Peace Within Tumult

The 24-hour news cycle and the wait for the election outcomes have many of us feeling off-balance. Add to this, we are still experiencing a worldwide pandemic that has changed many things in our lives. Now, along with these two challenges, we have also changed our clocks, the weather is changing, and the holiday season is around the corner….

YIKES!

Just typing these things puts me into a swirl, my hand wants to reach for that leftover Halloween candy (yes, I know there are no children under the age of 12 in my home—but we still have Halloween candy—it was 50% off after the holiday). Where was I, oh yes….. my body and mind are in a swirl. My hand reaches for candy, and if I am not careful another pound is added to my body.

In all seriousness, this is a cycle we all have a tendency fall into. The trap of mindlessly taking to action. Maybe not the candy action, but possibly the horn blowing in traffic, the snide comment typed, or said in your mind, at a Social Media post or a pundit on TV. The list can go on and on. This is the swirl leading to action that we haven’t thought through.

There is a lot of talk about how to short circuit this spiral, but it is really simple.

1. Energy -- Learn to recognize the physical cue in your body that something is about to happen.

For instance, emotions are really just energy in motion. And the energy starts within your very own body. When my energy is taking over typically I get a little light headed, and my breath gets held in. Knowing this cue, I can stop and tap into my knowledge.

2. Knowledge – Check-in to your body and recognize what emotion is rising. Use all three centers of knowledge.

· Head

· Heart

· Gut

3. Passion – Finally, once you recognize what is happening and you tap into your knowledge you will know the best action to take. For yourself and for others. Action is how your passion shows up.

Intention is showing up in a way that you want to be experienced.

Energy (body), Knowledge (head, heart and gut), Passion (soul) are what each of us are made up of and how we show up in these parts of our life is in our control.

So as the story ends, my hand stops above the candy bowl sitting in the middle of my kitchen and I check-in to my body and realize that candy isn’t going to help me feel better, and will likely make me feel worse. So I pull my hand back and take a deep cleansing breath….and shut off the TV.