It’s All Too Much

Dear Aruni,

Okay, everything you say, week after week, makes some sense to me.  I get it—be present with what we are given, blah-blah, it all works out in the end, more-blah-blah, if it hasn’t worked out yet, it’s not the end.  I hear it, I almost can believe it at times. Yet sometimes, MOTHER-OF-GOD, it is just too-too. Too much, too hard, too much at once; too intense.  

Life sometimes just feels too friggin’ hard.

So, quite frankly, you are a good writer and your hair is so much better now that’s its long (more blah-blah) and I know you believe what you say, yet, WTF?

Really—I mean it:

WTF?

What do we do when life feels just too much to deal with?

Signed,
Aruni Nan Futuronsky

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Dear Aruni, 

I hear you.  Quite a lot has come your way, I know, I know.  

I am you.

And there is a part of me, this part of me, a part of us, that believes fully in the reality of Grace, that, no matter what is happening, in it there is a spiritual doorway; that the human dilemma, in all its yucky human-messiness, literally is the doorway to ease, to comfort, to a partnership with a power that is greater than ourselves.  

And I forget that, often.

I forget it

Quickly.

Repeatedly.

And humanly.

Dear Aruni,

Dear Everybody,

It’s okay to be scared.

It’s okay to not know how.

It’s okay to be overwhelmed.

The feelings aren’t the problem.

Let them come and let them go.

No need to believe them—watch, witness, breathe,

And keep coming back

To breath.

Signed,
Aruni Nan Futuronsky

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Yes, I just wrote to myself.

Yes, I just answered.

Publicly.

For all to see.

I am that person, 

A person of faith, indeed,

A person with sober reference,

Evidence-based data that says—

It is all Grace.

Whatever is happening will shift, change, unravel and more will be revealed.

I am also the person who is terrified and overwhelmed and anxious and reeling from reality.

In this moment, these two parts of me, trusting and terrified, faith-filled and ready to bail, are both loudly available.  Here are some strategies for our outliving the times, the situations, the experiences that rattle our hearts, the inevitable times that seem like TOO MUCH IS BEING ASKED OF US.  (Can you identify? I bet you can.)

Ideas/Possibilities/Strategies to Consider:

• Keep right here, right now.  

No need for peeking into the future and imagining different outcomes. 
No need for crafting your potential response to Outcome A, B, C, Etc.  
Stay right here.

• Wiggle your toes.  

Feel them.

• Put your hand on your heart. 

 Notice its rhythm.

• Place your palm in front of your mouth. 

Feel your breath.

• Stamp your feet a bit.
• Here you are.
• Right here.  Right now.

Be where your feet are.

• And from right here and right now, 

Consider—what is a tiny, teeny, next step to take, next thing to do?

• Keep it beyond-simple.
  One step, one step, one step at a time,
  Leading to 
  The next step.

 

• Write a letter to yourself.
  Let your resistance and/or fear be the author.
  Let it rip.  Speak your truth
  Then, as the grounded one, write back.

By not making ourselves wrong,

By acknowledging all parts of ourselves,

We are ultimately and forever

Living
In unity.
We are
Living
In the
Solution.

I found a crazy song, actually a Beatles song I did not know, from Yellow Submarine.  It was written in 1965 by George Harrison, who later said the song describes his experiences with both LSD and spirituality. I love the title, It’s All Too Much.

I must have picked up the needle and always jumped over the song.  I find it, well, a bit too much. It might be too much for you/or not.  The lyrics follow the link—not sure they helped me too much. But I’m intrigued that there was a Beatles’ song I didn’t know, I adore George Harrison, and the title spoke it all for me.  Please check it out: