with Natalie caine

March 10, 2014 | by Natalie Caine | No Comments

How do you keep going when you are sitting in challenges?

Here are some suggestions:

1. 1. Call someone you trust. Ask them if you can POUR your heart out.
2. 2. What do you think a dear friend would do if they were in your shoes?
3. 3. Exercise. Get outside and walk noticing what is in FRONT of you as you walk.
4. 4. Trust, “this too shall pass.”
5. 5. Give yourself simple PLEASURES, like movie day, at home and ordering in food.
6. 6. DOODLE
7. 7. Read quotations or STORIES that are uplifting.
8. 8. There is always someone in a better place than you and in a worse. DELETE your need to compare.
9. 9. Make friends with the UNKNOWN, rather than spinning to make a solution. ” I don’t know right now and soon, clarity will come. I am still ok when I just don’t know.”
10. 10. BEGIN something and if you aren’t into it, you get to change your mind.
11. 11. Be CURIOUS about the bigger picture of the situation.
12. 12. Choose a SPIRITUAL practice and do it.  Look at the flame of a lit candle, practicing present moment.
13. 13. Write down what you appreciate about yourself RIGHT now.
14. 14. Remind yourself that you have been in challenges before and remember one and how that shifted.
15. 15. You aren’t ALONE.

Grieving is never top on anyone’s choice list.  I remember a woman saying, “OMG, this has been the worst month of my life.  So many losses and disappointments with people I thought would be there for me. I am in so much pain and anxiety.”  Long story short, two things that helped her were: to email me in the morning, sharing three thoughts right in that moment, and two was to weep and weep whenever and wherever, with no judgment or interpretations.

Another woman was dealing with being solo and her only child heading to college.  She felt like she had to smile for her daughter, and inside she was heartbroken.  I suggested she share with her daughter, that she will cry and her daughter doesn’t have to do anything about that.  They are feelings, not a big problem to solve now.  That helped her. Loneliness is part of transitions. Who wouldn’t be sad saying,” see ya later”, to someone you deeply adore.

When a woman shared that she dreaded going to work because she felt unseen and underappreciated, just saying what was going on, reduced some anxiety. She could begin to look at different parts of herself and different choices.

Challenges happen over and over. Gather tools.  Go within. Ask in the inner world for some support, as well as, in the outer world.

Take good care, Natalie

Natalie Caine M.A.

Life In Transition, What’s Next?

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