How Do We Respond To Surprises


We are getting close to the end of the year. Many of us have had quite a year of surprises. Trump becoming president of the United States was a surprise. There have been many surprises throughout the world, and many of them very difficult and painful ones. And we personally, many of us, have experienced lots of surprises this year. Life happens. Surprises happen. It is how we respond to them that really makes the difference for us, and for our future generations.

I had a dream last night where it was going to be the end of the world as we know it. We had one more day until this event happened and somehow I knew it was going to transpire, but not how. In my dream when I awoke the next day there was white rice all over the ground in my bedroom and there was lots of traffic moving. The only evidence of the end of the world as I knew it was the rice on the floor. Strange dream. As I looked at my dream more closely I realized it was really about my expectation of something not good and with bad results happening to me in my life. Cars often represent us and our bodies and selves, and in my dream, there was lots of traffic and my room was right by the entrance to the freeway where I could just slip into the crowd of moving cars. I was slipping into lots of internal traffic. I understood that as lots of voices inside of my head and lots of people in my life that I get influenced by affecting me.

This dream occurred just prior to my brother coming into town for us siblings to clean up my father's office. He had passed a couple of years ago, and we were finally ready to tackle the last piece of him as he lived in this life. Going into his office was like stepping into a room where he had just left and was coming back. It was a strange sensation. His work was his life. His presence wasn't there, but his memory was very alive. In addition, my sister was supposed to join us in this endeavor and we had just recently heard that her cancer had returned with a vengeance and was having many physical difficulties and couldn't join us all after all. There are four of us altogether. That was quite a surprise.

My unconscious was speaking to me in my dream and showing me what a change this is for me and how difficult it might be to let things go. It would be an ending of sorts, of the world I knew. How true that was. We were entering into the last chapter of my sister's life, and the letting go of our father in this world. Although this stirred me up, as I stepped into the new world, it was also liberating. All the dynamics between my siblings and I were still there, but less important. It helped me to step more into who I am free without the restrictions I had experienced and let influence me in my life prior. Was this easy for me, no. Surprises can turn our world upside down. Every loss touches us, and also changes us in some way when we can feel the loss and move forward. Feeling the loss is important to move on because we can't move onto something when we can't feel. Moving forward is also important because we could stay stuck in our memories and the feelings, and not be able to look at them and we then hold onto the way things used to be. I often hear people say that they stay because at least they then know what to expect. It is the fear of the unknown coupled with the past difficult experiences which keep us trapped into a situation which we don't like. Surprises occur; can we learn from them and take them as opportunities to grow and become happier, healthier and more vital.

Shift Your Story/Shift Your Life
What surprised have affected you this year? Have there been many? How did you respond to them? Did you respond with fear, fret, sadness, anger, loss, despair, openness, wonder, anxiousness?
Think of one surprise which affected you this past year. How did it make you feel and what did it bring up for you? Sometimes to know we have to slow down enough to notice our internal reaction to things. Did your stomachs tighten, did your breath quicken or hold, did your shoulders rise or your neck gets tight? If there was a physical reaction, pay attention to it. What feeling did it then bring up for you? With the feeling, was there a memory it took you to in your life...where you felt similarly? Ask yourself if you could respond differently this time, or not. How could you learn from this experience? What action could you take in moving forward or to help yourself? If journaling this exercise helps you, please do.

My soothing words of wisdom for the week is about reflection and contemplation and seeing yourself:

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The Tenth Key: The Power of Our Shadow Side

The Ninth Key: The Power of Rest and Fallowness

Venus and The Art of Love