When it’s dark enough, you can see the stars.
–Charles A. Beard

____________________

 

It happens to all of us. We hit a dry period in our life, a place that feels devoid of inspiration. We find ourselves repeating the same patterns over and over, and as much as we want to shift something we just can’t seem to find the handle to do it.

We get stuck.

Life has cycles just as nature does, so it’s entirely normal to go through phases like that. Some seasons are full of ripening and fruition, while in other seasons the fields lay fallow and everything is dormant.

Being in a place of stuckness, in and of itself, is not a bad thing.

When we dwell in that stuck place for too long, though, it can be frustrating and disempowering. During those times, we can feel our life energy seeping away. To be honest with you, I’ve been in that space a fair amount lately so I’m writing this for myself as much as for you.

A friend recently wrote to me,

“Life is precious…
why leak our energy in places that don’t rock our souls?”

Yes.

Here are 9 easy ways to jumpstart low spirits, reclaim your energy, and find your way back to the place that rocks your soul:

1. Music
My first career was as a music therapist, so I know very well that music is powerful medicine for our emotional, mental, and spiritual wellbeing. It’s funny because I often forget this for myself. But it never fails that when I get myself in a stuck place, listening to great music (or even better, creating it) is what moves me through it to the other side.

Try this one out from the ever-wonderful Michael Franti and see what happens. (And keep reading! There’s more beneath the video.)

 

2. Say “Yes!”
Take a whole day and make it a practice to say “Yes!” to whatever opportunity is offered to you. If someone you don’t know well invites you out to tea, say “yes.” If a friend asks for a favor, say “yes!” Your dog wants a walk in the middle of the afternoon? “Yes!” Your son asks for help with his homework even though you’re in the middle of something else? “Yes!”

Note that the exclamation point is important here! Do everything with that exclamation point spirit just for one day and see what happens. The energy of “Yes!” is a great lubricant for getting out of the stuck gear of resistance.

 

3. Take an adventure in your neighborhood
I’m a Sagittarian, so travel to an exotic location is one sure way to make a big shift in my perspective. Getting away is not always easy, though. And so I’ve learned that it’s possible to travel a long way without ever leaving home.

Take a walk through your own neighborhood with your eyes wide open. Pretend you’ve just landed in a little village in a far off land and everything is new to you. Notice who’s around you, what they’re doing, listen to the conversations they’re having with each other… notice the texture of the trees and the land… stop by a shop that you’ve never entered before and let yourself be surprised by what you find.

 

4. Move your body
Do something physical. If you belong to a gym, go to it! Take a bike ride or a long walk, head to the neighborhood pool for a swim, or go to a yoga or dance class. It doesn’t really matter what it is –just get your body moving!

 

5. Change your posture
Related to moving your body, notice how you are sitting or standing right now. If you’re like me, chances are you may be slouching over in some way, protecting your heart, constricting your energy. Take just a few seconds to breathe in deeply and plant your awareness in your spine. Let it straighten up naturally, guide it toward the sky like a flower seeking the sun. Feel the strength and resilience that your body gives you, and just rest for a few seconds in that place of alignment.

 

6. Be extremely friendly
Most of the time, we pass other people on the sidewalk and don’t even acknowledge they are there. This reinforces a sense of isolation, in both us and them. Watch what happens when you shake up this pattern.

As you pass by a stranger, give them a big smile and say “hello.” Some will ignore you. Some will be surprised and look up from their stupor. Some will beam right back at you and give you a greeting. I’ve found this to be a wonderful way of getting me out of my self-absorbed bubble and connecting with other humans in a basic way.

 

7. Re-arrange your furniture
Do you ever feel like you just need to get the hell out of where you are, move somewhere entirely different, and start over again? Even if it’s not practical to move to a new place, you can change things up in your current home so it feels brand new.

Move your furniture around so that everything is in a different place. Put new art up around your home. Paint the walls of your living room royal blue. Create an altar in your bedroom. Buy a tropical orchid for your bathroom. Shake up your surroundings to shift your inner state.

 

8. Cry
We live in challenging times; many of us are going through difficult personal times, our whole planet is in an environmental and social crisis. In ways we may not be aware of, this weighs on our soul. So often we don’t have time or space to feel the emotions related to all this, and our energy coagulates. By simply allowing ourselves to feel, to grieve all that is lost and broken, we release a floodgate of energy.

Give yourself that space… write in your journal about what you’re feeling sad or mad about, give yourself permission to feel it all. Put on some music to help the process, and let the tears flow if they are there.

 

9. Relax and trust that you’re just where you need to be
This last point may seem to go against everything I have just written but remember — the ability to hold apparently contradictory ideas is the sign of a brilliant mind!

Know that all of this is okay. The stuck-ness, the feelings, the frustration… all of it is part of being human and you are perfect just as you are. You actually don’t need to change a thing, on the deepest level. This is such an important point that it was the subject of the very first post I wrote here on the Liberated Life Project. 

This is the quote that went with that first post, and it’s so good that it bears repeating here:

“It wasn’t until I accepted myself just as I was
in this moment that I was free to change.”
Carl Rogers

 

How about you? What helps you to move from a place of stuckness to expansion and liberation?

__________________