Author Topic: How do you keep it going when life goes to sh!t? (Read 7335 times)

Catherine · « **Reply #15 on:** July 10, 2011, 02:40:54 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly?

I maintain shrines. Even if I can't commit to a daily offering schedule, for whatever reason, I still have a small sacred space that helps me to stay at least a little bit connected.

When I was too sick to raise a lick of energy, much less focus and direct it, I made sure I had a place where I could leave offerings and such. It helped me get through the yuck, and gave me a place to pick up where I'd left off when I was ready.

JuniperMorgan · « **Reply #16 on:** July 10, 2011, 03:08:21 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

For those who are in it, what did you do before the Blah?

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

I'm starting to come out of one such time. I can remember the feeling of connectedness and truly living my path, but it's been so long I no longer remember the details of what I used to do. (I have acute severe depression that goes untreated due to lack of insurance, so bad times can last a very long time for me.)

A few things that have been helping me recently have been: moving my bookcase of pagan books to a more predominant spot in the house to serve as a reminder of how much of myself I have invested in a very physical way into my path. Joint the Cill, to have an obligation not just to myself, but to others to keep a regular observance - sometimes when things are really bad I can make myself do things for others, that I can't get myself to do just for me. From the Cill I've been slowly getting more active in TC itself, and finding more like minded people to interact with, even if only online also helps. It pulls you out of the hermit cave more - or at least it does for me.

This time, I hope to keep better notes and document more thoroughly the good times, what makes them good, how it feels - so that the next dark night that comes, I have more to remind me, that just as it's passed before, it will pass again.

Chase · « **Reply #17 on:** July 10, 2011, 11:55:25 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly?

If anything, I'm prone to practice more when life has gone to the metaphorical dogs. My practice is my source of comfort, even if it's simple -- and simple is the way I like to do things most of the time, so that's not an issue. Incense/other offerings as thanks for the good things, meditation (candle optional) every night before bed. If I can rustle up the energy for something more, I do, but often it's minimal.

It keeps me sane, to have that happy place to come back to -- even if I'm not feeling particularly close to the Divine. Depression has its way with me more often than not, so to have a safe place both mentally and physically I can go to take a break is enough to keep me going.

outlaw393 · « **Reply #18 on:** July 11, 2011, 12:55:15 am »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

When you get the religious blahs, the mystic doldrums, and the gods you used to feel so close to seem to have instituted the Private Bubble Rule?

I don't know about the rest of it. But personally when one pantheon of gods is feeling far away (The Norse have all but left, it feels like) another pantheon becomes close to me. (The Greek gods have seemingly reappeared).

Even when I was seemingly 'trapped' in the christian church I still believed in my pagan gods.

So I can't say I ever lost my faith. Well - my pagan faith anyways.

Wanderer894 · « **Reply #19 on:** December 12, 2011, 07:48:49 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

I'm a master of delicate phrasing, I know (also fond of nice globs of sarcasm ) but this is a serious question. How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly? When your job sucks, your parents decide to go crazy, the kids are climbing higher up the walls then normal, hubby's a jerk, wifey's got the super PMS all the time, and living under a rock in Siberia is starting to look like a lovely real estate prospect? When you get the religious blahs, the mystic doldrums, and the gods you used to feel so close to seem to have instituted the Private Bubble Rule?

For those who are in it, what did you do before the Blah?

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

Unfortunately, the usual way I get through is to just plow ahead, with tunnel vision, and not stop until the madness has passed. And play DDO (hacking things apart and picking locks seems to help keep the stress down). I've also found that fantasizing about a lighthouse or a cabin in Vermont as my getaway helps.

As for the religious side of things, sometimes all it takes is looking at the stars or listening to music to remind me that there is someone out there who does keep an eye on things. I don't do rituals very much except for holidays, and then sometimes not as elaborate as I'd like. Sometimes I'll silently say. "Diana/those who rule the sky/whatever, just help me get through this, and that's all I ask."

Weekly? Try daily. There are certain songs which always serve to make me feel close to the divine. And my running, too. Though I'd prefer if I could actually run around the neighborhood where I work, rather than just in circles in the schoolyard.

SkySamuelle · « **Reply #20 on:** December 13, 2011, 02:25:31 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

I'm a master of delicate phrasing, I know (also fond of nice globs of sarcasm ) but this is a serious question. How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly? When your job sucks, your parents decide to go crazy, the kids are climbing higher up the walls then normal, hubby's a jerk, wifey's got the super PMS all the time, and living under a rock in Siberia is starting to look like a lovely real estate prospect? When you get the religious blahs, the mystic doldrums, and the gods you used to feel so close to seem to have instituted the Private Bubble Rule?

For those who are in it, what did you do before the Blah?

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

This post comes to the right moment, because I am in one of those crazy, cahotic times where you feel overwhelmed and out of control and, despite not having any time for consistent ritual practice, I notice that for the first time i am handling in a way that works so I don't feel disconnected .

I remember in the beginning, when i had months where i was not able to do regularly meditaton and ritual, I felt rejected and disappointed in myself, afraid that i was going to lose what I had gained in months of researchin and practicing.

Now I know my fears were just that- I call myself a witch because I think and conceive the world through what i learned in my pursuing this path, regardless of how often i practice. Knowing that made me less antsy and at the same time more determined.

As Jennett and others said before me, relationships with gods tend to be cyclical... My Lady is not always up into my face... last time we had intense contact She left me with a suggestion I had not time to act upon, so I count that She will stay relatively distant until I can take care of that. Not because She is punishing me or anything, but because it's just more practical that way. I can accept that now experience taught me that this distance is not rejection or anything permanent.

And looking back, I can say part of why I felt disconnected is that i was the one doing the disconnecting. It's how i work- whenever i get overwhelmed by a given problem, my escapist tendencies pull me to withdraw inside my head instead of going to my friends, family and gods and reach out.

I figured out that maybe I had learn to expose my weaknesses instead of fighting so hard to hide them. If i feel troubled, i now i try to hold on my divine and human relationships more.

Tiny acts of worship, even when They don't feel like they are listing too hard, keep me grounded - a prayer before i fall asleep, a quick visit to my altar to rant all over it, a drop of coffee shared with Legba in the morning to petition for solutions i still can't see.
Small things that change the angle of my approach to the divine and keep me curious and interested, comforted and balanced.

Sometimes my divination skills go awry for reasons unknown- i try to not fixate over that, and to find new little ritual acts that suit better my messier schedule.

Fireof9 · « **Reply #21 on:** December 23, 2011, 12:25:22 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

I'm a master of delicate phrasing, I know (also fond of nice globs of sarcasm ) but this is a serious question. How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly? When your job sucks, your parents decide to go crazy, the kids are climbing higher up the walls then normal, hubby's a jerk, wifey's got the super PMS all the time, and living under a rock in Siberia is starting to look like a lovely real estate prospect? When you get the religious blahs, the mystic doldrums, and the gods you used to feel so close to seem to have instituted the Private Bubble Rule?

For those who are in it, what did you do before the Blah?

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

I reccomend a binge of heavy drinking

I have been going through a time like that for the last few months. My house is being forclosed on and my wife and I are likely splitting up. For a while I was really pissed with my deity for not making it all good like I begged them too.
Where were they?
Why were they ignoring me?
How could they let this happen to me?

One day about a month ago I realized something. That every morning I was able to get out of bed and go to work. That once I came to realize I had lost some battles, I was still pretty calmly going on with the war. I saw how they had not forgotten me, they were giving me strength to forge forward in the midst of really really shitty human failure. That there is likely a lesson in all of this, but that I am going to come out the other side of it and be able to rebuild.

Before I came to this conclusion I had to kind of let go. Take a break from my spiritual practices. It cleared my view

River · « **Reply #22 on:** December 24, 2011, 03:01:38 am »

Quote from: Fireof9;36161

I reccomend a binge of heavy drinking

That once I came to realize I had lost some battles, I was still pretty calmly going on with the war. I saw how they had not forgotten me, they were giving me strength to forge forward in the midst of really really shitty human failure. That there is likely a lesson in all of this, but that I am going to come out the other side of it and be able to rebuild.

Ditto on the drinking, although I like moderate and prolonged as opposed to binge and heavy.

Thanks Fire for sharing the wisdom that you have learned through the hard time you are going through.

I think steps of action are what helps me. When I do nothing I start to feel exactly like that- nothing. I am currently an unemployed teacher doing the subbing and minimum-wage-at-night-job thing, with a wife and two teenagers. It is not the place I want to be for sure, and I have brought this up in my prayers many times. I decided to go for a masters degree in an area that fits in with my profession as well as something that has a spiritual connection to me. This has kept my mind sharp and has focused me, but I still feel tense and on edge often.

Praying and reading spiritual books are two things I try and come back to daily, and it is amazing how easy it is to go through the day without even doing that. I do have a small outside alter made from rock in a grove of sorts, and I occasionally do things there when I feel it is meaningful.

I try and have several deep, meaningful spiritual times a month and then reflect on what I learned or questions that arose in those times. For instance, I did an oracle reading that seemed to have deep significance last month and I am still reflecting on that and imagine that I will be through winter at least. I like to go hiking and I will use this time to reflect and pray, and I sometimes turn it into a spiritual destination as i did on the solstice. A large part of my spirituality is learning to see how humanity, the earth, and the Divine are all interwoven, and helping people and the earth is a spiritual act. Little acts like planting certain flowers for native bees and butterflies has a positive spiritual impact on me even when my emotions are washing out to the dark depths of the ocean.

I also love to write, and I have noticed when I feel down I tend not to. Using my imagination in writing invigorates me, so I am trying to change to where I will write regardless of my mood.

GaiaDianne · « **Reply #23 on:** January 21, 2012, 04:46:35 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

I'm a master of delicate phrasing, I know (also fond of nice globs of sarcasm ) but this is a serious question. How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly? When your job sucks, your parents decide to go crazy, the kids are climbing higher up the walls then normal, hubby's a jerk, wifey's got the super PMS all the time, and living under a rock in Siberia is starting to look like a lovely real estate prospect? When you get the religious blahs, the mystic doldrums, and the gods you used to feel so close to seem to have instituted the Private Bubble Rule?

For those who are in it, what did you do before the Blah?

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

GAIADIANNE:

Besides all the wonderful replies you've gotten so far, i'd like to offer this:

I don't believe that these "blahs" and "oogly-mooglies" are an abberation on the Spiritual Path -- i think they are an integral part of it. That may seem somewhat obvious especially when they show up so frequently, but i think we forget that when we're in the middle of them.

(Especially those of Western culture) tend to think of the "outward-flowing, productive" parts of each Cycle as being positive and "normal", while (we think of) the inward-or downward-flowing parts of the Cycle as abberrant and problematic.

But the growth principle unlimited by the death principle is what we call "Cancer", and nobody can (healthily) sustain unlimited growth. We *need* those "negative" phases of the Cycle to rest and recuperate, take stock, evaluate, consider, and integrate what we've learned and experienced.

This inward-or-downward turning phase of each Cycle is often referred to as the "Dark Moon phase", and "correlate" with the Dark Gods and Goddesses.

May i suggest an excellent book on this entire topic: Demetra George's "Mysteries of the Dark Moon"
http://www.amazon.com/Mysteries-Dark-Moon-Healing-Goddess/dp/0062503707/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1327181962&sr=1-1

OR, for the best price available on both new and used copies, See:
http://www.allbookstores.com/book/compare/0062503707

I've never found any resource that so clearly, thoroughly and beautifully explains this experience in great detail and depth -- as well as how to cope with it. I hope it is a similar blessing to you!

Good Luck and Blessed Be ~ GaiaDianne

PlaceboArtist · « **Reply #24 on:** April 11, 2012, 07:00:00 am »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

I have a super-fun brain that seems to like turning me into a quivering, snarling blob of confusion and tears at the *most* inconvenient moments - such as in the middle of exam season. But for me my rituals are part of what brings me back to normality - partly the ritualistic aspect; it's a comfortable action that I know and understand, and partly the fact that it's giving me some sort of control over my life.

It can also provide a healthy outlet for my anger, which used to result in violent outbursts against other people or myself.

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

Every evening I at least have a short meditation in front of my altar, I might cast my runes or write a bit of poetry. I also like to lie in the garden and stargaze as often as I can.

RunningWolf · « **Reply #25 on:** February 16, 2014, 11:46:13 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

I'm a master of delicate phrasing, I know (also fond of nice globs of sarcasm ) but this is a serious question. How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly?

This is a very good question. My life right now is in heaps and has been for months, since I lost my job. 8 and a half months now I've been jobless and looking to no avail. I'm so fed up with life right now I'm almost seeing red, my prayers aren't being answered, I'm losing my faith...if there was an edge to the Earth I'd walk off it.

...yeah...:eek:

Caffeinated Autumn · « **Reply #26 on:** April 13, 2014, 01:01:05 pm »

Quote from: Erinnightwalker;3019

I'm a master of delicate phrasing, I know (also fond of nice globs of sarcasm ) but this is a serious question. How do you keep practicing when life goes googly-moogly? When your job sucks, your parents decide to go crazy, the kids are climbing higher up the walls then normal, hubby's a jerk, wifey's got the super PMS all the time, and living under a rock in Siberia is starting to look like a lovely real estate prospect? When you get the religious blahs, the mystic doldrums, and the gods you used to feel so close to seem to have instituted the Private Bubble Rule?

For those who are in it, what did you do before the Blah?

For those that went through it, what did you do to get out, and what did you do to keep the good going?

And for everybody that cares to comment, what is your daily/weekly/temporally reoccurring *thing* (if you have one) that you do to keep the faith alive?

I admit, I've been keeping any communication between me and the god and goddess to holidays only but now I feel as though I've been putting distance between me and them.

I get depressed and have anxiety (though I have not been officially diagnosed by a doctor) and there are days where I don't want to think about or do anything. However, I have my altar in my room set up so every night I go to bed I can see it and it helps me to remind myself where my spiritual path lies and who is there to help me.

I'm not a morning person (its especially hard when you have a 7 am class) so I'm thinking of doing a nightly ritual before I go to bed. It's the least I could do so that I can let the gods and goddesses of my faith know that I still think about them everyday.

Lately I've been taking walks around my university campus and trying to look out for subtle signs that my path my be showing me.

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