Wednesday, May 8, 2019

Watcha Feelin'?


 Hey! How ya' feeling?   

If you're like me, you feeling like your slogging through something you can't quite identify and you can't really see your way out of. Your strength is sapped, you're tired all the time, and you're not always sure that there really is a light at the end of the tunnel.

And more people die and the economy is uncertain and everyone is fighting about politics it seems and somedays…  the only feeling is "Why bother?"

And since most of us are feeling that way, it seems to multiply and spread until we're as beaten down as district 12 in Suzanne Collins' books about the MockingJay.

So, if you're like me, it's time to explore a different question. Cuz we know what we feel, and what we're afraid of. What would we like to feel? Seriously. Take a few minutes, take a deep breath, push back from the desk or lay down on the floor. Look out the window, or close your eyes - and allow yourself to answer this question… "What would I like to feel?"

Be curious. Be imaginative. Be brave. "I'd like to feel safe. I'd like to feel free. I'd like to feel 30 pounds lighter. I'd like to feel like an astronaut. I'd like to feel the ocean on my feet, the mountain breeze on my face, the hug of my family, my pets.  I'd like to feel magical, delighted, competent, healthy, free of this headache, full, strong, mellow, sad, excited… "

What would you like to feel?

Hopefully, just the act of contemplating that - of exploring the possibility that there are other feelings out there to be felt - helps your body connect with some of those feelings. What does it feel like - physically - to feel safe instead of beat down? To feel magical instead of drudging? To feel free?

What does it feel like in your heart, in your head and your shoulders? What does it feel like in your breath?

 And there! if only for a minute, we are breaking through the bleak fog of habit and reaction and we are emitting rays of hope, sunshine, possibility. This is how we change our worlds, my friends. It doesn't change the weather, but it definitely changes how we approach it. What we add to the collective.

And the answer can be different every day! every minute.

 So what, in this minute, would you like to feel?

 I hope the warmth of the sun breaks through the fogs and lightens your day.

-Lila