Before we begin, take a moment to explore the space you’re in right now. Close your eyes and relax your shoulders. Breathe. A new season is here, the moon is now waning, and I’m sure your life is proving some changes as well.
Sit with that for a second. For however long it takes.
Finished? How do you feel? I’ve been increasingly integrating that moment of silence in my day. When I wake up, the first thing I usually do is check my phone. I’ve noticed that taking deep breaths before opening my eyes is far more beneficial to how the rest of my morning goes.
After I’ve gotten started with my day and I’m right around the middle of my to-do list, I know it’s time to check in with myself again. Close my eyes and take a few of those deep breaths to see what my body needs. Oftentimes, I forget to eat or I’ve been sitting for too long. Or maybe it’s my spiritual self that needs tending to.
And I promise I did not intend to make this post about that. It just happened. And it’s the perfect example of flow, which is a good thing because it’s an indication that I’m honoring my natural cycle. I’m trusting what’s mine. That all is well.
But flow is such an enemy according to how we were taught. Sometimes all we want to do is keep to ourselves and read and write and watch movies and listen to music. But that screaming reminder to hustle, grind, and chase your dreams prevents us from doing so. It also blocks us from realizing that flow can actually exist wherever you are.
You can be on your job, one you don’t even like, and be all up in your flow. It’s just a matter of embracing it, so you can start making room for what’s to come next. Then when you connect with it, you’ll be ready to receive. Feel me? You don’t have to chase it; it will find you. The way to connect with flow and let it know that you’re open to it is by pausing to breathe.
In those silent sessions with Spirit, you’ll first realize how you feel. Then what you want. And right here in this second, the original purpose of my post just floated back to me. Overthinking is a sign that you’re stressed. When so, the natural reactions are fight, flight, or freeze. So you’re either struggling against it (whatever it is), avoiding it, or you’re just stuck.
If you currently subscribe to that grinding mode (or you used to), then that conditioning is something you need to de-school from. All that means is that you were once upon a time a student of that philosophy, you’ve realized that it doesn’t serve you, and you’re releasing it. Unschooling then says I’ll find my own way. Whatever ideas and habits that I take on will center around who I am and what I’m interested in.
And on a spiritual level, I want to be at peace in my relationship with others, my work, and, of course, myself. I want passion and I want peace. Many more things too, but that’s the core of it. And as the moon wanes, going from the full moon a few days ago (that I couldn’t see due to clouds) to a new moon, think about where you are.
Leading up to the full moon, I was in a huge space of releasing. Big releases. Letting everything go, including toxic relationships, that was holding me back. I was all up in my cave with no room for anyone else in it. Now I’m floating; I’ve crawled out of the cave and I’m planning my next moves and making room for them.
What about you?
I shared a post on The Womb Sanctuary about my specific process of managing my tendency to overthink. If you can relate to that, then you’ll definitely benefit from it. Check it out here.
To learn more about unschooling, peep this audio interview between Arielle Loren (who I’m almost embarrassed to say that I’m just learning about) and Akilah, the mama of the Radical Self-Expression movement.
Another fellow Radical Selfie coach, Monique Allison, dropped a book that kept me up all night until I was done. And immediately afterwards, I took action in reclaiming my peace by doing exactly what the title suggests: Releasing That Relationship: Gaining Clarity from the Heartbreak of a Breakup or Divorce That Nearly Broke Your Spirit.