Are you brave enough to turn it all off?
Can you turn off the TV, the Instagram, the phone? Can you unplug from all consumption and distractions? Just for a little while? Let me tell you from experience, it’s not comfortable. I have found out that distraction is comforting. To be able to reach for entertainment, or things to lose ourselves in, brings us comfort. Comfort from what? Comfort from being alone with yourself. Yes, you. You avoid you. You avoid your thoughts. You avoid your feelings. You avoid the neurotic conversations your mind has inside your head. When you truly face it, it’s very uncomfortable. You find yourself squirming, wanting, needing, something, anything, anyone or anything to comfort you from what is going on inside. What if you train yourself to stop running, stop numbing, stop distracting? What if you just watch you. Observe your innermost thoughts and feelings. Don’t try to change them, or suppress them, or deny them, but allow them and accept them. Instead of being the observer or how everyone else is doing life and searching for the answers in how they do things, observe yourself doing life. Even now as I sit writing this, I can feel a part of me wanting to just sink into the comfort of a good movie..to just zone out and not have to deal with myself. I’m not saying you can never take a break from yourself, however, it’s important to allow the space for that inner voice(s) to have their say. Remember we are balancing space and stuff in order to live a balanced, healthy life..therefore, we must hold space for ourselves to be ourselves. Just as we can’t consume food constantly and maintain a healthy body, we also can’t consume content constantly and have a healthy mind. What are you doing? When you cut out the consumption and distractions, what are you doing? I found myself really uncomfortable in the beginning. I just wanted to find something to do to get away from myself. It was and still is difficult for me to just sit with me, but I’m doing it. I am starting slow and will eventually be able to be with me for longer and longer stretches of time. How about you? Can you give it a try? #consciousness #space
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Use the S&S Process to help keep the body balanced and healthy.
What is the S&S Process? It’s a reminder to be mindful of both space and stuff in order to create a balanced life. To keep balance, we must honor and allow space while managing and maintaining our stuff. The word space can also be referred to as stillness, or nothingness. The word stuff can also be referred to as activity, movement, things,, anything that is form or is not stillness or nothingness. Let’s talk about the stuff. When it comes to stuff, the purer or more quality the stuff we consume or allow into our space is, the healthier we will be. Anything we bring into our homes or our personal space is a consumption of stuff. Anything we bring into our bodies is a consumption of stuff. Anything we bring into our minds is a consumption of stuff. Make the “stuff” quality or healthy stuff. Let’s use our bodies as an example of how to maintain balance by focusing on space and stuff. Your stomach is one of the containers in the body into which you can put stuff. In order to be healthy, you must honor both the space (empty stomach) and the stuff (food). You should be having a balance of space or empty stomach time and stuff or food time. If you continuously consume food and never allow time for true space to return to the stomach, your body will become unhealthy. The way we know that space has returned to the stomach is by the physical sensation of hunger. Once hunger returns, notice it. By taking time to allow it to return and then noticing it, you honor the space AND this results in you only consuming food when you are hungry. Now it’s time to consume the stuff or the food. Remember the purer or more quality the food is that you consume, the healthier your body will be. Be conscious and go through your day being very aware of this space/stuff balance. Allow time for both, not just one or the other. If you are wanting to get healthier or reduce your weight, just focus on today. Be deliberate just today, just right now, and then every now moment after this one. Check in with yourself. Start right now. Is it time for allowing space (hunger) to form or is space there and now it’s time to consume carefully chosen, quality foods? It’s also important to remember during the consuming stuff/food time, not to take up all the space. Always leave a little space. Think of it like only filling the gas tank to 1/2 or 3/4 of the way full. Give the food room/space to move around to make digestion easier. Allow the stuff and the space to work together. Keep the balance. There are many areas of life you can apply the S&S Process. See how many different ways you can apply it today to create balance. I don't know about you but I've been searching for one simple thing to remember that would help keep me on track and feeling balanced. I am so easily distracted and pulled off course.
Our minds have a tendency for more, more, more. More knowledge. More content. More learning. By consuming more, we silence the wisdom held in the empty spaces. I wrote a blog post a couple of weeks ago, and had to remind myself of it this weekend. I had already become tangled in distraction.. in the stuff of life. The stuff of life catches my attention and I forget to notice the space that holds the stuff. I'm finding if I can remember both space and stuff, I feel more balanced. In touch with the above and the below, the physical and the spiritual, the space and the energy. If I remember and honor space and manage the stuff, I feel balanced. How do you honor space? Notice it. Look at the space around things. Listen for the silence. Pay attention to silence. Don't fill it all up with noise and stuff. Leave some space. Honor it. How do you manage stuff? Do good by whatever you have in front of you in physical form. No matter if it's things, places, or people, do good by them. Take care of them. Manage, care, and maintain all things. Keep it clean. Keep it organized. Keep the stuff balanced with the space. You should have as many blank spaces as you have stuff in those spaces. This goes for the stuff in your mind as well. Meditate to bring space into your mind. Manage and maintain what stuff; memories and thoughts, you allow to swirl around in there all day. Watch the mental consumption of tv, social media, entertainment, distractions. All of that is stuff. Some stuff is ok but you don't want your mind full of stuff leaving no room for space. Why is it important to keep space open in the mind? True wisdom speaks to you in the space. If your mind is full of stuff, it's impossible to hear the wisdom that speaks through the space. Your inner teacher lives and speaks through the space in a "still" small voice. Do you think you can work towards finding your space-stuff balance? As I am practicing my daily mind training aka meditation, I am reconnecting and hearing more from my inner teacher aka intuition.
Something my inner teacher pointed out today was the best way to stay present was to drop the expectations the mind puts on every moment. Be relaxing! Be enlightening! Be transforming! Be healing! Mental expectations always breed pressure and stress which is the exact opposite of the stillness found in true presence. I find my mind putting pressure on my days off to be relaxing, spiritual, and transformative. It will make plans on how to shut everything and everyone off so I can make it an enlightening experience. My mind is trying to control each present moment instead of just allowing those moments to unfold as they will, without judgement. Of course this never works out and my mind is always frustrated and disappointed at the results. I am trying to shut out and avoid everything that adds stress or pressure not realizing that it's actually my mind or the voice in my head creating the stress and pressure, not the things around me. I am taking the stress maker, the critic, the judge of all things, with me to the yoga mat, to the meditation space, to the hammock, to the hiking trail. So what if instead of trying to control each moment, we just sink in, observe, and allow each moment. No matter what unfolds, if we are present, there is always a connector to our spiritual nature lying within the moment. Drop the mental expectation and the judgement of every moment. Maybe a lot happens and we observe and marvel at how it all unfolds. Maybe nothing happens and we enjoy the nothingness of that moment. Our job is not to control each moment, but to truly be in it no matter what the mind thinks of it. Short answer: You would discipline your mind, reclaim your inner space, and cultivate peace.
Long answer: 2 Daily Activities that Cultivate Peace
You will find that most everything falls under 1 of the 2 daily activities. I realised that my mind was constantly reaching externally for internal content. My mind just wanted to fill every space with something. Music, Youtube videos, teachings, losing itself in endless reels, movies, something.. anything.. to avoid or distract from the empty space or the suffering the mind had created. There is so much content temptation at our finger tips. All of the content in our phones is heavy competition and distraction against accessing peace. Now I have shifted my focus to protecting that empty space. I realise this empty space is the doorway to my peace, wisdom, and eternal, never changing, joy. I now limit the amount of time I allow my mind to indulge in external content. I also make sure whatever it is indulging in is pointing it towards peace, wisdom, and joy. I’ve set a precept for myself of allowing external content from the time I wake up till mid-day, then my focus shifts to space. The same with my physical body. Food is allowed in from the time I wake up till mid-day, then I allow my stomach to empty. This also reminds me to make it count…to take in quality content and quality food. Allowing the thoughts and content to settle and focusing on the space or pure energy that is always existing there quietly in the shadows. Stepping away from the role of the thinker and instead being the listener and the observer. The longer I practice this, the louder the voice of the inner teacher becomes. Cultivating inner peace takes discipline over the mind and it’s wants, needs, preferences, and suggestions of how it thinks you should spend your time. It takes discipline over your minds discomfort with empty space and stillness. Begin your practice of disciplining your mind by sitting upright, with your eyes closed, being very still for 10 minutes. Notice how uncomfortable your mind becomes. Notice how many things it tries to convince you to do instead of sitting still. Notice how resistant and frustrated it becomes. Notice how critical and negative it becomes. Notice, but continue to hold your ground and sit still. Accessing peace will require a battle of wills between you and the mind with whom you share a physical vessel. Once you reclaim the space, you can cultivate peace. |
AuthorHi I'm Angie! I'm a mental health/life coach sharing my daily journey to creating the habits and lifestyle that support a me that feels relaxed and safe. ArchivesCategories |