Many aspects of our lives have been “on hold” for months now, and although you’ve probably been able to maintain some kind of routine to survive these strange times, holiday celebrations can be unnerving, especially with the Coronavirus still rampant. But don’t despair; planetary energies are shifting this month and the Winter Solstice will launch a new cycle that’s meant to transform the world as we know it.
I’ll go into more detail about this on my next blog/newsletter, but for now I’d like to focus on dealing with the stress of this season. Whether it’s the emotional and financial pressure of shopping, organizing or attending family gatherings, reaching end-of-year work deadlines, or any restrictions preventing you from celebrating with your loved ones, this is a time when remaining centered can prove tricky.
The egoic sense of otherness gets aggravated by the collective energies at play, triggering soul memories and past unresolved issues related to family and relationships in general, and the global human family in particular. When the attention is so intensely focused on others in your daily life or through the news and social media, you can easily feel overwhelmed.
For this reason, it’s essential to recognize and let go of the burdens you may have been carrying all year (and for years) that disconnect you from yourself and the flow of your life instead of letting the ego-mind control your mental states (see Your Life-Movie Is a Dream Within a Dream). Let me share a brief story to illustrate this.
A psychologist teaching stress management to an audience walks around the room holding a glass of water. Everyone expects her to ask if the glass is “half empty” or “half full,” but she surprises them by inquiring, “How heavy do you think this glass of water is?” People’s answers range from 8oz. to 20oz. But the woman says, “The absolute weight doesn’t matter; it depends on how long I hold it.”
“If I hold it for a minute, it’s not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, my arm will start aching. If I hold it for a day, it will be numb and paralyzed. The weight of the glass doesn’t change, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.”
Stay Present & Open To New Possibilities
Your stresses and worries in life are no different. If you think about them for a little bit, they don’t affect you much. If you think about them longer, they begin to hurt and arouse more worries and stress. And if you think about them all day long, they paralyze you, preventing you from accomplishing anything.
This is your sense of otherness at play, sabotaging the enjoyment and possibilities of the present moment. It’s vital to remember to put the glass down, that is, to observe and drop any thoughts or beliefs that cause you stress, as they arise, to diminish the ego-mind producing them. This takes much practice, but here are a few simple guidelines to help you out:
- Observe your breathing, making each breath conscious, full, and rhythmic. Your breathing and your mind work together, so when you control one you also control the other. Also, your attention on the breath keeps you anchored in the present, where the ego loses its power over your perception.
- Tune into your body on a regular basis. Is there any tension anywhere? Breathe into it, making your inhalations deep and slow, and your exhalations long and steady to release any stress, tension, or fear. Feel yourself grounded in your body, which only lives in the present.
- Be fully present in everything you do. Being present means being centered and self-aware; you can’t be centered if all your attention goes outwards. Tend to what life brings to you without investing all your energy in others. In other words, direct your mind inwards as much as possible.
- Watch your life as a movie or a dream within a dream, and stop taking things so seriously and personally. It’s all a play of Divine Consciousness and Consciousness takes care of everything! Make the conscious decision to experience life without pressure or fear, trusting that all is as it is meant to be.
- Stop pressuring yourself to be perfect, and give yourself permission to be human. Remember you can’t please everyone. Do things with kindness and a spirit of service, but don’t exclude yourself from the equation of love. The tendency for perfectionism is your sense of otherness sabotaging your enjoyment of life.
The most important person in your life-movie is you, and the greatest gift you can give your loved ones and the world at large is your own peace. But it takes great self-awareness and determination to dismiss the ego-mind that gets in the way to disturb it with all sorts of attachments, self-images, and negative emotions. So contact me today to learn how it operates so you can dissolve outdated patterns of perception to develop emotional and spiritual freedom!
© 2020 Yol Swan. All rights reserved.
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