Are you ready to heal all that has happened in your life in 2020?
Welcome to Rise, Heal, and Process 2020.
This is part two in the Rise, Heal & Process series. (If you missed the first part, click here.) This section will address how you begin to start healing all that is holding you back.
And why is that important? Because as we’re forced to think about 2021, whether we’re excited, nervous, or unsure, how can we move forward if we don’t heal what is no longer serving us?
I ask you to rise, heal, and process before initiating your 2021 planning.
I want to take a moment and introduce myself. In case we haven’t met, I’m Dr. Romie Mushtaq. We serve organizations that value employee wellness, mental health, and a sense of belonging. I’m a physician and CEO and founder of The brainSHIFT Protocol, the Mind Science of Workplace Wellness.
Heal With Scientifically Based Self-Care
Does your heart feel like an empty vessel?
What do I mean by that? When I think of compassion fatigue or empathy fatigue, there’s a sense as we end 2020 with all the news around us, that can feel overwhelming. Or with all the challenges we faced in our lives, do you feel a sense of hopelessness?
Maybe you feel like you lack empathy, even though that is not who you usually are. Or do you feel irritable, a lack of patience, trouble sleeping, or just this urge to isolate yourself from others? These are all the mental and physical symptoms associated with compassion fatigue.
To heal, I invite you to start with radical self-care. Radical self-care means you tune out the world and, instead, tune into your spirit and cognitive, emotional, and physical health.
What can you do for radical self-care?
Do a calming ritual for your mind, your body, and your spirit every day. I invite you to think of these questions as journal prompts or prompts to discuss with a coach or a therapist.
1. What aspects of your life felt completely out of control in 2020?
And by the way, if you’re having that, I want you to know you’re not alone. We’ve all been there. My family, my team members, and all of the corporate clients that I’ve talked to one-on-one. have felt out of control of our lives.
2. What are behaviors or problems or issues or patterns that you want to leave behind in 2020?
If we don’t process these emotions, thoughts, and behaviors, we carry the same issues into 2021.
Heal Through Forgiveness
And last but not least, how do we heal? Through forgiveness.
Can you forgive yourself, forgive others, forgive the Universe for all you felt was wrong or out of your control in 2020? Are you ready to do that?
Why is forgiveness important?
I look at a Jack Cornfield’s saying on forgiveness is, “To forgive doesn’t mean that we condone the misdeeds of another. We can dedicate ourselves to making sure they never happen again. But without forgiveness, the world can never be released from the sorrows of the past. Forgiveness is a way to move on.”
Forgiveness doesn’t mean that we’re going to ignore the tragedies or triumphs that have happened. We will take these challenges and learn from them so we can make ourselves and the world a better place. Let’s start with forgiveness, which will help to bring empathy compassion back.
If this resonates with you, I invite you to join me at the end of your day with a mindfulness-based forgiveness exercise.
Forgiveness Meditation
How do you do a forgiveness meditation? You can say the answers out loud or write these down as journal prompts.
- Find a comfortable and quiet place, or you can close your eyes right now.
- Ask God or higher power you believe in, the Universe, in help and forgiving what’s no longer serving you.
- Visualize the person or the issue that you would like to forgive, and see it in a different role. That person’s also somebody’s parent or child. Another human. The situation that happened, could you see it in another light? As a lesson.
- Choose to drop into the pain and forgive by saying, “I forgive that person,” or, “I forgive this situation.” “I forgive 2020 and all the challenges.”
- Then take a moment and pause and breathe and thank God, the Universe, and yourself for being able to start this path to forgiveness.
- Sit with this meditation every night for at least five minutes.
I hold the intention that you’ll be able to heal and release what’s no longer serving your heart from 2020. When we enter 2021 with the intention of healing, we leave behind the negativity and the toxicity of what’s no longer serving us.
