There is no doubt about it, we are living in interesting times. There is so much going on in the world, much of it tumultuous and it is not exactly clear where it will lead or how it will end. From climate change, to war, to national and international political disruption, it can cause us to feel fractured and ungrounded. When things are happening at such a big scale, it’s hard to know how to influence things positively or even how best to support ourselves and navigate the upheaval.
And it may be that you also have things going on in your own life currently? Whether in your health or your relationships, in your career or your finances, perhaps there are things that are feeling uncomfortable, some results that you don’t relish? 2025 is the Year of the Snake. It is a year for claiming power, letting go of draining attachments and shedding a previous version of the self. You may be feeling the energetics of that and the need to shed some old patterns and open up to what is new within you and for you. That experience can be both exciting and painful; exhilarating and difficult.
And here in the Northern Hemisphere, we’ve also just been through the March Full Moon, known as the Worm Moon on March 14th – again, energetically, it is a call to purge the old and let go of what’s no longer serving you and make way for new things to take root.
So, this weekend I wanted to share with you some perspectives and tools that may make the whole experience of navigating turmoil, releasing the old and embracing the new just a bit easier to handle.
The first thing I want to share is this wisdom from Lao Tsu, which I was recently reminded of by the wonderful Peter Harper aka The Drunken Monk.
“If you want to awaken all of humanity then awaken all of yourself. If you want to eliminate the suffering in the world, then eliminate all that is dark and negative in yourself. Truly, the greatest gift you have to give is that of your own self-realisation.”
“Simplicity, patience, compassion. These three are your greatest treasures.”
I just find this so powerful. And it is wisdom that is over 2,000 years old, so it has stood the test of time. It’s so easy to feel like there is nothing we can do when it looks like the whole world order as we’ve known it is falling apart. And yet, the answers can be so simple: Start with yourself. Do your own inner work. Be the change you wish to see in the world and trust that everything else follows from that.
And as is so often the case with the tools and strategies I share with you here and with clients on my coaching programmes, the practice can be relatively simple in terms of what is recommended but to do it is not always easy.
That said, if you are willing, here are a few ways in which you could start to awaken all of yourself, eliminate the darkness and increasingly embody simplicity, patience and compassion.
Awaken all of yourself
The most profound question you can ever ask yourself is What would I love? If you were to awaken all that is possible for you, it starts with being truly honest about what you’d love. Therein lies the path towards self-realisation. Start here. Ask yourself What would I love? What would I really love? – ponder that question, journal on it, meditate around it, sleep on it and/or take it on a wisdom walk with you. And as you clarify what you’d love, make the decision to be that person and start taking steps towards actualising that version of you. This one step can really simplify your life. Once you are clear about your vision for your awakened self, then every choice or decision is either taking you toward or away from that.
If you want to do a deep dive on clarifying what you’d love and taking action to realise it, join us at the Vision Workshop in May and let me support you in the process of building your vision for outcomes you’d love, surrounded by a group of like-minded people who are all doing the same thing and we all can resource and uplift each other.
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Eliminate the darkness and the negative in you
We all have a negativity bias, so let me start here by encouraging you to be compassionate with the parts of you that feel negative about what’s happening in the world or that finds yourself stuck in moments of darkness. As one of my great mentors says, you can’t do a spiritual by-pass on those experiences and your feelings about them. The human side of us feels it and needs to be supported in those moments. The real skill is to not get stuck in that pain.
One of the great tools I have found to work with releasing the darkness and the negative is the Ho’oponopono practice. Ho’oponopono is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. It is based on the belief that by taking full responsibility for our experiences and clearing negative energy, we can bring healing and harmony to ourselves and others. The practice works by repeating a simple yet powerful four-phrase prayer, directing it inward to cleanse unconscious beliefs and past traumas.
The Ho’oponopono Prayer & the meaning of the phrases
- I’m sorry – Acknowledging responsibility for any negativity or imbalance, even unconsciously.
- Please forgive me – Seeking forgiveness from the Divine, oneself, or others for any harm caused.
- Thank you – Expressing gratitude for the opportunity to heal and for the forgiveness being granted.
- I love you – Sending love to oneself, others, and the situation, fostering peace and connection.
By repeating these phrases, as part of your meditation practice or while walking for example, the practice helps to dissolve limiting beliefs, promote inner peace, and restore harmony in relationships and life.
Generated on Lexica
Choose Compassion
To bring compassion to yourself can simply be to acknowledge how you are feeling in the moment. You may want to give yourself a few minutes to allow the feelings to be felt and expressed. Simply being able to say, I’m feeling … [insert what is being felt in the moment]. Allow the feeling to be named and felt. Breathe through it. But don’t stop there. Once that feeling has been felt, typically it subsides, at least a bit. In that moment is the opportunity to refocus on what gives you hope, what causes you to feel uplifted, what you would prefer to feel instead. What we focus on expands, so your willingness to look for and call in how you would prefer to be feeling will be one measure of you experiencing it.
And make an advance decision to choose compassion, for yourself and for others during these tumultuous times. In the book, A Course In Miracles, there is a wonderful insight and perspective that says “every act is either a call for love or an expression of love, no matter how unskillful it appears”. This is true both for our own actions and the actions of others.
If we can see things from this perspective, we can have more compassion for ourselves and others for the lack of skill we exhibit. It doesn’t mean we have to say that it’s ok for people to behave badly or that there shouldn’t be consequences, but it does mean we can begin to separate the person from the behaviour and have some compassion.
Another way of considering this is that if we accept that there is Infinite Intelligence at work in the world – we have different names for that, some of us call that God, or Love, or the Universe – then that intelligence is in everything. In some traditions we say that God is Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent – all present, all knowing, all powerful. If this is the case, God is in everything that is happening in our world and in our lives, it cannot be any other way. Again, this doesn’t mean that we don’t care about what’s happening or don’t seek to improve things, but it does mean that we can stay out of judgment, look for the good, trust that there has to be some deeper purpose in all of it and pour our energy into that.
Use the Ho’oponopono practice to develop your compassion for yourself and others or try this affirmation:
“I release judgment and open my heart to embrace understanding—for myself and for others. I honour my journey with kindness and extend the same grace to those around me. With each breath, I soften, knowing that love is my true nature. I forgive, I heal, I grow. I am compassion in action.”
This affirmation can be spoken aloud, written in a journal, or meditated upon to deepen your sense of compassion and connection.
I’ve given you three substantive options to work with this weekend. I encourage you to start small! Choose one and begin to work with it and see where it takes you. If you feel better keep using it and maybe over time add in another practice. If you don’t find a particular practice working for you, try a different one, although know that it can take a bit of time to feel the impact!
I’ll finish with this quote from Mahatma Gandhi:
“We but mirror the world. All the tendencies present in the outer world are to be found in the world of our body. If we could change ourselves, the tendencies in the world would also change… We need not wait to see what others do.”
Photo by Jeremy Bishop on Unsplash
You are a light and a leader in the world today. You can and do make a difference. And when you commit to doing your own inner work, know that as you heal yourself, you heal our world.
Join award-winning Transformational Coach Maeve Lankford for a THREE-DAY, live, in-person immersive workshop where you’ll learn everything you need to design and live a life you love. Save the dates for our next Vision Workshop – 9-11 May 2025.
Photo by Oleg Illarionov on Unsplash