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Thursday, March 19, 2020

A Time For Peace, Lessons, & Healing



Uncertainty. 
It's an uneasy feeling. It is a challenge to feel peace while the world around us seems to be burning, coughing, fighting, and hoarding. Everywhere we look there is speculation without proper facts and several levels of panic depending on the day. Many people are scared wondering what the next catastrophe will be and whether or not they will be a part of it. No one likes uncertainty, the very word sparks fear. Everyone deals with it in different ways and that is what we are witnessing right now- all of the many different ways people choose to deal with uncertainty. 

Certainty.
In the midst of all of the uncertainty, there are some certainties you can count on. In your own life, right now what do you know to be certain? It is important to focus on the things that are stable, even the little things. For instance, I know for certain there will be coffee in my coffee maker tomorrow morning. I know that at 8pm tonight, my dog will tell me it’s time for our evening walk. I am certain that my evening meditation will leave me in a calm mental place. I am certain that we are being watched over by angels and deceased loved ones. I am certain that the more I stay away from fearful media, the better I feel. I am even certain that things will turn out better than we expect. I hope you become more certain of that as you continue to read this letter.

Lessons.
If there’s one thing I’ve noticed while being an observer of life, it is that fearful things are rarely what they seem to be. There is always something more- deeper underneath the surface issue.  For instance, a couple might think they are arguing about money, but the real underlying issue might be about unhealed wounds around trust or feeling unsupported. Until the couple deals with the underlying issues, they will continue to fight about money because money isn’t what needs to be healed- the wounds that are being triggered because of the money are the things that need to be addressed. It seems like the more we focus on the underlying issues, the easier things get. But when we fail to look deeper, only focusing on the surface, the challenges remain. 

I learned about a cycle of healing and it goes like this. When we focus on healing the underlying wounds, we get an opportunity to learn something valuable. Once valuable lessons are learned, the surface challenges fade away. 
Recap: Surface Issue leads us to the underlying wound. Healing the underlying wound= a lesson. Lesson learned= no more surface issue. 
Here’s the catch, the more we focus on the surface issue, the louder the underlying wound becomes. It’s almost like the wound itself jumps up and down yelling, “Hey- stop arguing about the money! I’m here, it’s really about me, and I just need to be healed!”

A current example of a surface issue with an underlying wound is seeing all of the bare shelves at the grocery stores. We know that our entire country is nowhere near having food or supply shortage. Delivery trucks continue to bring in an abundance of everything we could ever need. But we see the bare shelves and begin to panic. Have you ever stopped to wonder, where is this panic coming from? Again, it’s not from the lack of stuff, logically we know that our country has so much! The panic comes from a deeper lack mentality that is being triggered by seeing bare shelves. Triggers are sneaky, never logical, and people tend to react in illogical ways when their deepest fears are being exposed. It is interesting to see that in a country full of so much, we have an undercurrent of lack mentality that has risen to the forefront for everyone to see. This lack mentality affects us all in different and personal ways depending on past experiences and our current perceptions. So in reality, we aren’t really seeing greed and hoarding, we are seeing deep fear based wounds within our society that are loudly asking to be healed. When you stand back and look at everything that is going on, you will witness a lot of lessons in the process of being learned. 

We are all talking about a virus and social separation as a global quarantine. These things are the surface issues. As long as we focus on them, they will remain. I urge you to look deeper. There are many personal underlying issues that will certainly begin to rise to your attention during this time. Because this is a time of healing. And what needs to heal will arise. Everywhere you look you can see what issues people are dealing with. The fears and pandemonium that we see are symptoms of people’s underlying wounds that are rising up to be healed. To the degree people are in a panic, is the degree of healing they require in order to be peaceful again.

Some people are healing their relationship to money, to greed and their lack mentality. And those who judge them for either hoarding or ignoring are healing their issues around judgment and tolerance. Some people are healing things at home- the things they want to stay away from but now cannot. Some people are facing their marriages, their kids, or lack thereof, and the things they use in their busy lives to avoid. Some people are healing their dependencies and addictions. Some are healing their general perceptions of security and the ability to survive. Some people are facing the hard fact that they hate what they do for a living. Some people are healing the cause of their restlessness, anxieties, and depression. Some people are healing their relationship to their creativity, passions, and inner talents. Some people are healing their bodies, their diet and personal care issues. Much needed time away, rest, and recovery is happening. Conversations that have needed to happen are about to happen. Decisions that have needed to be made are about to be made. Healing that has long awaited….Well, I believe that healing is happening. 

It’s almost as if we have hit the global restart button. There’s much more going on than what meets the eye.

Compassion.
If what I have written is true, if every single one of us is facing a wound that needs healing, then it is safe to say that compassion is the one lesson we all have in common. True compassion does not decipher who is worthy of it. True compassion simply just is. So to all the jerks, the rude people, to the people you’ve judged- now you know they are having their wounds rise to the surface and their actions are evidence of it. They are in the process of learning. In order to be peaceful during this time, I would guide you to explore your ability to have compassion for everyone. For me personally, this has been the one solid pathway to feeling stability through all of this. Judgment and resentment are unstable feelings. They lead me into more uncertainty. It’s so much easier to just have compassion and free myself from having negative reactions to people's fears and wounds.

Love Over Fear.
So this is what it looks like to have more people in fear than in faith. This is what a fearful society looks like. Paranoia, panic, fake news, false reports, and extreme unkindness. People are having their wounds triggered all over the place. They are afraid. And I don’t blame them. If I didn’t know I had a choice, I would be afraid too. But there is always a choice. At every moment we have the freedom to choose how we are going to look at things. 

“I choose to see love instead of this.” 

If we can remember that this is a time of healing, and that the surface things we see are an indication of an undercurrent of many wounds, we can bypass the surface fear and ground ourselves into faith that all things are happening for the purpose of healing- not suffering. Yes I understand there is suffering, and as an empath it has been hard to stay centered in so much of it. But it is my life’s purpose to do so. And it is your purpose to do so too. This morning before I began to write this letter, I woke up to these words echoing in my consciousness, “...and above all else, stay centered- this is your purpose now.” 

Balance.
I believe that by shifting our focus from the surface issues to the willingness to go within, we will find peace in finding what it is that these times are trying to teach us. What is your big lesson through all of this? What personal issues are rising up to be healed? If you pull away from the distracting chaos and go within, you will find your balance. You will realize that there was a deeper wound asking to be heard, understood, forgiven, and loved. This whole virus and social separation thing could be a game changer for you. It could very well be the conduit to the change you never even knew you needed to make. When this is all over, and we all open our doors and go back into the world, we could very well be better versions of ourselves. Our lives could be straightened out in ways it couldn’t have had life continued the way it was. This could be your time of miracles. 

How Can I Serve?
If there are two things I would guide you in looking at right now they are 1. The lesson you are needing to learn and 2. The thing you are needing to provide. I ask myself daily- what can I heal within myself and how can I serve others? If this is your focus, the drama and fear of these times will slip away. Every time you ask “How can I serve” you are immediately connecting yourself to the Source of Love and Guidance. Your connection to that Source is your life preserver- don’t ever forget it. Don’t be afraid of what the answer might be. You’ll never be asked to do something beyond your capacity. Most of the time the answer comes in the moment like helping someone with their packages, smiling at your neighbor, deeply thanking your delivery person, calling someone just to say you love them, or offering to babysit for overwhelmed parents. When you see the news, ask yourself those two questions: “What can I learn about myself & how can I serve?”  I promise it will give you a much different experience- a deeper experience, one beyond the surface and one that will provide you a way out of the madness.

In asking myself how I can serve, I was prompted to record two short and sweet calming meditations. I originally did it for children because I felt called to help ease their anxieties. Their lives are drastically changed as they can no longer attend their schools, see their friends, or check on their teachers. Children are very sensitive to the level of stress coming from their parents and society in general and so the meditations are more for their tender minds. However, I do feel that we can all use some sweet and gentle love as we begin to embark upon weeks of solitude. More meditations and videos will be released throughout the coming weeks and if you are a member of my Patreon, we will be doing a special New Moon meditation on the 24th.

Sunshine Meditation CLICK HERE
Healing Visual CLICK HERE

Use this time wisely my friends. Use it to observe, exercise compassion for yourself and others, to heal, and to grow. Choose love over fear. Choose faith over chaos. This too shall pass, like clouds covering sunshine. We have to remember that just because we cannot see the sun, the light is still there. 

That is one more thing you can be certain of. 

Sending you all so much love, light, and everything right,

Crystal Doty


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