Be Like a Pinecone
How do you ground yourself in challenging times?
We are living in an age of outrage. Social media is aflame with outbursts of bullying and manipulative trolling and lying. People have become emboldened, spewing hurtful venom and vitriol. In addition, we are witnessing systems breaking down, massive societal turmoil, and climate degradation.
How do you cultivate a peaceful core to meet these challenging moments. How can you remain non-reactive? How can you manage anxiety born out of fear for your future and the future of your family? The future of the Planet?
Can you become the calm eye in the storm of change? This is the work we are called to do.
These are some of the ways I’ve learned to go within, center myself, ask meaningful questions and cultivate a more grounded presence, to myself and to the world around me.
- Meditation is a great place to start. Whether you are a long-time devotee of or a beginner to the practice, meditation will immediately offer benefits. I always think of the breath as the connection point. It is, after all, the primal point where Spirit and Life link. So many people struggle with meditation for the sole reason that they believe they’re not doing it correctly. Think about that. Something as simple as sitting down, closing your eyes, and breathing deeply. Understand that this is as natural to you as sleeping. Yes, your mind and thoughts may be all over the place, distracting you, but stop the self-judgement, remind your self of your breath, and keep going. Choose patience. You’ll see a difference in no time.
- Journaling is an effective practice for self-reflection. Again, I’d like to remind you of self judgement. There is NO absolute way to journal. Simply choose patience and begin. One way I love to journal is to pick a word that expresses how I’m feeling or a phrase or question that I’m contemplating, write it at the top of a fresh page, and just allow my thoughts to wander. I write anything that comes to mind – whether it makes sense or not. Journaling isn’t about writing the next best selling novel. It’s about reconnecting the creative ways your highest wisdom informs you. It can be abstract, mythic, detailed, or mundane! Simply allow it and watch how the practice can shift and expand.
- Meditative walks in Nature are very important to me in my grounding. I can feel an immediate physical sensation when I take a walk in nature, an internal hum of heightened presence. I remind myself often that I am “of the earth and will return to her.” We are intimately connected to the cycles of Mother Earth and nature.
- Here is a storytelling exercise I absolutely adore utilizing in retreats or with clients. Pick a place to walk. Nature, a big city stroll, your suburban neighborhood, any place can work. Set your intention for self-reflection with a question to explore or some information to be discovered. If you don’t have a specific question or wish, simply ask, “What do I need to know today?” As you walk, allow yourself to visually connect to objects, and collect 2 – 3 of them. When you return home, get out that journal, or a piece of paper and pen and sit with the objects. Choose 3 words or attributes that describe each of them. Now begin to see how these attributes tell a story about you and your engagement with the particular problem or question you posed. For instance, I may have picked up a small pinecone. My 3 attributes: prickly, full of seeds, sticky. Am I being too prickly with those around me? Am I pushing away the very people who can help me? Conversely, do I need to be pricklier and honor my boundaries? How am I planting seeds – or taking action to manifest this vision? Am I taking care of the seeds of self understanding? Is my thought process getting too sticky? Am I getting stuck and in my own way? How can I reconnect to the flow of this situation? Keep asking questions. You see where I’m going with this. How do these self-reflections begin to form a creative correction, a mythological solution with which your inner wisdom has connected? Transformative storytelling at it’s best!
As you remain more centered in these challenging times, you help others to do the same. And that’s how we change the world!
www.SandraBargman.com #TheEdgeofEveryday #BeLikeaPineCone #LeanInEdgyOnes
