Talked with a client today and we were bonding over the common experience of having arrived somewhere by car without remembering how we got there. A little scary. This stemmed from us trying to describe the kinds of jobs people do that pull them out of their bodies and into their stress-filled minds, 24/7. The idea in both examples is that not being present to the current moment by feeling your body and breathing and butt in the car seat, is being a little to far out from the moment. And that is not healthy.
We slide out, further and further from the now as we think up our to do lists, analyze our issues, and problem solve our lives. We slide further away as we let the muscle tension that compresses our spine and squeezes our organs go unnoticed. And further still as we hide or stuff our normal daily emotions, each one responding with a physiological effect in our body. Out we go from the now, away from awareness, away from choice.
Too far out from the moment, our attention is not with what is. Too far out from the moment we are a victim of past or future thinking, and are unable to make choices from inside of awareness. The choices become reactions instead of responses and life feels heavy, forced, difficult and cramped.
The moment gives us space. Being centered here and now, in the sensations of our body and emotions, there is a stillness that creates space for flow and creativity. Pile that space up with overthinking and worry and you start to feel the walls closing in. There doesn’t seem to be a choice. You have to, should do, must finish, are obligated to comply. That place is too far out from the moment – you let yourself drift and you risk being lost at sea.
Staying here in now requires you to be a disciplined recognizer of your own voices. When they talk, which ones are talking, and what they are saying? One set of voices tends to be the blabbermouth kind, constantly filing your head with worries, lists, and what ifs. These voices tend to be negative and self sabotaging. The other set of voices comes from your intuition, the now, the stillness, and doesn’t talk so much as give you a feeling or knowing sense. These voices give you messages about yourself that guide and support. You must get good at dampening the first set so you can hear the second.
When you find yourself drifting away from the moment and come back around to yourself, arriving back in your body and clearing your mind, you have succeeded in shutting down the chattering voices. Now, breathe, relax, and repeat.
The last thing my client and I discussed was the movement therapies that we had discovered that demand present moment focus. Hers is Tai chi, mine, Tae Kwon Do. One gentle, one not so much, but both fabulous in the practice of disciplining the mind to teach the body to follow. Thanks Master Holloway for making that the focus of your teaching over my last eight years with you.
And for all of you, what will your way be? How will you catch yourself if you drift too far out?
Artwork by Atousa Raissyan www.atousaraissyan.com
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