§ We came to this world to LIVE OUT LOUD!
Is it Ok to Want to Feel Better When There’s So Much Suffering?
This was a message I received from somebody in my community.
When I read her email, I thought to myself, “add to that the fact that 150 million people around the world are projected to die from hunger due to the ramifications of COVID. That countries with developing economies have lost at least twenty years of progress in the past six months. That domestic violence and gender violence are at all-time high. That somebody actually nominated Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace prize. There’s a lot of sh*t going on in the world right now.”
I felt the all too familiar downwards pull in the pit of my stomach, which I recognize as shame.
My old demons came back for a visit.
“Who do you think you are to be focusing on thriving when so many people are suffering? Everyone is going to think that you’re out of touch with reality! Why are you feeling positive and optimistic most of the time? What’s wrong with you?” they screamed.
I took five deep slow breaths and immediately began havening.
After about ten minutes of havening, I felt centered and grounded and sat down to meditate, asking the Universe to send me some guidance and wisdom. What did I need to learn from all this?
Here’s what came to me:
My purpose has always been to inspire others to live in joy. Nothing lights me up as much as seeing people connect to their passions and purpose and create their lives to reflect who they authentically are.
I’ve been through a lot of pain and trauma in my life and I have chosen to heal it all and transform my psyche into one that sees hope and possibility, no matter what the circumstances are.
Yes, there’s a lot of suffering in the world right now.
We are now living in unprecedented times where the world as we know it has turned upside down. We are missing our routines and social connections. Many of us are struggling financially or with our health. Many more of us are more aware than ever, after months of forced togetherness, how unfulfilled we feel in our relationships. Many of us are lonely as we dream of having partners to share this challenging time with.
We worry about the effects of the pandemic, of environmental degradations, of crazy politicians who can influence our trajectory as a human race for years to come.
Many of us feel anxious, depressed, worried, irritable, scattered. We are all exhausted!
It’s all true and way too real.
And at the same time, some of us are feeling positive and hopeful. Trusting that humanity needs to go through what we are going through to get to a better place in our evolution. To sit up, take notice and take action to right the wrongs we see around us.
We realize that to inspire any kind of positive change in the world around us, we must first be the change we want to see in the world (paraphrasing Gandhi).
We need to access our human capacity for hope, growth and renewal. To touch the fire deep within that says “we shall overcome and be even stronger and better for all of this.”
I sat in silence after my meditation gazing at the sun set over Bogota, the city of 8 million people that is now my home.
I thought about how I have been able to remain mostly positive and hopeful over the past six months.
I realized that my positivity is my gift to those around me.
When I’m positive and hopeful, I treat myself and my family with love. I treat members of my community with love. I organize fund raising campaigns to feed people who don’t have money for food in my community. I give money, clothes and toys to the outstretched hands I see every time I leave my building. I support others who are struggling when they call me or email me.
When I’m inspired and hopeful for a brighter future, I inspire the energy of possibility and hope in those around me and all the women I connect with from around the world in my global community.
We all need some of that!
I credit my positivity over the past six months to two things:
1. Having the tools to transform anxious, fearful thoughts and energy into positive ones.
2. Having the privilege over the past six months to interview nearly fifty wise, wise women for my upcoming FREE Extraordinary Life After 40 summit. With each interview, I heard just the thing that I needed to hear that day to remind me of the greatness of the human heart, to elevate how I showed up with my family and my community, to take better care of my body so that my immune system stays strong and to balance those hormones so I felt my best.
The result has been that I feel hopeful and inspired and see the small miracles that are still happening all around us.
I appreciate the small pleasures of life more than ever.
Going outside and walking among fragrant trees after two weeks of strict quarantine in our apartment.
Laying on the grass in our small backyard and allowing mother Earth to heal me.
Snuggling with my ten-year old and feeling her eye lashes flutter against my cheek.
Starting my day with a walk with my husband and ending it by watching a sunset with him. He used to travel a lot for work and now I get to spend a lot more time with him.
I feel grateful and blessed.
I so appreciate having the ability to access the wisdom and tools of world renowned experts – transformational teachers, NY Times best-selling authors, doctors, healers and coaches. Women whose wisdom supported me and was a beacon of light on days when my own anxiety and fear threatened to overshadow my natural positivity.
And I’m so excited to be able to share this incredible wisdom and knowledge with you so you too can feel more positive and inspired.
If you join the FREE summit, you’ll learn how to:
Transform your mindset so you can feel positive, inspired and peaceful as you create your life from abundant possibility rather than fear, anxiety and lack
Balance your hormones naturally through dietary and lifestyle changes as well as with bio-identical hormone replacement therapy
The second-annual FREE Extraordinary Life After 40 summit starts on September 21st. Learn more and register here.
You know I love hearing from you so feel free to leave a comment below or email me at natalie@nataliematushenko.com. I would love to know how you are feeling these days!
Happy Tuesday!
Natalie
P.S. The over 10,000 women who participated in last year’s extraordinary Life After 40 summit loved it and gave me tremendously positive feedback of how the summit changed their lives. That’s what fueled my desire to dedicate five months of my life this year to interview even more experts so we can all learn to thrive in these challenging times.
REGISTER FOR THE FREE EXTRAORDINARY LIFE AFTER 40 SUMMIT HERE.
