Friday 27 September 2013

The Word of the Week - What is your Practice?


Over the many years that I have been studying how to navigate through life from a realm of peace and joy, I have picked up many tools along the way that have greatly assisted this journey.  I have learned that leaning upon my own fear based thoughts do not serve me and now have a wonderful “go to” bag as it were to help alleviate any angsts that I may come across on this sojourn.  Today I would like you to look at your own personal tool kits, your trusted go to methods that help you out of an unpleasant feeling that you may be going through.  Do you even have a tool kit?

When others view me, they see a strong, capable, confident person that stands before them, vibrant and gregarious, practical and a little bit scary.  Peel beneath those layers and you will find sensitivity, vulnerability, a few insecurities and many moments of self-doubt. However, it is the tools that allow others to see the former and not the latter.  Even as I embrace ALL of me, the many facets of my existence, I try to peel through those layers so that I can reveal my true self, a loving, compassionate, forgiving being of light, this is the place where I wish to reside all the time, this is my goal and my purpose.  Irrespective of any career or financial goals that I have personally set, this ideal trumps all the material aspects of my existence.  So I ask again, do you have a tool kit and more importantly are you using it?

To help you answer this question, your tools should enable you to try to clear any anxiety, to help alleviate fearful thoughts and to centre your thoughts to one of peace.  If we allow our egoic minds to take over, then we are indeed out of balance and stepping into the realm of chaos.  The purpose is not to repress but to learn to live in peace with the ebb and flow of life.  For me, this week has definitely been on the ebb and I have had to use many tools out of my kit to restore me back to balance.
For example,  when I am fearful about finances I use gratitude from my tool kit and make a mental or written list of everything that is truly wonderful in my life, even the smallest of things gains my attention, like the first sip of my mochachino in the morning, or the warm hug my daughter gives me.  When I switch to a mode of gratitude, my soul feels light and unburdened by the constricts of my mind.

Through these writings, my hope is to give you a few tools with which you can use when you feel out of balance and to ascertain which ones actually work for you.  These tools build up the mental muscles required to live rather than to exist and now I know I could not live without them.  Top of my list is meditation, prayer, journaling and affirmations, these are essential for my mind and my soul, then yoga and zumba for my body.  The trinity and the use of the three parts (mind, body and soul) is deeply rooted in the annals of time pre dating Christian doctrine.  It is however essential to cultivate these three aspects. Unfortunately, we tend to lean to the body as the first point of call, but it is to the spirit and the deep connection to the soul, which desires our attention, because, ultimately therein lies our freedom.

Have a balancing weekend.


Nameste (I bow to divine in you that which lives in me)

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