The Great Transition

2021: A new year like no other new year we have ever had. We are in the midst of The Great Shift. The Great Transition. The Age of Aquarius. The Era of Strife, Trials and Tribulations, the end of days. Call it what you will, but it is a time of accelerated change, and there is a sense of extreme overwhelm, even hopelessness, and definitely a myriad of emotions. A mysterious virus has shaken the world, and international relationships are shifting. For many of us, our own perspectives and relationships with ourselves and others are also shifting--I know mine are. It took chaos around me to force me to find my inner peace. How did I go so long without it? In this space, I am going to share how I resolve to transform, because sharing new years resolutions is boring, and so last year--I mean era--I mean, world. So, what does embracing a new year in a new world look like?

Diet and exercise. No. Definitely not. Gross. Again, those words are entirely outdated, so last millennia. Ugh. Dieting is... LAME (what does that mean, anyway?), and exercise seems like I would have to be up to doing quite the task. I'm starting to look at eating and moving my body in an entirely different way. What if we changed the phrase to "nourishment and liveliness"?! Would you perceive it differently? Nourishment makes me think of fueling every cell of my being for what it needs to do to survive, to function, to thrive. Liveliness makes me think of getting my heart rate up, dancing, adding thrill into the "exercise" routines I already have, and finding new ones! Plus, how did that "diet and exercise" plan work out for you last year? For me, it failed. Over and over again. And I was hard on myself for it which come to find out, wasn't at all the right approach. Are you doing the same thing over again, expecting different results? You know that's the definition of insanity, right? Here are some of my thoughts on how to break the cycle:

I resolve to transform how I perceive diet and exercise. I am doing that by increasing my mindfulness as I prepare and eat the food that nourishes my cells. As I prepare my food, I ask myself, where did this food come from? Where was it grown? Who harvested it? How did it get to the store where I bought it? How does it feel in my hands? In my mouth? What sound does it make? Of course, I don't know all the answers to these questions, but this begins the mindfulness journey so that I may find more gratitude and appreciation for the food that nourishes and fuels my life. I resolve to transform by taking a deep inhale and exhale when I feel a food craving come on and want to resort to my old habits. Take a deep breath. Is it still there? What is causing the craving? I resolve to transform by curious, open, and compassionate with my inner self.

The Happiness Lab with Dr. Laurie Santos is a fantastic podcast I have recently found. She dives into the topics of mindfulness, self-compassion, and much more. I resolve to make space for something new, try on something new! By doing this, I have realized I have been living my entire life in a trance as a zombie. You might be too. In fact, we may actually be living in the zombie apocalypse, so why not wake up from it? And if you already have, congratulations, but why have you been holding out on the rest of us?!

I resolve to transform how I move. If I like the song that's playing, I dance! Michael Franti is usually a good go-to. I need to release some pissed-off-ness, and get my liveliness on?! HIIT Kickboxing is wonderful. Yoga is my daily go-to. I resolve to transform how I perceive and do yoga by opening up my practice to other avenues, and ask myself, "what else is possible?"

Grief. During this time of transition, whether we are consciously aware of it or not, we are experiencing collective trauma and grief. It's deeply sorrowful. There is no sugar-coating it. Many of us have had our loved ones taken by this formidable virus, and all too often without proper burial. Even if you haven't experienced first-hand the loss of a loved one (consider yourself very blessed and tell them you love them right now), you have had to adjust to the abrupt changes of how you live your life, see your family, go to concerts, church, et cetera. And, some of us still can't get to grips with the whole mask-wearing thing. I digress. The way we used to experience community and the way we used to live our lives and experience our world have been stripped from us, and with that comes a grieving process. And it is a process. A process we must go through in order to fully embrace what it means to live our lives in this embryonic post-contemporary, present world.

I often hear "when things go back to normal..." If you are still holding on to that sentiment, you need to let that shit go right now. Yes, I said shit. Because it's shit. When you do let go of that shit, there is a space for what's possible. We cannot hold onto the past if we are going to move forward, and we must move forward if we are to fight this nasty, ominous, insidious virus. To be brutally honest, we are not going back to what's normal because even if we did, we wouldn't have the same care-free sentiments with our post-Covid mentality. We have lost something that will no longer be, and that can be absolutely heart-wrenching. We must experience that heartache. We must feel it. It's there and it wants to be nurtured. Until you feel it and nurture it, you will not be able to move on to make space to embrace the new possibilities that await.

I resolve to transform my grief into mindfulness. I will recognize the sadness, I will allow myself to feel it, I will investigate where I feel the sensation in my body and what it may want from me/where the belief is coming from, and I will nurture this grief as if I am parenting the child inside me who needs to be mothered and tended to. This is the RAIN technique, and it has helped me tremendously in my adult life. I sure could have used it as a kid, but alas, that was the old world.

Joy. Ok. So we move on past the grief. What about JOY? We all need a dose of joy right now. It's imperative for us to find and hold on to joy in order to get through this fucking awful time (pardon the language, I just couldn't find another one to truly back my sentiment). We are isolated, we are lonelier than ever, we are scared, we are struggling, we are fighting for our lives.

So then, where do we find joy? Memes. For sure memes. So much joy in memes. Well-crafted ones that is. Not all memes are created equal. Any Dwight meme is often on-point, though. We find it in laughter, we find it in humor, we find it in love, and even, we find it deep in ourselves. Whoever wrote the "I've got the joy joy joy joy down in my heart--where?" song was also spot on. Have you found it? It's there! The acupressure point at the halfway point between your sternum and your belly button could help you find it, if you haven't already. Maybe? It's worth a try! There are those other acupressure points that also help us find joy too, but that would be a different post on a different website ;) Just don't forget about the joy. If you aren't finding it externally, try searching inside. It takes work, but it's well worth it.

I resolve to transform by finding the joy the small things--in greeting and thanking the sun each morning. I find joy in making space for laughter and noticing where I may be taking something too seriously, then laugh at myself for it. I find joy in noticing the magic of each moment: In taking a shower, in petting my dog, in walking outside, in making my tea/coffee, in listening to music, and every task I do. Every routine, I make a ritual, and that creates a space for joy.

To sum it all up, I resolve to transform by nourishing my body and mindfully thinking about my food choices, why I might make them, and my experience/relationship with the food itself. I resolve to transform by doing more liveliness (instead of exercise, because exercise is both boring and daunting), and finding the thrill in a previous (or new) workout routine. I resolve to transform by allowing myself to feel and nurture difficult emotions instead of resort to pushing them away. I resolve to transform by continuing to look for the joy and magic in each moment. I resolve to transform by asking, what else is possible?