How Do We Respond to this Moment?

You’re skipping along your spiritual path through life when suddenly…

There is upheaval, shock, disruption, or distraction in your world. Call it what you will. What matters is you feel affected by it. It throws you off course. You can’t reconcile what’s happening, and you’re not sure how to process your reactions to it.

Principles you thought you had accepted and internalized now seem intangible when put to the test. In an instant, your spiritual path has been transformed into an obstacle course. You’re no longer skipping along but stumbling instead.

Every part of you is screaming “MAKE IT MAKE SENSE!”

You return to your tome to apply the truth found within it to the chaos that surrounds you. But try as you might, “the world is an illusion” can’t break through. The deeper meaning of that principle has escaped you. It’s okay. Just like in movies and novels, sometimes it’s more effective to start in the middle of the action before looping back to the beginning to figure out how we got here.

So put aside the advanced metaphysics for now. Even if you could focus on that in your current state, you might be tempted to force the principles into your dispirited mind and then unwittingly wield them as weapons of spiritual bypassing (using spiritual beliefs to ignore painful emotions in yourself or others). Instead of fighting the physical experience of our current reality in our mortal minds and bodies, let’s roll with it.

How do you deal with the insanity coming at us faster than we can process?

Thoughts arise. Don’t fight them.
You couldn’t even if you wanted to. What you resist, persists. So welcome the thoughts. Merely observe them. Questions, opinions, or condemnations: whatever the form, they are just thoughts. You needn’t judge them nor yourself for having them.

Emotions flood us. Feel them.
Sadness, anger, grief, rage, panic, numbness. Do not deny or prohibit them. You are a sensory being. Scream, cry, stomp your feet, punch a pillow, eat cake. But while you are feeling them, do not invent stories or assign blame. Applying narratives to emotions keeps you spinning in the hamster wheel of rumination and pain.

After the purge, be still.
Take a few deep breaths and slowly release them. If you wallowed in stories or judgments, let them go for now. Get up. Wash your face. Go for a walk or engage in some other gentle activity (organizing closets counts, too.)

As peace returns, you’ll know what to do.
Don’t misunderstand that phrase. If you expect a voice from the heavens, you may miss the message. So how will you know? “What to do” will vary for each of us. When the answer arises without residue from thoughts or emotions—when it simply is—that is a good sign. Beyond the drama of trauma, we see what lies before us in the spirit of “I am here only to be truly helpful.”

Since we tend to overcomplicate things, let’s clarify. We each have unique gifts that are so natural we may overlook them or fail to see just how powerful they are. Because they are effortless, we can go deeper and wider, thereby maximizing the love and helpfulness that is generated.

With that said, you might still discount your gifts and assume you’re not doing your part if you’re not engaged in the same activities as other people. Nothing could be further from the truth. Our interconnectedness ensures that whatever we are called to do plays a role in the grander scheme.

If your gift is leadership, head to the center and inspire those around you. If it’s behind-the-scenes support, it would be counterproductive to aim for the spotlight. You may be called to use your gift of written or artistic communication to deliver a message. Or maybe your gift of hospitality has you providing snacks and warm beverages to people who need a break from the elements.

Perhaps you are so far away you feel you can’t be helpful. Not true. Remember that interconnectedness? Your hugs or words of comfort boost positive energy. Anytime you extend love to those who have lost sight of it in the midst of overwhelming fear you are recharging a spiritual battery.

The love you give, no matter the form, is paid forward, and so on, and so on. Call it geometric progression or exponential growth…there will be no grading of the accuracy of mathematical terms on this Substack.

The point is we all have our part and we must let go of the ranking, measuring, comparing, and judging of our gifts and just get on with it. Just do it, as the old Nike slogan directed, but do it with great love, as Mother Teresa said.

What’s next?