With the world as it is right now, gas prices and interest rates escalating, I can’t imagine we’re all as happy as we appear on Instagram.
For many of us who were already struggling to live paycheck to paycheck (especially if you live in Hawaii like me), the last few months feel disorienting and ungrounding.
The upside of all of this is that we still have control over the most powerful things in our lives.
Right now, more than ever it’s essential to focus on what we can control. It’s important to remember that the way we perceive what’s going on externally is often influenced by how we’re doing on the inside.
In other words, it’s all just more lessons in the class of life.
Instead of being driven by our thoughts which could be all doomsday and understandably so, we can focus on using these thoughts to tell a different story about our life.
- So if you’re needing a little hope, take heart and try tapping to boost your mood. This app offers free ones.
- You can spend time in nature and then journal what you envision for your dream life.
- You can do a HeartMath breathing exercise or a Loving Kindness Meditation.
- You can work with a coach* to help clarify your goals and dreams and work towards them.
The point is there are productive ways we can change the course of our lives without allowing the world’s problems to deplete us.
We can help the world by working on ourselves and in feeling hope, we gain energy, creativity and purpose to make a difference.
These are not easy times, but the older I get the more I realize life was never easy. We may have had time and distraction to prevent us from seeing and understanding all the suffering in the world. But age and our current state of affairs are reminders that growing older requires resilience and a stubborn persistence to grow and adapt and heal so we have the courage to not just survive life, but thrive in it.
*I am on my own healing journey and have managed to work through years of trauma and multiple chronic illnesses. I’ve also obtained a graduate degree in counseling psychology and worked with adolescence up to older adults on mental health issues. Since then, I’ve helped women discover and pursue their passion. Currently, I am working a middle grade novel and several picture books. I would love to hear what you’re working on right now. What types of help would support you most?