Spiritual Exercise #5
Thinking Feeling Sensing
As with all these exercises, find a quiet space and give yourself plenty of time. Also, always enter into the exercise with the Intention to be free, open, accepting and peaceful. You can help yourself to enter into an optimal spiritual space by taking a few deep, gentle and slow breaths.
Watch your mind. At first, it will simply be doing what it always does – thinking – and you will not be aware that you’re thinking because you will be so engaged with your thoughts. But if you pay attention, you will soon notice that you are thinking! As soon as you notice this, mentally say, ‘THINKING’.
If the same thought persists, repeat ‘THINKING’. You may then notice another thought. Again, mentally say ‘THINKING’. Next, you might notice a feeling. Do not try to name the feeling. Simply note that there is a feeling by mentally saying ‘FEELING’. You may notice a sensation – an image on the screen of your mind, a sound you may hear, an ache in your arm, a taste in your mouth, the air on your skin…Again, do not try to name it or make sense of it. Simply note it by saying ‘SENSING’.
Continue this ‘mental noting’ for about 5 mins. You will benefit in a number of ways including these:
- Your mental activity slows down and there is clarity
- There is a growing sense of peace and freedom
- You are able to think, feel and sense WITHOUT identifying with your thoughts, feelings or sensations. This is an important part of healing, of overcoming unhelpful habitual thought patterns and addictive behaviors.
- You are practicing Self-Awareness which frees you from limiting and disempowering beliefs and behaviors.
Spiritual Exercise #4
Connecting deeply and intuitively with your FEELING
As with all these exercises, find a quiet space and give yourself plenty of time. Also, always enter into the exercise with the Intention to be free, open, accepting and peaceful. You can help yourself to enter into an optimal spiritual space by taking a few deep, gentle and slow breaths.
Recall an experience or instance which was dominated by a particular unpleasant or discomforting feeling. In this exercise, you will recall an experience in which you felt Angry.
Allow the feeling of anger to arise in you as fully as possible as you recall the experience.
Now, ask yourself this question:
What would I like to feel instead of Anger?
HERE IS THE IMPORTANT PART:
DO NOT ASSUME YOU KNOW THE ANSWER EVEN THOUGH YOUR MIND WILL GIVE YOU ONE.
Instead, allow the answer, the response, the FEELING to arise naturally and spontaneously from within you. It may be accompanied by a word or it may not. It may present as a feeling and a sensation and/or an image for which there is no word. Just allow it to arise freely and fully.
When it does, stay in it WITHOUT holding on to it. In other words, let it run its natural course.
Now, you can repeat this exercise any time with any feeling that you’ve had in the past OR with any feeling that you are currently experiencing.
Note:
• You are not denying or avoiding the initial unpleasant feeling.
• You are giving it full expression.
• But, you are exercising CHOICE THROUGH AWARENESS by allowing for a different, more pleasant feeling which is always consistent with your TRUE NATURE to arise and express itself.
• You are NOT imposing a different feeling that you THINK you should have or that you ASSUME is the best alternative.
What you should learn from this exercise is that there is a truth within you that expresses itself in each moment.
For instance, the next time you do this exercise with the initial feeling of Anger, the more pleasant feeling that you allow to arise may be a different one to the one you had this time.
Spiritual Exercise #3
It’s all about Intention.
So often, we submit ourselves mindlessly to the routines of the day and to the various tasks, activities and roles we have agreed to perform in our existential contract with Life.
If we feel lucky, we might experience some joy, some comfort, some reassurance from some of these. But mostly, we finish the day almost too tired and too preoccupied to even feel relief. We just want to bring the day to a close because, goodness knows, tomorrow we shall have to go through the same thing all over again.
Over time, this attitude of unwilling resignation gets entrenched as negativity, disillusionment, weariness and frustration, the effects of which are played out in our relationships and in our health.
Now, just because we have become used to this, just because we have maladapted to this way of life, doesn’t mean that we need to condemn ourselves to it forever.
I know that many people would rather not look at this too closely. It’s best to ‘let sleeping dogs lie’. Why stir up this hornets nest!
But if you pause for a moment and cast your gaze over your life and the lives of people around you, you will see almost immediately that, whether you consciously choose it or not, that dog does wake up at some point, that hornets nest does get disturbed at some point and then, all hell breaks loose.
Relationships that have been surviving tenuously on a fine thread of tolerance hit their breaking point. The body that has been accumulating the effects of stress finally buckles. The mind that has preset to survival mode now locks down and depression becomes apparent.
It would be a relief if I were describing a nightmare that doesn’t actually happen in ‘real’ or walking life. But you know as well as I do that this is no scenario that just plays out in our sleep. This is regrettably a common occurrence in our waking or walking ‘sleep’, in our daily lives that have been set on autopilot or in tick-tock’ as the spiritual mind-tripper and comic, Stuart Wilde used to call it.
So, do we want something different? Something better? Sure we do.
Now, let’s not shy away from this desire just because we have no idea how to achieve it. It’s really quite simple:
Enter the Power of Intention.
We are so used to thinking about intention and its power in relation to the big ticket items in life – the perfect partner, job, house, holiday. And tragically, we are so used to dismissing its role and its tremendous power in the simple, everyday, routine things in our lives.
So, let’s just see how this might play out. I’m going to do this by asking you about some really ‘boring’, mundane things that you could get intentional about. And to make it a little more interesting, I’m going to ask you these questions in relation to your day TOMORROW.
Just answer the question as feeling-ly as you can. Don’t allow yourself to get distracted by HOW it’s going to happen. Just focus on Yes or No. That’s all you need to do.
PART 1
Ready? Smile 🙂 Here we go. Remember, it all relates to TOMORROW.
Would you like to INTEND to have a damn good day tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to make yourself a really beautiful, sexy, yummy, exotic smoothie or coffee or whatever your first drink of the day is tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to look in the mirror and smile lovingly at yourself and feel such deep appreciation for yourself tomorrow ?
Would you like to INTEND to brush your hair gently and lovingly, taking your time and giving your scalp a good massage while you’re brushing (or combing) tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to really taste your food tomorrow, putting small portions in your mouth and allowing your taste buds to sizzle and shake as food hits them tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to smile and keep smiling as you go through your day, not necessarily at anyone or anything but just allowing the natural joy and peace within you to take expression tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to speak very mindfully so that you don’t just rattle of clichés and phrases and idioms that have become so automatic but that you really take the time to choose your words and mean each one of them and if this means speaking much, much slower than you usually do, so be it tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to give your attention to one part of your body – left knee, right hand, right ear, skin across your stomach, bottom teeth, toe nails, left elbow, right wrist, that spot behind your left knee, that point on your forehead…and feel such deep appreciation for it and thank it with the biggest smile and the most loving touch tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to listen to someone with your heart? Just listen without saying a word while focusing on the peace within you tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to listen and watch the thoughts and feelings going through your mind for say, 5 minutes? Just watch lovingly as if you were watching leaves drift down a stream tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to listen to your favorite music or even music that you don’t usually listen to and actually LISTEN, hearing every bit of it tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to PAUSE when that disturbing thought or image of a certain person comes to mind, or you hear their voice, and just ask yourself: Where is my Peace right now? Or alternatively, How am I feeling right now? And to stay with the feeling, just watching it so that your focus is no longer on the thought or image or person or related story but on the FEELING tomorrow?
Would you like to INTEND to ALLOW yourself to feel peace tomorrow?
Okay, well done!
What I have done is deliberately ask you questions that you really would like to answer YES to. If you didn’t answer YES, it’s okay. You may want a little more time to allow yourself such freedom and peace.
I know, it seems crazy that we would deliberately refuse ourselves freedom and peace. But that’s the result of our conditioning over many, many years and to suddenly expect it to dissolve, while not impossible, is for most people a big ask. So, give yourself a pat on the back for all the YES’s you did answer and just focus on those.
PART 2
Now, go back over the questions and replace the words ‘Would you like to’ with the word ‘I’ so that, for example, the first question now becomes
Would you like to I INTEND to have a damn good day tomorrow.
Now, all you have to do is allow yourself to FEEL that intention.
WOW! I’m intending to have a damn good day tomorrow.
Doesn’t it make you smile? Hasn’t your energy already shifted just a little? Don’t you feel lighter?
Of course if you’re trying to rush through this exercise because you’re squeezing it in between other more pressing or more ‘important’ things on your ‘to do’ list, you’re not going to enjoy the benefit of the exercise. So, I suggest you put it aside and pick it up again when you do have a little more time.
And of course, if you feel inclined to intend any of this right away, well, don’t let me stop you 🙂
And, need I remind you of all the wonderful biochemical, neurological, physiological, psychological and spiritual benefits this simple exercise has already given you?
Smile 🙂 It’s an ALL-OVER thing 🙂
Spiritual Exercise #2
Listen SE2
5 Years ago and 5 Years from now – Getting out of the grip of feeling overwhelmed, helpless, powerless or fearful
There are times when we feel overpowered by fear or a sudden storm of anxiety or even an unshakeable sadness. Sometimes, we may have an idea of what brought it on – a relationship breakdown, failing in some goal, illness or even an existential weariness over the purpose of our life.
At times like these, our worst, most disempowering beliefs take control of us and the stories that are construed around them feel so real and overpowering and hugely exaggerated. Such stories and their beliefs may be expressed in thoughts such as:
I am not good enough.
I’ll never find the perfect partner.
I always stuff things up.
I am going mad. I’m losing my mind.
If I were good enough, s/he would never have left me.
I’m such a coward, I don’t have the guts to do what I really want to do.
I’m being punished for my laziness/greed/anger/dishonesty…
I’ve probably got cancer and I’m going to suffer and die.
Now, if you have trained your conditioned mind to sit in its natural peace and stillness, you will almost always be able to take it to this still point where it can sit in the light of truth. This light will dispel any falsehood, any erroneous belief, any perceived threat to your wellbeing. It will restore you to your natural state of peace, power and joy.
If, however, you have not trained your conditioned mind in this manner or if, for some reason, you are unable to take it to the still point within you, here’s something you can do.
REMIND YOURSELF that there were times in your life when you had experienced similar states of feeling fearful, disempowered, sad or purposeless. The fact that you are here today is proof that you were able to ride those storms and land in a safe place. If you could do it then, you can certainly do it now.
In fact, as you look back on yourself all those years (months) ago, don’t you now feel almost alarmed or at least astonished that you could have felt so fearful, so powerless, so sad or so purposeless back then? Haven’t the years (or months) since then been so different? Perhaps you find yourself thinking:
Wow, I can’t believe I felt so helpless/desperate/frightened/angry/unworthy…
And when you realize this, you can now
CONTEMPLATE THE POSSIBILITY that 5 years (months) from now, your circumstances are certainly going to be different to what they are now. And just as you’re able to look at your past self and see how exaggerated and unfounded your fears and so on were, you can imagine fast forwarding to 5 years (months) from now and being able to see how exaggerated and unfounded your current fears and so on are.
Now, how about a little practice? Do set aside some time and quiet space for this.
Bring to mind a recent experience of feeling fearful or powerless or sad or purposeless. Recall how you felt and what thoughts went through your mind. Consider the fact that even though you had felt overwhelmed and trapped at the time, you are here right now, feeling quite fine.
Perhaps you don’t feel like you have fully resolved the issues that precipitated that experience. Contemplate the possibility that, 5 years or months from now, you will have resolved the issues. And from that vantage point, you will likely look back on this experience and wonder how you could have allowed your story and your feelings to be so exaggerated and so unfounded.
And seeing and feeling this now, do you feel assured that you will always get through any experience, no matter how overwhelming it may feel at the time?
Will you ALLOW yourself to spend time in your natural, unconditioned, peaceful and powerful mind and let its Light of Truth dispel any darkness, any falsehood, any erroneous beliefs?
I encourage you to get into the practice today!
Spiritual Exercise #1
2 Lessons you’re being called to learn right now (Or as I prefer to think of it, 2 Invitations you’re being extended to say ‘Yes’ to)
PART 1
Get into a quiet space. Allow your mind to relax by taking a few deep and conscious breaths. When you’re ready, do the following:
Write down the first words, ideas or images that occur when you hear/read this question:
What are the 2 biggest lessons you feel you’re being asked to learn right now?
Allow your response to arise freely. Do not censor. As an example, your responses may be:
#1 Life path
#2 Forgiveness
PART 2
Next, put those key words into questions that you most want answered. Again, less thinking, more intuiting.
Using the example, this might be:
#1 How can I be clear about my life path and how can I be confident about following it?
#2 How can I forgive when I really don’t want to?
PART 3
Now, consider this: IF these lessons have been learned and these questions fully answered, how would you describe the outcomes? In other words, how would you describe the IDEAL end result?
Continuing with the examples, this might be:
#1 I feel completely clear about the path in life that I am drawn to follow and I feel so confident about it. Even when I sometimes feel fearful, I feel the truthfulness of my path and continue on.
#2 I now understand why I am reluctant to forgive and I can see how this robs me of peace and happiness. I have now forgiven all the hurts in my life.
When you have done this, REFLECT on your responses. Allow yourself to be guided by your responses. If you like, you can use this meditation to help.
PART 4
Now, as an additional aid, you could do this. Show/email your responses in PART 3 to people you know or to your mailing list. DO NOT TELL THEM THAT THEY ARE *YOUR* RESPONSES. Just tell them this:
I’ve got 2 statements below which are ANSWERS to 2 different questions that were asked. From the statements, can you guess what the QUESTIONS were?
Please try to respond more intuitively rather than with too much thinking. Allow for no more than 1 minute each.
Answer #1
Answer #2
Their Questions will give you even MORE clues and insights into the lessons you’re being asked to learn AND how to live them.
Blessings!
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