Challenging times can either make us or break us! We can be travelling along perfectly fine, and next thing the unexpected happens, that can leave us feeling overwhelmed and confused. Duality refers to the opposing nature of things: pleasure and pain, right and wrong, joy and grief, for example. When we accept the duality of life, rather than fight against it, we feel more calm and centred and able to make our best decisions, to move through life’s inherent challenges.
An acorn over time grows into a magnificent oak tree, just as inherently we are designed to grow to be the fullest version of ourselves. Even though an oak tree’s growth might seem effortless, it experiences many challenges. Right from the beginning it takes the acorn effort, as it has to push its way out of the soil to sprout, for example.
During the course of it’s life the oak tree will encounter many storms, yet it bends with the wind to return to its former beauty and magnificence. It’s the trees that have become brittle and inflexible that are less resilient to storms. The deeper the roots, the greater stability and strength a tree possesses. In fact storms make trees take deeper roots.
What makes our challenges worse is when we resist what is. All pain is caused by resistance to what is. However when we accept what is happening, even when we don’t like it, it allows us to relax and be able to tap into our internal wisdom, that will guide us to our next best steps.
When we don’t like what is happening, and feel stressed and overwhelmed, we can make decisions from a place of instability which can lead to further stress.
Work through challenging times by:
1) Remaining flexible and open to new things, without compromising your values. You never know where the help and support you need may come from. Life can surprise you and delight you when you are open to it!
2) Training your mind during challenging times to focus on what you can do, rather than allowing negative thoughts to take over. There will be an answer to your challenge, even if you cannot see it right now. Often the answer will come to you as a knowing in a quiet space when you are not thinking.
3) Providing spaces in your day to reflect, for example, sit quietly for 10 minutes when you get home from work. This can allow you to process any challenges that you may have when they are small, before they build up into larger issues.
