When I was much younger, I remember being in a time of high stress and change. There seemed to be a lot of things coming at me in life and work.
It was all very overwhelming.
The energy of other people, the demands of getting things done at work, the ambition of moving forward on many fronts.
One day, in the midst of all this, a vision came to me.
I imagined myself a massive rock, rooted firmly and strongly in the earth.
Immovable for centuries, and not likely to move for centuries more.
Dense, impenetrable. Pieces may break off, but the main body of which still remained. Strong. Unchangeable. Invulnerable.
And then, a river. Sometimes a trickle.
Flowing around me, the massive rock.
Sometimes a torrent, an unrelenting wave of all the energies of life and work, the demands of all that, and the people around me, and sometimes from within.
Sometimes crashing strongly against me, the massive rock.
Crashing against me, and then flowing over and around me, continuing its path to points beyond me.
But still, I remain, this massive rock, firmly rooted in the earth.
Letting all the demands of life not knock me over or destroy me, but simply just flow around or over me.
It became my vision of resilience in life. To be firm in the face of all that life brings, and know that it can just flow around me and over me.
And yet I still remain. Unchanged. Still strong. Still present even when the river turns into a raging force.
Every time life feels overwhelming. I bring up the vision of me, the massive rock, in a raging river of life, and let the energies coming at me simply flow around and over me.
And I know that I still remain, not getting swept away or destroyed. I remain while these forces are transient and disappear, like water rushing past me and beyond.
How does that resonate with you?
We know that visualizations can be a powerful tool.
Athletes use it all the time to visualize their victories, and it works amazingly well for them to have a constant practice of their desired goals.
We also can use it in our own daily lives.
In this case, I used it to form resilience in my life.
The next time life feels overwhelming, visualize yourself a massive rock in a river. What happens for you when you do?
Or do you have another visualization that you use to build your own resilience? I’d love to hear it. Please share in the comments if you have one too!
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