Barbara Marx said:

“Crisis is an evolutionary driver. Before something new happens the system totally breaks down, and that breakdown is a signal that is allowing something new to breakthrough. If you have evolutionary eyes, you notice that things are breaking through all at once. If we say yes to breaking through, we will find ourselves in the next state of our evolution.”

If you've ever felt like something or everything, is breaking down in your life, that's a clear indicator that something new is trying to emerge. And although this is a synonym of growth, the chaos and crisis it generates put us in survival mode, and that can be very unsettling, even painful. 

So how can we confront chaos and crisis so it doesn't feel like we're merely trying to survive?

By looking at it from a different lens.

I had a beautiful conversation with some very resilient and inspiring people who shared their insights on exactly how to look at chaos and crisis from a different perspective.

Grab a pen and notebook and write down some of these bits of wisdom.

Lynn Min. Physiotherapist & Soul Coach

Lynn went through tremendous trauma, and she learned that pain was giving birth to a new person in herself.

From Lynn: 3 things to have a greater goal for your moments than just a pain-free life: 

1. The Universal energy is more towards purpose, connection, and love, maybe even at the cost of our pain.
2. Lean into the crisis moment. Pain is a great teacher, don't let it pass you by without learning what you need to learn.
3. Be more aware of the macrocycles of what we're in. Life and death, give and receive, gains and losses, hellos and goodbyes. Know that we're living a huge love story of evolution and unfolding towards the better. It's messy and painful, but you're not alone.

Seneca Perri Moore. Love & Empowerment Coach

How to prevent ourselves from collapsing in the midst of chaos?

It's important to highlight that many of the reactions we have towards chaos happen on a subconscious level. This is what we can do to find a shift:

• Engage your conscious mind and consciously choose an empowering perspective.
• Touch into the concept of anti-fragility. Something that's fragile easily breaks under stress, anti-fragility is not only not breaking from stress, it's growing and creating something new that could have never happened without that stress. It goes beyond resilience, you can become much greater as a result of chaos or crisis.
• Ask yourself: Am I in a fixed mindset, or a growth mindset? 

Fixed mindset: I have a big problem and I don't know the solution. Suffering happens.

Growth mindset: I have a really big problem and I don't know the solution yet. Curiosity and resourcefulness come up, a shift in mindset happens.

Lincoln Parker. Self-Empowerment Coach and Author 

What is the most mindful way to approach a crisis?

• Acknowledge how you feel about the situation. Don't try to suppress it or hide from it. When we hide from something it controls us. When we decide to acknowledge how we feel about it we shift control over the situation back to ourselves.
• Tell yourself: Nothing and no one has the power to control my life without my permission.
• Don't feel overwhelmed by or inferior to a challenge. That challenge represents an opportunity for you to access the next level of your potential.

Going back to Barbara Marx's quote, when it all breaks down, is because something new is trying to emerge. I know that if you're reading this is because you have evolutionary eyes; you want to go beyond chaos. You want to shift your perception. If you see challenge or chaos as a way of going into the next level of your own evolution you will start seeing that there is an order trying to emerge.

Use the advice from Lynn, Seneca, and Lincoln, tap into your resilient self and shift your mindset to see crisis and chaos with different lenses. You will become an even greater version of yourself.