{"id":747,"date":"2012-05-14T09:33:29","date_gmt":"2012-05-14T14:33:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=747"},"modified":"2012-05-14T09:33:29","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T14:33:29","slug":"the-thunderstorms","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/?p=747","title":{"rendered":"The Thunderstorms"},"content":{"rendered":"

You know that feeling of finally getting over something?\u00a0 You finally made it over the mountain of total discomfort and hurt and your emotions are starting to settle in a meadow of fresh air, peace, and contentment.\u00a0 Then one day while walking around as usual you somehow find yourself back on that same mountain top and, oh wait, it is thunder-storming.\u00a0 But not to worry, you came prepared.\u00a0 You quickly cover yourself with your rain jacket, zipping up the armor to your emotions.\u00a0 You even tie a tarp between two trees and sit tight under the protection waiting for the storm to pass.<\/p>\n

Just when you think all is well, a huge hole breaks in your tarp, dumping a shower of rain atop your head and exposing you directly to the thunder and rain.\u00a0 Your rain jacket protects you for a little while, but the rain is too heavy and the wind is too strong and all the wetness seeps through your jacket.\u00a0 You are now soaking wet and so surprised that your methods of protection failed to keep you out of the storm.<\/p>\n

Sometimes this happens in life.\u00a0 Sometimes we find ourselves in an old situation that was once so difficult for us to face.\u00a0 And this is frustrating.\u00a0 We worked so hard to get ourselves past the hurt, past the struggles, and away from the frustration.\u00a0 We truly thought we had moved on.\u00a0 Well, maybe in some ways we have.\u00a0 But sometimes when we enter back into a situation or face a certain person again, all of our emotions come flooding back and soak into our body as if we never really dried the emotions out in the first place. \u00a0This can feel so frustrating and defeating.\u00a0 It is at this point when I usually start to beat myself up with thoughts like, \u201cWhy can\u2019t you just move on already?\u00a0 Why are you letting this get to you?\u00a0 Why don\u2019t you just focus on something else?\u00a0 Why does it really matter?\u00a0 Just stop thinking about it!\u201d\u00a0 It is as if, without realizing it, I defeat myself in the situation.<\/p>\n

If a client or a friend was explaining this to me, I would stop them for a moment and start empathizing for their reaction and emotions.\u00a0 I often forget to do this for myself.\u00a0 I forget that these reactions and emotions are completely normal.\u00a0 There will be times in life where we find ourselves back in a situation that makes us feel utterly uncomfortable and we may react with the same emotions and behaviors that we tried so hard to move past.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of Bokeh Photography<\/p><\/div>\n

You know what?\u00a0 This is ok.\u00a0 This is normal.\u00a0 Just because we sometimes revert back to certain emotions or behaviors does not always mean all hope is lost and that we find ourselves back at square one.\u00a0 It makes sense that when faced with the same situation that the same emotions and reactions would come back.\u00a0 So in these moments maybe it is ok to stop pushing back at our emotions and instead accept them for what they are\u2026normal.\u00a0 Maybe instead of running away from that familiar pain, we run to a friend and feel through the discomfort and frustration.\u00a0 It will be ok.\u00a0 The heaviness of this storm will pass once again.\u00a0 Let the hope carry you through.\u00a0 Feel through the storm, but also do not forget to look for that peaceful meadow that is waiting to hug you with sunshine and fresh air.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

You know that feeling of finally getting over something?\u00a0 You finally made it over the mountain of total discomfort and hurt and your emotions are starting to settle in a meadow of fresh air, peace, and contentment.\u00a0 Then one day while walking around as usual you somehow find yourself back on that same mountain top and, oh wait, it is Read more…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":748,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[54,63,40,47],"tags":[],"coauthors":[19],"class_list":["post-747","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-acceptance-2","category-coping","category-emotions-2","category-hangingon"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/05\/578085_10100580397231262_17114912_47535172_948036363_n.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=747"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":752,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/747\/revisions\/752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/748"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=747"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=747"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=747"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/collectiveinquiry.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcoauthors&post=747"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}