How to pull yourself up when life takes you down
My tips for building resilience and using consciousness to get to the High Road.
Photo from Hayhouse Letting Go card deck.
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Life feels hard right now. There, I said it. While I’m basically a glass-half-full kind of gal, there are days when things feel dark, not only emotionally, but because it is dark out here in the Pacific NW in the winter.
It gets dark at 4:30 pm! I like to put on my flannel pjs at 7:30 pm most evenings. Then I get into my bed made up with flannel sheets. I read. But during the winter, I can’t stay up past 8:30 or 9 pm. It seems my body wants me to hibernate, so I do.
I feel sad because too many of my friends have been diagnosed with cancer, Parkinson’s, and many other health issues that are life-altering. I want to hold the people I love tightly. I don’t want to lose those who have dire diagnoses.
It seems I’m called to learn how to surrender over and over.
It’s the only way forward. I learned this mighty lesson when I was in an ambulance in the middle of the desert in Baja, Mexico, after a car wreck in 2017. I said, “God, I’m in your hands.” I surrendered under each surgery light over my body when I was on the operating table. This is when miracles appear. I promise.
My own resilience surprises me.
Over the years, I’ve learned how to pull myself up to the High Road even during challenging times. When I look back and think about what I’ve been through - three unimaginable traumas - I’m surprised that I’ve had such fortitude to make it through to the other side.
But I now know I’m not alone. I know that I have powerful spiritual guides (and so do you) who have helped me by bringing people and things to me to help ease the pain.
My Higher Power (HP), spiritual guides, and angels have guided me to follow the High Road, using consciousness to heal.
But I’ve learned that I do sometimes dwell in the swamp of self-pity. Somehow, I never thought I would go down into the hole, as Byron Katie calls it. I was stuck in the muck there yesterday. My mind was twisted up in a rat maze, circling and circling until I took action to get out of the hole.
How I move to the High Road in tough times.
I call people I care about to ask for wisdom and perspective on what’s bringing me down. My sister is one of the best at giving me a real smackdown of reality. She asked me, “Tell me what you’ve been thinking about. After I told her, she said, “Well, that’s what’s bringing you down.” And guess what she reminded me to do? Surrender to the situation.
The beauty of this practice is that you don’t have to force anything. You’re simply creating the conditions for natural release. Your body already knows how to heal—this simple meditation helps you get out of its way.
I got quiet and sat with David Hawkins, MD, PhD, Letting Go process. This is our practice to freedom - trust me on this one. I sat with my breath and noticed where in my body I felt tension. I allowed it to be there while I watched my breath. I told myself I could let it go. In summary:
Allow - Notice what you’re feeling without trying to change it.
Welcome - Create space for the emotion to be present.
Release - Ask yourself, “Could I let this go?”
Afterwards, I decided to go to my health club and strap on a waist belt and run in the deep end of the pool for twenty minutes. This always helps me feel better. Moving my body and getting the energy out is key to feeling better.
This is how I roll when I’m feeling blue, and it helps me feel resilient.
Now over to you, do you have any tips you’d share with the High Road Community and me?
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XO, Sherold