If you’ve been wondering what you can do to be of service during these tumultuous times, here is something you can do. Something simple, but profound. Something you can do right now, in fact. It is this: Despite how you may feel in this moment, decide that all things are working out in a way that enhances the greater good.
More specifically:
- When something in your life falls away—a job, a relationship, your car, your roof—you decide that it’s creating space for something that serves you and the world better
- When you feel despair about a turn of events in your own life or in your greater community, or about the state of humanity in general, you decide that the circumstances are here to teach you and everyone affected by them the very things we need to grow…and then you seek to discern those lessons and put them into practice
- Or when you feel wonky mentally, emotionally, or physically, you decide to take it as a sign to up your self-care instead of merely enduring
- When you’re frustrated with yourself, another person, or life in general, you decide to stay curious and look for the perspective that’s going to help shift your thinking and put you on a truer course
- When your thoughts are headed down a negative path you decide to see it as an opportunity to strengthen your mental body and choose different thoughts
- Or when you’re overcome with sadness, you let the tears come and trust that they will bring you relief and insight
- When you’re overcome with anger, you decide to let it show you the part of yourself you’re trying to either protect or reject and you allow that knowledge soften you so you can apologize and forgive
- When you’re feeling lonely or isolated you decide to use it as impetus to reach out to friends and loved ones, and/or to cultivate new connection
- And when you’re feeling lazy and unmotivated and wanting to numb out, you decide to take it as a sign that you need some recuperation time and that you will consciously let that down time recharge your fuel cells so that soon you can have the juice you need to move toward the things you want
Once you make the decision to accept everything that comes to you with an open heart and mind, everything changes. It doesn’t mean your life becomes 100% glorious 100% of the time, but you get to stop doing things that only drag you down and make you feel worse. Things like feeling sorry for yourself, feeling like everything’s a waste of time, blaming other people, distracting yourself with drama, feeling unworthy, hiding, and taking on other people’s stuff.
The choice is yours. It’s always available to you. And once you make it, you simply keep making it, again and again, 100 times a day if necessary. With enough practice, it becomes something you do unconsciously.
I wrote more about this choice here: Look for the Loving Reason. Always.
