Do you feel lost or stuck in your life? Oscillating day to day: feeling fine and on track one day, and the next feeling clueless? I call this "being in the crack" (not like the drug, but like the spaces in the sidewalk). Being in the crack is a natural state to be in during times of change in our lives. It's the space we fall into when we are between two solid pieces of ground during times of transition. It's the space we step into when moving from an old way of life into a new one. This is why, for a period of time, we feel lost one moment and then okay the next. It's during this "crack" time that we process through the changes and learn how to integrate them into our lives. 

Being in the crack can be very trying, uncomfortable, agitating, and disorienting. Here are some tips to help make this unsettling time more comfortable.

* Meditation (as always)
This allows our bodies to let go of the mental chatter and move our emotional and energetic blocks to help us shift.
It also gets us away from the mental thought cycles that aren't helpful, but that we often get stuck in.

* Eat healthy 
Avoid junk food and unnecessary sugar to allow your body to function as easily as possible and feel as good as they can.
If our bodies are working harder to process out unhealthy food, then it can't process the emotional and energetic blocks.

* Avoid drugs and alcohol
For the same reasons listed for food, give your system a detox period.

* Do yoga 
Slow, gentle, restorative classes will help move energy where it needs to move to within your body. 

* Rest 
Honor what your body needs; get a little more sleep if possible. Rest will help heal your body and shift blocks.

* Pay attention to what your body needs 
You may be drawn to more alone time while you are in the process of shifting, so honor that. Instead of big gatherings, perhaps a cup of tea with a friend is in order. Breathe.

* Let love in - keep the crazy out
Give yourself a break from TV, movies, and the computer as much as you can. Fill the mind with "healthy" knowledge and information instead.

* Other helpful ideas:
Remember to be gentle with yourself. Just because we know a daily meditation practice and a healthy snack are good choices doesn't mean we can get ourselves to do it. Sometimes we aren't ready to move through the changes and, instead, spend a week sitting in front of the TV with a bag of "healthy" chips, suffering until we are ready to take it on. Be patient and remember to keep loving yourself. You won't be "in the crack" forever.

And ask for help when you need it. Whether it’s a close friend or relative. Reach out. You can also contact me for a private session to help with your yoga or meditation practice which, as I mentioned earlier, will help you work your way out of “the crack.”

Please share your thoughts below.

How often have you thought, or had a friend say, I wish my life was more like (insert name here) they have (and here you can fill in the blank) happiness, a great partner, great friends, great career, their entire life together, etc.? I have heard, or overheard this comment often lately. Why is it that we still gravitate to the grass is always greener idiom? We are each human, we are made of the same stuff, why do we think that someone else's lot in life is easier/better/less emotional? And more important, why are we forgetting that the whole point of the idiom is that it isn't true? The grass is never greener.

Instead of gazing at the object of your "grass is always greener" life at the surface, examine it thoroughly with a microscope. You will see that it looks very different from what you imaged. Perhaps it might look remarkably similar to your own catalog of issues that you are hoping to run away from. Our problems are universal and the list of emotions we can possibly feel is limited to the same list. None of us is immune to the trials of life. We all must forge through the same ocean.

Life is a journey, and no one ever promised us that it would be easy. So how do we live a life with wild emotions and still find santosha (contentment)? We find our tricks (yoga, meditation, long walks in nature - to name a few options), we look to ourselves for the answers that we hold within, we turn to others for guidance. We begin to establish a trust in ourselves that we can get through anything; that we can move through whatever comes our way; that we have the courage, the faith, and the love within ourselves to break through our toughest binds. It's something that we often lose sight of, and to realize it again can be a journey in and of itself. The more we practice the easier it comes; the more we move through, the easier it is to remember that we've done it before. It may have looked different, felt different, but it took the same courage, faith, and love that we still carry within ourselves.

So remember, the next time you are looking at someone else, to see life through their eyes. To do this, simply list whatever struggles you are going through, remove the places and names for those won't be the same, but the rest will. If you are experiencing it, chances are so is the person's whose life you wished was your own. Or if they have indeed stumbled upon a plateau of contentment, ah, then you can find what tools they are using in their life to develop, grow, and sustain santosha and gather them for your own use. And don't forget to share it with the rest of us.

I don't think there is anyone who loves their Christmas tree more than I do. Each year, I search for the most perfect tree that can be found - trying to find one that's been sustainably grown and cared for with love. Often failing in my quest for the non-chemically treated, but each year promising the next, that I will begin that research early so I can abide. What keeps me going back is in the knowing that even though she was cut down just for me, that another tree will be planted in her place.

I'm not sure when I started this love affair, but I know as a child, I begged each year to leave the tree up until my birthday at the end of January.

Each day that the tree is in the house, I spend time thanking it, loving it, admiring it's beauty, grateful for it's presence, it's existence for all those years cleaning the air and then spending it's final days just existing for me. Every time I water her, I hear her exhale a thank you. Each time I inhale her smell, she is grateful that she is loved. Some days, I hug her. Admiring the twinkling lights, the reflections of the ornaments, the sparkling glow of the branches. Every day that she is here, I do this in secret.

I may be a little overboard, but if I am taking her life for my enjoyment, I feel as I owe her to be loved and appreciated.

It saddens me, that this is the end of life for her, but is it really? From here, she will go on to be composted and return to the Earth from which she came. Her journey through life is much like ours. It's a cycle. My only hope is all of you feel the same love that I impart upon her each day while she is in my home. I hope you are capable of receiving the love and also capable of knowing that you are worthy of it.

Continue to allow your hearts to open in the coming year. You are capable of more than you think. You are stronger than you know. And you are loved beyond measure.

Are you capable of receiving this abundance of love? What's holding you back?