Feeling Stuck? How to Get Unstuck and Move Forward!

Have you ever found yourself feeling stuck in life? It could be a phase where nothing you put effort into seems to move forward, or perhaps you’re battling an old pattern or repetitive cycle. 

When we find ourselves feeling stuck and unable to move forward, our tendency is to turn to our minds to try and fix things. As a result, we leave the present moment. We spend time caught up in future outcomes and what might happen, or we go down the rabbit hole of ruminating on the past and how we got here. 

Although it may seem counterintuitive, one of our greatest tools for getting unstuck is getting really PRESENT in the now. As I’ve often said, (along with many others) the present is where all your power is! Each moment is where you have the magic wand to direct your life.

There’s no shame in getting caught up in repetitive cycles or going through stagnant phases, but in order to move through these times more swiftly, we have to embrace the cyclical nature of time and learn how to harness the present moment, rather than getting caught up “somewhen” else. 

Discover How to Break Free From Repetitive Cycles

Your beautiful, magical life is waiting for you – but how can you experience it if you’re busy living in the past and the future? 

Of course, we’re all physically here right now, but most of us don’t truly live in the present moment. Our minds have the incredible ability to draw us back into the past and propel us into the future, all while we go about our day-to-day lives. While it can sometimes be good to relive old memories and dream about our future, this habit is one of the sneaky things that keeps us feeling stuck in life. 

The first step to break free from repetitive cycles and get unstuck is to recognize if you’re lost in the habit of “time wandering.” If you’re not sure whether your living in the present moment, try asking yourself these questions: 

• Does your mind often wander to past relationships, or old frustrations & failures?
• How often do you run scenarios in your mind about conversations you’ve had with someone or are about to have with them, taking your attention off, say, driving your car?
• Have you ever found yourself sitting in a meeting and suddenly realizing you’re not following the conversation at all because your mind was somewhere else?
• Do you sometimes find yourself anticipating the worst possible outcomes and wondering if history will repeat itself? (i.e. He/She will leave me, just like the others.)
• Do you often find yourself back in frustrating situations that are eerily similar to your past and that make you feel powerless?
• When you’re frustrated with something in your life, do you tend to focus on your past or future rather than deal with your current emotions and experience?
• Do you over-focus on getting to a goal and then get frustrated because you aren’t where you want to be?
• If you answered yes to several of these questions, it’s a sign that you have a habit of being somewhen else. And, when you’re somewhen other than the present, you lose your power in the now.

It’s natural to slip in and out of true presence of course – especially when old triggers pop up and pull us into our heads. The point isn’t to bypass the emotions we feel when these triggers arise. Instead, we can choose to not get stuck in our stories and instead, be mindful and present with these emotions without getting pulled out of the present moment. 

Freedom from repetitive cycles begins with a practice of being present with what is. When we practice mindfulness and recognize that we’re “somewhen else,” we claim our power to choose where we want to be. With practice and self-compassion, we increase our power to remain in the present and shift more quickly when we notice we’re caught up in an old pattern. 

How to Navigate Emotional Landscapes

So, what do you do when you realize the emotional landscape you are now inhabiting is familiar? For example, perhaps you’ve ended up with an “unavailable” partner who is eerily just like your last partner. Or, maybe you keep finding yourself in a dysfunctional work environment. Or, perhaps you’ve noticed that you keep ending up around negative people. 

Remember, your inner emotional landscapes are what create your outer experience. When you experience the same patterns or themes again and again, it’s a sign that there’s still something there for you to integrate or learn. You may feel you’ve done all the work, but there may still be wisdom that you previously overlooked. 

If this keeps happening to you, it’s a good time to do some reflecting and refocus on your practice of returning to the present moment. 

Embracing The Cyclical Nature of Time to Get Unstuck

Part of the journey of creating a meaningful life is making peace with time. This allows us to break the pattern of revisiting the same difficult experiences in our lives or worrying about future outcomes. 

Most people think of time as linear, but it’s actually a spiral or fractal. Imagine a three-dimensional coil that spirals from the past to the future, looping around and around. Time is actually surreal. Even if you look at a historical timeline, you’d see that conditions repeat themselves and what is old becomes new again.

In his book Fractal Time, my friend and colleague Gregg Braden talks at length about the way in which conditions repeat in all of our lives, both collectively and individually, like the fractal pattern found in all of nature’s creations. The phrase “history repeats itself” is rooted in truth! 

In our personal lives, when we get the awareness that we are repeating old cycles and patterns, it’s actually a sacred invitation to choose something new. A chance to liberate ourselves and bring healing to those sticking points. 

When we embrace this cyclical nature of time, we can escape the pain of our past, and it can support us to release pressure and fear about the future by teaching us about surrender and patience. 

Just as the winter snow can’t be forced to melt and the new buds of spring bloom can’t be forced to bloom, you can’t force things to happen in your life on your own timetable. When you’re mindful and relax into the seasons of your life, you can truly enjoy whatever is happening in your present. You can embrace being single, parenting your children, or being at the height of your career. You can take things as they come, knowing that life is always moving. 

When you escape the trap of ruminating on the past and worrying about the future, something magical happens. Time seems to expand because rather than spending hours analyzing, worrying, procrastinating, you are able to freely live in the moment and soak in whatever is right now. 

Rewriting Your Past and Moving Forward

A lot of people feel like they are stuck in life because their past holds them back. Their past experiences, pain, and trauma haunt them and keep them captive to their same patterns. 

When you give yourself the space to heal, you can actually rewrite your own past. Although it may seem like your past is fixed, the truth is that you have the power to choose your perceptions about whatever you’ve experienced. 

Our memories are actually quite selective. Even in the moment when an event occurs, our minds can distort our perceptions dramatically to make it match up with the thoughts, feelings, and beliefs we have about ourselves, others, and the world around us. With the passing of time, those memories become more unreliable. We can get lost in the details of our memories, but with intentional reframing and healing, we can rewrite the way those events and experiences live in our consciousness. 

Unlock Your Power and Create Your Meaningful Life

By making a practice of returning again and again to the present moment, you reclaim your power to choose something new in each moment. When you unlock this superpower, you can rewrite your story, claim the future of your dreams, and live more fully in each and every moment. 

You are a powerful co-creator of your reality, and your beautiful, fulfilling, and meaningful life is waiting for you. If you’re feeling stuck, don’t let yourself get down. Have compassion for yourself and know that you have the ability to get unstuck and move forward toward your dreams. 

Are you looking for spiritual guidance and community on your path? The waitlist for The Oracle School Experience is now open. 

Whether you’re a spiritual newbie or a seasoned seeker, we all carry stories, pain and baggage that don’t serve our highest good. No matter what you’ve experienced until now, the conscious Universe is waiting to support you. In Oracle School, you’ll get a fusion of compassionate, expert intuitive guidance and mystical tools to help you access your intuition, create unwavering confidence and clarity and live with soul-deep joy, purpose and love. Learn more and join the waitlist here. 

I’d love to hear from you! What helps when you get unstuck and live in the present when you find yourself repeating old cycles or patterns?