Undergoing change can be bewildering and more awkward than adolescence, but it doesn’t have to be. Recognising the fact you’re simply waking up and in transition is half the battle. After all, your values, perspectives, habits, desires and dreams start to shift so rapidly and so dramatically that not only is it overwhelming, it’s easy to assume you’re losing it.
So how do you navigate the choppy sea of change?
You might think it’s necessary to withdraw, just like a caterpillar spinning a comfortable cocoon, so you can conceal yourself in safety until you’re re-born a butterfly. Yet destiny demands you are present and (like it or not) participating, with your eyes wide open, alive and awake, to witness the most exhilarating adventure available to man; a journey into the unknown.
Here are 17 tips, tools and tricks to help you survive own awakening.
1. Reflect
Spend time pondering how things are impacting you, why, and what you can learn from your experiences. Is life trying to tell you something? If so, what?
2. Journal
Writing things down helps to process all the stuff rattling around in your brain. When you don’t get too lost in your webs of thoughts, it becomes a lot easier to listen to your heart.
3. Re-Kindle Childhood Dreams
Revisit what you loved as a child and explore them as an adult. Chances are they are closely connected with your passions, talents, and purpose.
4. Do What You Love, Love What You Do
Take time to do more of what you love. It doesn’t matter if you’re not good at it, as long as the process makes you happy and gives you a sense of fulfilment.
5. Nourish Your Body
Eat grounding, earthy foods like grains and root vegetables. Include honey and warming spices, since the sweetness will help to pacify your nervous system and assist mental clarity.
6. Spend Time In Nature
Head out of cities and stay away from crowds. Go somewhere you can see the sky, immerse yourself in nature and feel protected by the peaceful solidarity of trees.
7. Reach Out
Tell trusted friends how you’re feeling and look for ways to connect with others who have been or are going through something similar. You might have a one way ticket, but this isn’t a journey you have to make solo.
8. Cultivate Courage And Face Your Fears
To make change, you have to be brave. Speak your own truth, find your voice, explore your boundaries, be open, take action and try not to dwell on the past.
9. Rebel
I don’t mean in a careless, destructive way. Rebel, as in, just forget what everyone else told you. Go your own way and do things your own way.
10. Let Go Of Expectations And Keep Your Curiosity
Forget what you thought you knew. Approach each situation as if it were the first time, every time without expectation or judgement of the outcome.
11. Chase Dreams And Set Intentions
Allow yourself to dream, but dream with care. Focus on the next step that will take you towards your heart’s desire, and don’t get too hung up or attached to the end goal. Goals can be limiting.
12. Trust Your Intuition & Keep Your Sense Of Humour
Tune into what your gut is telling you and go with it. Think with your heart, rather than your head. Don’t try to rationalise everything or take all of this too seriously.
13. Do Nothing
Don’t try and seek an instant fix to the problems you face. Breathe into them and let events unfold because sometimes the solution will only come without effort. Someday soon, everything will fall into place and all of this will make sense.
14. Eyes Forward
Stay present! Accept life and yourself as they are NOW. Don’t cling to who you used to be, and a life that once felt satisfactory. Trust that wherever you are going is better than where you’ve been.
15. Unravel – Fall Apart
This is tough stuff. Don’t try and be a hero and hold it together all—the–time. Part of the process is falling apart so you can piece yourself back together and come out stronger and better. You aren’t broken, simply broken open!
16. Cultivate Kindness
Don’t beat yourself up. Be your own best friend and with the greatest compassion and kindness towards yourself. Give up negative thinking and thought patterns – you just don’t need them where you’re going.
17. Believe
Just believe – in yourself – that everything and anything is possible – and allow some space for magic to happen.
Going through this amazing transformation has never been easy for anyone. But as they say, it may not be easy but it will definitely be worth it. 🙂