Have you ever felt like your life is just tied up in knots? I have, and it’s miserable. You feel trapped. Can’t move forward, can’t move back, don’t know what to do or who to turn to anymore.
You want to enjoy things, but nothing feels fun or fulfilling anymore. I hear you. Let me tell you a short story about tangled messes like this.
Years ago, when my family was moved by a professional moving company, I was shocked when I opened the box that had my jewelry in it. The packers had dumped all of my necklaces in a pile, folded them up in paper, and thrown them in a box. They were a tangled, jumbled mess. Knots on top of more knots. I was so angry! And sad and frustrated.
I thought there was no way I was ever going to get all of these necklaces separated from the jumble. But I sat down at my kitchen table with the pile of twisted necklaces and started detangling. Slowly but surely, one necklace at a time was rescued from this entangled pile.
I learned something very quickly when trying to separate the messy pile: Pulling on different sections only made matters worse. The more I pulled, the tighter the knot became.
What did work? Pushing them together. I found that if I gently nudged the sections together, it was easier to see what piece to move in which direction to free a new section of chains.
I have found this same technique works with life problems, too. Sometimes we’re in such a hurry to fix things. We just want to give our problems one big yank and have everything fall into place. But tangled necklaces and life situations don’t respond well to pulling tighter, trying harder, thinking more, or rushing to get your way. They respond much better to what I call “softening.”
Soften your death grip on your problem. Soften your outlook on the situation. Soften your thoughts and your self-talk. Soften into being open to multiple solutions to your issue. Soften into possibility. Soften into the awareness that the solution may just find you!
When you soften in this way, your vibration naturally rises. When your vibration rises, you are no longer a match to the problem—you are becoming a match to the solution.
What I’m asking you to do isn’t easy, I know. It takes practice. It takes a willingness to surrender. It takes a deep slow breath into your belly to signal your nervous system that you really are OK in this moment. It would probably benefit from a leisurely walk in nature with no other goal than to be present.
This approach of softening may not feel natural, especially at first. But stay with it! You may just find that softening is often the best way to find a solution in a tangled world.
