Are you striving to cope, or choosing your next paradigm?

I've been speaking to a lot of people lately who have been working so hard to cope. They are trying to find ways to shut down their anger, fight their cravings, suppress sadness, so many manners of 'control' that only add to the stress and fatigue.

In our earliest years, we begin to create coping mechanisms to deal with whatever we cannot manage. When we feel overwhelmed we may distract ourselves, dissociate, or create pain in one aspect to pull us out of the pain of another. So much energy goes into creating these strategies, and while they may 'help' for awhile, they really only prevent us from finding a deeper alignment.

I wanted to share the idea that I have been meditating on lately - I no longer want the ability to cope within my current circumstances, or the paradigm I am in. I want to heal and evolve to match the next.

Take a moment to sit with that idea - that instead of treading water in the circumstances and choices that make you feel as though you are drowning, or being pulled under, that there is another option. That there are possibilities that your conscious mind has not yet recognised, because you have been so busy just trying to survive in that whirlpool. What if you could put your feet down, and feel new ground beneath you, so that you could simply stand and walk into a new environment or experience?

We have the capacity to become stronger, more resilient, to engage courage and become brave. But we weren't given these abilities so that we could simply stay the same, suffering in the cycles of the past. We have the ability to expand these virtues, so that we can create something better. To continue to think, speak, act in the same manners is what exhausts and overwhelms the body and mind.

Consider the possibility that it takes no more energy to build a new paradigm than it does to maintain the one that suppresses or limits you. In fact, you may find that building something new, one that is more aligned and in flow with your higher self, is a more graceful process. It would certainly be more inspiring, thrilling, expansive...

Spend some time this week meditating on the following: 

• Which habit am I choosing over and over again that keeps me feeling stuck, small, weak, unable? What positive practice could I dedicate that focus and energy to instead?
• What belief system, emotion, habit takes up most of my energy? What do I keep coming back to over and over again? And how much energy could I free up, if I simply stopped that single pattern?
• Which emotion is exhausting me right now? What do I need to change or understand in order for that feeling to process and release?
• What would happen if I stopped building sand castles (lacking structure, boundaries, integrity), and started to build a life on stronger foundations, healthy practices, alignment, for the long-term? What could I choose to end or begin today that would get this started?

Remember that we are the creators of our own paradigms. We choose the quality of what is included, as well as what is created. As a creative Alchemist, it might be time to reassess the ingredients you are using, so that a new result emerges. Stop trying to cope with what you have now, and evolve into the You that you desire to Be.

Feel free to hit 'reply' and share what this brings up for you. I would love to witness your musings, questions, and epiphanies!

-Jennifer <3

P.S. We'll connect online this Thursday for Cross-Quarter Day! We're nearly halfway through Summer, within Leo Season and the Lion's Gate - time to assess and evolve with the warmth of the Summer Sun and the Lion Heart!