“There is no such thing as a ‘normal’ life. There is just ‘life’.”

This quote is in a favorite movie of mine, as well as one of my favorite TV shows of all-time. The movie is “Tombstone” with a dying Doc Holliday reminding his friend Wyatt Earp that life is something you grab by the lapels. The TV show is Babylon 5, where Michael Garibaldi is lamenting to his wife that he merely wants a “normal” life, and this quote is her retort that she throws back in his face. Both are continually reminders about how life should be lived, as I see it.

Turn on the television, flip to a news channel, pick one, and all you will get is a steady stream of bad this or bad that. Because misery and fear sell. Ask any network security specialist and they will give you the basic 411. To sell a product, you don’t need to sell what it precisely does. Rather you need to sell the fear of what MIGHT happen if you do not have their product or services. Once you have the customer fearful, you have them ready to buy into what you are trying to get them to throw their money at.

Why do the networks continue to pander to the bad things that are happening? Mostly because it really what is happening. Granted, there are good things that happen throughout the world. However, the continually harping on the bad stuff locks in viewers. They want the fear. They want to hear about the bad. And in our current environment, they want to get into that anger, that despair, that disillusionment. Let’s face it, negative emotions are extremely powerful and very easy to access.

There are lots of Polytheists that have felt and heard the clarion call of the Gods concerning the rising Storm. I have been there too. Both Coyote and Crow have made a small focus on being there for others, and being steadfast and true in my daily Path. But the focus is not a giant spotlight. My role is not for the front line of all the issues that are there. My role is more of a support function, trying to help others not focus on the negative at all times. And yet, I continually hear that lament for that elusive “normal” life.

Yes, the Storm is here. Watch the news. You’ll see. If you are perceptive to magickal energies, you will likely feel the unease that permeates the environment around us. I can, and I am not particularly perceptive in that fashion. Just because all that negativity is so readily available does not mean that we have to bathe in it in every moment. I would submit that we need to find those positive moments in our daily lives, seize those energies, and try to focus that into our own lives. Truly, not an easy task, to be sure.

So, how to go about helping yourself to reach that positive side? First things first, turn off the damned news. Pick a particular time, say about an hour or so, on one or two days of the week, and watch the news then. Trust me, its all going to be there when you turn on the device. None of it is going to go away. Second, and probably far more important, grounding and centering should be a primary practice in your life. I am not one for providing be-all, end-all mandates in other folks’ spiritual lives, but on this, I come pretty close.

I have heard and practiced many ways of grounding and centering. I have a few techniques that I use, but my favorite is an OBOD Tree Meditation that I ran across on YouTube. For me, it is simple, easy to utilize, easy to visualize (even if you have no trees nearby), and super effective. You can find the video located here.

My job can become a hot mess very, very quickly. Lots of competing demands and changing priorities can knock me off my balance quite easily. When I lose that balance, I know that I need to find some time to center and ground myself. The tree meditation that I have linked above can be easily done at my desk. I don’t need to move my arms in the manner that the video depicts, nor do I need to stand. I merely need to visualize things in my mind until I find that balance I am seeking to achieve. When things are particularly difficult, and I cannot find that balance easily, I can take a quick break and head outside of the building to any location where benches are located. Most of these locations have trees there, and I find it quite relaxing to just sit for a few minutes and focus on the sound of the breeze filtering through the leaves.

Meditations do not need to be difficult things. You are not going to become an ultra-yogi-guru-shaman-type overnight. In fact, you might never reach that level ever in this lifetime. And that’s really “ok”. You just need to be what you need at that moment. Seriously, if you are undertaking your own Spiritual Path so that you could become exactly like some other person, you might be on your Path for the wrong reasons. Just be you. It really can be just that simple.

I have seen the meme that says that “normal” is a setting on the dryer. I cannot agree more. “Normal” is such an ambiguous term. The meaning of what is “normal” is usually different from one person to another. Even a single person can have different aspects of “normal” depending on settings, situations, and other not readily observable variables. So why do we always wish for a “normal” life when the life we have is exactly what it is? I do not need my life to be like anyone else’s. I need my life to be mine. Lived in a fashion that works for me, adheres to my own morals and principles, and is not projected as a default for anyone else. Times are rough enough as it is without me trying to shape my life into some cookie cutter image of perfection that I do not readily believe in, in the first place. There is no such thing as a normal life.