Remembering Stillness
In times of great turmoil one of my most trusted practices is remembering to replenish with stillness.
Not just for my mind, but for my whole body.
Practicing to receive the stillness and bring it all the way through my physical and subtle energetic body feels like a direct connection to grace.
Remembering how I can hold the stillness, become the stillness, embrace the stillness, no matter what else is happening.
When we do this, and practice it regularly, we increase our resilience in the face of new challenges. Fostering a greater capacity for presence, inner clarity, and resourcefulness.
When we hone the functionality of our sensitivity, intuition, and personal perception we strengthen our resilience and responsiveness in the face of adversity. We help ourselves avoid joining with - getting burned up and depleted by - others who may be experiencing and/or projecting a very negative (even venomous) stress response.
Generally, it is never a good idea to overly merge with somebody’s negative (or toxic) behavior pattern. Bonding over pain, stress, or states of being that perpetuate harm, only increase pain’s relevance and can obscure our ability to access other possibilities like clarity, decisiveness, and personal empowerment.
Overly merging with the stress reaction/oppressive mood of another can cloud over other states of clarity that may be possible for you. In moments of extreme overwhelm you may want to ask yourself how resourced do you feel? Do you have a strategy for response so that you can feel resourced? Is there space for your personal perspective, so that you can get back to feeling clarity, patience, compassion, personal responsibility, inner resolve, problem-solving, and have the ability to ask for support?
When others are not able to contain their emotional reactions or the world at large is in turmoil - what do you do? What is your strategy? How do you react? Respond?
Some of us feel the compulsion to rescue, on the spot, and go into hyper-merging. We all have our inner reactions. And we all have the ability to move from reaction to response. Are you learning from your inner reactions? Are you seeking greater capacity for responsiveness that empowers your daily actions?
Habitually over-extending yourself from a place of stress will over time only impair your ability to truly help. When we slow down and explore what may be at work for you underneath the surface we may find a much more beneficial, discerning course of action.
I’m not advocating for complacency, but rather a much more conscious and deliberate way of helping. Engaging greater complexity and extreme situations requires skillfulness, perspective, and clarity. All of these qualities are needed when it comes to how we move with what is changing in life, so we can hold space for what is in need of support.
How can we continue to act in service of the greater good, without getting burned up? How can we remain self-honoring, open, available, and giving while staying with the need for change amidst great complexity and uncertainty?
With faith and possibility,
Andrea
P.S. I made something for you. Especially if you are finding it difficult to drop into stillness as a restorative practice. Contact me here to receive a free guided meditation.