Living Fearlessly

On Becoming Storm Proof

In a Living Fearlessly coaching session with a client we were talking about thought storms. This led us to explore the nature of storms. When we’re in a ‘thought storm,’ the dark skies look ominous.

We believe our insecure thoughts are true. They’re not. We don’t have to believe them even when they seem compelling.  The thoughts will pass by of their own accord just like the dark clouds.

When we’re lost in a thought storm we don’t see the red flags warning us of imminent danger. We often continue to wade deeper into the water as the storm rages.

If we do notice the red flags we’re liable to ignore them because the black clouds we create with our insecure thinking look like they need urgent attention. Our darkest fears look real.

This is why we’re often our own worst enemy.

When we call in the storm (seek transformation and take steps towards it) we’re often caught off guard by how crazy the storm feels when it hits.

‘Who little me? I didn’t mean to call in a big storm like this …!’ Storm creator, you must have the wrong person. Can we please go back to the dull but painful ache of quiet seas and cloudy, grey skies?’

Sometimes the storm hits so hard normal service is disrupted. We can’t make or receive calls, in fact the phone lines have been ripped from the power. We’ve lost our ability to communicate.

When we call in a storm we have to be willing to surrender to it for long enough for life to reorganise the weather for us. Sunny skies will appear but there’s no point expecting a perfect blue sky in the middle of a storm. This isn’t how life works.

For things in the world of form to change, something inside also has to shift. Sometimes we need to be inconvenienced. Sometimes we suffer with the change. Even though we yearned for change, we don’t want the fall-out of what the change entails.

We don’t want to be hurt and we don’t want to hurt people. We especially don’t want to hurt people we love. Sometimes, as change occurs people feel hurt. It’s how it works. It doesn’t mean we’re bad. It just means we’re evolving. This is the natural cause and effect of life.

Even in the middle of a raging storm there are wonders to see, such as the beauty of the stormy sky. The heavens open and the deluge is beautiful unless we think there shouldn’t be a deluge. ‘Please don’t rain like this. It must be a mistake!’

I don’t know a way of avoiding storms. Sometimes they hit even when we don’t actively call them in to our lives. Even if we play it ‘safe’ and don’t look for change, the weather is beyond our control. It always was and always will be. I can’t promise we won’t be caught in a storm.

The good news is we can survive storms. When we see that the nature of thought storms is temporary (even if we’re lost in insecure thought for days – at some point we wake up). We see truth again and a sense of peace returns. We’re no longer be gripped by the fever to take urgent action to rid our self of painful thoughts because they’ll have passed.

There’s no urgent action to take to fix anyone or anything. When the storm subsides if the phone lines were really broken it’s a simple procedure to reconnect them.

And each time a storm hits we a little bit savvier to how it works. Even as we lose ourselves in it, we know the storm will pass and we’ll be ok. We see when we sit through the storm, at some point blue skies reappear without any intervention from us at all.

When we ignore the red flags, we’re liable to cause more damage than when we do nothing. Our manic, crazy thought storm will rip through our minds and pass quicker if we don’t take it seriously.

After extensive storm research I’m happy to report we’re a lot more storm proof than we realise. When we know this, we’re no longer quite so afraid of the storm hitting. We can call in a storm and sit and wait while life rearranges the weather for us.

I’d love to hear your thoughts. How do you survive the storms of life? Do you make changes and then feel shocked by the power of the storm?

To become storm proof, check out my book Living Fearlessly

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