Staying Centered in Uncertain Times
Lately it feels like things are changing on a moment by moment basis. The pandemic has tossed life upside down, and we are all navigating into unknown terrain.
I’ve been so many shades and tones these past few weeks. One moment feeling positive and can-do, the next grappling with financial anxieties and long-term implications.
As a transformational teacher, I’ve struggled to find my voice and how best to show up and offer support. As an empath, I’ve struggled to maintain my energetic boundaries and separate out my feelings from the collective. As a grief author, I’m realizing and feeling the magnitude of loss, and it’s triggered a complex web of grief tied in with the loss of my brother.
It’s been a challenging time to stay centered, yet the more I’ve sat with the question of how I’m feeling called to show up, the more I’m feeling called to step deeply into a space of self-love and stay present with myself.
It strikes me that one of the buried lights in this disruption and confusion is that we have a unique opportunity to be present for ourselves and each other. To witness our feelings. To notice where we’re at. To practice extreme self-empathy with our emotional experience, so we can bring compassion into our space of self.
Nobody knows what to feel right now. Every single tone, flavor, and emotive shade is perfectly valid, and the more we can bring the energy of self-acceptance into our process, the more we can stay on top of our emotions instead of having them topple us.
Here’s a few simple ideas that are helping me maintain center and perspective during this time:
Good old-fashioned gratitude lists.
I believe this is a time where it’s extra important to foster the energy of appreciation in our lives. Noting all the things that are going right. Cultivating thankfulness for the good. Being grateful for family, nature, animal friends, art, sunshine, something good on Netflix.
Notice what sparks appreciation in you. Take a mindful moment to make a list and feel the goodness of each item. Notice how it makes your energy feel when you do this.
Keeping a sense of purpose.
Today I wrote down some things that I feel I can do to help the world right now including: Staying in. Choosing not to be a contributor to the consciousness of fear. Showing up in the virtual spaces I occupy with light, joy, poetry, and warmth. Offering spiritual perspectives and healing words as I feel called to do.
In the face of feeling helpless, it helps to focus on what we can do right now and how we can contribute. Know that the smallest acts of hope, light and healing are absolutely needed.
Staying in touch with what we are certain of.
Love. Hope. Our spiritual connection. The goodness of the universe. The healing power of the earth. The resourcefulness of humanity— some things are timeless and unchanging.
The comfort in a cup of tea. The friendliness of a good book. The gift of fresh sheets, a clean space, and the love of our animal friends —finding tiny anchors each day can give us a sense of stability when we’re disoriented.
Whether big or small, we need things to ground and anchor into right now. Make a list of what those are for you. Refer to it as often as you need for a comforting grounding practice.
Checking in with ourselves.
Whenever I feel overwhelmed, something I’ve always found helpful is to do a self-inventory and check in with where I’m at. How does my body feel? What are my thoughts? What emotions do I have? How does my heart feel?
Checking in with ourselves allows us to stay in a space of awareness and acknowledgment. Sometimes, if we feel out of sorts, all we need to do to shift is make space for what is there. Witnessing and simply acknowledging ourselves can be a powerful tool, which allows us to move through our feelings and not get stuck.
Make friends with uncertainty.
I’m coming to realize that however life looks in post-quarantine days, it will not go back to the way things were. Uncertainty is going to be part of our psychological landscape for a while, so the more we can learn to embrace it and make peace with uncertainty, the more we are able to find stability in shifting sands.
Life right now is a series of learning to lean right when we thought things were going left, and learning to go left, just when we thought things were going right.
It’s like we are all on a giant roller coaster together and we don’t know what twists and turns are coming next, so we need to stay as flexible and open as possible, which brings me to this last point.
Develop the attitude of being on a journey.
I recently opened the Akashic Records (the energetic records of soul) on the pandemic, in order to try and get some spiritual perspective on the matter. One of the questions I asked the records was: Can you offer perspective on how best to navigate this time?
I was given the wisdom that it would be good for us to metaphorically view life right now as a long road trip. The kind of trip where you pack the car as best you can to anticipate your needs. But inevitably you will need to stop for food, get gas, go to a rest stop, etc. You might even experience the car breaking down, needing to stay overnight somewhere, or experiencing some other form of unexpected challenge.
The guides in the records encouraged each of us to stay adaptable and remember how resilient, capable, clever and resourceful we can be.
So, let’s see ourselves as spirit does: resilient, capable, clever and resourceful and believe in our ability to navigate this.
(If you are interested in learning more about the Akashic Records, here’s a recent blog).
We’ve got this humanity.
Let’s keep breathing deep. Keeping our hearts open. Showing up as we feel called to do.
Supporting each other in kindness. Trusting our hearts. Trusting the universe. Trusting the process. Feeling what we feel, healing as we heal, and knowing each of us is doing beautifully on the journey.
