Hello dear one,
Just about everyone I speak with right now is some form of exhausted and overwhelmed. While this can feel like an individual struggle with your particular circumstances, I invite you to be gentle and also see it as a collective experience.
That overwhelmed feeling we get from our nervous system is like brakes, trying to slow us down. It’s the ripe smell in the kitchen saying its time to take out the overflowing trash and compost.
When our nervous system is overwhelmed we are no longer capable of learning and creativity. So while there is still no end to the urgency right now, if we stay overwhelmed will only churn in our stormy seas without insight or innovation.
Be Patient
I’m expecting it will take at least the rest of the year to integrate all we have been through so that the seeds of 2022 will have room to astonish us with their beauty.
Give the overwhelm love and respect. Treat it like an upset child that needs soothing. Embrace that the overwhelm actually might be offering you a form of guidance. What happens when you no longer struggle against it?
For example, when I’m overwhelmed I can feel like I am not tracking everything, so I start spending more time scrolling through the news and social media unconsciously looking for clarity. Mostly that just makes me more overwhelmed. Right? But if I soften in response to the overwhelm I am often surprised by what comes up – emotions I’ve been holding tight begin to move or some part of my ego dissolves. There may be some very juicy healing and awakening waiting for all of us on the other side of this collective overwhelm.
Let’s go through this together.
The most effective way I know to reset my nervous system is to do the practices that restore balance with the support of community. Spend time with your people. I’d love to see you at any of my upcoming classes or retreats.
Love,
emily
Strengthen your skills for creating balance through community practice
Drop in any week to Healing Waters Qigong, a Spring Forest Qigong practice group, or the Wisdom Dances Circle, grounded in Laura Shannon’s research on the transformative power of Women’s Ritual Dances from the Balkans, Greece, and Asia Minor.
