Today’s Miracle Moment Is About Embracing the Storms of Life…
If you’re going through something really challenging, it’s human nature to want to get to the other side of it as quickly as possible. Sometimes we can resist feeling the uncomfortable feelings that come up – whether they’re frustration, anger, fear, sadness… You might have heard me say before that what you resist persists. Pushing away feelings can make them even stronger, leaving you more stressed or frustrated or upset.
We live in a culture that tends to celebrate the light and happy feelings and makes any uncomfortable feelings “bad” or wrong.
There’s that saying, “You can’t have the rainbow without the rain.” We focus on the rainbow so much that we forget that RAIN is a miracle in itself. The rainbow is beautiful to look at AND the rain gives life to everything on our planet.
We don’t always know what the purpose is of the storm that we’re going through. We don’t know how it will ultimately serve us in some way. But if we approach it by trusting that we live in a benevolent universe and that life is for us rather than against us, then we can move through the storm with grace and we can open to miracles.
Joseph Campbell wrote:
“The dark night of the soul comes just before revelation. When everything is lost, and all seems darkness, then comes the new life and all that is needed.”
Campbell said that he looked to an idea that Nietzsche shared called “the love of your fate.” The idea is that whatever happens, you trust that it’s what you ultimately need. Campbell says that if you bring love to it, you’ll find your strength to go through whatever’s happening, and you’ll be able to look back and see that these moments are actually what shaped your life for the better.
So if you’re going through a storm, don’t try to bypass it – bring love to it. Be with the feelings that it brings up in you – even welcome them in. Because what we embrace in love dissolves.
One way I like to practice this is through what I call the bathtub process. I imagine that I’m lying in a bathtub (or maybe I do this in the bath). I might bring in epsom salts and some essential oils and allow myself to really deeply relax. And then I welcome in whatever feeling it is that I’m struggling with. I welcome the anger, I welcome the worry. I just allow it to be – and I embrace it with love. And through accepting and loving it, it starts to naturally lighten up. And once it’s lightened, I imagine it just flowing down the drain easily with the rest of the water.
I invite you to do a little variation on this process with me in the video.
This 4-minute process starts around 5:30.
Notice if you feel a shift from that process. It could be a big shift or just a tiny one.
This may be a practice you’ll need to return to to keep supporting yourself. Just keep approaching the feelings that arise one by one with love. When they can loosen their grip on you, you can have more resources within you to take whatever action is needed in your life.
So, I’ll leave you with a quote from Thich Nhat Hanh, “Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor.” Leave a comment to share your experience of embracing the storms of life. I send you love!
Music Credit: Jim Oliver “Soul Heart Merge”
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