I think some­times I am wast­ing this time of “pause” that hu­man­ity is go­ing through. My day-to-day is not that dif­fer­ent, with the ex­cep­tion of fewer trips to the store and per­haps fewer client book­ings. I fill my days with my busi­ness to-do list, pod­cast pro­duc­tion and tak­ing my turn at cook­ing or clean­ing. I do Qigong and med­i­tate most morn­ings. I con­tinue to ask for in­spi­ra­tion and clar­ity mov­ing for­ward.

I miss my grand­daugh­ter.  But I am happy con­nect­ing with those I love by phone or a video call. And I am thor­oughly en­joy­ing the ex­tra time we get to spend with our youngest son who is se­questered at home with us.

To­day I sit… hop­ing for in­spi­ra­tion for this Magic Hap­pens ar­ti­cle. It’s been two months since I last wrote and only a few days left be­fore the dead­line would make it three. I am usu­ally a very in­spired writer but right now, things feel dif­fer­ent.  The time we are in is dif­fer­ent. The world’s modus operandi  has shifted.

I feel like I am wrapped in a co­coon – a beau­ti­ful, quiet, peace­ful co­coon – and when I emerge, things will be dif­fer­ent. I will be dif­fer­ent.

Some peo­ple reach out to oth­ers when they are go­ing through times of trans­for­ma­tion. I go in­side. My in­ner world is a place that nur­tures me, a place that fills my cup and brings me strength. This of­ten trans­lates in be­com­ing an an­chor for oth­ers. After all, in times of un­cer­tainty, some­one needs to keep their feet flat on the ground.

The earth is amaz­ing that way. Stay­ing con­nected with our earthly ex­pe­ri­ence, our phys­i­cal body and the nat­ural world, has a mag­i­cal way of feed­ing our souls. It helps us step out of the com­plex­ity that the mod­ern world of­fers us every minute of every day. Com­plex­ity through choice, change, op­por­tu­nity, process and per­ceived oblig­a­tion…

Offering us the opportunity to step into a pure state of be­ing.

Be­ing pre­sent in the mo­ment with what is, in­stead of spend­ing all of our en­ergy think­ing about what is or is­n’t, or what should or should­n’t be. The sim­plic­ity of the mo­ment holds more peace and ful­fill­ment than all the com­plex­ity we’ve cre­ated, iron­i­cally in the hopes of find­ing those things that are here all along. We are just too busy to no­tice—if not in ac­tion, then in mind.

It’s in these con­tem­pla­tive mo­ments when we find our con­nec­tion to life, the con­nec­tion with our spirit and our source. The quiet­ness of our mind brings deeply per­sonal in­sights that are some­how uni­ver­sal. It brings aware­ness that there is some­thing big­ger hap­pen­ing than what our con­scious mind can re­ally grasp. We dis­cover a kind of di­vine in­tel­li­gence that is the con­duc­tor of life… and that per­haps there are no co­in­ci­dences.  There is mean­ing and con­scious­ness wo­ven every­where through every­thing.

Ask most peo­ple about strength­en­ing their core and they will con­jure im­ages of push-ups, planks, and crunches. Those things are great for your phys­i­cal body.  But when a cri­sis hits, your strength runs deeper than body level.  Emo­tional bal­ance, men­tal clar­ity and re­source­ful­ness, and spir­i­tual con­nec­tion com­bine to bring a deep sense of in­ner strength.  

At the core of your in­ner strength, you’ll find ac­cep­tance of what is cou­pled with the abil­ity to re­spond in a pro­duc­tive way.  Look deeper and you will dis­cover a deep know­ing of your­self, self-trust, flex­i­bil­ity and tenac­ity where you need them, the abil­ity to ask for help when needed, and most im­por­tantly, re­silience.  

Our core strength de­vel­ops and grows through chal­lenge. Un­com­fort­able, box-ex­pand­ing, earth-shak­ing, life-chang­ing growth. You have al­ready had many chal­lenges in your life, some greater than oth­ers, and all have helped form who you are.

Dur­ing these times, it is good to re­mem­ber not only that “this too shall pass,” but that you are in the midst of an ex­pe­ri­ence that of­fers a pro­found op­por­tu­nity for your own per­sonal growth.  Like it or not, you are strength­en­ing your core!

Originally published in The Magic Happens May 2020 https://themagichappensnow.com/strengthening-your-core/