Have the Winter Blues Started Already?

It seems every Autumn my mood takes a downfall. This year isn't much different. I've been finding myself in a state of confusion, unsure about myself or the next step I should take. I've learned to be grateful for these moments because they always lead to better times ahead. Rather than resisting, I have decided to go with the flow of events and emotions as they come. Grounding work and tapping into my creative side are proving to be great motivators for me to stay present in the moment and help me focus on the things that are most meaningful in my life.

"Eastern cultures believe that people experience better health when living in harmony with the natural cycles of their environment. Winter is at it greatest Yin in nature this time of year expressing its inactive, cold, and damp nature. Emotionally, it is best to remain introspective, restful, and consolidate your energy.
In winter, the cold and darkness urges us to slow down. At this time of year we are encouraged to reflect on our health, replenish our energy, and conserve our strength. Winter is ruled by the water element (the greatest body of our emotions and is expressed in nature as well as in the body. Fear and depression tend to become the dominant emotion this time of year often because of the lack of light the eyes receive. Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) also called winter depression describe a form of depression that occurs in the winter months. Women are affected more often than men, and the prominent symptoms are low mood, starting in autumn or winter, lack of energy, irritability, overeating, weight gain, a craving for carbohydrates, lack of interest in socializing and increased sleep and daytime sleepiness. In Winter, people should stabilize their emotions and cultivate their mind."

I found some wonderful suggestions for having a healthy winter, you can check them out at: Peaceful Mind

Stop Resisting Your Struggles and Have a Little Faith

We put so much effort into resisting our struggles that we barely have enough strength left to rise above them. When we focus our attention on resisting the situation, we don’t have enough resilience left to actually overcome it.

“Spend your energy looking at your struggles
to see and feel what is going on deep inside.
Once that is seen for what it is, you are free of it.

We focus our attention on struggling to avoid and trying to solve problems.
Sometimes that is a distraction from looking deep within ourselves. We would rather deal with the problems of the outside world than face what is inside.
When we face what we see and feel inside and stay with it, we get to the core of it and see it for what it is. Then we are free of it and the outside problems resolve without effort. The feeling of gaining and loosing energy is a distraction from focusing on looking inside.

The more mindful you are the more you see that.

I have found that when there is a situation in my life that I see as a problem and I am struggling to solve it there is an unresolved conflict within myself that has not been resolved. When I turn the focus of my attention from struggling with the problem to seeing and feeling what is going on within myself, I see the unresolved conflict for what it is. Remorse, forgiveness, love and thankfulness naturally follow. I have found if my attention seems stuck on the problem I can accept I am contributing to the problem and I do feel sorry for that. Then I naturally seek insight which happens and forgiveness, love and thankfulness flow.” ~Erin Lee

“Faith is a belief in something greater than ourselves. Having faith is having trust.
Having faith is acknowledging that there are things that happen that we do not know why they happen at the time. When we exercise faith we are letting go of control. We are throwing up our hands and saying I don’t know why this happened but I trust that everything will be alright.

Control is an illusion. The only thing we have control over is our thoughts, words and actions.

Faith means acknowledging that there are greater forces at work than us alone, and that, maybe, if we stopped trying to force things to happen the way we think they should unfold, we could spend more energy trying to align ourselves with what is actually happening. By acknowledging that we do not have all of the answers we are also saying that we do not have all of the solutions. By learning to let go of some control we are taking a step closer to living in the world the way it actually is.

When you catch yourself frustrated at something, stop and ask yourself if it is something you have control over. If it is then act, think or speak differently. If it is not something you can control, practice having faith and then let go of attachment to the outcome. Then notice how much more energy you have and how much better you feel now that you have stopped worrying needlessly.” ~ Dr. Kaleb Montgomery

Stand in Faith

When things start to fall apart for me, I allow myself time to sit with the bad feelings. When I reach my lowest point and I just can’t take anymore, I surrender myself. I give it all over to God/Universe/Source/the Divine, and say, “I’m done, your turn, I can’t do this anymore. Please help me.” I’m not really religious but when I show complete faith in something higher than myself, I can feel a shift in me.

Resistance and disharmony is a signal that I am moving into a new area. When I give up my resistance by showing an unwavering faith, I move into a state of clarity and am better able to receive messages on what steps I should act on. “What you resist, persists.” If I react to my circumstances, negative things continue to happen. When I step back and mentally take myself out of the situation to look at it as an observer, I give myself time to form a new perspective and the ability to respond instead.

‪#‎Faith‬