When flying between the Big Island and Oahu when we were visiting Hawaii a few weeks ago, I got this incredible picture of Kaho‘olawe – an uninhabited and protected island. Hawaii is made up of 137 islands and we only hear about 8 of them.
This beautiful island got me thinking…why do we sometimes feel like we are on an island all by ourselves? There is a poem by John Donne that talks about how no man is an “island”. BUT there are times that we might feel that no one is on our side and that we are on that island by ourselves!
So how do we get past that feeling when we have it? The first step is to understand why you feel this way. By understanding why, you can work through those feelings and move forward. Another way is to practice mindfulness and that will allow us to tune into our feelings and emotions. By practicing mindfulness, we can then process the experience and understand that we are not alone on our island.
We ultimately want to get to a place of inner peace, so we may need to accept that we are uncomfortable and let go of our negative emotions. None of these tactics may work right away, so we may need to distract ourselves by doing something else and give ourselves time to work through our feelings and emotions.
Remember you are not alone on an island; it may just feel that way sometimes. Give yourself grace to work through your emotions so you can move forward!
