It’s hard dealing with set-backs, when something goes awry and our best laid plans are brought to an abrupt halt. Whether this is through illness, an accident, external circumstances out of our control or some other cause, it’s often hard to endure.
This is particularly challenging for our ego, who likes to believe it’s solely in charge of all aspects of life and yet truly isn’t "master in our own house", to quote Jung.
We feel a range of emotions during such times: anger, frustration, powerlessness, irritation, sadness and perhaps also depression if we’re prone to sliding down into the dark depths.
Yet, what I’ve also found time and again is that what we tend to regard as a set-back is often, if not always, an opportunity. Looked at this way we can reframe it into more of a reset. Something needs a little more time perhaps. This is particularly the case when it involves our body and health. I’ve learned that entering this period of enforced waiting, sitting still and entering a liminal space can often be exactly the healing and reset that we need.
If we look to nature and animals we can see how they instinctively know how to wait out times of illness or injury. They curl up and sleep a lot, or, like the horses do, will simply stand while resting deeply. They just seem to know that this is the most helpful thing to do as their body goes about the gentle work of healing and restoration.
But what do we humans tend to do? We rage at the unfairness of it. We try to carry on regardless, pushing through pain, fatigue and discomfort in pursuit of our goals and plans. While all along psych and soma are urging us to be still, to wait, to be patient, to allow nature to do her amazing inner curative work of bringing us back to a healthier place. Often this is out of sheer necessity as we get used to ploughing ahead and ignoring the cues from our body and energy levels. We need to BE stopped sometimes.
So, like the animals, during these times we need to surrender and allow; to rest and sleep; to slow right down and cultivate patience, for all good things come in the end. And if it’s the right direction for us we will be able to resume once more after this reset. Or alternatively, realise that the direction perhaps wasn’t right for us after all and so we can now take the opportunity to turn and go in another one entirely.
We are not the master of our own house. There is a higher, deeper power at work within and without, guiding us towards what is truly in our best interests and what aligns with our soul’s trajectory. It is our job to listen to this, putting ego back into its relativized place in the process and allowing nature to take her course.
© Angela Dunning
Image by ArCaLu, licensed via Shutterstock.