Taming Discombobulation.
I love the word ‘discombobulation’. Doesn’t that word sound like what it actually is? I am noticing that more and more people around me are acting discombobulated, and I know for sure that I am too! I thought summertime would calm us all down, but it doesn’t seem to have- maybe because it was so very hot last week and so difficult to sleep well.
I am thinking this morning about what works to un-discombobulate me when it happens, and what works to keep me feeling calmer and more relaxed, even during this state of emergency in our world.
1) For sure, sitting quietly listening to Hildegard of Bingen chants works well. This is because when I hear them, I am reminded of sitting in the Catholic cathedral during mass, cuddled up beside my Dad, when I was a little girl. The chants remind me of the choir sitting high up in the choir loft behind us singing in Latin, the fragrance of incense, and the feeling of quietness and calm I felt sitting beside my dad there. Because of this, I think that if we can create a link in our mind’s eye to a very calming, relaxing experience of childhood, we can use this to calm ourselves when it feels like a turbulent sea inside of us.
2) I find holding and using prayer beads really calms me down too. I remember my paternal grandmother and my paternal aunt holding their rosaries, and I remember feeling very calm and comforted in their presence watching them pray their rosaries. I made myself a set of prayer beads out of colourful clay beads, with each bead representing a friend or family member I want to pray for. Listening to Hildegard chants while praying with my prayer beads is doubly calming for me!!
3) Another thing that really works for me is to recognize when I am holding a less than powerful perspective in my mind, one that makes me feel helpless and/or hopeless. I have shared with you some of Rick Tamlyn’s writings. I find him to be a master perspective shifter for me. Yesterday he said in his blog, “I believe that our job right now is to be with all that is happening, but not be run by all that is happening. Yes! That made helpful sense to me. We have to acknowledge that these are difficult times, and take in the news about what is happening daily, but we don’t have to be run by it. He encourages us to be forward looking in the sense of having a dream and working towards it. He said, “We must stay in the game, even though the structure of the game we thought we were in just changed completely.” That’s for sure!!! From this I realized that when I am feeling discombobulated, I can return to thinking about what it is I am hoping/trying to create, and then keep on working on designing it.
God bless each one of you with a wonderful restorative summer, overall! May calm seas and beautiful vistas and pleasurable horizons be yours!
Love, Sue