Our bodies and minds can blow huge storms through us that can destabilise and overwhelm. We need to develop tools not to push the storms away with force, but rather to allow them their space and develop strength to find peace even when they are at their most intense.
Mindfulness is a wonderful way of cultivating awareness of all of our Thoughts, feelings and sensations within any given moment. Once we can sit back and see how our mind and body play havoc with us we can begin to detach from any hooks. We can only do this when we give up the fight and choose to allow whatever is happening to simply be.
The Art of Allowing
Next time you feel anger brewing in your deepest self, take a pause and allow yourself to feel it in every cell of your being. Get to know how emotions feel and understand that they are perfectly normal human experiences that need to be felt before they can dissipate.
For me personally, it has taken immense practice and patience to deal with my strong emotions. I spent a long time denying them their space and just "acted them out", judging others, arguing and worst of all getting mad with myself. I have practiced meditation for around 7 years now and I am still learning. I still find myself pushing against emotions but it has become much easier to recognise what is going on now which has lead me to a calmer nature.
Give Up The fight
One of the most prominent things that hold us back in making progress with connection to ourselves is the resistance to change. This is something that is deeply conditioned in us from childhood. Our parents often try to mould us into how they would like us to be and we have little awareness of how to get our needs met or to communicate authentically. We are then indoctrinated in schools and universities and our individuality is not nurtured very well due to society and it's demands. So we become stuck in roles, stuck in identities, often wearing a mask as a cover to who we are. When we need to lose our habits that are holding us back we become deeply challenged. We need to understand that we are allowed to make mistakes in life, we need to change continually to evolve. I see many who are shame based and refuse to change even though they know they are holding themselves back.
In mindfulness we are giving ourselves the gift of taking our own veil away enabling us to get to know who we really are. It can be deeply uncomfortable to know our shadow but without knowing it and embracing it we can never know who we really are. That is the biggest challenge in life and I believe one which we all must do. Then we can become more conscious and hold our power and we can then change society based on the work we have done.
Keep it simple
The Art Of Mindfulness is not to achieve an empty mind
I recall seeing a BBC documentary years ago featuring a doctor who wanted to understand meditation and it's effects. She was looking for "evidence" a word often used in science that attempts to put in a box that which cannot be boxed! Anyway, she went to a monastery in South East Asia and sat with a very kind monk whom she asked for instruction. He said "just sit here comfortably and follow your breath for the next 20 minutes. If a thought should appear do not follow it". She looked perplexed as he left the room and this poor lady sat as instructed but with creased brow attempting to not follow thoughts which came in like bats flitting in smoke. When the Monk returned for feedback she looked upset as if she was expecting something else, but he laughed and said "welcome to your mind".
This story emphasises what we often look for from meditation. We have been conditioned to get a quick fix to just about every ailment as the pharma industry has lead the way in our societies. However, we can never beat nature. The nature of ourselves must never be suppressed or dogged with expectation. We need to recognise the chaos that is often present within us daily and only then will our minds slow down.......this is true alchemy
Get Inspired
If you'd like to begin your Mindfulness Journey please drop me an email on peteroberts1967@hotmail.com
Pete (March 2021)