THRIVING IN THE UNKNOWN
Year of the Yin Metal Ox
A resource guide
2020 was a harrowing year, and there is more to come as we continue to ride waves of uncertainty in a time of massive global shifts. How do we access our resilience during this time? Is it possible to thrive in these conditions?
I joined multi-disciplinary artist and I-Jing diviner and astrologer Misstangq to talk about the imprint of this years Yin Metal Ox - a year that is offering a platform to remember how to thrive in the unknown in order to access indelible power. Explore our conversation in the video below and accompanying reflections to help find your bearings in this groundbreaking and developmental year.
The material is dense, don’t do it all at once, do what calls out to you and return to this guide when you are inspired. Ultimately, thriving in the unknown will require us to move towards new paradigms of thinking, feeling and action, especially those that are more process versus product oriented.
The exercises below encourage utilizing internal tools that can facilitate the paradigm shift we are moving towards - tools such as intimacy, slowing down, being with our bodies, collaborating with our earth, appreciation, curiosity. It may seem strange and difficult to do the exercises at first. Don’t be discouraged, keep re-visiting them and you will see shifts. After exploring the exercises on your own, do them with loved ones, your colleagues, your family so we can re-build a culture of thriving in the unknown, together. Many blessings on your journey.
“The Yin Metal Ox year will be full of events that will leave you feeling more unsatisfied not less. We are being asked to learn to be suspicious of our desire for getting what we want…to learn to respect the mysterious, the inner blossoming, the awakening of potential that is unknowable.”
— Meng Yu
Coming Home: A Guided Visualisation
What is the biggest dream you have for your outer life? Conjure it up, feel it, see it. Now imagine it was a forest. What would that forest look like? What are the different plants and animals in this forest? What colours, textures, rocks, stones or waters grace this landscape? Write it or draw it out so you can create a strong visual for yourself. Focus on this forest, your love and excitement for it.
Now look into your inner landscape. Do you have the same abundant, love and vision for your internal world? Perhaps you have more or less? Imagine a cord between the two worlds - an umbilical cord that can offer nutrients in either direction. Let the nutrients flow in a direction so that the abundance, excitement and vision is balanced between the two worlds. Now imagine a protective encasing forming to hold both worlds. Half of the casing is nestled into the soft fertile ground below, deep roots growing out of it, connecting it to the roots of yet another larger ecosystem that protects the casing. Above ground, the casing is also encompassed by an intricate, fine, gold sheath a few inches from its surface layer.
This will be your home for the year. Feel it in your body. Carry it with you. You will grow and deepen in profound unknown, mysterious ways under the shelter of these protective layers. How will the weight and layers of this home change the way you move? How will you tend and let yourself be tended to maintain its homeostasis even as the outside world continues to shift? What energies or support do you need to call close to you, or cultivate? What do you need to release? What will allow you to remember you are guided and held through this process?
Pillars for Thriving in the Unknown
Celebrate what you’ve already done.
We have already been steeped in the unknown for a year. You have already been navigating the unknown. It may have felt hard, or messy, but you’re doing it - which means you know how to do this. Take time to reflect on and celebrate what you’ve already faced, and continue to face in these uncertain times. Take special note of the times you found yourself more centred than you might have expected. Check out this recent blog post for more on the importance of celebration
Growing our relationship with the mystery/unknown.
What are examples of mysterious things or phenomenon that are interesting to you? Take time to study and spend time with these interests.
What are examples of mysterious things/unknown aspects of life that are more difficult for you to grapple with? Explore applying what you receive from studying your mysterious interests to what feels more trepidatious about the unknown.
Spend time in the dark, as feels safe to you. What do you learn about how to move, what to bring with you, what aspects of yourself allow you to.
INTENTION / PRAYER
I wake up to the mystery of this day. I have a plan so that I can have structure to root in to, and yet, I remain obedient and open to what presents itself. I expect there will be detours each day, I create space in my life and schedule for them so that they feed my pathways of openness and curiosity rather than the pathways that tell me life is working against me. I also create this space so I can make room for the frustration that sometimes comes when it seems things aren’t going “according to the plan.” I recognize that by creating this space I am also creating room for profound, supportive change coming my way, unknown aspects of myself that will reveal new possibility.
Re-examining our desires & enoughness.
Make a list of your desires, big and small, daily, weekly, monthly, for the year.
Make a list of where in your life you still feel like you don’t have enough? That you aren’t enough?
Re-visit the list of your desires. How many of those desires are birthed from aspects of your life where you don’t have/feel enough?
Make a list of where you feel enough and know you have enough. Which of your desires are birthed from aspects of your life where you do have/feel enough?
INTENTION / PRAYER
I make time to examine my desires and my sense of enoughness. I receive guidance from the earth, my guides, ancestors and humxn support system on how to see what I have with an abundant heart and eyes.
Internal sourcing vs. external sourcing.
Pay attention to where and how you get informed. How much are you relying on external/obvious/humxn sources VERSUS internal/quiet sources (meditation, energetic observation, paying attention to the seasons and earth, listening to guides and divine helpers, silence)
INTENTION / PRAYER
May I receive guidance on balancing how I receive and integrate information so I am a channel of Truth.
Growing our relationship with the earth.
I’m going to share the most powerful life-altering act gifted to me by each of my mentors. It’s something I include in all of my work and programs - online and in-person. Here it is: find a sit spot - a designated spot outdoors that you can easily continue to visit consistently over the year (once a week is suggested). Pick a spot you feel excited to build a relationship with like you would a new friend. Observe it and it’s changes over the seasons. Ask it questions. Steward it, offering prayers, love and care. It’s as simple as that. You’re welcome.
Become an energy of Grounding.
Sit cross legged on the ground, or sit in a way this is accessible to your body. Let your tailbone drop down, as if it were growing downward into the ground. If you can, direct your legs into the ground stabilizing your lower half into the ground below you. From this stable base, try to lengthen the spine upwards and slowly begin to raise the arms upwards into the shape of a wide bowl. Hold this position and breathe for as long as feels possible. Notice what comes up.
What would your life be like if you made caring for your body and the bodies of those around you the primary focus of your attention - how would your days look then?
Practice belly breathing at least once a week. Try it laying down with your back on the floor. With each exhale, imagine sinking deeper into the ground below you. Let the inhale and exhale be soft and gentle, like you are receiving it in the bowl of your belly
Become a student of roots this year. Touch them, draw them, plant them, grow them, read about them.
Garden - whenever, wherever. Do it slowly - focusing on the process of gardening rather than the product.
A slow, steady, stabilizing model of change.
Review your plans for the year. What would it look like to draw them out so you can take time with them, create space for the mystery and new possibility to enter so that when it inevitably does it’s not so shocking. What could be released from your calendar this year knowing there are so many restrictions and unknowns we are facing?
A writing prompt.
Imagine the earth and non-humxn animals are leading an “Occupy” movement as the 99%. Write a manifesto from their perspective. Imagine as the 1% you are moved by the manifesto - what changes or thoughts of change does it inspire in you?