Lately, I have been experiencing lots of changes in my life. Most of them great and exciting, some of them quite challenging. Nothing I wouldn’t be able to cope with, but I have to say they have been a little distracting. You know those days when something comes up and before you even get a chance to resolve it, there is already something else to deal with? Those situations often keep us distracted and we may feel stuck, even confused. In those moments everything can seem challenging and even the little things can annoy us quite easily. What I have learnt from those situations is to remember, there is always a solution of the highest good to every challenge we face. We are constantly learning very important lessons which are helping us on our personal and spiritual growth. I have a few tips I believe can help you and motivate you, if you are also going through some changes and challenges in your life right now.
1. Breathe
When we feel stressed or challenged we often forget to breathe properly. Our breathing may get fast and shallow, our spine may feel stiff and we can overly feel uncomfortable and uneasy. What I find very helpful in those kind of situations, is to step out from what I am currently doing (if the circumstances allow) and take a few deep, cleansing breaths. This relaxes me immediately. Try it! Inhale through your nose and exhale through your mouth. Repeat it three times at least. Make sure your exhalation is always a little longer than your inhalation. Allow the channels of energy in your whole body to open up, so the energy can flow freely and it doesn’t get trapped anywhere. If you feel any kind of discomfort in your body (it can be in your chest, your stomach, your back) send your breath to this place and visualise it is melting away any tension you may be experiencing. When you breathe out, visualise you are breathing that discomfort away. Repeat this process for as long as it’s comfortable for you, and ask yourself how do you feel afterwards. This technique is very rewarding and I suggest you include it into your every day life, not only when challenges arise.
2. Focus on what you can do
When you are feeling more comfortable after pausing for a while, after you’ve released the tension from your physical body, it’s time for the next step. Try to accept the challenge and think of what you can do to resolve it instead of focusing how bad it is. When you focus on how difficult things are your vision gets clouded and you will always see obstacles instead of solutions. Ask yourself: “What can I do right now to resolve this?” Try to look at it from a higher perspective and be as open-minded as possible. You can also ask yourself: “If my friend or a family member had a problem like this, what advice would I give them?” This way you may get a very good perspective and so much fresher outlook on the situation.
3. Detach for a while
When challenges arise, we often want to deal with them as quickly as possible, so we can get them out of the way. This is great and very wise, but sometimes the best solution could be to wait a little. We can get overwhelmed by the situation, we can overthink it and even come to some scary conclusions what could actually happen (even though they are only our mind’s creation). What often helps me is to completely detach for a while. Instead of worrying, which is not going to help me anyway, I try to do something else. For example: I listen to my favourite song, call a friend, go to nature, watch a funny film…When you detach from a situation which has been bothering you, you often come back to it with a new, fresher perspective. Stepping out from it allows your mind to re-focus on something else and when you get back to it, it may not even look as overwhelming as before. Sometimes things magically work out and a fantastic solutions can surprisingly fly into your life. Afterwards you may even ask yoruself: “Why haven’t I thought of that before?” Be open to anything. Detach for a while and see what happens. You might be surprised.
4. What can I learn from it?
Every challenge is an opportunity for our personal and spiritual growth. Instead of focusing on the difficulty, ask yourself: “What can I learn from this situation?” “What is the Universe trying to tell me?” You may find, that sometimes you face the same or similar situations in your life over and over again. When you notice the similarities of those occurrences, there is an opportunity for you to really master the lesson and release it from your life completely. From a spiritual perspective those situations are repeated until you learn the lesson you need to learn. It can sometimes seem unfair and you might easily fall into the victim zone and say: “Why me, why do I always attract difficult people into my life, what have I done to deserve to feel like this?”…and the list can go on. Trust and know that you are growing and you are learning as a human being and also as a soul. Every challenge is an opportunity for your growth in many ways. Start looking at your challenges as your greatest teachers and know in your heart that all is good and there is always a solution of a highest good to everything you face.