Just like the ebb and flow of the tides, change is a natural feature of life. At times it is welcomed as an exciting relief from boredom or hardship. Just like the thrill of riding a wave in the sea. At times it is rejected as a threat to life as we know it. Just like hunkering down during a storm. Reacting with caution is understandable. We often fear what we don’t understand. This is especially true when we don’t want the changes we must face.

Notice how you manage rapid changes. You may react with confidence, intrigue, overwhelm, or frustration. For many, energy practices ease the burden of change that is perceived as too rapid, overly consuming, or vastly destabilizing. You can learn to ride the waves of rapid change for greater balance, presence, and clarity using energy practices.
 

Are we facing too much change?

It’s been said we are living in times of unprecedented change in every part of our lives, collectively and individually. Predictable patterns of behavior established over decades are rapidly shifting. Migratory patterns of birds and whales are following shifting magnetic planetary routes, abandoning tried and true maps of travel. Seasonal transitions like the timing of emerging buds on plants in the spring or the fullness of fruit and grain for harvest days are both earlier and later than expected. Parts of the Earth that knew drought are flooding, and typically wet areas are scorched.

Dramatic technological changes pop up every few days. Our globe is being changed with scientific discoveries that affect our water, air, and light - for better and for worse. The planet herself is even traveling into new locales of space not witnessed by humanity, with unknown impact on our daily experience. Even the fabric of time seems to be speeding along faster than usual. We may be left with confusion, especially when looking for clues about an uncertain future. How do we proceed with such dizzying change?
 

Change naturally ebbs and flows

As we face new aspects of reality, sometimes feeling alone in our quest, there may be answers from the past that suggest how to survive and thrive. The Earth has been riding the waves of rapid change as a natural phenomenon for millenia. For instance, our planet was markedly volatile for much of its known history. Cataclysmic earthquakes, enormous volcanoes, epic storms, and devastating drought rendered parts of our planet uninhabitable. Our most recent brief period is miraculously calm in comparison, making our current existence possible. This suggests that even on a large scale, change is not always fast, broad, and ever present. The pace will slow eventually. Meanwhile, what shall we do?
 

What to do when change is at a peak?

Our ancestors were also faced with rapid change. And they wisely adapted by following paths and patterns which supported life. When an area became too harsh or unforgiving for sustenance, they moved on. Traveling from mountain to sea, desert to meadow, each part of the terrain offered its own gifts and challenges. When famine, climate, conflict, or overcrowding took its toll, people left, or waited for more favorable circumstances as best they could. They hung on to what worked from the past, and innovated. We can do the same, learning from the past, even as we try new things and make mistakes. This is how we grow.
 

Change fosters learning

It is not easy to live through upheaval and change, as humanity is wired to seek safety, predictability, and repetition. Sameness soothes our nervous system, and allows deeper connections internally and between people and surroundings. Think of resting in a fire-lit space with a full belly, daydreaming under sparkling stars, or joining harmonious voices singing a familiar song. Imagine the comfort of engaging with ritual practices passed down through the ages, or swaying with the peaceful steady rhythm of the waves on the sea. Things you can trust so that peacefulness prevails.

But if things stay the same for too long, nothing new can be born. We need novelty to not be psychologically asleep or to wither under the monotony. We learn by contrast. Creativity arrives with novelty, not with the familiar.

There is a tension between these spaces. We need both stability and change. If you are finding that change is painful, there is hope. You don’t have to curl into a ball, or cringe like the floor dropped out from underneath you. Energy practices can help you find balance and sanity when impending chaos is getting too close for comfort.
 

Energy practices to calm the chaos of change

There are a multitude of energy practices that can help bring you back to yourself, enhance your wellbeing, and foster a fertile space for new ideas and possibility. Try out one or more of these suggestions, or discover more on your own.

Grounding to the Earth, our collective home. Get to know her with bare feet on the soil, sand, or grass. Place your back against a tree trunk, breathing deeply the oxygen, and exhaling your carbon dioxide, feeding the plants as you do so. This fosters a balanced cycle of collective wellness. Your body will discharge positive electrons and absorb negative electrons with a series of health promoting effects. You can read more here about the benefits of grounding in this blog.

Centering in your body, mind, and spirit. You’ll be more balanced, calmer, and better able to choose to act rather than automatically react. Your boundaries will become stronger and more flexible, enhancing communication with others. Centering puts you in contact with deep aspects of consciousness and truth. You can read more about centering in this blog.

Moving from the head to the heart. Intellect alone won’t solve problems that are beyond your capacity to grasp. Rapid change in society, the environment, and inside of you, calls for deeper knowing than facts and opinions. When you move into your heart, the emotional center for compassion and present focus, perspectives shift. The heart finds its way to a different sort of knowing. Insights may arrive that you can’t reach as quickly or easily by using mental gymnastics. Several energy practices focus on the heart as a means for healing. Heart Assisted Therapy, The Blue Diamond Method, and calm breathing are a few. Try out several methods based in heart-centered attunement, until you find the right fit for you.

Discernment with creativity. It is exciting to entertain fresh ideas and projects, which seem to come out of thin air. It is important to balance the enthusiasm of innovation with logic, self-reflection, and wisdom. Then your plans are more likely to be fruitful and sustainable. Not all new ideas are good ideas, nor are they practical. Maybe some are to be shelved, and worked upon later with fresh eyes. Others need to wait for their time to come forward, with more favorable conditions. Need some assistance with discernment? Consider these resources for resilience exercises which aim to balance your right and left hemispheres for greater cognitive and emotional capacity. Try Brain Balancer, or Breathing into Balance.

Tapping on acupoint meridians can clear areas of congestion, blocks, and fears with change. Ask yourself what does change mean for you, especially when the odds are not in your favor. You may want to put the body at ease, when the mind and emotions churn a bit. There are simple instructions for working with energy psychology tapping points here. You might try these, adding them to your tapping routine, or create ones of your own.

Even if I am afraid of radical change, I can reach out for help as I am not alone. We are going through these changes together.

Even when I feel overwhelmed with life moving too fast, I can balance my own stability with change, with more practice every day.

Even if I am hesitant to allow good things to happen to me, because they can be taken away, I know it is not always true for me. I’ve been happy before and I will be once again.

Even if I feel put upon by the world, I carry my truth with hard earned experience and can find my way through bit by bit.

Riding the waves of rapid change using energy practices

It takes time for the nervous system to settle into new realities that are yet to be born. It is common to become confused about what’s necessary, safe, and wise. Add to that, mourning or celebrating what’s dying, and what’s being born. Many believe humanity is in such a state now. It is like the transition stage prior to physical birth. This is when the mother may become panicked, lashing out from fear, or freezing into shock. No wonder. She’s about to lose the physical home that she’s built for nine months with the life inside her. And a new unknown and mysterious relationship is about to be forged. This endeavor takes supreme dedication, and focus, and effort. There is no getting around that it’s messy.

After you see the state of the world, take time to tend to your needs. Be kind to yourself, the people you love, and offer grace to the people around you, and living beings of all forms and shapes. We’re being stretched, stretched, stretched. Just keep breathing with it. There are blessings in every single moment. Our heartbeat sounds. Our cells grow and die. Let the universal rhythm of life guide you. Step toward what has been with you your whole life. The thing that unifies yourself with others.

We are connected like roots growing underground, stretching out and touching one another. We do it with our breath. We do it with our hearts and thoughts. Try to keep a steady through line as you rise and fall with the huge quick waves of change. Of energy, of light, of emotion, of beliefs. It’s like learning to surf, using the energy of the wave to carry you. It is better than fighting the tide, being tossed around with turbulent waters. Let the energies crash down and reconstitute themselves as they lift you up for the next go around.

Together we ride the waves of rapid change. Use energy practices to stay at the center of it all, for clearer vision, steady aim, and meaningful purpose.
 

Want to learn more?

Learn energy psychology tapping from ACEP programs. You can practice self-care, add tools to your professional practice, and join a community of providers. Want to meet others who are doing this work? ACEP brings together practitioners, educators, change makers, and leaders. You can find people from around the world with similar interests through various gatherings with communities of practice, regional groups, and ACEP committees. Join ACEP and find out what the buzz is about. We are stronger together, as we weather the changes.

Author

Lori Chortkoff Hops, PhD, DCEP is a licensed psychologist in Westlake Village, California, USA. She is certified in Comprehensive Energy Psychology and Logosynthesis. Lori is a past ACEP president and Reiki master. Learn more about Lori at www.drlorihops.com. Lori teaches online intuition classes and consultation. Check out her podcast Healing Tips from the Heart: Helpers, Healers and Guides.

Image by Jun from Pixabay