The beginning of each year is usually the time we review what we did or didn’t accomplish the year before and set our intentions to achieve new goals or bring old projects to completion. But as the year rolls in, it’s easy to lose focus and discipline or get overwhelmed just thinking of the steps ahead.
With Mars entering Capricorn this month we should expect to gain some momentum, but since Mercury is going retrograde almost at the same time, we’re likely to experience delays and mental fuzziness before seeing a clear opening to move forward. Mars is the archetype of the passion or drive to bring our desires into reality while a retrograde Mercury prompts us to slow down and turn inwards.
However, this is not just a random occurrence but a reflection of how the ego-mind plays tug-of-war with deeper aspects of your soul. Although planetary energies make things more or less conducive to certain situations, your life is a personalized mental movie unfolding according to your particular karma and purpose, so as long as ego is in charge of your perception you’re bound to experience this push and pull if you want to make a change.
On the other hand, the more self-aware and committed to your spiritual development—that is, to the dissolution of your ego through self-knowledge—the less effect any external energies will have on your life. The key to conquering these fluctuations is understanding they’re inherent to the mind and developing the discipline to remain anchored in the present moment, attentive and focused on the task at hand rather than identifying with your emotions.
This allows you to stay connected to the flow of your life, as you take the necessary steps to achieve something, without letting your own resistance get in the way to stall your process or discourage you from bringing your dreams into reality. But it requires the effort to “ride the wave of discomfort” as you stretch beyond your emotional comfort zone and keep moving forward to the finish line.
Being Mindful Is Being Present and Aware
The ego-mind keeps the control of your perception by preventing you from turning inwards—to live a soul-guided life—and from being fully present in what you’re doing. It pushes hopes, wishes, and illusions about the future or pulls you into the past with regrets and previous “failures.” It also brings all sorts of distractions, through your sense of otherness, to disrupt your progress.
It’s relentless about setting you off-center. You may be so concerned or worried about accomplishing your goals that you forget to enjoy the process, which means you disconnect from yourself; as a result, you unconsciously start sabotaging it. Once a disconnection happens, it doesn’t take long for it to snowball into one mental-emotional disruption after another (see my graphic in Does Your Life Feel Like a Slow-Motion Pinball Game?).
Before you know it, the distance between you and your goals and projects grows, and your enthusiasm quickly diminishes. If you give in, you simply reinforce the resistance to accomplish things that empower or set you free from ego. But if you find the way back to your center, with self-awareness and regular spiritual practices, you open up to new possibilities of experience within your own life-movie.
Here are some guidelines to stay on track and centered, avoiding the push-and-pull of ego:
- Have the courage to say no to people and distractions pulling your attention away from yourself and your projects. Clear, strong boundaries are essential to remain centered and focused.
- Give yourself permission to take small steps and one step at a time. Rushing usually means jumping ahead of yourself and leaving gaps the ego-mind will use to sabotage your process.
- No matter what, do not compare yourself to others who are ahead. This is your inner bully at work, making you feel you should be someone other than who you are and where you’re at.
- Follow the same guidelines in life as in meditation: stay present and focused in what you’re doing. No matter how small the task, your concentration excludes any invasive mental chatter, thus allowing you to be fully present and connected to life.
- Always do your best but remain detached from any outcome, doing things for their own sake, with no expectations, to prevent the ego-mind from triggering mental-emotional fluctuations that produce resistance.
Without full presence of mind, you won’t fully engage with what you do; and without your centered, detached engagement, it’s much easier for the ego-mind to get in the way and sabotage your progress. So contact me today to understand how it tricks you to be in control of your perception, and begin the liberating process of managing your mental-emotional energy to create an empowering life or business you LOVE, in alignment with your soul!
© 2020 Yol Swan. All rights reserved.
