Hurricane Sandy: An opportunity to reorganize.

All rights reserved © 2012, 2019 Louis Antonio Abate, D.C.

In the wake of the monster storm, Sandy, the Americas have been paralyzed all along the eastern seaboard, as far west as Chicago and north into Canada.People are stranded without electricity, water, gasoline. To make matters more interesting, the energy of the city is erratic, scattered, and volatile.

What I have noticed in the past week is that people are on a very short fuse. The slightest annoyance, irritation, or inconvenience has led to cases of road rage, arguments in the street, and, in the case of the tourist who accidentally bumped into a resident, fisticuffs.

The level of destruction that we are experiencing has not been felt before in this area. As New Yorkers we certainly have had our share of dealing with traumas—in most recent memory, many still point to how we were wounded on 9/11. Yet, this trauma is different. In the past we could point our fingers outward; wagging them in dismay, disbelief and disgust at an external enemy. We blamed religious groups, countries, and ethnicities for the amount of pain and uncertainty we were experiencing.

The blame allowed us to feel angry; to fuel ourselves with righteous indignation. The anger and outrage we felt (and that some still feel) is a slightly higher vibrational frequency than the feeling of powerlessness, depression and disconnection that the 9/11 attacks had us feeling. Just as an animal lashes out when it feels backed into a corner we lashed out as well. The anger and rage felt better than the feeling of powerlessness and uncertainty. It allowed us, on some level, to feel safer in a world that changed dramatically within seconds.

Now, we are facing another devastating event in the Northeast. And, just as we were feeling immediately after 9/11, we are feeling powerless. And, if feeling powerless wasn’t enough, we are reminded of our powerlessness by looking at all our communities that still are power-less.

The difference this time is that while we can blame the hurricane for the devastation we are facing, we can’t summon the army to kill a hurricane. It is ridiculous to think we can have the president issue an executive order to the Navy Seals engaging them in a Black Ops mission to root out all hurricane sympathizers and all potential hurricane cels hiding around the globe. We would be laughed at if we were to “fight the war on hurricanes,” telling our allies that either they are with us or against us when it comes to eradicating all weather events.

As human beings our brain is hardwired to move away from pain and uncertainty. The nervous system is programmed to move towards pleasure and certitude. In the case of a trauma, like Hurricane Sandy, moving towards certainty means feeling anger, feeling outrage, and connecting with the devastation. It means knowing without a doubt that our emotions are giving us valuable feedback. Yet, what can we do when we feel angry but have no external target with which to aim that anger?  If we turn the anger and outrage internally we will fall into the pit of hopelessness and powerlessness.

This is why our fellow community members are erratic, acting wildly, and picking fights. It is the same reason why at every turn you hear newscasters, cabbies, and even your neighbors desiring to “just get back to normal.” “Getting back to normal” allows us to feel safe and secure, gaining a sense of control in a wildly uncontrollable situation. This certainly is more pleasurable than the pain we were experiencing. Yet, the problem with just getting back to the status quo is that we are inherently moving backwards. “Getting back to normal” means wanting to be able to turn the clock back to the weeks before the hurricane; to go about our lives unconscious of all the times we felt powerless, disconnected and helpless. In the wake of this hurricane we must reorganize and move forward, not backward.

The key to moving forward is to be fully aware of what we are feeling and not to alter, abate, or squash those feelings. We need to dig deeply within ourselves and recognize where we are feeling helpless, powerless and isolated. By doing so we can begin to develop a sense of safety, dependability and faith in our own emotions and in the power of fully associating with them.  When we do this the anger and outrage we feel (which may still be at an external event, person, or circumstance) will be enhanced as we do a “life-review” of all the times in the past we felt the same way. We will not want to ‘go back to normal’ because we will now be aware that the only direction available to us is forward.

We are living in history making time.  Even nature is showing us the imminent need to reorganize our lives. We must look at our current way of experiencing life and transform it.  These storms have happened before (Katrina) and will happen again. However, the way you deal with it will depend on whether you let it beat you down or if you fuel yourself on your own innate power. Going backwards, getting back to normal, patching symptoms and restoring the current system is no longer an option.There is no going back if we as a species are to survive. The EpiHealing™ care I provide utilizing with NetworkSpinal™ and Somato Respiratory Integration™ will show you an easy way to connect with the emotions; to instantly do a life-review, and effortlessly transform any painful or traumatic situation into a means of moving your life forward. As one of my clients said “while the whole world was freaking out about the hurricane, I felt calm and centered in the midst of all the chaos.  And, I attribute this solely to the reorganizational healing care I am receiving with NSA and SRI.”