Mercury Retrograde and the Illusion Your Life is Moving Backwards

Do you ever feel like you are working as hard as you possibly can, yet you can't seem to get to a place where you can see any measure of progress? Or maybe you even feel like you have so many balls in the air that not only are you not making progress, but you are actually moving in reverse? Your life may feel a bit overwhelming for many reasons right now << Test First Name >>, but I can assure of two things without a doubt: 

1) If you are feeling out of sorts or overwhelmed, you are not alone.
2) The idea that you are moving backwards instead of forwards is only an illusion.

Allow me to elaborate << Test First Name >>. We are in the midst of our third Mercury Retrograde of 2023. If you are not familiar with the term Mercury Retrograde, it is used to describe the optical illusion that the planet Mercury is moving in reverse direction across the night sky as a result of the fact that the Earth and Mercury travel around the sun at different speeds.

Think of it in terms as if you were driving on the expressway at 75 MPH in the far left lane and you started to overtake a car traveling at 60 MPH in the middle lane. At some point while you are passing the car in the middle lane it appears for a few seconds that the car you are passing looks like it is moving backwards. In reality we know that the car in the middle lane is still moving forward, but at a different rate of speed than you are, thus creating a short term illusion of backwards movement. The same thing happens in the cosmos on a much larger scale and it can go on for weeks, not just a few seconds. 

Our current Mercury Retrograde began on August 23rd and will draw to a close on September 14th. In the meantime, don't be surprised if it continues to feel like a lot of things in life are stalled in place or even regressing in some way. An increasing number of people are giving credence to the idea that Mercury Retrograde can have a direct effect on their daily lives. There are numerous ways that retrograde can present within the circumstances of our lives. The things that I tend to notice the most during a Mercury retrograde in particular are: 

~ Challenges with human communications
~ Inability to focus on the tasks at hand
~ Less clarity as it relates to thoughts and decision making
~ Increased Irritability and unprocessed anger
~ Struggles with technology 

Perhaps you have noticed some of those tendencies in your own world over the last few weeks, << Test First Name >>? A large number of people in the circles of life that I tend to move within actually strategize how to best survive retrograde periods. While many of the side effects of Mercury Retrograde can seem like inconveniences, there is also great opportunity to gain wisdom and intelligence from these periods of change from the normal patterns. My personal top three tips for not just surviving, but thriving during retrograde are as follows: 

1) Reduce Multitasking - We are a society that often measures success by the number of things we can accomplish in the 3D world. During retrograde, not only is it more difficult to multitask, but it can also be detrimental. I can't help but notice that when I try to force my energy to stay in high performance mode during these periods of retrograde that I actually wind up losing ground - thus that feeling of moving backwards. Take to time to focus on doing one thing at a time and doing it well. 

2) Go Within - Taking time for self-reflection is always of great value. During retrograde it is actually a requirement and not just a good idea. During retrograde, double down on the amount of time you spend in nature, reading, meditating or even doing nothing! When was the last time you actually did nothing? Block off a few hours on you calendar and literally do nothing but sit or lie down while fully conscious and see what an extraordinary experience it can be. 

3) Take a Sabbatical From Devices - Since we know that technology can be an especially fiendish trickster during retrograde, why not take a full break from all screen time for a day, a weekend or even just a few hours if that seems more manageable. Recently I have been trying to only have my phone on for 12 hours per day. My goal is to turn it off roughly around 9:00 pm each night and not turn it back on until after I have woken and had a period of non-technology stillness to start my day. I'm not perfect at holding the 12 hour window, but the mere act of trying has significantly reduced my mindless scrolling. 

So why did I wait until we were already two weeks into our current retrograde to share this with you? Well I guess I was a bit less focused than normal and couldn't decide what to write about. Must be that darn Mercury Retrograde! Seriously though, I make it a point to not surrender my power to the idea that all things will be haywire for this three weeks of retrograde every four months, but it certainly doesn't hurt to take notice and honor the parts of myself that are well served by slowing down and not pushing for a little while.

In other news, I'll be hosting my next Water of Life Men's Community call on the final day of our current retrograde, September 14th at 7:00 p.m central time. For more information and to get the Zoom link to join you can visit my website at the link right here.

Speaking about men's communities, I was recently honored to be featured by MenLiving as the guest author for their weekly newsletter where I shared my piece on body shaming, acceptance and embracing my satge in life as an elder. You can visit the MenLiving site to read my post at this link. 

Sending you blessings for an amazing weekend,

Jim