Return Home to Self
This post may support those who are concerned with Covid-19, world events, politics, the environment, and general the stress and worries that we carry individually. Yourself needs yourself, if that many any sense at all. And when we are there for ourselves, we return home.
I can see it so clearly when clients start thinking about a negative potential outcome, and all the potential issues that might arise in that case. Their face drops. Their eyes become more dull, less bright. They look suddenly tired. And I can tell that their mood has changed.
“That!” I say, “that thing you’re doing right now….you are thinking of a potential negative outcome or possible negative future, aren’t you?”
They’ll nod, “yeah.”
Ok. “Stop doing that. Take a breath. Take another breath. Trust that whatever happens that you will deal with it as it comes, and come back to the here and now.”
If they follow that, I see them change again. They look less tired. Their eyes light up again. They sit up straighter, and I can that their mood starts to lighten.
I call this process swimming to shore, or returning home, home to the self and the now.
Often people will be resistant to returning to the present moment as a way to find calm....because so many things can go wrong! And we think that thinking about it will help in some way, such as helping to plan or prepare. While it is good to be aware of potential outcomes, or repercussions, taking on the stress and feelings that the thoughts engender cause unnecessary suffering.
How do you want to show up in your life, your day, this very minute? As one consumed with fear about the future? Or as one who trusts that whatever comes up, it will be handled. And for now, all that we have is simply that: the now.
In the now, there is great freedom. We can rest in this place. We have swum to the shore. We have returned home.
If I could go back to my younger self, with this knowledge, I know that I would have experienced much more meaning from life. I would have been lighter in spirit. I would have laughed easier.
While we cannot go back, we can start…from where? The now of course! Keep returning
home, keep swimming to shore. When you notice that you’ve gone into fear, breathe. Breathe again. Trust that you will handle whatever comes up in life. And return home. What better time to practice this stuff then in the time of Covid-19- when we are more and more focused our ourselves and the well-being of loved ones.
Be well all.
Janine
Image credits:
Photo by Tina Dawson on Unsplash
Photo by Volha Flaxeco on Unsplash