Recenter.
Let nothing upset you, Let nothing disturb you
Everything changes, God alone is unchanging
With God all things are possible, The one who has God lacks nothing
God alone is enough. ~ St. Teresa
Every conscious breath is a prayer. ~ unknown
When was the last time you felt triggered?
You know, reactive, overwhelmed, angry. Emotional distress and anxiety. Maybe it was instigated by a relational rejection or aggression. Maybe it was some kind of suffering in someone you love, and you felt powerless. Maybe it was reading the latest tragedy in the news that evoked horror, fear, grief, or even rage. Or worse, it was a convergence of all of those forces at once that disrupted your equilibrium and threatened to capsize you.
When did that happen last for you? For me it was last night… and yes, it was all of those things at once. It was a bad feeling. I felt like Bruce Banner getting provoked and starting to turn a little green around the edges. An inner voice whispers, “Smash,” and I try to choke down the rising inner chaos. What does that look like for you? Can you taste those emotions? What do you do when that happens?
Enter coping mechanisms.
We all have them. We all have ways of trying to escape, power up, distract, or check out. What’s your drug of choice? Do you know? It’s important that you know so you can self-observe, extend yourself some grace and compassion, set some boundaries so that coping doesn’t turn destructive, and ultimately, recenter.
Go ahead, name your coping instinct: Is it Netflix, is it doubling down on work, is it retail therapy? Maybe it’s an extra glass of wine or verbal explosions or full-on depression. Or maybe your coping mechanism looks more Christian: maybe you call it spiritual warfare, and you start binding and loosing stuff. Whatever it looks like and however it arrives, it’s a tough experience, and it comes to all of us. You are not alone, and you are not without divine resource.
Sometimes we need a little space—and even a measured degree of coping—before we’re ready to recenter. But the essential skill here is recentering. How do you do that? Fortunately, there are so many good ways! Here are some of my favorite:
Reconnect with your body. Unless you’re sick, your body is always centered and inherently grounded. Consciously breathe. Consciously walk. Feel the sensations and allow them to recalibrate your inner world. Exercise. Do yoga. Drink water. Feel the warmth of sunshine or your fireplace on the skin. Soak it in. Remember what it feels like to simply be alive.
Reconnect with your soul. Remind yourself of what is true. I use a body prayer for this, which is a nice two-fer (body and soul at the same time). Check out the audio meditation for that. Praying these core declarations doesn’t make them true; they never stopped being true. This is simply a way to remember and reconnect with what is real. Renew your soul with art and music.
Reconnect with creation. Get outside. Feed animals. Get your hands dirty in the garden. Chop some wood. Take photographs. Feel the texture of bark and flower. I throw out deer corn and then count points on antlers, watch the turkey toms chase the hens, and marvel as the squirrels grow ever fatter. Creation not only echoes divine consolations, it serves as an unmoved center to stabilize our inner drama. Remember… and worship.
Reconnect with community. Give and receive hugs. As many as possible. Let the warmth of another’s love melt away the bracing and brittleness of your traumatized heart. Remember that you are not alone, and that all things will one day be made right. And mystically speaking, they already are.
growing the soul
Name your distress with compassion. Name your coping mechanisms. Now receive your belovedness and healing from the Lover of your Soul.
serving the world
Observe with compassion and offer healing for another’s distress today. Then send out healing prayer into the world’s distress. It matters.
meditation
takeaway
Remember what is true.