How Applying The Principle Of Alignment Is The Secret To Gracefully Navigating Change
getty If change is the only constant in life, then 2020 has been one of the most consistent years in human history!
Navigating the changes, however, is an ongoing learning curve.
The pandemic — and the measures now in place to control it — have affected every facet of our daily lives. From the way you work to the way you express affection, it seems the ground is constantly shifting beneath our feet.
The secret to stability lies in anchoring yourself to principles that are timeless and unchanging. This alignment will make you feel like you have a stable base to stand on, even when every day brings unpredictable change.
The Principle of Alignment is one such timeless and universal principle.
By taking steps to maintain your own personal alignment, you can more graciously navigate all types of change. Learn to apply this principle, and you’ll have a proven pathway back to stability and peace, regardless of what’s happening around you
There are three levels, or stages, of alignment that you have the ability to achieve. When these are in place, your inner center of gravity remains stable, regardless of how often the outer landscape of life changes.
Here are 3 ways applying the Principle of Alignment in your life will help you healthily navigate change, no matter what happens.
1. Create an alignment with yourself.
The first level of alignment has everything to do with knowing yourself.
What do you require to feel satisfied at the end of each day? Which activities contribute to your happiness and well-being?
Are there relationships or habits that support you? What about those that diminish you?
Developing this kind of intimate self-knowledge is imperative to navigating change. Think of it this way: If you don’t know what supports you under normal conditions, you have zero chance of keeping your balance in times of turbulence.
To create the first level of personal alignment, begin by making a list of all the things you love. Consider all dimensions of yourself — physical, intellectual, social, emotional, spiritual — and identify the experiences that nourish each one.
Notice that each of these experiences has a positive influence on you, because they evoke a particular emotion or sensation.
As you read through your list, begin to identify the feeling essence that each activity generates within you.
For example, you may have discovered that being outdoors always improves your mood, but take it a step further and identify the exact emotion it fosters. Maybe it’s a feeling of peace or fulfillment, or a sense of adventure and wonder.
By specifically identifying the feelings that enhance your personal alignment, you can become responsible for fostering those feelings for yourself on purpose.
2. Align with your source energy.
We are spiritual beings living in a physical world; tangible expressions of the non-physical energy that sources and maintains all things.
Whether you call this energy God, Goddess, Spirit, or the Creator, it’s vital to understand that you're not separate from this energy, but an integral extension of it.
When you’re consciously aware of your connection with this creative energy, you open yourself up to every positive emotion that it’s possible to experience.
You feel happy, perfectly at peace, loving and loved, wise, successful, confident, enthusiastic, joyful, strong, and free. And every experience of negative emotion is a result of you resisting or opposing this natural flow.
Because you're born with the tremendous gift of free will, you can choose to hold yourself temporarily apart from this stream of source energy. You can entertain thoughts of separateness, or cling to the perception that you're isolated and alone.
In other words, by virtue of the thoughts you think, you can hold ourselves in a state of disconnection or opposition from your true expansive nature. And — also thanks to the gift of free will — anytime you choose, you can reconnect.
Attention and intention are all that’s required to bring yourself into more complete alignment with the spiritual energy that sources you. It begins with acknowledging that you are an extension of the universe at large.
The source of all things is seeking to experience and express itself through your body, your senses, your mind, and your perspective. All that’s required to align with the energy that creates worlds is to feel and know yourself as part of this natural order.
Whether you choose to commune with this nonphysical counterpart silently or aloud is not important. Simply acknowledge that your relationship with your divine self is ongoing and ever-evolving.
The strength of your connection may ebb and flow at different times throughout your life, but the connection is always available to you.
3. Create alignment with your desired outcome.
Whether you’re aware of it or not, in every waking moment of your life, you're generating desires. This is because your life experiences have all left meaningful impressions on you.
You know at a powerful and unconscious level what you like and what you don’t like; what you want to create more of, and what you’d be happy to do without.
Desire flows forth from you naturally and unendingly, but you have the power to choose whether to deliberately align with that desire or to unconsciously resist it.
Many people diminish the strength of their desires by giving their attention to what they don’t want, rather than what they do. You privately doubt your ability to create what you want or speak openly about all the obstacles you perceive as in your way.
Or, you succeed at creating something you desire — a new relationship or business opportunity, for example — but you obsess about what could go wrong.
Whatever experience or outcome you're energetically aligned with is the one you'll create.
To achieve the third and most powerful level of alignment, make sure the energy of your dominant thoughts, moods, and expectations is focused on what you appreciate, enjoy, and want to create more of.
In each important aspect of your life, identify the most enjoyable, satisfying aspects, and give your full attention to them. Don’t allow yourself to dwell on the negative aspects, or to engage in “what if” thinking.
This split in your energy diminishes your personal alignment with what is life-giving to you. Instead, identify the positive and use that as the basis of your focus.
Times of change provide an incredible opportunity to define yourself, independent of circumstances. When the future around you is shaky or unknown, you often have no choice but to draw your attention inward.
Alignment with the larger, wiser part of you is always possible under any circumstance. And when this connection to your inner self is your primary focus, you're better able to navigate a path to happiness, even in the midst of change.
Christy Whitman is a transformational leader, celebrity coach, and New York Times bestselling author of "The Art of Having It All: A Woman’s Guide to Unlimited Abundance." Her new book, "The Desire Factor" is coming soon. Pre-order your copy now and receive processes to help you achieve your desires.