Readers, please enjoy this guest blog post by Alexandra Chauran, author of numerous books, including the new Clearing Clutter, 365 Ways to Strengthen Your Spiritulity, and the new Getting Through It: Reclaiming Your Life After Adversity, Change, or Trauma.
So, you are nearing the end of the year 2020. Almost made it, right? Wrong. It turns out that the negativity of 2020 was a miasma that weakened and sickened nearly all of us in either a literal or figurative way. The losses have piled up, and the grief from each of them is real. Many people lost a job, felt a best friend drift away, lost a parent to COVID-19, or had a marriage crumble under the stress of being home-bound. The emotional and spiritual impacts from 2020 are diverse and immeasurable, yet universal. Even those who were fortunate enough to whether the pandemic storm in physical health have been left with residual emotional trauma and limitations. Here are five things that you should have in your spiritual first aid and emergency preparedness kit.
- A journal: A prolonged emergency can cripple your sense of perspective. A journal will help you understand the enormity of what you have been going through, which can allow you to have more compassion towards yourself.
- An agreement with a friend: A person in recovery needs a “sponsor” and a person on a diet might want an “accountabili-buddy.” You need a friend. Ok, so you can’t really stuff a friend into your emergency preparedness kit, but you should make sure that you find someone who really is willing to talk to you any time of the day or night if you are in crisis. Make sure to pack your boundaries, too, though.
- Art supplies: All suffering can be made into great art. Even if you are not an artist, allow your emotions to inform your creative expression in your favourite medium.
- List of Emergency Resources: Many local and national resources may be available to you for financial relief and support if you need food and shelter. Program a crisis hotline into your phone if you need it. Free and sliding-scale counselling may be just a phone call away.
- A copy of Getting Through It: Reclaiming Your Life After Adversity, Change, or Trauma to work through: If you’re feeling adrift, this book will help guide your path to healing in your own way. Keep this staple on your bookshelf. After all, you never know when the next emergency will rear its head again, but you can always begin the healing process anew. There is no suffering too great to be diminished through spiritual work and trust in the divine.
Our thanks to Alexandra for her guest post! For more from Alexandra Chauran, read her article, “Personal Crises: Identifying and Conquering Our Struggles.”
