The capacity required to tolerate this degree of distress is beyond what our usual ways of thinking and interacting can offer. And I have found myself retreating more deeply into the field of imagination and intuition as a way to cope. Not through disassociation, but rather through the choice to re-inhabit the fullness of my emotional body, feeling into the pain, anger, sorrow, and fear, as well as the bliss and safety that arises in moments of pleasure.

The instinct to collapse into fear or succumb to a primal rage of protection is natural. The instinct to avoid confrontation with these themes is also natural. Yet the practice to reconnect with the life that is here is necessary for any meaningful change to occur. We cannot change what we have yet to accept — and this is a task for all of us.

There is information in the truth of an experience that we lose touch with when we forgo reality for a safer, illusory, more digestible story. And a place we can rest for some time is in exploring what would help us stay in contact with the truth.

While it has felt at times strange to be writing about intuition, imagination, and the integration of wisdom traditions in modern life, this is precisely the moment that wisdom traditions prepare us for.

Mindfulness expands our psychological capacity to bear difference. It does so by expanding our field of awareness that, in essence, is big enough to hold it all. Mindfulness does not stop here — the insight we receive through sustained intimacy provides us with clarity that informs a new way of relating to our experience.

We realize that things are not what they seem, and that there is a realm of experience that extends far beyond any limiting narrative we might assign to the moment.

It shows us what we do that makes us and those around us suffer, and what we can do to interrupt that cycle of suffering, creating the conditions for psychic health.

In times of confusion and despair, accessing different modes of understanding beyond the intellect can allow for new levels of insight to be revealed, while holding the complexity of everything that is occurring now. Acknowledging the limitations of language does not reject the value of the intellect, but rather allows us to get curious about how else we might make sense of our experience beyond the stories we tell.

I thought what might be helpful is to share some of the strategies I have taken refuge in as a way to stay both engaged and resourced, with the hope of it being beneficial for others to utilize as well:

• Cultivate space for imagination. I wrote a piece about this in more detail here.

  • The difference between fantasy and imagination is the ego’s level of engagement with the experience. There is a quality to fantasy that is passive — it arises, evokes a particular emotional response, and we are usually witnessing this experience unfold in the mind like a daydream. The imagination, on the other hand, requires our engagement. We may be in contemplation of a particular theme, trying to solve a problem, or predict a future outcome — all of which requires our participation in the experience.

• Become curious about different ways of understanding an experience.

  • If you have a tendency to consider something more intellectually (through logic, through fact), explore what it’s like to consider an emotional perspective. Ask your heart how it feels about this piece of information. If you have a tendency to relate emotionally, check in with your intuition. What might the wisdom body be communicating — beyond the waves of emotion? An integrated perspective allows for new ways of seeing the same situation, making room for changing narratives and possible realities.

• Restore connection to your instinctual life in safe and replenishing ways.

  • The instinctual life is home to our vitality. When we are disconnected from our instincts, it’s impossible to experience the depth of radiance available to us. This requires connection to feeling — activated through pleasure, connection, and desire. Choose something small that excites you. A vibrant tonic. A long call with a friend. Moving with music. Maintaining healthy contact with your instinctual life ensures you are alive — receptive and available to life.

  • I’m reminded of this sentiment from Audre Lorde:

    • “Beyond the superficial, the considered phrase, “It feels right to me,” acknowledges the strength of the erotic into a true knowledge, for what that means is the first and most powerful guiding light toward any understanding. And understanding is a handmaiden which can only wait upon, or clarify, that knowledge, deeply born. The erotic is the nurturer or nursemaid of all our deepest knowledge.”

• Pay attention to subtlety. Nurture your capacity to attune to intricacy.

  • Practices that center the inherent spaciousness of the mind are important. Whatever shape these practices take for you, observe the outcome of committing to them consistently. When we lose touch with the subtlety of life, we negotiate our agency in foundational ways. Slowing the attention down allows us to question what we hold as fact, as reality. Even in the most healing of spaces, allow yourself to observe the causal elements of your experience. Inspired by liberation theology, consider the below:

    • How does your body respond to the teachings you turn to?

    • How do your own practices hold you (or fail to) in moments of despair?

    • How does much of the healing psychology we are presented with today conform to the cultural arrangements of the status quo?

    • How does your investment in avoidance keep you disempowered?

    • What would help you feel safe enough to see your experience for what it is?

• Assume responsibility for your intuitive authority. Learn the language of the self.

  • In moments of collective transformation, there are times where we may center group work to avoid the direct confrontation with the personal work required for group dynamics to actually shift. When you learn the language of your own intuitive wisdom, you begin to move with greater sincerity and congruence. The mandala of the larger world is actualized bit by bit with each person’s willingness to lean into their own vulnerability, making contact with their essence as it emerges into the world. The intuition offers guidance not only for our own local spaces, but also for the way we are tasked with contributing to the harmony of the whole.

    • When you practice listening to your life, what is revealed?

Most of us attempt to cope with the enormity of life with a fraction of our being, and it’s no surprise we are left feeling restless, exhausted, and uninspired. When we remember who we are, and what we really are, we pull from an entire wellspring of internal resources that help shape the external sphere.

(*this does not mean that if you are tired, you are doing something wrong.)

I hope these strategies can provide a starting place for you to enter the vastness of your own selfhood, anchoring into the natural resilience of your being. As a result, we are likely to be more equipped to tolerate higher levels of pain and distress while moving diligently toward the vision.

I’ll be sharing more about the value of the transcendental as a way to inhabit our humanity more fully, especially over continuing audio episodes (which I hope are useful).

For now, I’m offering a four-week course on cultivating intuition and learning the language of the intuitive self. The next group begins on November 5 from 6:30-8:30pm ET (with the possibility of perhaps adding a Sunday time slot for those in different time zones). More information can be found here.

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