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Finding Peace in Turbulent Times
10 Ways to Experience Harmony Amidst the Chaos
by Matt Kahn

Life can often be both an exciting and uncertain adventure as our foundation of form changes to reflect a new paradigm of reality. For most people on a spiritual journey, life is seen as a teacher within the disguise of form. Experiences happen, and as we look deeper beyond the chain of events, we are able to discover life lessons that are presented for the purpose of unfolding our individual and collective evolution of potential.

As life happens in unexpected ways, and no matter what is thought or reasoned as it happens, life somehow survives such circumstances through its experience as you. As the smoke clears, once meaningful beliefs are seen through and discarded, as a space of depth is revealed in you as expanded consciousness. This expanded state of awareness is no longer obscured by the limiting beliefs your experience of transformation just contradicted, to reveal a clearer way of relating and dealing with the comings and goings of physical form.

If we are to act as the welcoming committee for a new paradigm of reality, manifesting itself into renewed form to reflect a brand new, expanded state of collective and individual consciousness, then we may wish for these exciting times to include the following ten opportunities to experience peace:

1. Understand the nature of opposites – We, as a society of communities, and a community of individual forms, are being prepared to responsibly handle greater abundance on a collective and individual level. We do this through the unraveling of old internal programs of self-interest, by experiencing "what appears to be" the opposite of abundance. Think of something's opposite as a means of cleansing what compromises the true recognition of what good fortune is already here. One can only transcend the nature of opposites, through an experience of opposition.
   
   
2. Open your heart to what is – This has nothing to do with what you think ought to be done, what went wrong to cause "all of this," or your opinion about what is wrong with what's being proposed as a solution. When we open our heart, we say "okay", as an acknowledgement that this IS happening. Yes, this is happening, and peace can be found in any space of chaos when we are willing to go with the flow of how things seem to be showing up. When we say "okay" to what is already happening, we open our hearts to support the vast and unique experiences of all who are living through this circumstance.
   
   
3. Visualize the outcome, not the details – What does our newly-refurbished, abundant world look and feel like? Can you imagine your experience as a member of earth's new paradigm, without getting lost in the loop of how it may or may not happen? This is your invitation to make time in your day to breathe deeply and dream out loud.
   
   
4. Stop complaining – Complaining actually maintains the stagnant structures of reality you resist and dislike, because the ego feeds off of complaining as an expression of opposition. How can any manifested structure of reality change, when the ego is still fed by the resistance or negativity it offers to the world it only perceives? The ego justifies itself through complaining, and would find itself completely irrelevant without something appearing to be wrong or incomplete in the world around it. The ONLY solution to the ego's insatiable appetite for complaints and opposition is acceptance. Acceptance is a simple practice of letting life happen, and when it happens in a way you may not have prepared for, then know that life is offering you the opportunity to practice acceptance on an even deeper level.
   
   
5. Remember to live with balance – A Japanese proverb once said, "Vision without action is a daydream, and action without vision is a nightmare."
   
   
6. Do your part – It all gets done as "one," with all necessary action steps being divided amongst all. Follow your intuition, and do what you are called to do, and if nothing is pulling you in one way or another, then dive more deeply into the enjoyment of what you are already doing.
   
   
7. Bless what you resist – Avoiding news programs, newspaper headlines, or even your own negative thoughts, actually fuels the fire of resistance with the flammable nature of fear. Notice what you resist, or that you resist how something is being portrayed, and bless it as an extension of the collective self. To avoid the news because we don't like how it is framed, is the opinion and preference of the ego pretending to be a spiritual practice. Instead, notice what in life we resist, acknowledge the resistance, and bless what manifestation has brought such insight into awareness. In this way, the seemingly "negative" news becomes a true spiritual practice of blessing what you see, no matter how it is perceived or presented.
   
   
8. Appreciate what is here now – Saying "thank you" to all that you see, is the first step in recognizing the true formless nature of all that you are. Everything is what you are, with anything else being just a thought that distracts one from this simple practice of deep appreciation.
   
   
9. Live freely, act responsibly – We visualize what we may want to attract, while we face what IS happening with openness and detachment. "Living as if" does not mean living beyond your current financial situation. Only freedom knows itself to be the open space within any sense of confinement.
   
   
10. Love the one life happens to – Love the you experiencing this moment in history, however you are facing it, and no matter what you are feeling. The feelings only arise to receive love, like a child tugging on your pant leg, hoping to be fed by your attention.

May the unfolding of life and how we view it, no longer dictate how we choose to experience each moment. When rooted in peace, the rollercoaster of reality is most enjoyable when simply experienced, not necessarily needing to be understood. It is the experience of transformation through all that you are, and can only be a peaceful ride when we take the time to go willingly.

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