Coping Well Or Not At All

When life hands you a bag of lemons, do you have the coping skills needed to make lemonade? Can you remain calm when the rug is pulled out from under you?

The last few weeks have been some of the suckiest of my life. The medical emergency and health crisis my husband and I endured felt like we’d been thrown into the eye of a sudden hurricane. Initially, I coped surprisingly well. I maintained my wits, kept my balance (most of the time), conducted all necessary business, and functioned as well as any well adjusted human.

So what made and continues to make the difference between comparative calm and complete chaos?

Friends: The loving support of friends (which includes my next door neighbors) was and is my lifeblood. They've provided everything from much needed generalized availability to hugs, food, energy work, prayers, medical research, and phone calls. My philosophy on friendship is give as much as you are able and take what you need when it’s offered.

Spirituality: Believing there’s more to life than what we experience on a daily basis is the foundation of my spiritual repertoire. I respect and appreciate all religious traditions and have a healthy and enthusiastic interest in concepts such as God, the Divine Feminine, the Divine Masculine, Ascended Masters, Angels, Guides, Goddesses, Mermaids, Fairies, Spirit Animals (Wolves most fondly), Yoga, Shamanism, and Energy Work.

Meditation: I regularly meditate with friends (mainly my BFF the Shaman and my esteemed red-haired Yogi). We often engage in silent meditation whereby we sit together in a serene location (indoors or out) with or without background music. Meditating alone frequently includes listening to my Deva Premal and Krishna Das cds which is always, always, always meditative and healing. Mantra meditation (the repetition of a sacred phrase chanted or sung as an incantation or prayer) is always, always, always restorative and soothing.

Exercise: I greet the day (nearly everyday) by going to a local track to walk and sometimes jog five miles. My early morning track pack is an extended group of special friends who are of all ages and backgrounds. The exercise and interaction are therapeutic for body, mind, and spirit under normal circumstances and are even more so during times of challenge and stress.

Twitter and Facebook: I make frequent and seemingly obsessive online visits to Twitter and Facebook. Tweeting can be and often is a consistently wonderful distraction. I have been known to laugh out loud (LOL).

Though the immediate crisis, like the eye of a storm, has passed… the hurricane, is not yet over. I’ll need all of my coping mechanisms in place as much and maybe more than before.