30TH/31ST OF DECEMBER – REPRESENTING July & Change

WELCOME TO YOUR Seventh WILD NIGHT

Change is a natural occurrence in our lives: The seasons change, the weather changes, our environment changes, yet we often have a challenge to accept it. Especially when it comes to things that are important to us. We struggle to accept when our favourite restaurant closes down, our romantic partner leaves us and especially when someone we love leaves his/her body. Of course, it is normal to grieve – it is a natural coping mechanism – but maybe we can adjust our perspective regarding some aspects of our life to better cope with it? I believe so! For that, let’s take a look at the topics “Perspective” and “Transformation”.

THE DAILY PRACTICE

(YOU CAN SKIP THIS IF YOU READ ANY OF THE OTHER WILD NIGHTS)

As the overall theme of the wild nights is connected to the more subtle energies in life, that is what we will be focusing on. Each day will have one particular theme, however ALL wild nights will have a few things in common. 

DURING EACH OF THE WILD NIGHTS YOU CAN:

• Wishes: Pick one of your 13 wishes at random (without looking at it) and burn it. DO NOT burn all 13 wishes. One wish should be left over for the 6th of January.
• Dreams: Write into your dream journal as soon as you wake up in the morning (starting on the 25th of December). Your dreams can give you a rough idea of what might be in store for you next year, however be very mindful of how you interpret your dreams. It might simply be that you are working through the happenings of your day, so take your dreams with a grain of salt. If you feel they do represent your upcoming year, try to dig deeper with the I-Ching, your Oracle cards, a pendulum, meditation or whatever else you feel called to use to connect with your inner guidance.
• Predictions: Each of the nights/days represent one of the months of next year. You can use your oracle deck, the I-Ching or any other tool you enjoy using to connect with your intuition, to find out what the overall theme of the month of January will be.
• Journaling: You can use your diary/journal to write down what your oracle cards, the I-Ching etc. has revealed about the month of January and you can also use it in the evening, to reflect on the happenings of your day. All of these aspects can give you clues for next year.
• Smudging: Smudge your home with Sage, Palo Santo, incense sticks or whatever you feel called to use. The smoke is believed to expel negative energies, so leave your windows open for a little bit after smudging, so that those energies can leave your home.

Always remember do do what feels right to you. None of these things will help you in any way, if you just do it for the sake of doing it. Instead, even if you only do ONE of these things, but you do it with your heart and soul, that when you will see results. Now, let’s take a look at the main topic for today.

Change

I believe that the challenge we face regarding change, is that it disrupts our comfort zone. We humans are creatures of habits and we enjoy when things feel safe. And because things staying the same feels safe to us we are often shaken up when things become different. Especially divorces, separations or death has a big impact on us because these events often turn our whole life around.

Perspective

This is where “perspective” comes in. As I said before – grieving is a natural process and I would never tell anyone to skip this step when a painful/traumatic incidence happens. However, changing your perspective can help you adjust the way you feel about certain events.

For example: I used to be quite attached to certain things in my life – the grand piano I received from my grandmother being one of them. Before 2014, when I considered selling it, I would cry my eyes out, not being able to separate from it. Now, after years of following the yogic path and holistic health, I have gained a certain distance when it comes to anything I own. When something breaks or needs to get sold, I don’t take it as personal as I used to.

Minimalism

I think one reason of why I believe this shift in perspective happened, was because I lived in India for 9 months, with only one suitcase, half of it being books, the other half being clothes. On top of that, when you look at the poverty in such countries, you start to place the importance on other things. When I then returned home, I gave away half of what I owned, simply because I felt it was too much and I didn’t feel connected to most of it any longer.

Detaching

The other reason for this change of perspective was because I shifted away from the attachment I felt for objects and even people. This can be very hard to understand and might seem “heartless” but what it actually means is that you stop attaching your own identity to the object or person. I still very much feel love for and want to help others but I do it with the following mindset:

1. Everything happens for a reason
   • I particularly like this belief because it helps me to move past pretty much everything that happens in life. If I loose my job, if I loose a friend, if my car breaks down or whatever else might happen, I believe that everything happens for a reason, no matter how hard it might be in that moment. I have a deep trust in the universe and believe that I am always divinely guided and protected – yes, this might seem naive but honestly, it saves me so much heartache and pain – I wouldn’t want it any other way. There is actually a wonderful short story on this subject which talks about a Chinese farmer and his son. Click this link if you would like to hear it.
2. Everyone has their own backpack they need to cary and it is not my duty to carry it for them.
   • This one is particularly useful when you have a family member that is sick. If you make this your responsibility to heal them, you will suffer immensely, especially if they don’t have the willpower to heal themselves. To reach this kind of clarity is hard and might sound egotistic, but it is not. If someone else is not willing to fight for their own health, you are not able to fight their battles for them. You will make yourself sick in the process.
3. When someone in my life leaves their body, it is only their body that stops existing on this plane.
   • This is a spiritual aspect that might be hard to grasp for some of you, depending on the belief system you follow but I personally believe in reincarnation and in the spirit world. That makes it is easier for me to not get too attached to someones physical presence, as I believe they simply move on to their next life or they choose to stay here as spirits for a while.
4. Avoid judging something for it being “good” or “bad”
   • Yes, there are things I am against and there are things that I believe in but limiting the amount of times I use the words “right” or “wrong” or “good” or “bad” has helped me add another side to the story. When someone goes through a divorce, we might thing: “Oh no, that is horrible!” and yes, it might be tough to handle at the time, but in the long run that often turns out have been a good thing. Most of the time, we only find out as we go along.
5. Can you do something about it? Yes? Then why worry?
   • As a last source of inspiration I would like to share this wonderful video with you

All of these things are my personal belief system – yours might look completely different. But these are things that help me cope with change on a level I had never thought possible. Even throughout this Corona Pandemic I have faced many challenges along the way but I never had a moment of desperation. My wellbeing routine and this mindset played an immense role in this.

Transformation

The other aspect you can look into when it comes to “Change” is “Transformation”. Change, when used to its full potential, always means transformation and growth! You can choose to look at change as something scary or you can choose to look at it as a challenge.

As you might have noticed by now, I love chaining my vocabulary. The reason why I do that, is because words are extremely powerful. As we all know: “The feather is mightier than the sword”. Another word that I have therefor eliminated from my word pool is “problem”. I have exchanged it for “challenge” – Yes, exactly – as in:

Challenge accepted!

Now, which one would you prefer to tackle: “You have a Problem.” or “You have a challenge.”

Using the word challenge automatically makes it more enticing in my opinion. It is something I want to achieve – like a warrior! I want to win that fight! Whereas the word Problem automatically makes me cringe. So for this last part, changing your attitude into “warrior mode” is a very simple way to turn change into something you can handle! You are a warrior! You can do anything you set your mind to! And when you take up the changes as challenges in your life, you will always grow from it. Transformation awaits you behind every challenge, which is why every successful person out there will tell you: Cherish the hard times! Why? Because:

A smooth sea never made a skilled sailor

Franklin D. Roosevelt

Reflective Questions

1. When looking back at your life, which “change” was difficult at first and then turned out to be one of the best things that ever happened to you?
2. Which shift in perspective could help you walk through life more freely?
3. Who’s backpack are you carrying, except yours? Why do you feel the need to?
4. Are there words you want to stop using? Which ones are they and why not start now?