Has Post-New Year's hit you yet?
We’ve entered the Resolution Crash Phase, where all the big plans we launched with great hope and fanfare first show signs of losing steam. If you're feeling a little S.A.D., low-energy, tired, or just generally disappointed with all the grand intentions you set a month ago that don’t seem to be blasting off as you had hoped… you're not alone.
You do get what you wish for a lot of the time, so if you are as busy as you want to be, bless that.
When you set intentions, make big plans, hire the Muses left and right, and send invoices to the Universe for big ticket items, it’s highly probable that the first thing you’ll get is a work order. When you pray for starting a grand new project or ask to discover a new course along your path, you’re asking for work.
When you’re frantic and manically engaged, you have a list of things you can’t get to because you’re too busy. When it’s all you can do to just maintain and manage your “normal” schedule, you dream of the extra time to work on new projects. Or you tell yourself you’ll get to those mundane tasks that have to be seen to when things calm down.
Now is when things tend to calm down.
You're afraid that a lack of gratitude for your current situation will kill your power to manifest. You're afraid that focusing on what you lack may only attract more lack.
Instead of responding to the fear of what’s missing, be with what is.
The moon doesn’t wax indefinitely. The ocean doesn’t create a beach by only perpetual forward advancement.
Actions are most effective in the context of cycle and flow. More subtle than surrender is the simple need to pull back. Resting.
Sickness. Lack of energy. The doldrums on the river. If you don’t make the conscious decision to rest, to maintain, to process, your physical body will decide for you.
If you feel grounded, if you find yourself in a holding pattern, there’s probably a very good reason why you aren’t meant to fly right now. Instead of saying “No! Why can’t I be cleared for take off?” Say yes to refueling and preparing.
Pausing is not necessarily a block or a dead end.
Sometimes going with the flow means falling back for a bit, swirling in an eddy, going round a bend, or taking a detour. Pausing.
Cruise control is not about acceleration and getting there faster, it’s about moving forward with conserved energy. Maintaining.
If you set out on a steep hike and hit a plateau, for the moment climbing is no longer required -- walk for a while.
Sometimes, the best course of action is doing nothing; sometimes you just need to do a little less.
What can you simply maintain that would normally be set aside to make way for change? Aren’t there things that need your attention that don’t require creativity or revolution?
- Give your Muse the day off while you catch up on laundry.
- Put aside Chapter Ten of that book you started writing and work on your taxes.
- While you’re waiting for the phone to ring, enjoy the quiet.
- If you’re single right now, schedule a date with your inner artist.
- If you have low energy, spend a guilt-free day on the couch with the remote control.
It's okay to say yes to resting, waiting, pausing, processing, preparing, playing.
Say yes to feeling sad. Say yes to goodbyes. Say yes to tomorrow instead of resisting the stillness of a low day.
When the day tells you it doesn’t want to be seized, grab a pillow, put on your sweat pants, and be with what is. Planting seeds is Step One. Step Two is... not Harvest time.
You are eminently worthy; all things pass.
Image credit h.koppdelaney via Creative Commons on Flickr