Cultivating Joy in Hard Times
Part of a solid Yogic or Buddhist practice entails cultivating uplifting emotions when life feels challenging, or things seem to be falling apart around us. This is what modern psychologists call ‘Cognitive Reframing’ – finding a positive perspective that helps us to take heart from even the most awful of situations. It builds resilience and allows us to persevere through desperate times.
It’s highly likely that we wouldn’t even be here if our ancestors had not been able to go through life in this way. Despite wars and famines still featuring prominently in contemporary human experience, for anyone reading this it’s clear that our lives are more comfortable than those of previous generations as most of our needs and desires are met with relatively little effort. As a result, we may have forgotten how to be resilient.
There is a great difference between worry and concern. A worried person sees a problem, and a concerned person solves a problem.
~ Harold Stephen
Recently I reviewed a delightful documentary called Mission: Joy (sign up here to watch it online until June 9th!). I posted about this a few months ago, so some of you may have already seen it – do watch it again while it has been made available once more. It’s really uplifting and… joyful!
In the film there is an interesting discussion around emotions, showing the contrast between living with the ups and downs of emotions and the realisation of the negative effects those emotions have on our peace of mind and overall health.
In Astrology, the planet Saturn is considered the Lord of Karma – the results of our actions, past and current, individual and collective. Saturn teaches the lessons of resilience and forbearance, and of the good use of this precious life (he is also the Lord of Time, tick, tick, tick…). Either way, Saturn is about taking responsibility for the way your life looks and feels to you.
Keep in mind that making progress doesn’t mean having to be busy all the time. Rest is also a necessary component of healthy progress, to be sure you’re still be standing when you reach your goal! Saturn is the energy that imposes limits – physical and structural – to our bodies and daily routines.
One of the best ways to work with Saturn is to understand what you truly value and want in life, including your sense of overall purpose (your Dharma). This helps you exclude all the things that distract you from what ultimately makes you happy. Knowing this, you can more easily say “no” to the relationships, activities, purchases, or jobs that are not supporting your Dharma or are otherwise complicating an already busy life.
Saturn retrogrades are a good period to restructure what supports your foundations in life, including personal habits and schedules
Saturn turned retrograde on June 4th, and will continue to appear to move away from the Earth until October 23rd. As an outer planet, Saturn moves slowly and his retrogrades last about five months. This is a chance to reflect on the lessons and challenges we have grappled with since December 2020 wherever you find Aquarius in your natal chart (click here to find out where that is for you).
This Saturn retrograde for some will look like needing better boundaries and structures in that area of life. For others, it will look like breaking free of the real or imagined restrictions holding you back from your own growth or success.
The first half of June is a time of assessing where you are and attending to whatever needs your input, rather than launching new things or expecting new developments. Last week’s confused energy was brought to you by Mercury (representing our communications of all kinds) stationing direct after 3 weeks of retrograde, as well as Saturn, which stationed retrograde just a day later. Mix-ups, unexpected results, and stifled progress might have been felt in the areas of life led by Taurus and Aquarius, especially if related to business, finances, communications, or group activities.
For me, the past few days have felt like taking one step forward and two steps back around each task – a stop-start quality that frustrated many plans. Posting to social media felt even more pointless than usual, and I was operating at peak inefficiency – this short blog has taken days to write! As clarity of purpose expands in the days ahead, we should be able to accomplish more now than we may have been struggling with recently.
Saturn rewards simplicity, humility, and discipline!
Retrograde Saturn offers the chance to reflect, review, renew, and take responsibility for what is going on in your world. We can’t be moving full speed ahead all the time or we just collapse. It’s a good time to commit to a difficult but important new way of doing things – working with addictions, overcoming procrastination, de cluttering your home and work space, organising your finances.*
Why then are we offended? Why do we complain? This is what we are here for.
~ Seneca, from “On Providence, Moderation, and Constancy of Mind”
As I have advised before, learn to sit with the ever-changing dynamic of life and trust that you will know what to do when the time is right. Worrying about and trying to plot the steps to take will just mess up the journey. Life is simply an overlapping series of tasks, experiences, and realisations. If we can trust in the process of life itself, we will know exactly when to keep up the effort and when to pull back and wait.
Mars moved into Aries last week where it met Jupiter at the time of the new moon. This is where he was from June 2020 to January 2021 (remember that intensity?!). When the time feels right, channel this strong energy of action and drive wherever Aries is in your chart.
With much love and light,
Susan
*It’s also worth reviewing what was happening the last time Saturn was retrograde starting in spring 2021. You will find an explanation of that energy in this blog from my old website, linked here. What lessons have we learned since then?