Relax, Observe, and Allow
Take time to go within. You will find your solutions there.
Often it is easy for us all to get caught up in accomplishing too many tasks during our busy days. We can lose touch with our inner wisdom, peace, calm, and feeling of contentment and joy. Perhaps consider trying out these suggestions during this busy season....
Following this practice several times a day allows each of us to stay connected with and present for ourselves. Practice being with what is. Right here. Right now. So for yourself...
RELAX: Release rushing. Hand over my pushing--every minute, every hour, every day--> leads to tensionless living. Release resistance to what is or what isn't. Release from all of the entanglements of your mind. Release from fear, striving, and all worry. Have no agenda or judgment about what is happening. Go easy. Let things be as they are. Ah...tension diminishes as you allow non-doing.
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Slow down. Release all goals and ambitions. Allow yourself to FEEL the process of being awake and alive. Open up to all of your senses. Don't just live in your head. Feel yourself awake and aware, completely in the present moment. Take time to celebrate your journey of life!
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Release speed. Own where you are. Release the need to rush to the next thing. Own your place on the earth. Move more slowly throughout the day. Ah...
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Know what is enough. Watch greed (and compulsion) for accomplishment--things like e-mails or computers/smart phones, numerous projects, or lists of things to do. Notice the heaviness of obligation that might come over you. Consider leaving your lists behind! How can you allow lists not to run or rule you? Perhaps simplify your life? Cultivate the feeling of inner contentment and peace. Remember: When I get lost in the field of tasks, I feel buoyed up and validated from them...and exhausted by them. Choose to simplify and prioritize, and be still.
OBSERVE: Tune the light of awareness into your experience. Really notice (look at) what's happening with your body, your mind, and with your emotions. Check out the Four Foundations of Mindfulness: body, feelings, mind, and all phenomena. Take time to just be present in your life. Open fully to all of your senses. Just be. Through observation you make the unconscious, known. You see your problems and your patterns. Gently look into the areas of your discomfort. Observe and then later transform them through skillful substitution.
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Be in the moment. Don't live your life, look at your life through thought. Rest your attention on your direct experience of walking, eating, washing the dishes, etc. Not "thinking about" or creating a "story line" about what you are doing, or remembering the past or planning for the future while you are doing each task. Be in the moment--know where you are at in this life. Be in the "crosshairs" of this moment. Pull in your mind. Stabilize your attention.
ALLOW: Don't push away or fight anything. Allow tensionless living. Trust! Release the ego's need to control or defend! Allow whatever is present in the moment to be there. Perhaps pain, distress, anger, anxiety, tiredness, or delight, appreciation, and happiness. Whatever it is, just be present with it and allow it. Following this process allows ease of well being--a deep acceptance of what is or isn't-- to arise. Do You Experience a RAIN of Feelings?
☺Release the tried and failed method! Move on!
This practice was shared by Rodney Smith at an insight meditation retreat. To hear the talk, visit Rodney's site: http://www.seattleinsight.org/Talks/BrowseTalks/DharmaTalk/tabid/90/TalkID/294/Default.aspx and go to individual talks to the talk on 7/05 Explore his many excellent talks including Distortions of Mind. Check out especially Distortions of Mind-- The Driven Mind
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Develop a love for the present moment.
Learn to reconnect with our bodies and our lives.
Come to know what nurtures you and what depletes you.
ASK: What might lead me to greater openness, honesty, and a deeper capacity to love myself and others?
Nourish awareness in every moment. Cultivate a peaceful response about your life, acceptance of your present circumstances, and kindness towards ourselves and everyone else. Frolic around these wonderful books:
 Peace
Is Every Step (1991),The
Miracle of Mindfulness,
by Thich Nhat Hanh, (1976), Beacon Press, Boston
In Thich
Nhat Hanh's book Present Moment Wonderful Moment--Mindfulness Verses
for Daily Living*,
Parallax Press,
(1990). See also
Parallax Press Resources for Mindful Living:
http://www.parallax.org/
*From
the introduction: This book contains short verses to help us dwell
in mindfulness. We often become so busy that we forget what we are doing
or even who we are. We forget to look at the people we love and to
appreciate them...we don't know how to get in touch with what is going
on inside and outside of ourselves...To meditate is to be aware of what
is going on in our bodies, our feelings, our minds, and in the world.
This is a delightful book that promotes a feeling of joy and of the
sacredness of life. |
| Practicing The Power of Now, (1999), by Eckhart Tolle, New World Library Sounds True has audio and videotapes of this book, and many other titles. http://www.soundstrue.com 800-333-9185 Provides suggestions and insights to experience the joy of being, to enter the now, to accept whatever is happening (to see impermanence and the cycles of life), and to transform the "pain body" in us. Stillness Speaks, (2003), by Eckhart Tolle, Namaste Publishing and New World Library. From the Introduction, "The only function of a spiritual teacher is to help you remove that which separates you from the truth of who you already are and what you already know in the depth of your being." Enjoy discovering your inner being!
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Delve into other areas for ideas: