We all hit bumps in the road, have curveballs thrown at us, feel a bit lost, beaten down or like we’re going nowhere at times.
Welcome to Life! It’s kind of like a big, continuous game of Snakes & Ladders.
Life will always be up and down, high and low, good and bad. We live in a world of polarity and opposites (in the physical/3D realm anyway!). Think about it, we can only know the good because we’ve experienced the bad, the high because of the low, the joy because of the sadness (you get the picture!).
The other thing about life is, it’s always constantly changing. You only need to look at nature or a newborn baby to see how quickly things change day to day, week to week, season to season.
So what am I trying to share with you?
Basically that once we start to connect into the idea, that nothing remains the same, everything is always evolving (including us!) and when we begin to let go of our need to attach or hold onto things/people/ideas/beliefs/values ‘as they were/are’; we can actually start to bring more ease and joy into our lives and begin to move along again in flow with it (instead of against it).
So how can we start to build this practice?
- Acceptance – start to acknowledge and accept things exactly as they are right now, without your need to analyse, advise or criticise. This is a crucial first step! Acceptance does not mean agreeing with or liking what’s happening right now but it acts like a GPS signal, pinpointing exactly where you are. Then from this place you can begin to pivot and see what might be a next good move for you. Without full acknowledgement of where you’re at, it’s very hard to move in any direction (just like Google maps!).
- Breathe – yes, as simple as it sounds, we have been gifted the most incredible power of all time – our breath! Stop (place your hands on your heart for some extra super-charged power) and breathe deep – in through your nose, focusing on bringing your breath all the way to your belly, pause for a few seconds, release fully & repeat, as many times as needed. Instantly this calms our central nervous system, regulates our blood pressure, makes us feel more energised and takes us out of the ‘fight or flight’ mode. Focus on your heart space as you do this and listen to what it has to tell you.
- Gratitude – change your focus, change your thoughts, change your life. Instead of allowing the program to run over and over again of what’s gone wrong, what’s missing, what you don’t have, who you can blame, how you’ve been hard done by, what you can’t do (or any other of the million and one possible scenarios!), shift your focus to gratitude. Look around you and notice what you do have (friends, family, legs, arms, eyes, hair, electricity, cups, chairs, a car, house, clothes, warmth, fresh air, trees, grass, food, clean water, a toilet, shoes…). Notice and be thankful for every seemingly trivial thing around you, wherever you are. Soon you will begin to see infinite abundance and blessings all around you, no matter what’s happening or lacking.
- Compassion – for yourself and what you’re going through. Know you’re not broken, there are no ‘should’s’, you’re not being punished or victimised, you’re not less deserving than anyone else. Everyone is on their soul path and I find the most sensitive souls, with the greatest gifts, often go through the darkest times in order to bloom to the brightest lights.
Piece these 4 all together and believe me you have a powerful starting point to help you get moving along again in the direction of your life. They really are a game-changers (speaking personally here as well!).
What these seemingly simple steps do, is they drop you into the present moment, allow you to gain perspective and create space from what has been consuming you. From here, you can begin to look up and see possible steps open up. Different avenues to explore. Ideas to thrash out or supports to reach out to.
The emotions of gratitude and compassion are high vibrational emotions as well and when we feel these high vibe emotions, more of the same shows up (conversely feeling negative emotions such as fear, anger, hatred, resentment, lack etc attracts more of the same also!).
No matter what we’re going through, anything is possible but it’s always up to us to take the steps. Doing what we’ve always done, will give us what we’ve always got. If we want something different, we need to do something different. It really is that simple but I definitely know that doesn’t mean it’s easy!
Remember there is no ‘wrong’ path, we’re always learning and as Gabrielle Bernstein said, ‘Obstacles are detours in the right direction’.
