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10 Ways to Keep Your $#!t Together When Others Can't

On October 2, 2014 in General by mcameron

10 Ways to Keep Your $#!t Together When Others Can't

If it hasn't been noticed in life yet, fear feeds off of fear, anger off of anger, love off of love, laughter off of laughter. You get the idea. So how do we remain true to ourselves, our beliefs, and our daily practices when we are thrown off of life's teeter totter by others who can't keep their shit together?

Be easy on yourself. This is a daily practice that includes a large amount of forgiveness because it is easy to get side tracked and caught up in whatever is going on. It doesn't mean you throw in the towel. It means you acknowledge that this isn't how you would like to be thinking or talking or reacting, forgive yourself knowing it's a practice, and move forward trying again and again.
It's mandatory to MAKE.TIME.FOR.YOURSELF. Time for yourself means in a quiet space where you can realign to HOW you want to feel. If you don't have time for yourself, make time. And it doesn't have to be complicated -- give yourself 3 minutes (that's 180 seconds friends -- we can do this!) to take deep breaths in the nose and out of the mouth.
When dealing with others, breathe. And if you don't breathe, at least build an awareness around the fact that we were just holding our breath for seconds.
Notice where you are tight, fearful, reactive. Do your shoulders shrug into your ears? Does blood rush to your face? Take note, then breathe through and to that area.
Realize that everything always works out. It does.
What has helped me the most is to remind myself to move the way love moves. When I begin a defensive rant or take something personally, I realize that I am reacting out of protection. Out of fear. Out of ego. Love is soft. Love KNOWS that everything will be OK. Trust the process, as hard as it can be. As heart wrenching as it can be. Life will never give you something that you CAN'T handle.
The more you can open yourself up this way, the more you allow others to do the same. Of course, not immediately. But lead by example. If you begin to preach, people stop listening.
I know we can't always control this, but try your best to surround yourself with like minded people.
Learn to find the peace within the chaos. Once again, this is a practice. And in order to make it a habit, I need to put sticky notes in places I will stumble across them during my day (my steering wheel, my planner, and my refrigerator). Sometimes I even set an alarm on my phone. Believe me - half of the time my alarm goes off, I scratch my head as to why. Oh yea... because I am reminding myself.... [insert what you want to be reminded of here]. Great reminders for myself have included:

I forgive.
Abundance.
Create the life you live.
Breathe.
You can't get it wrong.
Move from a place of love.
It's ok.

Self care. BOOM. We all know what it is, but are we consistent? Self care is our foundation. Noticing what we feed ourselves, how often we shower, exercise, treat ourselves, enjoy a cup of warm lemon water or tea, and/or SIT DOWN AND EAT. If we can't take care of ourselves, then clearly, we can't hold our shit together either.

By Meredith Cameron

Learning that she and we are more capable than we give ourselves credit for, Meredith Cameron creates space for students to reach out, dig deeper, and not take themselves too seriously. An advocate for creating the life we live, Meredith is influenced by her teachers, Shannon Paige and Nancy Kate Rau, what the world throws on her lap, her travels, and her daily interactions with others. All of this, infuses freedom into her teachings, allowing students to feel their own sense of empowerment. Visit www.mcameronyoga.com/blog.