Witnessing, Allowing, Embracing
Witnessing my truth. Allowing what is. Embracing myself fully through it.
In other words… going with the flow.
We’re so often invited to ‘go with the flow’ and I think it’s helpful to have a sense of what that even means before we can actually do it.
Time and time again, those first three statements (which came to me as I sat down to write this post) are what get me to a state where I feel like I can truly ‘go with the flow’.
I had an opportunity to practice this just a few weeks ago.
The holidays & New Year came and went, mostly peacefully and easefully as result of intentional simplification, but with a few moments of unanticipated stress. however, overall I felt the glow of connection with loved ones, nourishing food, and time shared around a fire together.
And then came a lull.
I suppose that’s not uncommon after a bit of a high, yet still it felt like it came out of the blue.
It crept up on me a bit and then promptly settled in for a few days.
I wasn’t wholly surprised, after all, it is the time of year to cocoon and go inward a bit. The previous winter I made an intentional time of going within and being with the season in a more embodied way, so I partially understood this to be something similar. Taking intentional time in the winter to hibernate a bit, as it were.
And yet there was also a pretty pervasive feeling of ‘Meh’ that accompanied this lull that sort of knocked me off guard a bit. I felt low, down, and well just plain meh.
While I didn’t necessarily enjoy feeling that way, I made the conscious decision not to resist it. I choose to believe that nothing was wrong and indeed what I was experiencing was perfectly fine and dare I say, even ‘normal’ or typical.
Truly, I acknowledged how I was feeling, I let go of any resistance towards that, and I allowed myself to go about my day accordingly. In other words, I choose actions based on what I felt like doing in this emotional state. Yes, there was some significant couch time for a couple of days…
Hint: that’s likely not what my ego-mind would have wanted.
The result?
It passed and within less than 48 hours I was feeling back to my usual baseline state, which is pretty darn solid thanks to years of personal growth work I’ve done.
The feelings had their space to express, be responded to in a loving and compassionate way, and without any resistance preventing their physical expression, then they moved through.
I have found this time and time again, both with my own personal journey and the work I do with clients.
The old axiom of “what we resist, persists” rings so true and when we can truly understand that, it is so much easier to find a path forward of deep allowance.
This allowance is ultimately self-love. It is honoring and loving the part of us that was feeling the MEH (or name the emotion…) and letting it have equal value as any other emotion.
Once this ‘part’ feels acknowledged, valued, and tended to, then the struggle dissipates.
This practice is the most rapid way I have found to shift my state. The side benefit is that it is deeply healing. It allows us to bring different parts of ourselves into loving balance and harmony, while we learn what it feels like to truly love ourselves wholly.
I’d love to hear if you’ve had any similar experiences and how they have impacted your life. And, if you’re curious about what this could look like in your life, please reach out and schedule a session or a free clarity call. It is my great joy to support others in this path.
With loving solidarity - K