We are all feeling anxious and vulnerable these days due to what is going on in the world, the United States, and our own community. Change is inevitable. Feeling fearful is normal. Our role is to really look at these feelings and sit with them and let them come up and be transformed into action, rituals of letting them go, or continuing to spend time with them without them possessing us. Homeopathy would call this a miasm. If we allow it to possess us it can set us up for a level of vulnerability that can make us more susceptible to distress, diseases, and depression.
I too am feeling all the above but will use a small but vital personal change that is impacting my life to suggest some supports. Yes, as some of you have probably heard, Linda will be retiring from here on March 1. We will miss her so much and as my plan is to try to run things pretty much on my own, it’s a bit frightening and overwhelming. Linda has been grounding for me when I get crazed, or irritated, or just having a bad hair day. She has the ability to calm the most anxious patient. She is able to find things in common to talk about with just about anyone and make them feel comfortable. She can organize and coordinate things so easily it is mystifying. She can answer just about any question you ask and in a way you can understand. She and I have been together so long that we laugh about requiring the other person so as we age, our memory and knowledge compliments and allows us to continue to function whole brained!!
How am I coping with this or any change? Here are a few suggestions that I have found really valuable to me:
- Look to flower essences – Bach rescue remedy with a few drops of walnut f. e. for change put in your water bottle to sip all day long. Consider adding a few drops of any other essence that make sense for you based on reading the definition of other remedies
- Look to Chakra therapy for support- I often need support with the Heart Chakra and I use an essence made by a wonderful healer I met years ago. I also do many Yoga positions to open the chest and the heart.
- I have a wall in my house with wonderful support emails, pictures, messages, cards from people that have sent me their love and compassionate thoughts as well as cards and affirmations scattered wherever I may need them
- “Leave your front door and your back door open. Let thoughts come and go. Just don’t serve them tea.” Shunryu Suzuki
- “Let everything happen to you: beauty and terror. Just keep going. No feeling is final.” Rainer Marie Rilke
- My book choice for all of you is AT HOME IN THE WORLD – Thich Nhat Hanh in which he tells us about his life from childhood to today. It is a good example for us all about surviving and thriving, living in the present moment and not turning our back on the human condition and our role to take action. Here is a man who was expelled from his country and many other countries, worked tirelessly to help the boat people, and focused on peace and love. Helping every being, no matter how others labeled them: friend or foe, man or tree, they all received his compassion and support.
- Look to your friends and community for love and support, be they human or nature, tangible or spiritual.
I feel so blessed to have had Linda’s support for all these years and her wisdom and guidance and I will see her go with gratitude and hope for her to have a marvelous life wherever it leads her.
I will call on my supports in the days, and months, and years ahead, knowing my foundation and each day is a gift.
With peace and love,
Pat