Life can be tough – it can give us reeling WTF moments in big scale ways or every day little WTF moments.
So how do we jump back from these setbacks? How do we keep on keeping on when all we feel like doing is wading under our doona and never seeing the light of day again??
The first and biggest thing I can tell you is this – it is absolutely, well and truly, okay to not be okay. It really is. I don’t want you to wallow in it but you are allowed a time out, a restful stage as you recalibrate and get back up again. A time for introspection, healing and learning from the wisdom of the situation.
The next? Get your gratitude on! Seriously gratitude is a game changer. If you don’t have time for anything else in your life, do gratitude. And really put your all into it. In your journal, or even have a separate, pretty journal you can do ALL your gratitude in at first so that it is literally only filled with high vibe gratitude lists. Find 5 things to be grateful for. Start each sentence with I am grateful for… I now write I am super duper grateful for… Make it your own and make it fun. Now the secret behind this is you can ONLY write positive stuff, there is no ifs, buts or what have yous. It is literally I am grateful for… Bonus points if you can find positives in the not so great stuff going on. This is not a game to beat yourself up about something else – if all you can say you are grateful for is that you got up and got dressed, then that is also perfect.
Journaling is one of the best things you can do for yourself, but if you are not a big writer then there are other ways to start getting up those churning thoughts and feelings that are swimming around in your system. You can chat to a safe friend. Even if all they do is listen as you purge it out. You can dance it out. Seriously. Whack on your music – I like shuffling and knowing the universe will provide the perfect songs that I need for this and I move. Allow yourself to think and feel what it is your needing to get out and follow your instincts. You may stomp your feet to release it, shake your hands, sway sensually as you allow your body to process and release it. Nothing is wrong and everything is right. Just go with the flow, listen to the lyrics as I can guarantee you that they will have provided some beautiful insight that you can take away and stop when you feel lighter, when the heaviness of what you were working through has gone.
Acceptance. Oh such an easy word, harder to put into action. When you can fully accept yourself, the situation and anything and everything – you start to shift. You start to see the lessons that were behind what you were in or going through. You begin to not put so much stock into your experiences because you fully accept them as just is. You begin to realise that you, just as you are – are pretty damn perfect and when that happens?? Magic can happen! Your imperfectness becomes perfect and you realise you are where and how you are because it is right for you at this time. Allow yourself to be open to the possibility of acceptance if you cannot fully embrace it at first. Start with a little mantra of ‘May I accept myself’ and really start to see yourself and your life as perfectly perfect for you.
And lastly choice. Did you know that you cannot control everything??? Like seriously did you know?? If you do then why are you getting so caught up on things?? Here is the thing – you cannot control anything that happens externally in your world. Nothing, nada, zip. Soooo rather than getting yourself in a tizz over it, here is what you can control… Are you ready? You can control your reactions to things. Yep that is all you can control and yet most of us act like we don’t have this super power. While you cannot always help what is done to you – you most certainly can choose your reaction to it. You can choose how you let that scenario play out in your life, and how you let it fundamentally change you. It can be a tough pill to swallow as we are all about blaming others, situations for what is wrong with ourselves, or our lives etc. But really we hold all that power. It is us that chooses to do something with that knowledge. So over to you – are you going to allow it to burden you or lift you?? Only you can make that decision.
We all have stuff we go through, that knocks us for six, that has us shaking our head like a coconut has bonked us on there.
It is in the power of getting our foundations solid rock and working our way through them with a lightness, rather than a heaviness that is going to see you through to that sunny day again.
Remember practice makes perfect, so do these things most days, don’t just do them when the going gets tough, as if you start them now – the going won’t be so tough.
Till next time… keep walking your spiritual path.