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Slowing the Roller Coaster of Life

By Operation-Meditation

Do you feel like life is out of your control? Like you’re on a roller coaster and all you can do is buckle up and hang on because you’re in for a ride?

No doubt life is full of ups and downs. That’s what makes life, well, life. While you can’t control everything, you don’t always have to just sit back and let life happen. There are things you can do to slow it down and make it more manageable.

How?

Accept responsibility

In order to begin to regain control over your life, you have to accept responsibility for your part in it. Although some things happen as a result of chance, most things happen as a result of choice. Actions you choose result in consequences. By not making excuses, you’re essentially taking the controls of the roller coaster, influencing its speed and strength.

Let go of what you can’t change

Sometimes you have no control over your circumstances. Life just happens. You get sick, lose a job or suffer hard times through no fault of your own. This is the part of the roller coaster where you’re going downhill and you just have to put your hands in the air and experience the ride because you’re not going to change your forward progression. The only thing you can do is deal with it the best way you know how.

Change what you can

Some things you can change, however. There are actions you can take to make your situation better and more livable. Take the opportunity to grab the controls and direct the ride. Slow it down. Change the course. Do whatever you have to do to make it manageable and easier to handle.

Ignoring things isn’t going to make them go away. If you deal with issues head on, you can begin to put things in their place and quit going around the same course over and over again.

Focus on one thing at a time

If you look at the whole ride at once, it’s pretty scary. All you see are huge hills and stomach wrenching loop-de-loops. But if you break it down piece by piece, and just look at one section at a time, it’s easier to take.

Although you may need a big picture view of things from time to time to understand the scope of what you’re dealing with, you don’t have to keep that vision as the primary idea in your mind. In fact, by limiting your focus to one thing at a time, you have a greater ability to concentrate and process things in a clearer and more concise manner.

Stay in the present

Don’t think about what’s ahead. Sure, you know there’s going to be twists and turns. That’s what life is about. But, if you don’t stay in the present, you miss the opportunity to experience the great things that are happening right now.

You miss the excitement in your body as you start your uphill climb and the drop of your stomach when you quickly cress the top of the hill. You don’t experience the exhilaration of hairpin curves and you close your eyes to the opportunity to see the world from a different viewpoint while going through the upside down loop-de-loops.

Breathe

Sometimes you get so overwhelmed or so scared that you forget to breathe. Yet, if you force yourself to take long, deep breaths, you are able to slow things down and make them clearer and less daunting.

One way to practice breathing is to meditate. Focus on nothing other than the breaths as they enter and exit your body. It allows you to release your fears and concerns, and opens your body to renewed energy and rejuvenation.

Life is definitely a roller coaster. You have two options on how you can handle it. Learn to work it to your advantage or do nothing and let it scare the hell out of you. I hope you pick the first.

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