does not automatically renew at the end of the year; you will only be billed for 2025.
The Quarter One topic is ANGER.
One of the most charged emotions, anger tends to bring up additional feelings of shame as we are conditioned to not be “angry people.” Anger is actually an incredibly useful emotion and can be positive when channelled well. Working with our anger allows us to engage more intelligently and calmly with whatever issue is at hand.
Guide One is titled “We Are Angry All the Time” and focuses on how current events are leaving us feeling perpetually angry. It may be something we just have to accept, but by no means do we have to be passive in our acceptance. In fact, it’s better for our health if we’re not.
Want the guide for FREE?
Type “0” in the box on the product page that says “Name a Fair Price.”
Remember it’s only free for 24 hours so grab yours soon!
I’m really excited to finally put this work out into the world! I’m open to any questions and feedback you may have, and if you have any issues with getting the guides, please let me know!
Be well,
Giesla