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Make the straight to flow.
Gather water, fire and light.
Bring the world to a single point”
Reading the interpretation of this Taoist quote was so timely this morning. Making the crooked straight is done simply by devotion to our spiritual path, it is simply our determination that will make the impossilbe as boundaries melt away and our path becomes straight with flow. This single focused determination is what brings the world to a single point when we unite all our inner elements. When we are unified then we can focus on the single point meaning there is no distinction between the inner and outer worlds – nothing is far away and nothing is not open to us. With strong devotion nothing is beyond us and our world becomes limitless… I say timely as I believe this is the essence of spring. It is always remarkable to me that year in, year out, these tiny buds start to sprout despite rocks, hard earth, and inclement weather, they grow with a graceful single pointed focus despite larger objects around them… It is all possible and never in the year is it better to tap into that directional grown than now with the support of nature all around us.
]]>Way of the Tao; Daily Meditations.
I have worked with patients and in what is now known as the ‘Wellbeing Industry’ for nearly 16 years; I started studying when I was 24 and although my life has taken many twists and turns I remin as passionate as ever about all I learn and want to teach. Yet this week I feel at the beginning again… I feel that wonderful feeling of embarking on an adventure, full of hope and optimism, emboldened by the newness of today… I love that about life, we can have so much experience, years, learning and hours behind us yet we can always feel the intoxication of the beginning and the various signs that are directing us.
As I juggle working with patients with being a mother I am learning how to fit in all the things I took for granted before becoming a mother. In this sense I am at the beginning again, yet filled with hope and filled with excitement for the new journey ahead as I work out the basics of time management with so many new variables!
Yet I have found time and time again that once I commit to making a decision to begin again I am always gently encouraged by the Universe giving me signs and directing me where to go. This is how I come to begin on my doTerra adventure. Finally bringing the consciousness of nature to support us in our lives, giving us back control of our health.
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The best example is with food; we see food/calories, recognize them as essential for our survival, send this signal to our brain, eat and then we notice that we feel good. This can basically be summed up as; trigger, behavior, reward. When we were out in the wild fighting for survival this loop was great and essential, however, now it has slightly backfired. The circuit has been hijacked by emotions; we see food, and we know that eating that food makes us feel good as well as being key for survival. So the trigger has changed from survival to emotional dependence; we feel bad, stressed, sad, uncomfortable, irritated, we eat food high in sugar and fat and salt and we feel good again. Repeat. Each time we do this pathways are set down in our brain and we develop habits.
How do we break free of this cycle, which is seemingly all consuming and impossible to break? How many times have you tried so hard to avoid the ‘bad’ food only to give in in a moment of weakness, which was usually preceded by stress or tiredness? This is primarily thanks to the frontal part of our brain, called the Prefrontal Cortex and is the youngest part of our brains in terms of evolution. This is the part of the brain that ‘understands’ that we shouldn’t do these self-defeating behaviours such as overeating and smoking, however, it is also the first part of the brain to switch off in moments of high stress! Meaning we have none of that cognitive control we have in hindsight after we have polished off the packet of biscuits in a moment of severe stress or in those calm moments we are outlining our new good intentions.
How do we override this? Simple. We get curious. This seemingly simple action is absolutely key in breaking habits and it is also a central part of mindfulness meditation. When we meditate we are taught to simply become aware of our breath and when our attention wanders bring it back to our breath. There are also exercises taught in the 8 week mindfulness meditation course that teach us to become curious about our bodies – checking in to our bodies to see how they are feeling, not in order to analyze these feelings but simply to observe them and get curious about them.
It is in exactly this same way we can hijack the brain when faced with a craving; we get curious. Ask yourself, how do I feel right now physically; maybe tight in the chest, constrained in the stomach, tight in the shoulders pounding in the head, tight in the jaw… What ever you feel go deeper, become more curious ask yourself where else you are feeling something similar, ask yourself if it goes when you feel it. Just watch and feel with intrigue.
When you have done this you will be stunned that the craving, now, instead of this overwhelming feeling that has to be banished, has been paired down into a series of physical sensations. Your curiosity has just managed to disenchant you to the previous craving, and once this has happened you can joyfully let go of the craving and get on with being amazing!
While this might sound too simply and not very ‘scientific’ it is in fact completely the opposite. At the back of the brain we have something called the Posterior Cingulate Cortex which itself is not activated by cravings however, when we get caught up in the craving and the drama and shame of the craving it lights up and takes us for a ride creating more and more craving and more drama. In contrast when we become curious and look at the craving and mindfully feel its physical presence in our bodies and then let it go this area of the brain is switched off therefore eliminating the craving’s development.
Meditation is such a key in our overall health and thankfully science, with the help of MRI scans and other investigatory procedures, is proving that is really does help heal our mind which in turn has a direct cumulative effect on our overall happiness and ability to be non attached.
For more information and an introduction to meditation check out these apps and websites:
www.deconstructingyourself.com
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