When I feel unsettled, or somehow not quite in the flow, I realize that in some way, I am in resistance to what is. So I go inside and practice non-resistance. Here is what I do. Give it a try if you like.
Wherever you are, whatever you are doing, if you notice you feel disconnected, immediately pause. Notice that you feel unsettled, and begin your non-resistance practice. Start simply, with just looking at your surroundings, and noticing what you see. Just watch, without adding stories to things. For example, you see a tree out the window. Just watch it. Notice the tree, the dancing leaves, the light and the colour. Should you hear a car drive by, just notice it. You hear it drive towards you then past you. So it is.
Then feel your body within your surroundings. If you are sitting, feel your body on the chair. If you are lying down, feel the weight of your body towards the ground. Just notice how you feel. Notice the softness or hardness of the surface supporting you.
Then draw your attention to your breath. What does it feel like? Breathe in. Breathe out. Move your awareness inward and just notice. Feel the quality of breathing. Is it heavy? Is it light? Is it easy? Is it restricted?
In this, everything begins to settle and you feel not limited to your thoughts, to the sense of being separate in a body. You begin to feel divisiveness dissolve, replaced by energy, flow and abundance. You feel connected and interconnected. You feel flow. Just stay with that, watching.
When you start to think about what you will have for dinner, or if you will get that call, notice you are going into thinking. Simply and gently bring your attention back to the feeling of being rooted and expansive, here and now.
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When we have a super busy life, we may immediately react to the idea of meditation by perceiving it as just another thing we have to fit into an already packed schedule. Since meditation is a practice, the more we put into it, the more we get out of it. Every moment spent in quiet sitting meditation has always yielded many inexplicable jewels for me. As I say, the more I meditate, the more time I have. My mind is quieter. I see more clearly. I act with greater insight and confidence. I get more done. I feel happier, more energized and more relaxed.
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I heard in public and private messages that last week’s blog post about Facing Stress with a Meditative Mindset touched a chord with a number of people. Thank you for letting me know it spoke to your heart! That is the main reason I share my heart each week about Life in the Positive Possibilities.
Image credit: Hartwig HKD THE GIFT OF WITNESSING (Continued from Willingness to Disarm the Ego) The meditation practice known as witnessing provides powerful insights into the ways in which we are attached to our perceptions. It has shown me the parameters of my active ego with extraordinary clarity. Witnessing has provided lasting shifts in the way I think and perceive. It has helped me move from being attached to painful thoughts, to living with greater freedom and joy. Witnessing is an essential part of any sincere meditator’s practice. It is at the heart of yoga and spiritual development. Witnessing is not the same as observing. Because witnessing is rooted in non-attachment, it flowers from the understanding that our senses are limited and do not contain the full picture of reality. Our perceptions are temporary, as they change with circumstance and are subject to our moods and whims. What and how we perceive is coloured by the ups and downs of our ego’s dramas. Through witnessing practice, we meet the moment as it is, without any overlay of how we want it to be. This occurs when we move beyond our attachments to our perceptions, which happens only once we understand that they are not the whole truth. There is a substratum, a deeper unchanging truth, that…
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