Spiraling: In A Good Way

Image by E. Cush

This essay was originally published in May my newsletter.

Natural Spiraling

As I walked on the beach this week, I noticed a spiral pattern emerging. I saw spirals that horseshoe crabs had made in the sand, and the shells I picked up were spiral shaped—broken pieces of knobbed and channeled whelks. 

As the word “spiral” filtered through my brain and body and it got me thinking about the human experience of spiraling.

Some of the most distressing experiences that my clients share is when they feel their brain has taken control and they’ve spiraled into a thought pattern they feel they can’t get out of. Usually, they ‘re worrying about something. Or they’re telling themselves something about their worth as a human being (not in a good way).

So, spiraling is considered a bad thing, and they want to rid themselves of the “flawed “way of thinking.

And as I was seeing these beautiful spirals in nature, I wondered if we could look at spiraling in a new way.

What if instead of getting caught up in distress of the experience, we start to notice each time we come back to that worry or devalued sense of worth. Like the spiral in my picture above of the horseshoe crab.

What if each time your thoughts take another loop, you gave yourself a moment come back to you?

As each cycle comes back to you, you pause and honor this deeply help fear or pain that’s surfacing. As if this were a wounded child that’s needs your attention.

In that moment, could you offer yourself a little compassion and kindness?

Maybe then spiraling would feel less like a burden, and more like an opportunity to re-connect with yourself.