It Is Well With My Soul
I recently spoke at a Wellness Retreat, which was themed around the old hymnal, "It Is Well With My Soul." I was raised in an old Southern Baptist church, with its traditional white exterior, a church bell that was rung every Sunday morning, and the small choir in the background. I remember the choir always singing this song and they did it very proudly. The first few verses go like this:
"When peace like a river attendeth my way
When sorrows like sea billows roll
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say
It is well, it is well with my soul"
One word that sticks out very clearly to me when I think about this song, is peace. The most important part of that line is "whatever my lot", meaning whatever gets thrown my way, whatever I may encounter during my busy day, and whatever comes that I am not in control over ... I am at peace. Does this statement seem true to us? To be honest, no it doesn't. It sounds lovely, but it doesn't feel true to us, in a moment of chaos and anxiety. But ... I can find my soul to be well. I can find my peace, but its only when I stop that I take the moment to try to remember that.
As I prepared for the talk, I was going through my own circumstances where I thought just because I teach yoga and just because I am delivering talks, that means that I will be a peaceful being at all times. You know those people you see. They have their smoothie bowls, find their moments of sipping their coffee watching the sunrise, and having a yoga session outdoors with the birds as their soundtrack.
Ahhh, to me that sounds so lovely. And here I am...
Stealing my four year olds chocolate chip Little Bites muffins, and having to reheat my coffee as soon as I get to work. Running behind every single morning, with my hair looking like a birds nest that got caught in a rain storm. And my yoga sessions come far and few in between, most of the time they are late at night when the babes rest their sweet heads. If not, I am subjected to being run over by the baby walker, or the dog acting entitled, by laying right underneath my downward dog pose.
And I began to become very frustrated. Why couldn't I have this "slow and peaceful vibe" all of the time? Why did I feel like a chicken with my head cut off? And when I landed right on my counselors couch, her response was "This is the phase of life you are in, and you feel shame when you don't have it all together."
You have heard me say it before; every time I get ready to speak in front of a group of people, God delivers me a situation, where I get to experience exactly what I am about to teach on. Maybe our minds tend to not be at peace due to a struggle with ourselves. We (I) try to have everything in a pretty little box, tied with a bow, and with a gift tag labeled with "got my shit together." When really in reality, one Lego to the foot can send us over edge.
The goal is not to be stress free all of the time. We are human beings, and that's not happening. But can we use the tools that we have to find a peaceful moment? A moment of rest. A moment of silence. A moment of peace like a river.
As I wrapped up my talk, I came up with an acronym for PEACE, to remember the ways that we can encourage more peaceful moments in our days. So the next time your day looks like mine, remember the word PEACE.
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Perspective: this is what we choose to focus on. Its our "power or our prison". How beautiful or miserable we want to see this world, that is our perspective.
Expression: letting that mind chatter and that hamster of a wheel brain of ours, slow way down. Expressing through song, dance, prayer, movement or writing gets that mind chatter to calm down.
Authenticity: when we are our truest selves, accepting all of the parts of us, the good, bad and beautiful, we are no longer at war with ourselves. When we are authentic in who we are, no longer keeping up with what society says we should be, we give permission to others to do the same.
Calm Space: your safe place, a place that helps you decompress and lowers that sympathetic nervous system (the fight or flight mode in us). When we lower the sympathetic, we raise the parasympathetic nervous system, which allows the peace and calm to settle in. Tap into nature, go to your favorite spot, use the Magic 5 senses to breathe.
Exhale: our inhales are so important, but we are forgetting to exhale. The exhale is twice as important, because its the acting of letting it go. Letting all of that extra baggage allows us to settle into this very moment.
"It is well (it is well)
With my soul (with my soul)
It is well, it is well with my soul"