Reframing Those Challenging Days

 Here’s the beauty of SoulCollage® - Often, you don’t really see what you have made until afterwards, and sometimes much later on. 

Yesterday, I was having a challenging day, as so many of us are experiencing in these times of pandemic and political chaos.  The uncertainties are stunning and can easily knock you for a loop. How will we ever get out of this?  Even if we get a vaccine, will it be safe and effective?  Who is walking around infected but without symptoms and may be infecting others?  Why do some people get mild cases and others die?  Am I safe?  Are my loved ones?  Will Trump win another term and doom us all?  You are quite familiar with this sort of thinking, I’m sure.

 

On top of all this mess, I have a life-threatening illness.  I recently had a presumably successful surgery, but sarcoma, my variety of cancer, tends to recur, and my tumor was pretty aggressive.  With this uncertainty piled on top of the rest, it isn’t strange that I’d have some unsettled days.

 

However, right now I’m recovering well, and for the first time in months, without a lot of pain or under the influence of narcotics, I am experiencing the cooped-up boredom others have complained of.  So, I sat myself down and made a new SoulCollage® card.  Here’s what it looks like (my usual bad phone shot):

 

 

 

When I allowed it to speak to me (a process we employ when making cards), it seemed to be telling me that I was just looking for a way out of my predicament.  Notice the word “just.”  I told a friend I wasn’t sure I liked this card.

 

This morning, while working on my morning pages, I sat with the card again.  It dawned on me then that although there was indeed a figure doubled over with grief, depression or pain, there were three others who were looking for a way.  Perhaps a way to relate rather than a way out.  Maybe they were giving me advice on handling my situation, rather than merely trying to escape it.  One is painting or writing.  One is meditating.  the third is looking far off.  Right!  Three ways to apply myself – art, meditation, and far-seeing (which to me means having a greater perspective, a spiritual view).

 

I love the card now.  It's not the most beautiful, but that has no bearing on its relevance. And, of course, the whole SoulCollage® process is a treasure.  It doesn’t matter that I already have several hundred cards; it’s always fresh and new.  

Grateful.