"Everything is going to be ok".. A few days ago in the midst of some pretty intense stress, the culmination of a number of challenging situations arising in the same moment, I was struggling in particular with one of the most important pillars of health: sleep. As I recently commented, my life is every bit as challenging as when I was 100 lb overweight and chronically ill, but the quality of the challenges has significantly improved (which I'm very happy about!).
My normal allies of breathwork and meditation just weren't cutting it as I lay awake letting stressful thought-loops get the better of me. I decided to break my nighttime digital detox and reach for my phone to search for some kind of guided meditation to help me relax, and Googled the words, "everything is going to be ok" and found even more than I was looking for...
The top result was a simple audio track on YouTube from a computer game released last month called 'Prey' (you can listen here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=7TRdx2tbUFI&sns=em ) titled word-for-word, "everything is going to be ok". So I listened out of curiosity, struck by how very specific the match was to my search, and it was incredible. Computer game soundtracks can actually be great for focus, and this was just the right thing to help my overactive mind in that second. As I lay there relaxing, the significance of the game title hit me, 'Prey'... Pray?
I don't follow any organised religion but my life is defined by spirituality and I do believe there is merit in prayer, even on a simple psychological level. And who knows beyond that? I'm not saying there's an old bearded man on a cloud up there (though really who am I to say there's not for sure) but I am saying we live in a universe that has depths of which a human brain is almost certainly limited to never fully understand, and who knows what's going on when we set our intention on something positive and ask for help? At minimum you've got the chance to create a positive, self-fulfilling prophecy on the most basic scientific, reductionist level.
So that's what I did, I lay there a little more relaxed after listening to this beautiful soundtrack, and said a prayer to seek resolution for some difficult circumstances playing out in my life before I travel to Poland, in the hopes of being able to relax when I got there, and take a much needed break before running my upcoming retreats. I'm still almost at a loss as to how things have unfolded in the way they did but I can tell you I've just landed in Kraków airport with my prayers answered (backed up by my own initiative and hard work).
It really reaffirms my belief that setting your mind on something and being humble enough to ask for help (be that through setting intentions, prayer, goal-setting, whatever you feel comfortable calling it) and following that up with a willingness to work and keep faith that 'everything is going to be ok', or that everything is already ok if you can just adjust your attitude towards it, you'll be astounded at what can happen. Just look where I was only 3 years ago as a living example.
Now I'm going switch off for a couple days and relax here in the Polish mountains, enjoy big nature and recoup after some trying times. I'm still kind of staggered that's even possible considering circumstances only a few days ago haha. If you happen to be going through a rough patch right now, maybe try keeping an open mind and consider asking for help from something bigger than yourself. To my militant-atheist buddies rolling their eyes at the thought - be a scientist! Get over your ego and put it to the test, you stand to lose nothing but gain the potential to achieve anything 🙏
