So, I’m going through a tough time right now. I won’t go into what my particular challenge is during this blog post, but suffice it to say I am learning a great lesson.
And sometimes learning BLOWS. It can really shake you at your core, make you question all that you know to be true.
In times of challenge, my mind is in overdrive. It takes everything I have to stop, focus, meditate, do yoga. Then I remember that I’m a wife and a mother and a coach … and my job is to be PRESENT for my family and my clients. So I deal with my stuff when I can … and show up for the important people in my life. But I won’t lie … it’s not always easy. Often it’s really, really hard.
The monkey mind doesn’t want to be quiet. It’s my job to tame it.
It’s a process.
What helps me through the process? Signs.
Yes, I’ve been keeping my eyes open for signs to keep me committed to my path.
One sign I saw today? A poem in my son’s room that has served me so well in times of struggle. This poem hangs on a magnetic board in his bedroom … and today it caught my eye at just the right time.
“Tread in solitude your pathway
Quiet heart and undismayed
You will know things strange, mysterious
Which to you no voice has said
While the crowd of petty hustlers
Grasps at vain and meager things
You will see a great world rising
Where soft, sacred music rings
Leave the dusty road to others,
Spotless keep your soul and bright
As the radiant ocean’s surface
When the sun is taking flight.”
Love that. Thank you to V. Schoffel for writing such poignant, fitting words.
After I saw that poem, I carried on my way … and received another sign that spoke to exactly what I was experiencing. I keep meditation cards in my bedroom (they are really cool). Each card has a picture of a buddha, deity or bodhisattva on it with a message on the back. My card today? Dorje Drolo (pictured above). The message is awesome. I now love Dorje Drolo.
Here is what his card says about him. What a guy …
“Dorje Drolo portrays a wrathful form of Padmasambhava as a demon subduer. He rides upon a pregnant tigress that symbolizes the strength and knowledge that are latent in everybody.
Padmasambhava took this form in order to subdue the demons that were troubling the people of Tibet. Mounted on the back of his consort, who had transformed herself into a flying tigress, he appeared in a place called the Tiger’s Lair.
Before leaving Tibet he buried a number of teachings that will be discovered at a time when the world is in need of revelation.”
The tip on the card: “At the start of a sneeze, during fright, in anxiety, in extreme curiosity, in hunger – be uninterruptedly aware.”
Hope that’s as helpful for you as it is for me.
Another tool I find SO crucial in getting me through tough times is remembering that I am seeing things exactly as they are. I can assign any value to a situation that I like. If I feel free, I am free. If I feel bound, I am bound. It’s up to me to decide. Love that. Reminds you that you’re in control. (Thanks to my fabulous meditation teacher Jason Lamberth for giving me these tools. Here’s a cool video via Jonathan Fields’s Career Renegade TV on the awesomeness that is Jason.)
My final action for getting unstuck? Writing. Getting my thoughts out on paper. It’s really cathartic. So thanks to YOU for allowing me to share, connect, grow, be. You have no idea how much it means to me.
Now I’m curious … what helps you through the dark moments? Share your comments here. Let’s help each other out.