Could you use some relief and some clarity right now?

With all that’s going on in the world, you might feel overwhelmed and feel waves of emotions. If you’re a highly sensitive person (HSP) you may feel this more than others. Journaling is a powerful tool I use as a life coach to help people gain clarity, have more ease, and find direction in their lives. Use these journaling prompts to slow down and hear your own inner voice.

This past week, it’s been hard to think, and hard to focus. Being in the midst of the start of a pandemic, so much is happening, all at once. I’ve felt vulnerable, and it felt hard to know what to share, when there was just so much. I wasn’t sure how to have the output, when it felt like I needed so much processing and turning inward.

And then I realized - it’s actually a call to step up and share from even more vulnerable places, and in even more vulnerable times (while of course making sure to take care of myself and my energy, as I hope you are too).

Most articles I write feel easy. This? This is not easy. But right now, connecting with you is more important than maybe ever.

I don’t know about you, but there have been waves of emotions from seemingly out of nowhere. It’s been a mix of processing rapid change, integrating, and navigating, combined with doing my best to make a positive impact - both in social distancing, and also in offering mental, emotional, and spiritual support to those who want and need it.

What I’ve seen from the very onset of this is that almost everything about what’s happening right now is a call to the feminine energies, that the world and the Earth have so desperately been needing. Energies like:

• Vulnerability

• Compassion

• Collaboration

• Consideration of the whole

• Pause

• Surrender

• Trust and Faith

• Intuition (at least for me, it’s called me even deeper into connection with my intuition)

This is an unprecedented time, and scary for many people. It’s a forced pause, and though I wouldn’t wish it to have happened this way, it’s been more than needed… 

In general in this world, we’re not pausing, we’re not reflecting, and we’re not practicing the feminine energies that bring harmony to the overabundance of the masculine energies at play. There's a lot of shaking up and shaking out happening - letting go of what’s not working. Letting go of this insanity of a productivity 24/7 world. It’s f’ing CRAZY to live like that, so this part is healthy, though it’s coming about in a weird way.

The truth is we can't sustainably continue on so much overdrive, and we're seeing that right before our eyes. We’ve already been seeing it in fires, floods, and hurricanes, not to mention the way we’ve been seeing it within ourselves as a collective - in increasing levels of anxiety, disconnection, and burn out to name a few. And now in this way.

This is the natural rhythm of nature. When we don’t listen, it gets louder. The same thing happens within our lives. When we don’t listen to our intuition or inner wisdom, it gets louder, and starts to show up in our lives in sickness, chaos, and loss. Maybe you can remember a time in your life when you didn’t listen to those inner knowings, and things ended up much harder or full of suffering or struggle.

I hope that all we’re going through will have a positive effect of a reassessment in the end - the world badly needs a reassessment of so many things. I hope it will have the positive effect of us all on a micro and macro level, getting more clear on what really matters, taking action according to that, and beginning to live in much more intentional ways. 

In a strange way parts of this are exciting - Something new could happen, and there is so much more room for change and possibility. We’ve seen the ways the canals in Venice have cleared up. We’ve seen the ingenuity of ways to stay connected. We’ve seen amazing levels of resourcefulness as well as bravery, especially from those in the medical field on the frontlines. And we’ve seen great acts of love, compassion, and generosity. For example, this 90-year old man, who stood outside his wife’s window at her nursing home, finding a way to still wish her a happy anniversary, and let her know how much he loves her.

Imagine if we continue in this trajectory of collaboration, compassion, and intentionality...

We’re being "forced" into simplification too. Forced to simplify what we’re doing, what we’re buying, and where we’re going. From my experience, simplicity is magical, and similar to when we pause, when we simplify we can gain so much clarity in our lives and in our minds.

If you imagine life like a river, and we’re in a canoe - The time now is to take out the oars, and let the river go. Let it go, one moment at a time. Everything is happening FOR us, not to us. We’re really seeing just how little control we have, yet how much of an impact we can make, both for the positive or the negative.

There is so much here for us to receive through all of this - greater self-awareness, deeper compassion, more collaboration, greater clarity, more connection, and so much else, if we’re willing to take the time to go within, check in with our hearts, and slow down enough to hear that deeper, wiser part of ourselves.In all this pausing and reflecting, and the clarity available in this clearing out of space... I invite you to use it to mine for gold. Ask yourself these five questions (and if you don’t feel like doing all five, at least do #4 and #5):

1. What do I miss being able to do right now? Who do I miss being able to spend time with?

   Right now, with things taken away, you can see more clearly what actions and activities are actually a priority to you, and who you want to be spending your time with.

2. What are the things I can't wait to be able to do once we're through this? What am I looking forward to?

   I wonder if this list may actually be shorter than you think… We often fill up our schedules with so much, but with time to pause, could see that a lot of those things maybe weren’t necessary or even wanted.For example for me, it’s about three things right now - I can’t wait to get my haircut 😆 I’m excited to go to in-person yoga class. And I’m excited to plan some in person adventures with people I love.I wonder how many things you’ve put on your list of to-do’s that you could just totally get rid of...

3. What (if anything) am I enjoying about right now? -or- What am I grateful for?

   For example for me, I’m enjoying easy decisions and clear guidelines. I’m enjoying getting present. I'm enjoying that I get to have a co-worker at home, and have more time with my husband. I'm enjoying the SIMPLICITY - There's not a pressure to find the most fun event, and there are less choices and options, which can often be a relief. (We think we want lots of choices, but studies show we’re often more satisfied with less.) And, I'm enjoying more nature time where it's safe to do that.

4. What has this “forced” me to do that’s actually been a blessing? -or- What about this has actually been a blessing?

   For example, It’s “forced” me to put myself out there more. It’s forced me to realize how much I value my disciplines, even though they can feel hard - like going to yoga, and meditation. It’s made me appreciate meditation even more, and feel ready to create more time for it.

5. What’s the biggest lesson in this so far for me?

For me, I’m realizing even more how important leadership is, and how important it is to get out of my own way, so that I can more freely share myself and my gifts with the world.

Taking the time to journal on these questions will be worth it, I promise. So much clarity can come from a few powerful questions and simply putting pen to paper.

Sending you love.

xoxo,

Angie

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