We live our lives in flow – expecting things to fall in place, to work, to be the way we’ve been taught or told that they should be. Until it doesn’t.
Just recently, after fifty+ days of hosting an early morning routine for a wonderfully committed audience, the very reliable digital platform we use, would not allow our lead host to access its rooms. It was 5am. These people got up early to see us. To learn, to become still, with us. Not have technology ruin their early morning start.
Our hearts were racing as we attempted to solve the problem. We were instinctively concerned about our audience, not wanting to inconvenience them, not wanting to lose them.
It all worked out in the end. We were able to tap into our training, and remind ourselves that this is life, and it happens the way IT chooses, not the way we decide. True to the nature of a resilient and curious audience, even after a few more glitches that undoubtedly disturbed their equilibrium, everyone stayed, and remained supportive and encouraging.
In Ontological coaching situations like these are referred to as “breakdowns”. It is just that; a failure or disruption in our lives.
Often it feels a bit like falling apart. Most times, it’s the falling apart of one’s expectations.
It could be said that mastering our lives can be determined by how we master the way we deal with breakdowns. The situation demonstrated here was not a life-or-death situation. It was an expectation unmet or taking for granted that which we expect to work.
Whatever the event that disrupts our flow, there is a universal truth: we have choices.
We have options. Knowing this is one thing, embodying it may be another. There are times when the ‘event’ is so overwhelming it may lead to our autonomic physiological responses of fight, flight, or freeze. Sometimes it is a life and death situation, sometimes it just FEELS like one.
The Equinox Morning Routine champions the practice of developing self-awareness through mindfulness practices, coaching lessons, meditation, and yogic stretches. It’s in the noticing in our bodies, that you can begin to discern between clear and present danger, and a technology glitch. In that moment, there may even be the opportunity to acknowledge that there is a force greater than ourselves at work – that we, mere mortals, cannot control everything. Surrendering to this universal truth allows us to dance with the flow of the universe and trust that hindsight will deliver its gift of knowing.
Treat hindsight as a belated gift – it’s the information that you wish you had at the time of the event. Only in hindsight are you able to reveal the learning or the upside of the event that upset your rhythm or stole your joy. There are many practices available to ultimately allow you the spontaneous sense of knowing, that while we all resist disruption, you will soon be better equipped to remind yourself that what is happening may not be how you would like it to be and that you have choices in how you respond. Choose to become curious, and ask, what’s really happening here? What can I learn from it? How can I invite the flow of the universe back into my life?
The @TheDailyOm recently highlighted that how people choose to struggle in life, by swimming against the current, rather than using flow “like a mighty wind”. As hard as it is in that moment, what will serve you most is to choose to be flexible and swim with the current rather than against it.
I encourage you to invite this choice into your way-of-being in this world. Invite awareness when you are being challenged. Know that this too shall pass, but more importantly, what you can learn from it. And above all, be gentle and kind to yourself and keep practicing.
