{"id":891,"date":"2008-12-31T18:43:53","date_gmt":"2008-12-31T23:43:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/?p=891"},"modified":"2020-11-21T18:07:54","modified_gmt":"2020-11-21T23:07:54","slug":"how-to-stay-functional-as-you-sit-out-the-bleak-and-depressing-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/horizonsmagazine.com\/blog\/how-to-stay-functional-as-you-sit-out-the-bleak-and-depressing-times\/","title":{"rendered":"How to stay functional as you sit out the bleak and depressing times."},"content":{"rendered":"

\"heart<\/a>I did two readings this morning, both with high-powered, ambitious and independent women who are going through a melancholy cycle as the holidays approach. That is true for many of us, and when it\u2019s in the air like this, it can be easy to pick up emotions from other people if you don\u2019t have a good sense of your own stability. Both clients are in the process of undergoing some radical life changes – for the better – but are in the \u201cwait and see how it unfolds\u201d stage right now, where it seems as though nothing is happening. Both of them are losing motivation and fear settling into destructive habits since they are not seeing results just yet.<\/span><\/p>\n

I find my life goes through cycles like that, too. One day I see evidence of nothing happening, and it may seem bleak, with nothing on the horizon. The next day, however, can bring all sorts of new opportunities that I did not envision before. I\u2019ve learned to take the bleak, seemingly barren times and view them as incubation periods. Sometimes I even write about it in the form of a character in a novel I\u2019ve half-heartedly started.<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve learned that if I can keep my body in motion while my mind wants to steer me into a melancholy mood, well maybe I don\u2019t get out of the doldrums any quicker (although I think I do) but at least I don\u2019t have a pile of chores left undone at the end of it all.\u00a0 \u00a0Just because you\u2019re feeling a little blue doesn\u2019t mean you can\u2019t eat healthy and get some exercise, maybe visit some local parks or beaches, indulge in candlelit bubble baths and get plenty of rest.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not like you\u2019ve got to huddle in a corner, chain smoking Camels, chugging bourbon and eating rocky road ice cream at 2:00 am.\u00a0 No matter how bleak our inner landscape may seem to us, we still have a choice to remain as functional as we want to be as we sit out the dark times, waiting for spurts of new growth.\u00a0 Remember: like the bamboo stalk, when you\u2019re broken in half and stuck in sh*t, you can\u2019t help but grow \ud83d\ude42\u00a0 Maybe we can\u2019t always control the sudden onset of a mood, but we can control how we react to it.\u00a0 We can control our thought that if we trust in the process, we will have successful results.<\/span><\/p>\n

I had a real memorable dream once about trusting.\u00a0 In the dream I was flying over the ocean.\u00a0 At first I was just flying, then I looked down and saw the earth below me.\u00a0 Then I got closer and saw the ocean, although I didn\u2019t recognize a continent.\u00a0 As I descended, I began to get afraid because it was the middle of the ocean and I\u2019m not a strong swimmer.\u00a0 In the dream, I could feel real fear in my chest.\u00a0 As I descended and felt scared, I was standing upright suddenly and could feel small waves splash at my feet.\u00a0 I quickly said a prayer \u201chelp me deal with whatever is gonna happen\u201d and I lifted my feet and I looked all around to see if I could see land.\u00a0 Suddenly I could see land, but waaaay off in the distance.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Artist Jane Delaford Taylor<\/span><\/center><\/p><\/div>\n

I quickly said a prayer that I\u2019d make it to land and suddenly a row of tiles begin appearing from me to the land. I was afraid I would be stranded and suddenly I felt the tile I was standing on begin to sink. The tiles were just barely a few inches beneath the water\u2019s surface, and each one a long step apart from the next. \u00a0I was afraid to move off my one tile, kind of frozen there, not wanting to step over the ocean part to get to the next tile.<\/span><\/p>\n

I noticed that whenever I felt afraid, my tile would begin to sink.\u00a0 Whenever I said a prayer, it came back up and I\u2019d be on the next tile automatically, and a step closer to the land.\u00a0 This dream was a lesson to me about trust. \u00a0It was also a\u00a0reminder to pray as though everything depended upon God, and act as though everything depended upon me.\u00a0 And trust that the Universe will sort it all out for me.<\/span><\/p>\n

RELATED:<\/span> How To Strengthen Willpower<\/a>
\nWhen you just want to start all over<\/a>
\nPurpose and benefit of isolation at stages upon the spiritual path<\/a>
\nI kinda like it when I squeak; that’s the signal something good is just around the bend<\/a><\/p>\n

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