All great changes are preceded by chaos
I subscribe to a weekly email from one of my favorite astrologers, Dr. Cam Martin at Path & Purpose. This week’s email includes the following:
Before we get into the daily energies, I just want to mention that this month (and next) are high octane energy months. To be frank with you, there is a lot of chaotic energy coming our way. How are you caring for yourself?
Make sure you give yourself time to rest. Time to integrate. Time to be. We are changing from the inside out. The frequencies on this planet right now are higher than ever and there's a lot of energy in the cosmos. If you are feeling it, give your body what it needs. Lots of rest. More water. Ground outside in nature. Now is not the time to "just push through." You will need your energy in the weeks ahead.
I for one have been feeling it—or at least feeling something. Maybe it’s the astrological stuff, maybe it’s the heat of the summer, maybe it’s the news cycle and the state of the world, or maybe it’s where I am in my IV cycle for my rheumatoid arthritis. Whatever it is, I’m exhausted lately. Sleep helps a bit, but my dreams are wild. And even when I wake up with energy, I’m easily depleted, despite lots of energy shielding and rest.
Everywhere I look, I see turmoil and chaos. On the news. In the lives of people I know and love. In my office, despite my best efforts. In our front yard, despite our best attempts at weeding and pruning—and we don’t even have grass, or we aren’t supposed to, but the ornamental grasses seem to have decided to fill the front anyhow in quantities we’ve never seen before.
Maybe that’s why I was so happy to come across this quote:
“All great changes are preceded by chaos.”
If “all great changes are preceded by chaos”, then my guess is that change is coming. I suspect that we are living through the last hurrah of the white patriarchy, which is (I hope) in its death throes. It is past time for that shit to be shut all the way down, and I suspect that may be the end result.
However, it’s a messy, chaotic time we are moving through now, both historically and astrologically.
When things around you become chaotic, I recommend lots of rest and quiet time
As I have written before, both here and at Tiny Buddha, rest is one of the most essential things you can do for yourself. It’s also one of the most radical. We have been conditioned to work ceaselessly, rather than to stop and allow ourselves to rest.
If you are continually on the go, working non-stop from the time you get up until the time you go to sleep, you will be too tired to focus on being an agent for positive change in the world. Not to put too fine a point on it, but the patriarchy wants it that way.
Rest allows you to marshal your energy. To regain your physical, mental, and spiritual strength. Resting also allows you to check in with yourself and with your own needs to determine the best course of action for yourself. It gives you time to set your own priorities, and to plan ways to bring your goals and dreams into being.
When you don’t take the time to rest and check in with yourself, ask yourself who benefits from that.
Maybe it’s your boss at work. Maybe it’s a committee or volunteer group. Maybe it's family members who get to rest a bit more because you are picking up their slack. Maybe it’s even you, in a way, since constantly being on the move and doing things prevents you from healing your own traumas and up-leveling your own life.
Taking time to rest is a brilliant bit of subversiveness. It allows you to feel better on many levels, and allows you time to get in touch with how you feel, along with what you want and need in your life right now.
Maybe what you need is more time with friends, or perhaps the opposite is true—or you figure out that some of the people you’ve been counting as “friends” are not actually there for you, and what you need is to pare down your circle to people who actually love and support you.
Maybe what you need is less social media or news consumption, and more time spent reading books. Maybe you need more fresh food and less packaged goods. Maybe you need to find a way to simplify meal prep for yourself because you are feeling overwhelmed.
Maybe you need to take a mental health day all to yourself, a practice I highly recommend. Use that day to bring yourself joy. Sleep late or nap if you’re tired. Spend the day doing activities that bring you a sense of satisfaction, no matter what those activities are.
When I was still a practicing attorney (ages ago, now), I used to take a mental health day every so often just so I could sleep a bit, deep clean the house, go grocery shopping without kids, and watch a bit of home improvement television. Nowadays, a mental health day includes picking up a salad for myself (that I didn’t have to make myself), spending time journaling, doing some art, and reading for fun.
Whatever you do, make it something that brings you satisfaction. You don’t have to have a sense of accomplishment at the end of the day because you achieved a goal. You don’t have to do something that has any level of difficulty at all attached to it. Just pick something that will make you feel satisfied, and let that be enough.
Rest will help you gain strength and endurance.
The good thing about rest, whether it’s ten minutes to yourself after dinner, a mental health day, or a personal retreat, is that it allows you to regroup so that you have the strength to deal with the world around you.
It also improves your endurance. Interspersing rest into your day allows you to keep going for far longer than you might be able to do without it. Further, when you rest, even if it’s just briefly, it allows you to check in with yourself more easily to discover what it is that you need: maybe it’s a snack or a meal. Maybe it’s a glass of water. Maybe it’s to ask for (or hire) help.
Rest ensures that you don’t get worn down, which can lead to illness, poor moods, a short temper, and more. In this time of chaos, we can’t afford to be so worn down that we end up worse off.
Instead, as chaos swirls, we need to become still, if only for a few minutes, so that we can hear ourselves think and find out what we want and need. Then, recharged, we can take action in a way that will help us to create our own sense of order and find our own satisfaction.
In other news, I am still journaling every day—though I missed Sunday, since I was so out of it that I clean forgot. But that’s okay: I’m still a person who journals every day.
If you have a new habit you want to build, you can still join me using this link. I’ll be doing the next free group coaching next Tuesday, July 26th at 1 pm EDT, if you have a habit you want to build or need some coaching.
