Life uses every aspect of itself to move us to greater growth, power and evolution. But sometimes, less than pleasant things happen in our lives that can be difficult for us to grasp or truly understand. When these challenges appear, whether they be major, soul rattling situations or minor life inconveniences, sometimes our ability to navigate through them or make sense of them can be very painful and confusing.
For most of us, the last thing we want to hear from other (well meaning) people when we are in the middle of 'stuff hitting the fan'... is that 'Everything happens for a reason.' I know that there have been times when I have been working through a challenging life situation and someone tells me that my current crisis is 'The Universe wanting to teach me something'. In those moments, I can honestly and without hesitation tell you that I seriously wanted to give them a solid smack or tell them to take a long walk off of a short pier. Crisis will do that to you. And while there is a strong degree of truth in those statements, using them as a clichéd attempt at Spiritual First Aid, does very little to diminish the frustration.
So how can we USE these situations to heal our lives, instead of curse them? What IS really going on when it seems that things in our lives are going sideways and despite our best efforts to be evolved, aware and enlightened, things go haywire or as in some cases, come completely off the rails?
Turning Lemons Into Lemonade
Here are five tips to help you understand and navigate crisis so you can elegantly turn the rough patches you may be experiencing into opportunities to transform your life for the better.
#1. Call back your power:
When stuff goes sideways in our lives we often feel helpless, hopeless and victimized. In order to gain your footing so you can navigate the process of transforming crisis into expansion, you need to have at least a small grip on your sense of power or none of your efforts to create change will have any effect. (Click here to learn how to call back your power.)
#2. As above/so below:
Realize that everything you perceive or have direct experience of in your world, good, bad or indifferent, is a result of the billions of mental, emotional and spiritual layers you carry in your subconscious mind. Yes, I said billions, with a B. We are only consciously aware of a tiny, itty bitty, smidge of that information. When the S#!T hits the fan in our lives, it is a reflection of an aspect of our deeply hidden , multi-faceted and multi-dimensional, subconscious soup bubbling to the top and playing itself out on the movie screen of our awareness.
#3. Conscious stuff can be cleared:
Subconscious stuff becomes conscious when it comes to the surface and shows up in our lives as chaos or crisis. Big stuff happens in our lives to wake us up, get our attention and sometimes slap us hard on the face and say, 'Snap out of it.' If we are paying attention and we know what to look for, that hidden stuff can hold gems of great wisdom and power.
When things become conscious, they can be healed. We do not need to know where the hidden stuff came from, who gave it to us, or why it is there... that is stuff for the intellect and it is unnecessary. Try to observe the situation from a place of Higher Awareness and remind yourself, 'This circumstance (even if it is super crappy) is here so I might clear it and heal it from my subconscious mind, so I might be more of who I really am (as a Soul)'
#4. Resist the urge to judge your situation:
This can be tricky, especially if the crisis is difficult or scary, but the moment we label our circumstance as good or bad (when we attach mental/intellectual/idealogical constructs to it) it becomes harder to transform. This is what the Master, Jesus meant when he said, 'Resist not evil,' and 'Love thine enemy.' The 'evil' is our perception of the crappy situation, that we deem as awful or negative. The enemy, is an aspect of ourselves, and to reject a part of ourselves is to reject all of ourselves, even the crummy parts. This is the part of the process that requires the most Power, because it is an attribute of the Soul, not the intellect... so cut yourself some slack if it takes you awhile to get to this point.
#5. Own it. Bless it. Let it go:
Give yourself some time to do this in a quiet meditation or prayer.
* To own it means to come to the understanding that this situation came from deep within your subconscious awareness. As the entire Universe is in you -- so too is this situation in you. When you can claim it without blaming yourself for being wrong or bad or stupid, you call back even more of your power to transform it. "I understand that this situation comes from deep within me and is showing itself so I may be healed."
* Bless the situation and the subconscious part of you that carried it around with you for so long. Send it love. Thank it for bringing itself to your attention so you could heal. Find the ways that it is making you stronger, more compassionate, more caring or more courageous. "I completely love and accept the aspect in me that created it and I bless the creation itself."
* Let it go. Release the situation and the subconscious pattern that generated it to your Higher Self, to God or the Angels or whatever you feel symbolizes the Creative Power. Surrender it to the Divine aspect of yourself. Only Divinity can transform these material aspects of mind. Intellect and personality simply do not have the power. "I release and surrender this pattern to the Divine mind that created me."
Carving the Stone
This process combines the three levels of mind required to do any sort of intuitive or transformative work. The subconscious mind, the conscious mind and the superconscious mind. (Symbolically speaking, the child, the mother and the father) When this triad of mind is activated and the limiting subconscious pattern is released, then the energy that carries Intuition, Inspiration and Insight as it is sourced from our Higher Self and our Soul is given a clear pathway to connect to us. It is here where we truly shine.
This is the flash point at which miraculous healing and life changing transformation take place. This is where the flawless diamond is freed from the jagged stone and the limitations that cloud our brilliance and beauty are carved away.
We are the diamond cutter who must accept responsibility for what exists at our core, and without fear, precisely carve away our limitations.
The challenges that appear in our lives, do not show up to punish us, to shame us or to show us where we are doing things wrong... they come to us to reveal our deepest power. They show us our limitless capacity for Grace. They come, not to show us where we are most flawed, but rather to show us where we are most perfect.
When crisis comes, when the shit hits the fan, instead of resisting it, embrace it. Use it. When you open the door to this transformative power, if you are courageous enough to welcome it, it will reveal to you who you really are.
Simone Wright, 'The Evolutionary Mind Coach for Elite Performers and Visionary Leaders", is the author of First Intelligence: Using the Science and Spirit of Intuition. She has trained law enforcement, CEO's, entrepreneurs and health care providers how to use the power of their Intuition to gain greater success and personal meaning in their lives and career. She uses her intuitive skills to assist in police investigations, missing children's cases and corporate business strategies. She has appeared on international radio and television and been featured on The Oprah Winfrey Show. Visit her online at : www.simonewright.com.