Processing your reactivity, after meditation:
Think intentionally about it.
Journal. Talk about it. Break the reactivity down.
What actually happened?
What triggered you?
What arose in you?
Were you overwhelmed?
Did you remember to pick up your weapon, medicine or spell?
Did it help?
How might you do it differently?
Express it emotionally.
Watch a sad movie and have a good cry. Make art. Angrily smash some plates.
Move some physical energy.
Do some yoga. Go for a run. Take boxing lessons.
Comfort your self.
Take a break. Watch some Netflix. Drink some wine. Stay at home alone or see some friends. Whatever makes you feel better.
Heighten your self-care.
Find one-on-one support.
Call a friend, a teacher, a therapist, mentor or elder.
Find a community of support.
Find archetypal support.
Fall apart and pull your self together again and again.
Grieve.
Die and be reborn.
Sometimes there is nothing to be done. Sometimes we must suffer our way through it. Be transformed while falling apart.
Unravel.
Enter existential free fall.
Hit bottom.
Listen for signs, omens and strange attractors.
Begin to land, and rebuild.
Sprinkle it with gold.
When an old wound or trauma arises, send it love and wisdom. Speak to it like a person, maybe a child.
“I love you. I love you. I love you. Just as you are.”
“May you be free of pain and fear and suffering.”
“It’s okay. Everything has changed. The war is over and I’m here to protect you now.”
Never give up.
Whether you are acting harmfully, freaked-out , overwhelmed or falling apart,
don’t panic. Don’t feel guilty or that you have failed. Stop. Breathe. Relax. Gather
your self up whether it takes a few minutes, a few days, a few months, a few years
pick your self up, dust your self and get back to the moment, your practice, or the
“Seven times down; eight times up.” old Samurai saying
