This week in Life.Done By Design the theme for training is get comfortable with discomfort and as Murphy (you know Murphy’s law) would have it I’ve had two very difficult things thrown my way this week. Now I’m not just talking the usual annoying pain in the butt type things but the guilt laden, deep seeded, triggering type discomfort.
I’ve got all the usual symptoms as I’ve been in a state of shock and denial. I’ve had interrupted sleep, my energy is down, my focus is way off, and I feel it viscerally in my body – it’s a tightness across my solar plexus. So, just as I try to convince others to welcome in discomfort, I find I’m having to do it for myself.
You see discomfort is the opportunity to take a look inwards. To ask some big questions, to challenge some old stories and unsettle blocked energy. It’s an invitation to face our shadow, the dark side of ourselves where past hurts, secrets and shame lies. It’s not a very nice place to take a visit. You have to be brave to go there. It’s a warrior’s journey.
What keeps me going in times like this is the knowledge that I have an opportunity to shed a layer. In this case it’s not just a thin veil but a full down-doona! And if I know anything to be true, it’s that as we shed these layers, we get the opportunity to experience a rawer, truer version of ourselves. We get to bring the shadow into the light an let go of the old stories that hold us back. We get to move that blocked energy and close the gap between what we truly value, and how we live our life.
The problem is there is only way to do this and that is to surrender into it. To feel all the feels, to willingly go into the depths of despair and stay there for as long as is needed as many times as required. To face our own demons and hard truths. To forgive, heal, and find love.
For me I like to physically release the tension whether be a good cry, a long walk or some kind of physical exertion where I deliberately change my physical state and move my body. I also like to consult my runes, journal and write my way through the way I’m feeling in an uncensored way. In other words, I like to purge the yuck out of my body and my mind and I like to move it around rather than gloss over it or let it stay stagnant. I keep it alive to avoid burying it even further within.
I also like to do energetics. I have an active breathing practice I repeat, I tap (emotional freedom technique) and I lie quietly to tune into wisdom that resides inside of me.
But most of all I trust. I trust that I can handle whatever gets thrown my way. I trust that I can manage myself through a difficult period and I trust that on the other side of this is a better, more open and more authentic version of myself. And if life isn’t about uncovering that then I’m not sure what it is about.
So, if you’re having a hard time at the moment know you are not alone. Know that it’s ok that it’s hard and hurts a lot. But know that it too shall pass and that as hard as it might be to hear right now, that in that darkness lie the whispers of hope and renewal.
If you're interested, and are also working though a stressful time, you can download my free guide outlining 5 of my best techniques to reduce stress anywhere, anytime from my Resources Page