Each person comes into this world with a specific destiny–he has something to fulfill, some message has to be delivered, some work has to be completed. You are not here accidentally–you are here meaningfully. There is a purpose behind you. The whole intends to do something through you.
-Osho
Detoxing the Mind: Day Five – Listen
Listen.
This practice may seem simple, but it was not. It took a lot of effort to just listen. I had a family emergency and I could not practice to write my challenges. I had to be mindful of my actions and what I was doing and how not to take everything so personal.
My daughter was sick. I wanted to make her feel better, and so did my husband. The problem came with our communication. I thought I was listening to him, but I was stuck in a thought and a feeling. I wanted to help her and I couldn’t hear anything but my own fears and my way of helping her. My husband muttered, “You are not listening”.
I paused and realized I was in a tunnel. It wasn’t about listening to birds or cars passing by, but listening to what I choose not to hear. I realized that there are so many reactions and noises around me that sometimes, I get scared and begin to peel away the world.
I used this moment to be mindful and cleanse the mind of the toxins that fear and uncertainty can bring. I listen to my husband. I did not “give in” but observe what was happening and if I was closing off. I wasn’t about who was right or who was wrong. It was about taking care of our daughter. We were both concerned. He could not hear my thought and understand my actions. How could he? I still don’t understand why I do what I do most of the time.
I let go of myself, my ego, the bind that holds me to a story, my sense of control.
The oddest thing happened, I was actually content. I felt less nervous. I was in the moment. I listened to my husband and my child. I hear with compassion for we all had the same goal. We all had our own story.
The realization that they are separate from me, but we are all connected to what is the reality of the situation is very powerful. There were moments, which I wanted to let go of the moment and put the situation in a nice little whole. I told myself. “Not now, reality does not have a story, only lessons and awaken. Listen.”
If we’re open to it, we will see, read, hear, touch, or feel something that’s exactly what we need. Our days’ events contain messages, whether big or small, from something greater than us.
Day Four: The Picture and Commentary
Day Four: The Picture and Commentary
It is easy to focus of the negative of others. A passage has been floating about on the web:
“Look for the helpers. You’ll always find people who are helping.” — Fred Rogers, on what to do when scary things are on the news
Watch a segment on the news and look at the big picture. See if you can find the beauty or just the story without the commentary. What feelings come up when you watch it? Does this remind you of an event that occurred in your life? Could you be grateful towards the people who helped the victims and show true compassion? Are you able to look at the news and not create a story or an opinion? Are you able to distinguish between the commentary and reality?
Results:
It was a skill to be observe, without judgement and not place judgement on people who judge. I watch and saw with love people willingness to cry for the woman who was killed by her husband. I saw compassion in their eyes, or did I? I saw the pushy reporter asking the family about the murder. I thought it was how tactless. Opps…I judged. I took a breath and let it go. I observed the feeling that it was evoking within me. I drew memories of my dad’s death. I observe how sad I was inside. I miss him. I observed how I stop paying attention to the moment and took myself on a journey of tales.
Thoughts:
I want to judge the world and my place in it. Everything has to have a connection and a story. I will even go so far as to make up a story based on prior experience. I want to feel compassion. but I am too hurt to allow myself to heal. Healing is a process and for every moment that I can let go of my ego, the further expansion and connection I was have to heal and be with the world.
This is an exercise I will practice, again.
Day Five: Listen
Close my eyes and listen for ten minutes. I mean really listen. Stop the story and observe the sounds. With every inhale, take in the sounds and with every exhale, let it go.
What do you hear? Are you able to let go? What do you do to reconnect to the moment?
Detoxing the Mind: Day Three – Walking
Day Three: Walking
Today was about following this ten step guide to finding the moment while being active through the act of walking.
1. Find a welcoming setting. I picked a place that was right outside my door, near the basketball courts. I have walked it a hundred times or more, but can only remember a handful of days. This patch has become automatic and hypnotic. It is covered by trees and is off the main street. It is actually a pretty calm place all things considered…it is NYC.
2. Stay in step with your breath. I started to follow my movement with my breath. Right root – inhale. Left Root – exhale. At one point I exchanged this to inhaling lift foot and exhales step down. It was a challenge to be mindful of my breath and movement on a patch that is filled with routine. It took a few times to refocus and not go into autopilot.
3. Open your heart. LI had some issues with this. My shoulders like to be up and forward. Paying attention to my breath and walking habits have caused me to trip. I remedy this by holding my hands beyond me and rolling my shoulder down my back. To my amazement, the world seemed much kinder and bright. Given the circumstance of the day, it was a welcoming feeling.
4. Mind your gaze. I walk focused a few feet in front of me. The odd thing was that with every step, the world seemed bigger with more activity. I was aware of the chess players and the squirrels digging for nuts, but it was not a story, just an observation.
5. Keep the pace slow. Very hard to do….I want to walk fast and get where I want to go. However it is a matter of patience. I would not be able to do the following steps without keeping a slow pace. The odd thing was after a few moments of walking “awkwardly” it seemed natural and balanced.
6. Inhabit each step. Tripping…I tripped, feet…I have feet? I obviously was not aware of my feet. I remained steady once I realized my feet were my own. I also realized how much I use my lower back to move me. Each step didn’t just bring on foot contact sensation but about a conscious of the body and its role in my movement.
7. Walk like you mean it. After the seventh step, I felt like I had a purpose. I felt like my purpose was to walk down the path. I know that may sound odd, but can you name a few times when you don’t remember walking at all or you knew you had to pay attention because it was the dead of night and you didn’t know who was out there…sort of in the middle of these two sensations.
8. Release any thought of getting somewhere. Release, once I was finally able to realize, I could enjoy the fresh air. I just walked. I wasn’t thinking about where I was going. I just walked and let the world fall under my feel.
9. Enjoy the support of the earth. The funny thing is when I felt my most support was when I felt like I was floating. I didn’t question whether the ground was going to be there. I was aware of it and I was grateful for it being there to help my body travel.
10. Take a leap. The lesson I learn is to trust and have faith. Things will work out if you allow it to be.
Thoughts:
It was enjoyable, but challenging. I am learned how much I don’t trust myself or the earth. I am always in opposition to insure that I will not get harmed. Its powerful feeling of let go of this wall, and have a connection to the world. I felt so small, but large, so connected, but disconnected. There was a moment that I felt balanced. I will be repeating this exercise.
Day Four: The Picture and Commentary
Yesterday, a horrible event happened in Boston. It is easy to focus of the negative of others. A passage has been floating about the web:
“Look for the helpers. You’ll always find people who are helping.” — Fred Rogers, on what to do when scary things are on the news
Watch a segment on the news and look at the big picture. See if you can find the beauty or just the story without the commentary. What feelings come up when you watch it? Does this remind you of an event that occurred in your life? Could you be grateful towards the people who helped the victims and show true compassion? Are you able to look at the news and not create a story or an opinion? Are you able to distinguish between the commentary and reality?
Detoxing the Mind: Day 2 – No Power
Day two: No Power
Living in the city can be hard to turn off all power. When evening draws near, I will make an effort to cleanse the air from any electrical charge. Perhaps turning off all power for an hour or going to the park. I will be mindful of my breath, reactions, and then letting go.
Results:
I started just before sun set. I needed a sense of time and as I was looking for a moment of peace. The city is always busy. People are around and you have no choice to accept that. I was going to mediate in a place that I thought was isolated. It was near a park and the closest thing to being isolated.
This was a hard exercise for me. I resisted. None of the spots seem good enough and when I finally decided enough was enough, I sat down. At home, I would have easily got into a meditative position. Out here, I was afraid of being judge, but I was also afraid of bring vulnerable. I took a few breaths in and out and I finally calmed my mind.
I heard footsteps. I looked up, there was an old woman with her day looking at me. I closed my eyes.
I heard another type of footsteps. A man was looking at me and eventually asked what I was doing. I told him and we spoke briefly, then finally he left.
I was alone and then a group of a people decided to ask was I was doing.
Note – When cleaning your energy, people are attracted to you.
I decide to take a little walk home, breathing in the air.
When I got there, I open the windows, turned off all the power, and became again. This time is was wonderful. I started to appreciate my breath and the songs the birds sang when I finally became still. Music and life is all around me and I am part of the force.
I took out all stories and just listen to the sounds and by breath.
I mediated until the sun set.
Thoughts:
This was a very challenging meditative practice. I was scared to leave my power behind. I was afraid of being alone and vulnerable. Once I was able to relax, I realized that I tell stories to bulk myself from listening to the world. The great thing about this feeling is it strengthens the longer my mediation lasts. I choose to connect with my friends through meditation by simply opening myself up to this type of communication. I always feel at home when I’m connected with the world.
Every ‘session’ is different too, which is teaching me a lot about ‘expectations’ vs. just allowing things to just ‘be’ and going with the flow. We live in a world of constant stimuli. We push ourselves to the limits and in the process forget to let our mind and soul recharge,and as a result we become stressed and sick. It doesn’t have to be pushed at every moment, life is meant to be enjoyed.
Challenge for tomorrow: Walking
A 10-Step Walking Meditation to Bring You to Now
If you’re ready to open to a new beginning, try the following. This 10-step walking meditation will help wake you up to your own mindful “now.”
1. Find a welcoming setting. Choose a spot, whether inside or out, that offers a peaceful, unhurried environment free from distractions. It’s also ideal to be barefooted. A beach, park, or grassy area is nice, and walking outside has many healing benefits. But a small, quiet indoor space where you can simply walk a few steps one way or the other also works. You don’t have to go far.
2. Stay in step with your breath. Move with the breath, perhaps lifting the foot off on the inhale and stepping down on an exhale.
3. Open your heart. Lengthen the spine and open the heart center, allowing for a broadening across the collarbone and relaxed shoulders. Feel the body’s energy from the base of the spine to the crown of the head.
4. Mind your gaze. Consider keeping your focus on the ground, perhaps just a few feet in front of you.
5. Keep the pace slow. Be deliberate. Move with intention and stay in the moment.
6. Inhabit each step. Remain conscious of the bottoms of the feet as they touch the earth, as well as the space between steps.
7. Walk like you mean it. Spread the toes and fix the bottoms of the feet to the earth—plant them, grow something.
8. Release any thought of getting somewhere. Enjoy the power and pleasure of being present. As the one monk says to the other in the New Yorker cartoon, “Nothing happens next. This is it.”
9. Enjoy the support of the earth. Wake up to the feeling of the feet touching the ground, knowing that the earth is always there to support and provide a foundation.
10. Take a leap. Let this simple practice supply the experience and encouragement to take some bigger step in your life.
- by Conni Kunzler
Detoxing the Mind – Five Day Challenge
I’ve been all over the place the past few months. My personal life has has its ups and downs, but mostly downs. I could feel my mind get deeper into thoughts and automatic behaviors because I did not want to deal with everything as once.
So, I decided I needed to step back and look at the bigger picture. Life.
This is not an easy feat when all I wanted to do is avoid. I wanted to pretended that nothing is happening and that I can go on with my days. I started to lose control of my emotions and behaviors.
I realize that spring is about cleansing. I really needed to do an emotional detox. I wanted to start by honoring those negative emotions. I was releasing the need to control my thoughts and in effect, having then control me.
When you do this, it will help you let go and heal from many things: unhappy childhood experiences, difficult relationships, pain, regret, guilt etc.
I am given myself a five day challenge: 15 minutes a day (give or take the minutes) of just cleaning my head of unnecessary thoughts.
So, I have started my seven day journey into detoxing my mind.
Day One: Connecting with the Breath
I laid on the floor after a yoga session. I could not get comfortable, My first reaction was this act was not going to work. I took a deep breath in and out through my nose. I did this for every intrusive thought. I took it and said, not now with every exhalation to let it go.
Then, I wonderful noise started to come through the window. I could hear birds chirping and people talking. I took a deep breath in and out to acknowledge the world and letting go of the story I wanted to tell. I didn’t this for about 20 minutes, going in and out of thoughts.
When I was ready to stop, I took 20 breaths in and out and gave thanks to the people in my life.
After the session, I felt better. Not great, but better. It was the first time in a long time that I actually was still.
Better enough to actually write a small piece.
Day two: No Power
Living in the city can be hard to turn off all power. When evening draws near, I will make an effort to cleanse the air from any electrical charge. Perhaps turning off all power for an hour or going to the park. I will be mindful of my breath, reactions, and then letting go.
Ten Guidelines For Being Mindful Online
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