How to Heal: Processing Change
Even if you don’t understand what is happening outside of you, be sure you understand what’s happening inside of you—especially during times of change.
To find out what’s going on inside of you, try the below strategies.
To get ready and grounded, try a few deep breaths from your diaphragm. This means your belly should move up and down as you inhale and exhale. Be sure your exhalations are longer than your inhalations. Try this for 1-2 minutes.
Now, here are the strategies:
1. Do a body scan. Our bodies are always speaking to us. The problem is that we don’t always speak the same language. Tune in to your body to see what it’s doing to get your attention. Do you feel tightness, soreness, oddly cold, or hot? You can find the steps for a body scan here.
2. Acknowledge your emotions. Do you feel anger, disappointment, fear, etc.? Where is your body holding those emotions? Connect with them. What are those emotions trying to tell you?
3. Externalize those emotions & thoughts. Free write, journal, or verbally share with a trusted friend, perhaps. I recommend sharing with yourself first before bringing it to others. This step helps you move that energy from inside of you to the external world.
4. Visualize. Visualize yourself feeling how you want to feel. Where are you? Who is around you? What are you doing? Notice what is similar or different from how you currently feel.
5. Determine your updated core values and priorities. After engaging in some of these processing rituals, identify what is most important to you. Your core values are the essence of who you are and what you are about. When you are on the other side of this change, what are the top 1-3 priorities that you will pursue?
After you have given yourself adequate time and space to process the change, step #5 helps you get ready to take action.
Warning: Do not rush to take action. You must ground first, or you risk operating from fear or desperation. Good decisions do not come from a place of fear.
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