Looking for the Goodness

By: Kelly Caul

I have been in conversation with so many people who have shared their version of life feeling “too much” right now. 

Too stressful, too hard, too overwhelming, too painful, too demanding, too fast, too confusing, too scary, too enraging, too devastating.

Do you relate to any of these flavors of “too much”?

It’s easy to freeze or shut down in response to the too-muchness of life right now. 

All that is going on - is simply, too much. 

The good news - we aren’t powerless. We can find a way to be with the too much without becoming stuck in it. 

One of the remedies we can turn to is the practice of looking for the goodness in life. 

And it is possible to find the goodness - the joy, gratitude, excitement, pleasure, the moments of awe, all the longings and dreams we hold close - even as we move through such challenging times. 

When we can find a way to turn towards and receive the goodness - 

and the goodness can be anyone, anything, any place, any memory that helps us to feel even just a degree more safe, settled, secure, nourished, supported, or connected-

the freeze can start to thaw. We can get unstuck.

We can look for and invite in this experience of the goodness - no matter how big or small the moment of it might be. 

Looking for the goodness isn’t about distracting away from or avoiding what is happening right now. 

In fact, looking for and taking in the goodness is what is going to resource us and help us build our capacity to get to the other side of the too muchness. The goodness helps us remember what type of life we want to build. 

With love and solidarity, 

Kelly (she/her)