As most of you know, my theme for 2020 is “activate and embody.”
In the spirit of a new decade, I have been striving to fire up and be freed by the broken chains of my past and the hope of my future. I am fighting—gently—to remain always in the present moment.
And as you can imagine, some days have been smoother than others. Twenty-twenty has been a rather bumpy ride for us all.
Something you notice as you begin to “clean out the closets of your mind” is just how much space is taken up by fear. In a year littered with uncertainty, calamity, and despair, it has not been easy to keep those closets clean. And yet, every day continues to be new. Every moment continues to be new. When I recognize Stress and Anxiety, I am able to evict them with Now and Mercy—for the most part. We are ever learning and growing.
The odd thing about fear is how certain it is. In the face of our trembling willpower and diminishing hope, fear feels solid and true.
When the science speaks,
when restrictions are imposed,
when everyone is shouting,
when no one can be trusted.
Like an addict scrambling for another hit, we are plagued by a need to be afraid.
And how kind of the ego. How protective. In our sunniest hours, it longs for a task, and where there is no concern, it is prepared to create one.
The ego loves to fix things. And though it hasn’t been at a loss for content this year, I think it’s time to neutralize. Maybe you feel the same.
By now, we’ve all heard that our thoughts and feelings create our belief systems. Cool, right?
Unfortunately, if we’re in a constant state of panic, our beliefs become centered around that panic. Instead of, “What do I want to gift myself today?” the question becomes, “What do I need to do today to survive?” Instead of, “I am enough,” we decide, “I can never do enough.”
These beliefs become our reality, and the cycle continues. A negative reality produces negative thoughts, which produce negative feelings, which produce negative beliefs, which produce a negative reality, which produces negative thoughts…
We love a full circle. *confetti*
In better news, thoughts can be changed. Right now, in fact.
One of the quickest ways to kick down the walls of your reality is to backtrack. Examine your belief systems.
Here are some good questions to ask yourself, according to Louise Hay (first four) and Fabian Wollschlager (last two):
- Is it true for me now?
- Where did that belief come from?
- Do I still believe it because someone told me that over and over?
- Would I be better off if I dropped that belief?
- Are my beliefs and my will acting together in harmony?
- Would I rather be right or be free?
Once you’ve answered some (or all) of these questions, you may find that your belief systems aren’t serving you… at all. That’s totally okay.
You can make new ones.
For most of my life up to now, I dreaded change. New seasons, new jobs, new people. Count me out.
I think we do this a lot—demonize new beginnings. They often signify the end of something, and endings can be painful.
We, however, are strong. We can make a change whenever we need to, whenever we wish.
Without permission,
without shame,
without feeling ready.
We can start now.
By examining my beliefs and changing my thoughts and feelings accordingly, here are a few new realities I’ve created for myself this year—in spite of everything:
- If I feel impressed upon to say something, I say it.
- When I’m too busy to take on a new freelance project, I turn it down.
- If I have to make a tough decision, I listen to my gut.
- When my body asks for rest, I give it rest.
- And when I have to choose between watching Downton Abbey and doing literally anything else, I watch Downton Abbey.
These are not realities I worked with in 2019. I have activated them. I have embodied them.
And these activations are far from over. I have a whole host of meditations, affirmations, exercises, and visualizations that have not seen the last of me. Embodiment is not a race; it’s a lifestyle.
So, I guess my point is this.
If you want to make a change, don’t let anything or anyone stop you—not your friends, not the media, not the naysayers. And definitely not yourself.
We can spend these last weeks of 2020 in chaos and fear, or we can spend them aligning our beliefs with our will. The choice is ours.
Remember: For every part of you that is healed, a part of the collective is healed.
Our ancestors didn’t die in trenches and starve in basements so that we could finally be conquered by a preventable disease and the politics that have overshadowed it.
We got this, y’all.
Photo by Ander Burdain on Unsplash
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