Is It Time to Realign?
“When I am feeling challenged,
I will cultivate spaciousness
and kindness for myself,
and instead of seeing my
vulnerabilities as weakness,
I will recognize my humanness.”
Lately I’ve been feeling restless, irritable and discontent. Maybe not all three at once yet as a recovering alcoholic, I know these to be red flags to pay attention to.
With over 33 years of sobriety I trust that today I won’t choose to take a drink to blot out or endure my reality. Yet the behaviors of a dri-drunk (discontent, restless, irritable) can certainly pose a threat to my quality of Life. To my inner peace and personal happiness.
The intense upheaval of today’s world seems to toss me around like a small boat in a perfect storm. I am beginning to fear a breach in my hull.
It feels like I could buckle under the pressure. That I could find myself broken and lost at sea.
Have you too, been experiencing these emotions to some degree?
Let’s look to see how they might alert us - that it’s time to realign.
Restless-
We are impatient. Everything takes longer than it should. We are unable to sit still or finish a task. We look for things (sugar anyone?) to feed our gnawing internal hunger. We succumb to any distraction daring it to be our next right step. We are in a hurry. We feel our anger growing at yet another delay…
Irritable-
We are impatient. Everyone and everything rattles our cage. We feel captive, unable to defend ourselves from daily mishaps or other’s ineptness. We feel brittle and exposed. Our annoyance lurks just below the surface. We get after ourselves for feeling irritable. We make ourselves wrong. We collect even more evidence for our irritation…
Discontent-
We are impatient. (notice a pattern here?) We are not happy. No one seems to notice or really care. Everyone seems to be engaged, accomplishing big things. We take their personal inventory. (ref to AA 4th Step) We judge them in an effort to make ourselves feel better. It doesn’t work. It’s anti-productive. We review our list of reasons why our lives fall short. We remind ourselves that we must not be good enough. We feel even more discontent. It’s cyclic, it continues…
So how do we shift from self-deprecation to realign with our true selves, our kindness and acceptance?
How do we reposition our attention from resistance to allowing, from a belief in lack to gratitude?
Over the years, I’ve developed a practice that helps me to realign myself before I unravel. Once I realize I am spiraling down, I pause by taking several conscious deep breaths.
I slow myself down to be interested in what is going on in the present.
In the role of witness, I first identify what I am feeling. I give myself permission to feel whatever the feeling is.
Next I acknowledge my negative thinking and the language I use with myself and others. I ask myself out loud, Does this feel right?
Is this really true?I observe how I am showing up. I identify my behaviors that do not serve me or my highest good.
Then I consciously shift my focus by asking myself out loud,
What do I really want? Who do I choose to be in this moment?
Abraham-Hicks reminds us that “anything we give our attention to becomes our “truth.” The Law of Attraction says that it must. Your Life, and everyone else’s too, is but a reflection of the predominance of your thoughts. There is no exception to this.”
From a present focus, I am empowered to make conscious choices that honor and support my authentic self. The Universe is attracted to and responds to my new energy focus as well.
With awareness, willingness, and practice, we can shift our focus from resisting Life - to allow and embrace a realignment with our truth… happy, joyous, free!
PONDER THIS
What is one way you could choose to realign with your truth?
Taking responsibility for changing your Life is a powerful courageous decision! Learning how to make choices to honor you and your happiness is a practice, a new skill. I have partnered with others for over 35 years to teach, guide, and support them in this transformational process. If you’re ready to experience new joy in your Life, Click here to schedule a 30 min consultation to see how I might support you with that.