Hard Times Playlist

Noticing your body now.

From the top of your head.

Recognizing any places of tension.

Breathing in love to those spaces.

Breathing out the tension.

Feeling yourself grounded.

Even sinking a little lower where you are.

Allow this time to give you a release.

Giving yourself permission to be the calm in the storm.

Continue with your intentional breathing.

Filling your heart space with love.

Releasing shame as you exhale.

Allowing your body to be filled with waves of love.

With that love comes strength.

Noticing a balance here.

Noticing the peace here.

Feeling the stress released from your body.

Guiding out all that keeps weighing on you and holding you back.

Now in your mind's voice,

Say,

I am grounded.

I have focus and clarity.

I am monitoring and managing all the stress.

I am the calm in the center of the storm.

I am connected to sources of strength,

Power,

And safety.

Continuing to see and feel the stress leaving your body.

I anchor myself now in the values I live by.

I am courageous.

I am connected.

I am staying grounded in my body and I am listening to what's in my heart.

I empower myself to lead with light,

Strength,

And courage.

I ground myself and I empower myself to lead with light,

Strength,

And courage.

Being here in the painful,

Painful time.

This can get worse before it gets better.

And it may not get better.

It is the painful middle.

I'm uncomfortable.

I'm in the unfamiliar.

It is distressing.

I can now breathe in and release.

Yes,

This is so painful.

I have to take this one step at a time.

I am taking this one feeling and sensation at a time.

I am taking this one day at a time.

When it's so overwhelming,

I clear space to sit to be sure to take care of myself.

When I'm lost and stuck,

I find time to reset and recenter.

I am showing myself self-care even when the pain is so much.

I lean on those who are supportive and caring.

I turn to the places that help me feel and release.

I am comforting myself through the tears.

I go deep and tap into my inner strength.

I breathe in and release.

I help myself through the pain.

I remember who I am and my sources of strength and comfort.

I reach out and I reach in.

I am in the painful middle.

I am taking this one step at a time.

I am taking this one emotion at a time.

I am taking this one day at a time.

I am giving myself space when I feel overwhelmed.

I am making time to reset when I'm lost and stuck.

I am showing myself self-care when the pain just hurts so much.

I reach out to those who are supportive and caring.

I turn to the activities that help me feel and release.

I go deep,

So deep inside and connect with my inner strength.

I am comforting myself through the tears.

I breathe in and release.

I continue to breathe in and release.

I am helping myself through the pain.

I am here to comfort myself even in the darkest pain.

I am getting through this painful time.

Sometimes it's really hard to accept that I cannot control everything.

That everything is not going to go the way I want it to.

As much as that can frustrate me and stress me out.

There's a big difference between saying,

I accept the things I cannot change,

And actually accepting the things I cannot change.

It's up to me to work on how I will respond to things that are out of my control.

It's up to me to look at how things are affecting me and what I'm doing to take care of me.

I think it's time It's time to reset some of my boundaries.

So I can have a space of safety and control.

That means I need to put up safety gates in my mind.

That means I make two lists.

One of the things I do have control of in my life.

And one of the things I don't have control of in my life.

I choose what I do during my personal time.

I choose what I focus on and what I put my energy into.

And right now I identify what will help me get back a sense of control.

And in the moments when things feel so out of control,

I get creative in making things happen in my life.

Also,

At any point of the day,

I take a minute,

Five minutes,

10 minutes to ease my mind.

I give myself safe and effective outlets for my frustrations.

I tap into my arsenal of coping strategies.

I remember everything that I can do to regain a sense of personal control.

I stand in my power.

I ground myself in who I am.

I give myself a sense of control over the things that I can control.

I also look at my choices for what I can do about the things I cannot control.

I listen for what will help me stay true to my heart.

I am regaining a sense of control and clarity.

I am rising to meet this challenge.

I am empowering myself every day.

I am helping myself.

I am taking care of myself.

I love and value me.

I have been through so much.

I am going through so much.

I am trying to find my way through this.

I am beyond exhausted.

I feel so depleted.

I really don't like when I feel this.

The simplest things are so hard.

Anything that goes wrong hits me so much harder.

The simplest things are so heavy.

I gotta remember,

I don't have to have it all together.

I just need to make it through this day.

And I can make it through this day.

I can care for myself with anything,

Everything that is helpful.

When it's too much,

I can change my environment or go to what shifts my focus and attention.

I can get through this day.

I can practice the lowest hanging fruit of self-care.

I can give myself a healthy dose of dopamine.

I can make it through this day.

If doing nothing is all I've got,

It's better than doing something harmful.

I can reach out to those who are supportive.

I can breathe and release.

I can take healthy escapes.

I can be even kinder to myself.

I can be even more gentle and compassionate with myself.

I am taking the next right step for me.

And I can make it through this day.

Dealing with it doesn't mean the problem is solved.

Dealing with it means I'm getting a handle on it.

Dealing with it means I'm making coping a priority.

And by that I mean coping in healthy,

Wise,

And productive ways.

Dealing with it means I choose to see what's in front of me,

But also step back and shift even just a few degrees in either direction to see what else is going on.

Dealing with it means I check in with my body and put things in place to take care of my physical health.

Dealing with it means I check in with my mental health and apply the resources and skills I've got to take care of my mental state.

Dealing with it means I work out my emotions,

I identify them,

I unpack them,

And I process them.

Dealing with it means I clear space to examine my own biases,

My own blind spots,

And my own brokenness.

Dealing with it means I get through the denial part and get realistic on what needs to be done.

Dealing with it means I accept the things I cannot change.

Dealing with it means I change the things I have the power to change,

And I do the things I have the power to do.

I'm dealing with it.

It's heavy.

It ain't easy.

It's making me go deep and call for deep gratitude and perspective.

Dealing with it means I catch myself when I'm drowning in it,

When I'm caught up in it,

When I'm downright out of control about it.

It's here.

There's no turning back.

I gotta face it and figure out how I'm going to get through this terrain.

Some days it will feel like a battle or an all-out war.

I can even expect battle scars.

I can just work at limiting them.

Dealing with it means there will be dark days and dark moments.

It is up to me how I will manage each one.

I will have impulses,

Temptations,

And even invitations to be destructive.

It's on me what I will choose in those moments.

Dealing with it means I regularly measure how much power this has over me,

Over my thoughts,

My physical state,

My reactions.

Dealing with it means this is robbing me of time,

Energy,

And resources that I would use for other things if this wasn't here.

But it's here,

And I need to care for myself.

I need to look at the stress and apply self-care strategies to both prevent and treat the stress.

I need to monitor my rest,

My exercise,

My nutrition.

I need to get spiritual and give service.

I need to find calm to stay calm.

Dealing with it means so many things,

So many emotions.

I've never been through this before.

I don't have a point of reference.

I don't always know what the best thing to do is,

For myself and for the situation.

Dealing with it means I wake up each day and keep trying.

I keep showing up and doing the work of self-awareness.

I keep improving myself to improve my world.

Dealing with it means I can handle the hard days.

It means I know the patterns and where I get locked into a bad cycle.

Dealing with it means acknowledging I am not perfect.

I will not handle every moment perfectly.

It means sometimes I may not even recognize myself.

Dealing with it means it may get messy.

I may need to get through the fog with very little light to work with.

Dealing with it means I may need to take slower,

Smaller steps for a while.

Dealing with it means I don't know how things are going to turn out.

Dealing with it means I don't avoid the possibilities,

But I keep really focused on the now and the what is now.

Dealing with it means no matter what is going on,

No matter what is happening,

No matter what the uncertainties are,

I still know that I am so loved that I am enough and that my spirit can come back from all hurt,

Disappointment,

Anger,

Anything.

I'm dealing with it.

Yes,

I'm dealing with it.