Navigating the Gifts of Our Magnificent Clusterf*ck
A well-known psychotherapist I know recently told me that the technical term for what we’re collectively experiencing right now is a magnificent clusterfuck. Seems about right.
I’ve been swinging between feeling hopeful for our future and grateful that more white-bodied people are taking on the internalized and systemic racism that has plagued our society for hundreds of years. And I’ve been feeling absolutely terrified by what I see on the news.
We were collectively exhausted and emotionally inflamed even before the violence started. Now, in the US at least, many people, on a really fundamental level, are feeling the multi-level collapse of our society.
And this is a good thing.
The systems that underpin our society have been broken for a long time, and the critical mass we’re experiencing now—aka magnificent clusterfuck—is forcing us to grow.
As a shamanic practitioner, I know that there is always more going on than what meets the eye. The pandemic didn’t occur in a vacuum—our species has insisted on keeping our heads in the sand as our Earth has suffered for far too long. The racism we’re being asked to confront has been woven into our systems and our DNA for hundreds of years. There are layers and layers of lineage patterns, curses, soul loss, and more involved in addition to the institutionalized practices we’re aware of.
With so much coming to the surface at once, and the absolutely disgusting response of the administration in the US, it’s all too easy to fall into complete despair. Or anger. Or fear. It’s all too easy to focus on how absolutely terrible everything appears.
As humans, we’re wired to respond to threat with a fight, flight, or freeze response. The expressions of this in response to ongoing threats are a bit subtler than you might realize. I’m guessing most of you can see yourself in all three at some point over the past few months…
Fight: arguing with strangers online, posting aggressive memes, misplaced volatility, arguments with loved ones, ongoing outrage
Flight: numbing out, distracting yourself with booze or TV or overeating, avoiding news and media to an unhealthy degree
Freeze: chronic exhaustion, inability to engage in normal activities, difficulty connecting with others, overwhelm and depression, the belief that you can’t make a difference
It’s important to acknowledge the difficult feelings that are arising right now and allow ourselves to feel them fully. It’s also important not to get stuck in them. When we’re stuck in fight, flight, freeze, it’s harder for us to change—ourselves or our world. And right now we really need to change both.
Racism stems from the same systemic patriarchal oppression that dehumanizes women, prioritizes profit over life, harms the earth, allows factory farming and abuse of animals, contributes to growing economic inequality, and keeps all of us divided and distracted and disempowered.
This oppression is so pervasive that most of us, no matter what our genders or colors, internalize its effects and inadvertently perpetuate the very systems that keep us small and stuck. We have our work cut out for us. But it’s work that is so important.
In spiritual traditions throughout the world, there is an awareness that what we put our attention on, our energy into, is what we create. We have to align our hearts, energy, and action in the world with the highest vision of our future if we’re going to make that future a reality.
In order to take on this big work, we have to be able to shift out of fight, flight, freeze and into action. The following tools are just a few that are helping me stay resourced spiritually so I can show up and act in the world. I hope they’re helpful for you too.
We’re at a choice point. And we have to keep choosing love.
Mindfulness
The ability to bring our awareness to the present moment—all of our bodily sensations, thoughts, feelings—without judgement, is a critical skill. Mindfulness helps regulate our nervous system, making us less likely to become triggered or reactive, and more likely to connect with love and empowered action. It also increases our ability to focus, and in this increasingly distracted world, we absolutely must be able to focus on what matters most.
Mindfulness is especially important for our interactions with social media right now. Pause before you post or comment. Ask yourself what energy you’re putting into the world. Notice your responses to various types of media and use this to inform how you engage going forward.
Quick Practice:
Bring awareness to your tongue. Let it melt into your lower mouth. Feel your jaw slightly open. Notice all tension melt from your mouth. Breathe and notice your overall feeling of relaxation.
Focus on What You’re For
Mother Theresa famously said that she wouldn’t attend anti-war rallies but would support a pro-peace movement. One of my personal teachers, Sandra Ingerman, teaches the same thing, emphasizing the power of language and how we use our words. Spiritual teacher Elizabeth Peru, along with many others, shares that the energies of our universe are shifting in ways that allow for more immediate manifestation of our thoughts, and it’s more important than ever to become aware of how we’re using our energy.
Ask yourself, what are you feeding with your thoughts, emotions, and words? Are you working against the old world or for a new one?
Quick Practice:
Prepare a list of words with positive and negative connotations. Come into a meditative state. Read each word aloud, pausing to notice what happens in your body as you say it. Which words help you feel light, clear, or empowered? Which words make you feel heavy, clogged, or hopeless?
A few words to start with: love, hate, equality, peace, wrong, outrage, compassion, wisdom, kindness
Shadow Work
Now, I can already hear some people saying that focusing on “love and light” is spiritual bypassing. And they’re right.
We do need to keep bringing love and light into all we do. Spirit is love. Our connection with the Divine is light. But we live in a world of duality. Physically, energetically, and in layers of the spiritual realms, we exist in a paradigm of darkness and light. If we ignore the dark, we bypass and do not fully claim our power to change the world.
Shadow work is the process of looking at the uncomfortable parts ourselves. It’s looking at our shame, guilt, fear, rage, confusions, and grief. It’s feeling them fully but not getting trapped in them. It’s shining a light on the patterns and emotions that we ignore, and that keep us stuck as a result.
When we ignore our shadows they control us. When we bring them to the light, we can discover the gifts that hide within. Our disempowered outrage transforms into holy rage. Our shame transforms into compassion. We clear the cobwebs that keep us from listening to our hearts and are able to take action that aligns with love and makes a difference in our world.
Quick Practice:
Just kidding. Shadow work is hard and you need to be prepared for heavy lifting. Work with a therapist, a shamanic practitioner, and/or coach for support. Arm yourself with compassion.
Energy Hygiene
Right now, so many people are in so much pain that they’ve become even more unconscious than usual with the energy they put out into the world. Those of us who are more sensitive can easily be affected by this. Anger and outrage can act like darts that either pierce our energy bodies or attach cords to us that cause ongoing energy leaks. We can suffer from entanglement with collective emotions. We become more vulnerable to suffering beings. It is critical that we clear, ground, and protect our energy on a regular basis.
Quick Practice:
Get outside and lay on the ground (on a blanket is fine). Feel any energy or emotions that aren’t your own release into the Earth to be transmuted. Notice as your own vibrational state begins to come into coherence with the Earth’s frequencies.
Remember Your Spiritual Support
Our spiritual guides—the angels, power animals, teachers, nature spirits, star beings, ancestors, and more—are with us all the time. They love us unconditionally. They see a bigger picture that we don’t have access to. They are ready to help whenever we ask. So remember to ask. The burdens of the world are too big for us to carry alone, and we don’t have to.
Quick-ish Practice:
Put on your favorite drumming track and take a shamanic journey with the intention of meeting a power animal that can support you when you start slipping into fight, flight, freeze mode.
If you don’t have a journey practice, you can choose an animal that feels empowering and visualize them sharing their strength with you. Or, book a session and request a power animal retrieval from me ;)
Discernment
A population that is divided and distracted is less of a threat to those in power. When we look at the shadows of the world, we can see that there are people with agendas that still support the toxic patriarchal systems that harm all of us. And these people know that when we’re busy fighting each other, we’re easier to control. From Russian bots to deep fakes and astroturf movements (fake and funded grassroots imitations), it’s never been more important to question what you read or hear.
Discernment is our ability to know what’s true and what isn’t quite the truth…to recognize when information comes with an agenda, or carries seeds of disempowerment and separation. This applies to both our own spiritual guidance—recognizing what is true guidance versus fear-based or wishful thinking—and to information from outside sources.
Discernment is tricky and it takes time to develop, but all of the other practices here will help you fine-tune your radar for truth.
Quick Practice:
Ask your body: What does truth feel like? What does a lie feel like? Notice the subtle sensations and differences.
If you continue this practice over time, you’ll begin to recognize when something carries the vibration of truth and when it doesn’t more easily.