Frustrations

Greetings all,

If you ever have felt like everything is changing and yet nothing has changed then you have known what I have been feeling like.  This week I've been face to face with my old nemesis,  frustration.  I wish I could say I missed our sparring matches, but I do my best to remain honest in my blog posts.

I am quite familiar with frustration.  It is the feeling of knowing that something must change paired with the inability to access that change.  It is having all the tools in your kit except the one you need.  It is being stuck in traffic or hitting every red light when you are desperately trying to be on time.  It sucks.  This is where I have been even amidst all the plans and behind the scenes progress.  To me it came to a head today when I kept forgetting things and having to go back into the house, missing the correct cycle of lights, and then forgetting my login to clock in at my weekend job.  This had all the makings of one of those, "Momma said there'd be days like this."  Then I remembered I have magic and tools to help me shift and reset.  So after a few moments of being a pity whore I did what any sensible wizard would do (no there were bystanders turned into toads), I used the tools I have.

Here is the thing, many of us have skills to cope and turn ourselves around.  For some unknown reason we forget all of them when we're in a funk or frustrated.  We become emotionally invested in the linearity of events, and how those events should make us feel.  It's easy to apply tools of transformation when we're in that space of peace and things are going our way, but try doing it after someone has been a total dick to you.  Try doing it when you didn't sleep well the night before or you get hit with unexpected expenses.  This is the real test, to see if you remember your Jedi training when you're in the pit fighting for a way out.  There is a  secret...USE THE FORCE!

I'm happy to say that today I did turn my attitude around.  I used tools I have recently learned and others I have had for years.  I always tell my students the less you feel like practicing your tai chi the more likely it is that you need to.  Well I did practice with what I know and I not only turned myself around I got a new perspective on frustration.  It occurred to me that in the past great frustration often immediately preceded a breakthrough or shift. Rather than looking at it as the enemy maybe I should recognize it as the harbinger of change.  Frustration is a build up of energies and all change takes a certain amount of energy to pass the threshold to initiate it.  It can only build for so long before something has to happen.

So does this apply to you?  Are you feeling stuck, mired in what is and despairing of what should be?  Are you emotionally invested in a lackluster reality play?  What would happen if you recognized your frustrations were either pointing the way or a prelude to a big shift?  How does that change the emotional landscape of the future map you have in your mind?  Try looking at frustration as your ally instead of your adversary and remember to bring your tool box with you this week.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle