Finding Hope when You Feel Helpless–Emotional Healing

Finding hope can be difficult in the current days. If you are feeling really down and very insecure about your own abilities, please know that that is the norm right now, not the exception. So many events are occurring that create more feelings of loss and confusion. So many people are being diagnosed with serious illnesses, natural disasters are manifesting around the world. No one is exempt from these turbulent times. These are mysterious times filled with spiritual challenges. Please take a moment to read our spirituality page.

So what are we to do about these events and how we feel? First we need to acknowledge that we do feel scared or overwhelmed or depressed. Trying to put a facade on is not going to help and in fact what I am seeing is that no previously used coping strategy is really going to work.  So I go back to step one, simply acknowledge the truth of your feelings. Step two is equally difficult—don’t fight what is. Accept that this huge challenge is in your face. And step three is to reach out to your friends, who are also going through tremendously challenging times, and share your heart with them.

Feeling that you are not alone and that your friends do care about you as you care about them, is amazingly helpful. Allowing your friends to see your vulnerabilities builds lasting trust and helps you to learn that you are loved whether you are on top of your game or not.  You may also feel like you need to “help” or “fix things” for your friends.  You really can’t fix things for your friends.  For one thing, you don’t have the energy to do any additional heavy lifting–remember you too are in crisis. Secondly, this is their spiritual work to accomplish. That is the bottom line message right now. Although the message comes in a million forms, each of us is being asked to face our deepest fears and our greatest insecurities in order to raise our spiritual vibration. Just as the butterfly will actually die if someone intercedes and breaks the chrysalis for the butterfly, so too will your friends not gain the needed internal strength that is to be gained from working it through themselves. Offer love and caring and nurturing and allow yourself to receive the same. That will make the difference–and it will be a big difference.