A Little While

Feeling in a slump? Not feeling a new year’s buzz? Don’t stress it.

What to do?

Take a look inside. Don’t get scared. What do you find? Instead of turning your gaze away from the messy parts of life, stay looking, not in judgment, but with kindness. Kindness and pity are not the same. Figure out the difference. Kindness leads to something healthy, something that aligns with life. Pity is the opposite. It keeps us behind prison doors, often in shackles to a shitfest of emotions.

We are all a little neurotic, a little anxious, depressed, angry, irritable, confused, impulsive, compulsive….ahh the list can be long. Our neuroses don’t have to bring us down, however. We can usually work with them. Remember kindness is the key here, not judgment. Giving ourselves room to be, opening up the window of our mind-hearts and airing out the closed room of our self is a good step.

Take a walk outside. Making it a point to go outside more, being in nature, walking barefooted on the grass, getting full of dirt, sweating, all of these things are medicine for the achy and wounded heart. We spend way too much on our phones reading things like this and too little time in sweet surrender with our larger body which is this beautiful planet Earth. 

Find a movement practice. A movement practice can be something like yoga, working out, or dancing. (It should be something that brings you deep pleasure, especially when you feel that you are not good at it.) Move your body in such a way that you are paying attention to the movement within the body and outside the body. Give yourself permission not to think. The breath is key here. For this to really work, it has to be a practice, something you do on a daily basis, even if it’s for just a couple of minutes each day. Waiting for the right time or for a class where you do your once-a-week practice won’t cut it. 

Practice patience. The impossible will take awhile sang Billie Holiday. Right now, however, we may find ourselves is a good time, not because things are going to get better right away, but because we get to practice, we get to notice, we get to be our unique and wondrous selves. Change is coming. But if it’s the kind of change that’s real, it will come from deep within, it will not be forced, you may not post it on Facebook, it will be imperceptible to those around you. It will be the size of a mustard seed. Small at the start. You will know. You will smile. Patience. 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UoOUbp_zEzI

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