Life in Motion Series

Featured Guide: Calm the Sea Within

Intro Thoughts

Somtimes, the many pathways of life can lead to a feeling of so many unanswered questions or burnout from trying to answer them all. Sometimes, life itself, the mass flow of all that was, is, and may be feels like the pulse of a chaotic sea. When all feels like a lot, too much, enough, or not enough what do you do? A lot of times, this is when survival mode kicks in. We react in ways that can unintentionally, and possibly in some cases intentionally add to the chaos of it all. Survival mode can also exist in a very subtle, unrecognizable state, causing us to keep going through the motions of things by resisting natural changes or forcing our flow.

We are life in motion; going through the phases, seasons, and cycles. When we do not welcome these natural changes, we are not aligned to our world within and all around. The survival mode gets louder. It contributes to a chaotic, disruptive flow in our mind, body, spirit, and how we exchange energy. Everything we breathe, think, do, speak; all the ways in which we move through, process, and digest life is a transaction of energy. The flow of life is in every fiber of our being; all of our roots and rhythms of life in motion. What we breathe out into the world ripples into the flow of all things. What we breathe in moves through every cell of our life force in some way. We are mostly made of water. The world around us is mostly water. We can feel the flow; ripples, currents, tides, droughts in all that we are. We are just not always aware of such. Our self-awareness is the strongest “muscle” we have when we learn how to apply it to the flow of wellness in how we shape our lives and the world as a whole. Like any muscle it must be nurtured and exercised to grow in strength and sustainability.

None of us are in a “perfect” place of peace and harmony within, but there is probably more or different things we could be doing to calm our chaos, ease the flow of things, and co-create a little more peace in our lives. Sometimes, people view “peace” as something that exist outside of life, beyond our earthly existence. Sometimes, people view “peace” as a term that indicates being weak or passive. It is quite the contrary. “Peace” is a mindset, perception, stream and movement of conscious energy that ripples into the currents of all that we are and how we apply and exchange energy into everything we do. It requires a great deal of effort, dedication, communication, courage, strength, and sometimes everything you can conjure up in your power to create a “peaceful” flow no matter how much the world tries to challenge otherwise. Peace is far from being passive, waiting, and dismissing. It is about fully engaging our mind, body, spirit, world within, world all around, our entire state of being and perception of how we connect in all moments. Peace is not a fixed concept. It is fluid. It looks different from moment to moment, day to day, and from person to person. The perception and application of it depends on the vibes, currents, conditions, and forces of the moment. It often requires us to ask ourselves those tough self-assessment questions of “are we going through the motions” or “are we consciously co-creating the ripples, rhythms, vibes, and currents of it all”? If you are lacking the peace you need in your life, this is NOT to say “you should be doing more” or “it is because you are not creating the peace”. Life is hard. Many of us and all of us at some point have gone through some really unfair, complex, and beyond challenging experiences. We have all inherited and are all strongly rooted to the patterns and mindset of survival mode in some way. Many may even currently be dealing with unimaginable crises scenarios triggering survival mode on every level. This makes the concepts of peace much harder to access and establish. Even if we have maintained or reached “comfortable” places in our lifestyles we can still be so rooted to the pulse of survival mode that we do not realize the contributions to the chaos, stressors, and pressures of life keeping us from creating a little more peace in our roots, rituals, and processes of creating the rhythms in our flow. Sometimes, continuing to “go through the motions” is a necessary practice to help further learn the nature of something, but there is a big difference in “JUST going through the motions” and “consciously going through the motions”. We are life in motion; going through the moments, days, nights, phases, seasons, and cycles. Changes are occuring in every moment. What we are conscious of and how we nurture and navigate our flow in it all often depends on our presence in the process. There are so many roots and rhythms of energy to understand. The flow it all can be overwhelming.

How do we create calm in the chaos?

Many answer this according to their belief systems, but sometimes, that still leaves us with “okay, but how can I navigate this moment right now”? OR We may start recognizing injustices and practices within the belief systems we are connected to and because of how it sits with our personal, sacred spirit we feel the need to pull away, create distance, or create new pathways of awareness of why such is not ok with us or our personal perceptions and world views. Faith in our beliefs and the process of all things is so very important, but it too should not be a fixed concept that we stay overly rooted to as we gain insights from our unique experiences and perceptions. We are each on a journey of steadily learning more about life, but this applies to the collective human experience as well. Therefore, our perceptions, questions, processes, and understandings of what the term faith and what our personal, sacred journey with our own faith means to us may change as we change as life changes. For me, my general relationship with the term faith does not mean: “to JUST have faith”, “STAY rooted to your beliefs”, “JUST keep going through the motions”. FOR ME, this feels like JUST…surviving…..waiting…..and honestly, disrepecting the gifts I have been given; the thoughts within me, the water around me, the dirt below me, the wild-rooted plants, connections to those I love, etc. Often, in such conversations of trying to navigate hard moments of understanding my life flow and how to apply my energy, I was left with the thought of: “what can I bring to the table to make this better or at least start processing it right now”? I appreciate the concepts of “thoughts”, “prayers”, and meditations. They are important for guiding energy, but ultimately, we are responsible for processing and exercising the exchange of energy here on this Earth. For me, my faith in myself, others, and this Earth is a priority. I have my spiritual beliefs and practices. I stay true to that, but that too evolves in some ways as I evolve, because even though I have a lot of personal experiences and educational insights that have helped me nurture my connection and relationship to the metaphysical perceptions of life, what I believe to be the spirit of life within and all around the elements and nature of existing, I am and always will be a student of life. Therefore, I do not have all the answers. I do my best to apply understandings and solutions to help myself and others navigate life, but part of that is holding space for the unexpected, the work in progress, and the ongoing process of living and learning. To do so, I have to ask myself in each moment: “how can I show up in this moment”? When we are unable to do so in our best perceptions and applications of self, it is often the result of suffering and/or the loss of faith in ourselves, abilities, and resources to root through or rise into the moments. In such times, is when so many hear: “just have faith”, “it will all be ok”. This may be said with good intentions, but these blanket statements can be really challenging for someone who is truly struggling with faith in themselves, others, humanity, or the flow of things. Let’s be honest, we all struggle with these thoughts and emotions at times, regardless of how dedicated we are to our sacred life journey and beliefs. Those waves of emotions often leave us with:

“How can I create more peace in this moment or my life as a whole”? “How can I Calm the Sea Within”? “How do I process all of this”? “How can I handle this”? “What type of help, support, or resources do I need while on this Earth in this moment to help me through this”? These are the ideal questions we should be asking ourselves to do the self-help work. These are the type of questions we ask when we are trying to create supportive systems and communities. If we have not asked these questions nor created wellness rituals to attempt to create solutions, then we may be suppressing our thoughts, emotions, and needs or continuing patterns of emotional outbursts and survival mode behaviors. There is no one answer to these questions. It is a sacred, personal, and authentic journey. We are life in motion. It is all a little different from moment to moment, day to day, and from person to person. Asking ourselves these questions should be a part of our daily rituals in nearly everything we do. It can help us discover and develop how we Write our Story in Everything we do, which is an ongoing, work in progress.

WHEN WE LEARN HOW TO BETTER CARE FOR OUR OWN WELLNESS AND PLACE IN THIS WORLD WHILE BEING MINDFUL OF HOW OUR LIFE IS CONNECTED TO ALL THINGS, THEN WE ARE MORE AT PEACE WITH THE WORLD AS A WHOLE.

THE MORE WE UNDERSTAND OURSELVES, THE BETTER WE UNDERSTAND THE CONNECTION TO EVERYTHING WITHIN US AND ALL AROUND US; THE ROOTS AND FLOW OF ALL LIFE.

The Inner Power, Life in Motion, concepts are a guide to better understanding such. Remember, this is but one approach in a world of beliefs. This is not to sway you from your beliefs, but to further add to, strengthen, or enrich your relationships with all life. Sometimes we fear change in understanding or a change in heart will demolish our traditions, faith, and identity, but sometimes those changes were the answers you were looking for or did not know you needed to better your world within and all around. When we release the control over what we think we know or the need to be right as a means of security, then we are able to welcome others’ perspectives, opinions, and experiences. Whether we allow such to shake us from our roots, disrupt our core, or shift our flow is completely up to our own thoughts and reactions.  

We are each the co-creators of our life. We may not always feel the power to do so or the freedom of choice, but every little moment and detail is an opportunity to use our tools: mind, body, and soul to flow, create, act, and react.  

Your path of wellness is your Earth Walk. We are nature. There are resources within us and all around us designed to be our navigation system. I like to consider this a Conscious Chemistry. How each one of us connects and reacts to certain elements is unique. We follow the patterns of the Roots and Rhythms of the Earth, but our walk through it is our own conscious journey.