Empowerment in Times of Turbulence

I've been procrastinating a lot with this blog post.  Lately, I just feel blah.  A lack of inspiration and a heavy uneasy feeling lies beneath the surface of everything I do.   

In the past I would ignore this feeling and just push through it, but not now. 

I've got tools now, many that I've taught to the BTC community.  These tools help me work through the uneasy so I live it, feel it, and then release it.  Acknowledge it, embrace it, then move through it.  I can't let it stay stuck in me, otherwise it will grow and turn into something really ugly. 

It's hard do the work.  Sometimes life hits us at a speed so fast and with an impact so hard, we're left feeling bewildered, fearful, and overwhelmed.  How do we get through without totally collapsing in a heap of tears on the bathroom floor?

Someone recently described to me that we are going through a time of metamorphosis and right now we are in the cocooning stage.  In this stage many things can happen - we can sit alone and wallow in our fears or we can use the time to turn inward toward a journey of deeper self discovery.   

These turbulent times that we are living in can either diminish us or develop us.  It's in our power to choose because as human beings, we get to choose what to focus on. 

Our minds are powerful machines and they have the capability to bring us to our highest good or take us to lowly places that leave us feeling overwhelmed and stressed out.

The world is full of chaos and distractions, and especially during these difficult times, we are all managing our own unique experiences, both internally and externally.  In these individual experiences, there is also a universal and collective experience going on.  On a deeper level, we are in this together. And as human beings, we thrive in togetherness.   

Our strength is in the together.

So how can we come back stronger and actually soar after this cocooning?

Let's go to the tools. 

Here are my top activities to help empower you in times of turbulence.

Reflect

Use this time to self-reflect; to reset.  Pause, and ask yourself, am I going in the right direction?  Has something been missing?

What have you remembered about yourself that brings you joy and that maybe wasn't fully present before quarantine? 

What's most important to you right now?  Are your actions lined up with those values?

How are you spending your time?  Are you over-indulging in the news and social media?  If so, how do you feel after you watch or scroll? 

Where you spend most of your attention, your mind is going to send you more of that.  So you need to control your input and control what you're feeding your mind.  Distraction and enjoyment are ok, but when it's an overindulgence, or if there's an unawareness to it, that's when it can harm you and leave you feeling depleted, stressed, irritable, and anxious. 

Take care of ALL of you. 

You can't do anything when you don't have the energy.  And it's especially difficult to take care of yourself when you are feeling depleted and exhausted.  T

here are three Pillars we focus on at Balanced to the Core - Meals, Mindset, and Movement.  When these 3 things are in check, life seems to fall into place.  Are you feeding your body with nourishing food, movement, and information?  It can be so easy to sit in front of the news or Netflix - down a few glasses of wine and a bag of Twizzlers (yes, I have been there), but what's that doing for your energy?  

Gratitude for the little things.

When I allow myself to let go, I am open to the little moments of blessings throughout my day.  When I stop and take notice, I'm taken over by love and gratitude. 

When something lights you up during the day, even if it's tiny, take notice, feel the feeling, and allow the feeling to get a little bigger, it will grow and you'll start to notice more good around you.  That one little blessing will grab your heart and help you feel love at a time when you thought it was impossible. 

Take notice of all the beautiful little moments around you.  There are plenty if you stop and look for them.  Make it a game. You can even ask yourself, what am I thankful for in this moment?  I'm sure there's something!  Even if it's the breath in your body.  Train your brain to look for the good instead of the negative because what we focus on expands. 

Serve or give to others.

Take time to serve and contribute to those around you.  When you pay attention to someone else, you change your fear to a feeling of giving and gratitude. You take the attention off of yourself, you almost forget to be fearful.  

Chronic stress shrinks your brain and chronic fear weakens your immune system.  These two things together can be deadly. Invest your time on others, your health depends on it.

Create.

What project have you been putting off?  Start it!  Be creative!  Get those juices flowing! Creative time is medicine for your brain and body. 

Creativity heals.

Learn a new skill. 

Don't allow these shaky unprecedented times shrink you.  Dream big! Grow! Expand! Take up space!  I've said this so many times, the world needs your light.   Now, more than ever. Put energy towards your desires and start learning something to start getting you there.  It can be small. It can be the tiniest step and that's enough to start your growth.   Adversity can be an advantage, it's all perspective.  No, it's not easy, but you are still here, and you're reading this post.  You, my friend are not alone,  AND you are worth your dreams.  So go big! 

You can achieve what you believe.  We can't let our brains let the fear win. 

We all need different things during these dynamic and difficult times, and it's important we listen to our bodies as they will tell us what they need.  We cannot judge ourselves or others by what we're doing to survive to get through it all.  Let's be kind to ourselves and to others.  Be gentle.  Listen.

More than ever, we need to take care of ourselves.  We are human beings and we are in this together.  To get through, we need to stop shrinking and come out of this stronger than ever before. 

Fly, my friend, fly!

This week's workout is what I call Core Conditioning.  I teach a 50 minute version of it every Monday night - replay is available for a week!  So if you can't make it LIVE, no worries, do it when you can!  More info about the LIVE classes here.