As we enter into a new decade, strong memories can come back to us more intensely than ever.

If you are reading this, then I am sure you are into spirituality, well-being, and self-development. As we are evolving, growing, and expanding our awareness, with this new awareness, comes clarity of how many life changes we’ve been through.

It’s kind of crazy if you think about it. Where you were this time last year could feel like a completely different schedule, life, or version of you. Our personalities evolve, we get stronger from some painful situations, we leave careers, and we separate from friends or lovers. Chances are, you have become an entirely new version of yourself, even if you live in the same city, work the same career, and live in the same house. Our inner essence, our energy, and our perspective of the world constantly mesh and expand with the obstacles we live through.

There are different types of rock bottoms, and some rock bottoms will feel less intense or theatrical than others. It’s all how we are perceiving the situation. There are emotional, physical, spiritual, and life situation rock bottoms. In my experience, every bottom I have hit can easily fit into one of those categories.

For some, turning to drugs and alcohol can be a vessel to get away from the pain of a challenging life transition or change. Some will turn to toxic relationships, sex, gambling, or food as a means to end their emotional trauma connected to their rock bottom. It can be daunting to think about how to get through it. So instead of doing the work and finding a way through the darkness, leaning on substances or addictions or behaviors only temporarily soothe the issue, but with that, the source becomes louder and louder.

We have all done it, me included. We will find habits and toxic cycles that will help us get through an intense or uncomfortable chapter of our life because those habits feel soothing in some way. So how can we transform those habits and use them to our advantage?

Using Alchemy and Ritual to Help Us Heal during a Rock Bottom

By creating our own magic within our everyday lives, we can connect to our own inner power. If you haven’t read the book, The power is Within You, by Lousie Hay, I highly recommend it. She explains how even in the darkest of times, there is a way to find the power, strength, and resilience to create hope.

Ritual and ceremony have been a practice and a part of life for a long time. Ceremonies form unity and connection and bring energy toward ideas and evolving. So what if you could create every day of your life like a magical ceremony? What if from the moment you woke up to the moment you went to sleep, you felt as if you were practicing your own type of alchemy and bringing a magical essence to everything you did?

Ritual, routines, and magical ceremonies bring meaning to even the most mundane of life phases. Depression is a normal emotion or cycle to experience at different times of our lives. I have suffered from depression for most of my adolescent life, and it followed me to adulthood. Medicinal rituals and creating ceremony specialness with everything we do can literally transform a rock bottom into a completely safe, healing space.

Creating Alchemy and Rituals to Heal Current Stress

Before I get into the ways we can create our own daily magic, I want to say this: no matter what type of rock bottom we are in—life transition, change, or painful experience—we can find peace and comfort within ourselves. We can find ways to create an ambiance and comforting energy with everything we do. Whether we are sleeping on a couch, a floor, living out of a storage unit, or living on the streets. The Buddhists say that the body is our home and temple. The simple tasks and emotions we live through can always find a way to become more meaningful. So when we hit a rock bottom, or just a low phase during our life, the magic sauce is ritual. It makes everything sparkle with a little more purpose and intention. By going out of our way to create alchemy in the way we move, eat, set up our space, do our self-care rituals, we can become ceremonial medicine.

Creating the Ambiance for Your Own Magic. Keep it simple:

>> Light a candle.
>> Fix a space to sit and meditate.
>> Organize your crystals and books.
>> Light an incense.
>> Change the atmosphere of your room.
>> Wash your face in a divine, self-loving way.
>> Make a hot cup of tea or a healing elixir.
>> Use essential oils and create a beautiful scent that fills your space.

Even the way we make our morning coffee can feel special, safe, and important when done with intention. The options are endless to creating a more enjoyable experience. The music we play and the energy we put into the task can be the ultimate game-changer. The way that we hold and create space impacts the energy around us. No one else is responsible to create an ambiance specially crafted for our comfort. This is the essence we bring to our lives every day. We are home no matter where our physical body is, and we can really tap into that safeness even if we are in a stressful or painful transition. Rock bottoms can be an opportunity to reach into our own alchemy toolbox and begin making each experience in our day a purposeful, intentional, healing way of living.