How to maintain stability?
What does it even mean to be stable?
Stay stable. What does that even mean? Life isn’t meant to be a straight line of well-being and happiness without any challenges. I also recently heard the late Professor Torre, who put it very nicely—and it made me reflect on his words—to paraphrase, how people expect life to just coddle and take care of them, and they’re deeply disappointed if it doesn’t serve them at every moment what they believe they deserve. What does that even mean? On the other hand, the Buddhist theory about a person who survives because inner dissatisfaction drives them forward is also interesting. This drive forward achieves some of his goals, but the happiness from achieving them is very short-lived, and the dependence on the moment we fulfill a goal drives us to set a new desire before ourselves. And so we spin in this vicious circle, which we can ease if we become aware of it and can observe it from the sidelines.
Seeking balance
For me, life is full of unknowns as such, but being present in the moment and finding my own methods and people helps me understand and cope with challenges, let’s call it that. This is a very simplified version, and the story itself isn’t that simple. Always find a measure, always find balance, always find the middle ground and understanding in words, while also not offending yourself—a pretty tough task, but every effort we put in is richly rewarded and returned to us through benefits for all our systems. My dear teacher taught me that even the worst tornado has a calm spot at its center. So when we find ourselves in a tornado, we are actually those calm spots that can observe the storm, but remain at its center and act when the time is right, instead of letting the tornado throw us around and carry us wherever it wants.
The world around us
Throughout life, we encounter solutions. Some situations are more challenging than others, I’d say. The current global situation puts many questions before us and shakes our beliefs, our attitudes, our daily lives, our existence, our future, and our plans like a small earthquake, day after day, giving rise to doubts and the need to choose sides. In any case, I think we are all learning a lot about ourselves and the world around us in this particular moment of what will one day be history.
What happens for some of us during these kinds of periods and stressful situations is that a small, self-sabotaging part of us kicks in, telling us that nothing makes sense and steering us away from our good routines. We can silence it not by fighting it, but simply by continuing our practices, no matter how pointless they may seem at the moment. Most progress happens overnight. Actually, it doesn’t happen overnight; rather, after a lot of effort, that one drop of effort creates the impression that the change occurred overnight.
Suggestions:
When we feel like we’re losing our footing and it’s hard to grab onto anything, it’s good to have our own methods and solid anchor points.
I suggest some that have proven effective, accessible, and fast for me:
- When you feel any anxiety, fear, inexplicable sadness, or any other emotion that overwhelms you, ask yourself: is this mine? As human beings, we are receptive to others’ energies and emotions. When the global situation around us is dramatic, it’s hard to resist being consumed by the drama. If you get the answer that something isn’t yours, you will very quickly shed that veil. If the emotion is your own, you know how to deal with it, and the answer will come even more easily.
2. Short constellation exercises, like the exercise of surrendering fear, worry, and everything that no longer serves you. The exercise is HERE.
In doing so, remember that everything in your life served a purpose, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not, and try to feel gratitude.
3. EFT or the Emotional Freedom Technique. Using the wisdom of Chinese medicine and knowledge of the body’s energy meridians, this method calms us down, changes our energetic “charge,” and restores our focus on what is important to us. There are also numerous studies confirming the effectiveness of this method as a form of help for distress, anxiety, or disturbing thoughts. Read the basics at the LINK.
4. A very simple and absolutely accessible method for managing your own mood is mindful breathing. For me, it’s the absolute simplest form of meditation and a practice for training focus. Whether you deepen your knowledge of breathing through learning about different pranayama techniques or just take a few minutes a day to observe your breath, your inhales and exhales—perhaps simply counting as you inhale and counting as you exhale—you will reap great benefits. This is how we manage our nervous system and control the flow of our thoughts.
5. Movement. It doesn’t have to be anything sophisticated or take up a lot of your time. Shake or dance! Body movements that shake and get the whole body moving change our “charge.” If you also imagine yourself shaking off all the excess and intentionally shaking away or dancing out all the tension, the results will be excellent. Shaking the body activates our parasympathetic system and relaxes us, while also promoting the lymphatic drainage process, which will lead to better toxin elimination.
6. The good old technique of journaling, or unstructured, free writing, brings numerous insights. You don’t need to know in advance what you want to write or what your main theme or goal is. By writing, you can reach your most hidden fears and anxieties, as well as other emotions that tend to lurk, which can really make it easier to work through them further.
7. And always a good solution and answer: nature. We all know that being in nature heals, soothes, and enriches on all levels. Nature is rich in negative ions, the ones that stimulate serotonin production. Hills, the sea, springs, the forest, or even a park near our home will do a lot for us. Walk barefoot, touch the water, enrich your home with symbols of the natural elements, step out of your apartment just after it rains.
Small things we repeat become our healthy routine and our elixir of peace and balance!
