"Oh no...not again" you say to yourself. "Looks like I'm back HERE again. Guess it's just going to be one of those days!" Everyone does it, everyone knows what it feels like and needless to say, few people really enjoy being there. It's as if you are stuck in "Neutral", unable to move, with your engine idling. Just when you thought things were going great, the clouds block the clear blue sky and you land in what feels like a huge pothole on the street of life. Once your car is in it, getting it out is nothing short of a major undertaking.
Feeling stuck is nothing new to any of us. Find one person who never feels like they are stuck and I'll find you a person who has never experienced life. It's a part of living down the road that each one of us travels on.
So here's the question; Is the feeling of being stuck or being in "Neutral" something that is real and tangible, or is it more a feeling that you are indulging in because outer circumstances might not be going your way? Are you allowing that outer circumstance to control you or are you controlling it? What I mean to say here is stuff is bound to come up and when it does, it's all about how you choose to handle the situation at hand.
Think of the last time you felt as if you were in "Neutral". In other words, when was the last time you truly felt stuck? As you continue to recall the situation, how did you end up handling it? Did you react to it in such a way that you were eventually able to move on, get your gear shift back into "Drive" and continue down your road? Or, did you allow the emotion and negative aspects of being stuck in "Neutral" become a huge issue that literally took on a life of its own? That's where the drowning feeling would come in!
When things happen, we often tend to attach ourselves to the situation to where we end up believing that we are the situation. This is how we become stuck. Rather than letting the situation pass on and move through us, we end up becoming that situation which in effect, doesn't allow us to move on and leave the issue behind us. We truly end up becoming stuck in "Neutral". When your gear shift there, you have nowhere to go. It's a terrible feeling of loss, helplessness and disempowerment.
But it doesn't have to be that way. Here are some easy tips to keep in mind the next time you happen to find yourself in "Neutral";
1. Identify the situation - Knowing what's going on is the key to being able to acknowledge it and ultimately, move on
2. Believe that you can overcome the situation and that it's only temporary in nature - This immediately identifies the issue as being short-lived. There won't even be an opportunity for you to believe you are the situation because you are now taking the time to free yourself from it. Don't ever allow yourself to attach to the emotion of a situation. Do whatever it takes to separate yourself from the issue at hand. By so doing, you end up shifting energy which you once thought would never move on. Dorothy might very well have been stuck on OZ if she didn't ultimately realize that her visit there was temporary
3. What will it take to solve the issue so you can move on? - This will pry you out of the rut you had found yourself in and allow you to keep moving on down your road. Remember, all clouds are temporary. Who and what you are is the clear and radiant blue sky behind those clouds. Once you've devised a plan to move on, don't forget to do it! What's the point of having a plan if you don't end up using it? It might not even be as complex as you think. Sometimes the simplest actions make huge waves of change
4. Breathe! - How does it feel shifting from "Neutral" back into "Drive"? You are so much more powerful than you often realize. Using your power to move you through life has many rewards.
Realizing that it can be so much easier to move on from situations that once appeared to be all-consuming is what life is all about. The joy of living in this day and age has everything to do with being able to navigate all the challenging twists and turns down the road of life. Sometimes things that appear to be solid are, upon closer examination, quite transparent in nature. Staying in "Neutral" won't do it. Keeping your hand on the wheel while you are driving means you'll eventually get to where you intend to be...the first time, every time!
