Calming the Mind

Getting Out of Your Head and Into Your Heart

getting out of your head and into your heart{This article first appeared here, on CoSozo.com, Tues, 1 July 2014.}

For the last decade people have been telling me that I live too much in my head and that I should live more in my heart. That idea of going from my head to my heart was really confusing at first. I thought people were suggesting that I stop thinking and focus only on my emotions, or suddenly fall in love with everything and everyone. That all seemed pretty difficult to do, and thankfully as I began to figure out this head to heart business, I realized that none of that had to happen.

To my great relief, it’s just a simple shift of focus.

Thinking, Thinking, Thinking

If you’re like most people, you spend a lot of time thinking: thinking about what has happened in the past and what will happen in the future. All day, every day, you’re doing pretty much the same thing: living in your head.

This is such an ingrained habit that most of us don’t even realize that there is anything else that we could be doing.

The thing about always thinking about the past and the future is that we miss what’s actually happening right now, where we actually live. We’re so busy paying attention to the past and future that we miss the present, where the action is going on, where the juice is, where all the things that we’re thinking about really exist, where life is really happening.

What do I mean when I say that we’re not really here?

An Experiment in Living

Try this little experiment and see what you can discover for yourself.

Stop for a moment and notice your body. Notice little things like your feet or thighs pressing down onto the ground or seat. Notice how the fabric of your clothing feels on your legs, your belly, your back, your shoulders, your arms. Notice as many sensations as you can: air moving over your skin, tension and softness in your muscles… anything and everything you can feel.

Pay attention to how long you can notice your sensations before going off into stories about them. How long before a twinge in your knee sends you thinking about how far you ran yesterday, and did you remember to start the washing machine after your run, and don’t forget to buy more laundry detergent, and did you put that on the grocery list? And you keep going, on and on, one thought after another, until pretty soon you’ve totally forgotten that you’re sitting there because your mind is somewhere else!

We miss a lot, because we spend so much of our time thinking about living and so little of our time actually focusing on living as it’s happening. We’ve all had those timeless moments where we really noticed the full depth of the moment: rocking a baby, at the crest of a high dive, taking in a fantastic view, looking deeply into the eyes of a lover… These are those moments when we get a glimpse of what we’re missing, a glimpse of being fully aware of what’s happening in the moment, the richness and depth of living.

Shifting From Head to Heart

The nice thing is that this is really simple to change.All that is needed is to shift your attention to where you are and what’s happening here. The challenge is that your habit of thinking is probably pretty strong, so you will need to keep re-focusing your attention on what’s happening until this new habit is formed.

Another nice thing is that there are lots of things that you can do to facilitate this new habit. Focusing on the body moving through space is often a good practice because the body is always doing something right here and right now. Anytime you want to shift your focus to living your life, check out what your body is doing. Notice where your body is contacting the ground or chair or bed. Notice what that feels like and immediately you are focused on living your life as it’s happening.

As I got out of my head and dropped into my heart, into myself, an amazing thing started to happen. I started to slowly notice how deep my inner landscape is, and how rich and full life is when I can actually be here in it. Everything is much more pleasurable. Now, I spend all day, every day doing pretty much the same thing: practicing this awareness of my life as it’s happening. When I realize I’m lost in my head, I simply shift my focus back into my self, where the juice is, where it’s all happening, where I live my life.

This process could really be called moving from Head to Self.

Head to Heart just sounds a lot sexier.

Elena has been practicing awareness since 2005 and has recorded seven of her favorite practices at www.ToothbrushMeditations.com. They’re quick and easy, 10-second meditations, that you can do anywhere and anytime you want to focus on living your life.

3 Steps for Shifting Fear

3 steps for shifting fear{This article first appeared here, on CoSozo.com, Tues, 1 July 2014.}
Fear is a natural emotion that our body-mind uses to let us know that we may be in danger. That’s great unless we’re experiencing fear more often than our situation actually warrants. Living in our modern world exposes us to multiple daily stresses, and the body-mind interprets many of them as dangerous, serving up fear when it isn’t actually necessary. We may find ourselves reacting in fear to all kinds of things, and notice that we’ve actually built up a strong fear habit, like building a muscle.

How do we change this pattern?

Here are three simple steps that I’ve used successfully for shifting many of my fear-based patterns.

Step 1: Pattern Recognition – What do you do when you’re in your pattern?

Identify one or two things that you do that signal you’re in your habit. 

Your fear habits aren’t random. Generally, you react to specific events with specific words, actions, thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations.

The good news is that you only need to be able to recognize one or two of these things to be able to notice when the pattern is happening.

So, how do you recognize a pattern, especially an unconscious one?

First, imagine something that you react to with fear.

Do you have a hard time receiving things? Do you worry about things like food, weight, money, sex, or relationships? Do you push people away, shut your heart down or refuse to take chances? Do you get scared when you think you’re wrong or feel out of control?

Then, choose something light so that you can stay conscious of yourself, and start looking, listening, and/or feeling the pattern so that you can identify a few simple signals that tell you you’re doing it.

Finally, ask yourself some questions so that you can start identifying some signals. One or two of these questions will be easy to answer, and that’s all you need.

What thoughts or emotions do you have when you imagine this?

Many people have impatient, depressing, angry, or anxious thoughts or emotions. What are your thoughts or feelings?

What things do you say?

Many people will use indicative words like “should” or “never” or “can’t” or “won’t”, put themselves down or blame themselves or others. Listen to your internal dialogue as well as what you say to others. “I can’t believe I did that! I shouldn’t have done that! What an idiot!” are great indicators. What kinds of things do you say?

What things do you do with your body?

Many people will have habitual body movements like turning away their head or shoulder, clenching their jaw or hands, shallow breathing, or tunnel vision. What do you do?

Step 2 : Pattern Separation – Realizing that you are not your thoughts and feelings

Recognize that you and your patterns are separate things. 

Now that you have a few signals that indicate your pattern, notice that your pattern is a set of mental, emotional, and physical “actions.”

You have thoughts and emotions like you have possessions. You have them like you have clothes. You can put them on and take them off. You can change them and no matter what you have on, you are still the same person underneath.  You can think one thing, and then think something else, and no matter which of those thoughts you are thinking, you are the same person.

Likewise you are not the actions that you do. You can throw a ball up and then throw a ball down, and you are still you.

Why is this important?

Because this means that you can separate yourself from your thoughts, emotions, and actions by realizing that you are not them. You can realize that they are things that you are having and doing, and that you can choose to not have them or do them. You can choose something else.

This is crucial.

As soon as you realize that you have a choice, then you have a choice. As soon as you realize that what you have and do is not you, you have a choice about what you have and do. Or don’t have and don’t do.

This is the beauty and the challenge of changing a habit. You have the power. You have always had the power. Once you realize that you have the power then you can use it. You can consciously choose to say “yes” or “no” as you like. Changing your habit may still take a bit of time, and at this point it helps to make a strong commitment to change, to love yourself enough to say yes when you are used to saying no. Usually you’ll have to recommit, over and over, until the change is made. This takes patience and self-compassion, and a sense of humor helps a lot.

Step 3: Pattern Break – Making a new choice

Now that you can recognize when the pattern is happening, and realize that you’re separate from it – that it is a choice that you are making – you can begin to choose something else.

In the beginning, if the pattern is really strong, it may help to choose something very simple like focusing on your breath instead of focusing on your fear. Generally, the body is a great place to start because it places you firmly into something tangible.

When your pattern arises, you might just notice your breath moving in and out of your body or your feet on the ground, or where your elbows are, the quality of light that you can see in the room or the sounds you can hear. If one of your indicators is a habitual body position, like clenching your jaw or collapsing your chest, simply softening your jaw or lifting your shoulders is a great place to start.

You will find that all of this gets easier and easier as you do it, and as you build this new muscle, soon your choices will expand to clarity, creativity, excitement, joy, love, expansion, lightness. Enjoy your power to choose. Enjoy saying yes!

Elena offers quick and easy meditations at ToothbrushMeditations.com and welcomes your feedback to this article. Please share your experiences below.

 

Acknowledge Your Fears, Don’t Cultivate Them!

acknowledge fears don't cultivate them{This article first appeared here, on CoSozo.com Tues, 1 July 2014.}
Let’s face it, if a tiger is about to pounce, we’re not concerned about composing a symphony, we want an instant decision on whether to fight, fly, or freeze. The sympathetic nervous system creates this quick mode at the expense of intelligence, creativity, digestion, and immunity among others. This state has both mental and physical consequences, and in our stress-filled modern world we go into it quite often since our body-mind doesn’t know the difference between a tiger and a deadline.

Because we go into this mode so often, it can become a habit. We can begin making decisions in this limited state without even realizing it. We can find ourselves unconsciously saying “no” to things without even thinking about them. We might push people away, refuse growth opportunities, get angry or impatient, or feel blame or guilt when none of this is warranted.

Eventually, if we begin to notice that something is awry, and we decide to change this pattern, to break this fear-based habit of saying “no” to life, it’s helpful to understand the difference between acknowledging it, becoming fully conscious of it, and cultivating it, making it bigger, stronger, and more intense. Or as I like to say, noticing versus wallowing.

Acknowledging What’s Already There Isn’t Cultivating

One thing I’ve seen over and over, is that as we’re changing a habit and becoming more aware of it, there is a point where we start to wonder if in becoming conscious of it we’re actually making it worse. This is because as we become aware of it, we start to see how big it really is, and it seems like suddenly we have a big problem where there was none. When we weren’t noticing it, it was not there, and now that we’re noticing it, it’s huge. We wanted the pattern to go away, and now it’s bigger. We begin to wonder if it is the fault of the noticing.

Of course, the pattern was there all along, we just weren’t aware of the full extent of it.  Now we are. Becoming aware isn’t the issue. The pattern is the issue, and that can feel daunting.

This is a point to be kind to ourselves, to be patient and to call up our courage and self-compassion. If we choose to go unconscious again we won’t be able to make any changes to our unconscious pattern. If we can stay conscious of it, we can do something about it. If we can be brave enough to face what is happening, to face our pattern, we can change it.

Choosing Patience versus Cultivating

The second place where we often get confused about the difference between acknowledging and cultivating is in how we respond to a pattern as it is happening. We can start by acknowledging the pattern as it is happening, noticing it in order to truly see it, and then start adding to the pattern by feeling bad about it. We shift to making it bigger, stronger, more intense. Now we’re cultivating it. Often we add guilt, shame, blame, anger, impatience, or contraction.

It works something like this:

I notice that I have a fear-based pattern of getting angry when I feel out of control. I don’t like this pattern, so I’m motivated to change it. So far so good.

Then, when I notice that the pattern is happening I get disgusted and say things to myself like, “I can’t believe I’m doing this! This is so stupid! Why is this happening to me?!”  Now I’m adding to the pattern by layering on more fear-based thoughts and emotions.

Fortunately, as soon as I see myself saying things like this, I can make a new choice. I can realize that this is the fear talking, this is me continuing the pattern, and instead choose something else like being patient with myself knowing that changing a pattern takes time. With that kind thought, I’ve moved away from making the pattern bigger and back into acknowledging, into noticing what is happening.

Adding to the habit is somewhat inevitable in the beginning, and as long as we see that is what we’re doing, we can choose to notice that too, and patiently shift back to acknowledging. The trick is to realize that turning the fear onto yourself, thinking and feeling fearful things, is part of the pattern. Remember that you aren’t stupid, bad or wrong, terminally contracted, broken, or whatever your pattern throws at you. That is just the pattern talking. Make a firm decision to choose something else, and keep reaffirming that decision as often as the choice comes up.

You are perfect.

The next time that paper tiger is about to pounce, smile at yourself and know that you have the power to change any habit you have. You have the power to choose. Soon, with a little patience, courage, and self-compassion, you and that tiger will be prancing around together singing a resounding “YES”!
Elena offers quick and easy meditations at ToothbrushMeditations.com and welcomes your feedback to this article. Please share your experiences below.

Breaking the Cycle of Struggle

breaking the cycle of struggleSometimes struggle is about doing the same thing over and over and getting no where. It’s like the wrong kind of perseverance. If we’re persevering to struggle, then all we’re really doing is putting lots and lots of energy into getting no where. It’s like we’re just stuck in the fight or the play. It’s a habit.

So what’s the difference between struggling, getting no where, and perseverance, that gets us somewhere?

Let’s stop for a moment and recognize that we’re talking about getting somewhere on the physical-mental-emotional plane and not on the spiritual plane where there is no where to go and nothing to do. I’m talking about getting out of the mental-emotional traps that I’ve created for myself. The endless loops of negativity that I keep myself stuck in and things like that. The fighting with myself that repeats over and over and changes insignificantly… berating myself, feeling unworthy, thinking that I should have done things better, feeling guilty, etc, etc, etc.

This is the fighting and wallowing and creating drama kind of struggle that goes no where and uses up lots of energy and focus. It makes me tired just thinking about it.

And when is that different from working with something and getting somewhere with it? When are we breaking the old patterns and creating something new?

An important question seems to be, where am I in relation to it?

Am I looking at it from the place that I usually do? Am I considering it from the normal perspective with the usual thoughts, feelings and postures? Am I standing and breathing the same way, thinking the same way and feeling the same way? That tends to promote the struggle, because nothing different than the old struggle is happening. This is perpetuating the cycle. Instead it’s when I am feeling it and thinking about it from different places that seems to make the difference. When I can stand differently and breathe differently that changes struggle to perseverance.

Can I step outside of the situation and look at it from a different perspective, like taking a bird’s eye view? Can I bring a totally new emotional landscape to it, preferably one that is expansive in some way? Can I think about it in a totally new way, with a new frame of mind? Can I breathe deeper or differently and break the physical patterning? Any one of these help shift the dynamic.

Taking Things Personally

Taking things personallyI’ve been writing a lot lately about struggle. As a world-class struggler, I have a lot to say about it apparently. I started with a long list of successful strategies for struggle. That was enlightening. I didn’t realize that I knew so many! Wow, do I know a lot of them. Wow, have I employed a lot of them!

One thing that I have begun to see with this exploration of struggle is that a big part of it relies on us insisting that things are personal. What do I mean by that? It definitely deserves some explanation as it has become a great thing for me to explore and understand!

Taking things personally works something like this: things that happen in my reality are about me. They effect me because I experience them and I hang on to that effect and turn it into something important and, well, personal – something about me, something pertaining to me. If a waitress brings me something that I didn’t order I can feel upset. I might be upset for any number of reasons that are all centered around me and my self-worth, like that bringing me the wrong order is insulting because she didn’t listen to me, she didn’t respect me enough to listen to what I was saying. Or bringing me the wrong order is a waste of my time. Now I have to sit here and wait for my meal to arrive a second time and I am hungry! Maybe my friends now have their food and either I have to watch them eat. How humiliating for me and uncomfortable! Or they have to wait for me and let their food get cold. How rude of me and of her!

This is taking things personally. This is making things personal.

Another way to look at this, that isn’t personal is to do things like think about the fact that the waitress is a complex being with a lot going on. Whatever happened to create the situation could have absolutely nothing to do with you. At all. She might have heard you just fine and then gotten the order mixed up with a similar one from the table next to you. It might not have had anything to do with her either… maybe the cook read the order wrong, told her the order for your table was ready and so she simply brought it to you.

This is all pretty silly when looked at like this. And yet it happens all the time. We take things personally. We assign meaning related to ourselves when we don’t need to. And this is important because we often assign feelings to it as well. That may seem fine when we feel good. What happens when we feel bad?

And this is all really silly if you think that things that happen in your life should be related to you, that they do have personal meaning. And maybe they do.

And what if they don’t?

Opens up a whole new vista doesn’t it?

Enjoy,

Elena

Why Fixing Things Doesn’t Work

why fixing things doesn't workDon’t you just love it when you realize something? Like a suddenly you understand something that has never made much sense to you no matter how many times you’ve heard it before? I love that!

Today, I accidentally realized why working on things can be a big waste of time. I had a terrible, melt-down kind of day today. I went to bed exhausted, and when I woke up I didn’t get out of bed for three hours. I laid there feeling into how bad I felt, and inviting it to express itself and move on. As I drifted in and out of sleep, I had crazy dreams that didn’t seem to help much other than make me realize that I was still feeling terrible. Finally, I gave in and got up.

Then I had a business meeting with my husband. Well, tried to. He gently and adroitly asked if I felt like “we” were in any state to have this meeting? He was very calm, as I first baited him and then he just listened as I described how I was feeling. We just sat there in the light of what I just shared.

I didn’t try to fix it. I was just miserable. I didn’t try to make it bigger or wallow in it. I just felt it.

And as we sat there for a few minutes in silence, I shed a few silent tears and started feeling better.

Nothing was fixed. Nothing was solved. Nothing had changed as far as my mind was concerned. And I felt better.

I still feel like I need to really cry and other than that it has passed.

As I was walking up the hill on my way home this evening, I reflected that just shining light on the situation, just sharing it openly and having it witnessed by another was enough. It didn’t need fixing this time.

It just needed to be exposed. Outed.

Like so many secrets or dark things, shining the light on them can be enough.

Walking up, I realized why people say that sometimes fixing things doesn’t work. Sometimes if we jump into fix it mode we miss the opportunity for the problem to go away on its own. We miss the opportunity for it to fix itself. We might even be holding it in place sometimes when we do this, because we move the much needed light of focus away from the problem and shine it on “the solutions” instead.

So, I ask pardon for all of those times I tried to fix anyone! Please forgive me. I am sorry. Sometimes we want solutions, and sometimes it’s better to just give the thing the breathing room to heal itself. Voila! It passes.

Judging Judgements

IMG_2642Oh ho! how fun it is to play with all the poo in my head… and to notice how is plays with me.

I’ve been looking at the all of those things that I think about others and keep to myself… that constant stream of criticisms that form in an instant, come with resentment, anger, sadness, fear, pain, etc., and never get spoken. I keep them in because I think that other people won’t like me if I tell them these thoughts. And I don’t really feel the feelings either because I feel so guilty about feeling them in the first place.

It happened because I was, stuck in my own mud, full to the brim with all of this undigested crud, and someone pointed out that I was full of unspoken judgements! Eek! No one was supposed to know!

Haha. Everyone knows. First of all, many of us do this very same thing, and secondly we feel it when someone is being critical, even if it’s silent and we don’t really know what we’re feeling.

After a week or so of looking at this, this is what is working so far to move the muck.

First, I notice when I’m being critical. “Wow, that’s me thinking that she’s a pain in my bum, again. Oh! And here’s me judging myself for being judgmental again!”

Second, I’ve been feeling the feeling that is behind the criticism. This part is pretty interesting, because I try not to think about it, I try to just feel it, thanks to this interview Benoit Foucher did with Paul Cooper, and what a difference that makes! As he points out, once we really feel it, the reason behind it will surface naturally. And, of course, it turns out that my criticisms are because I’m feeling bad about myself. What a surprise. Haha.

Once I can feel the feeling, things get softer. Whether the reason surfaces or not, just digesting the emotion, just letting the emotion express itself, is making a huge difference.

I’m still judgmental. I’m just much more aware as I’m doing it, so I don’t unconsciously direct the emotion at the other. I stop and feel the emotion and that feels much better. Whew!

All in all, a much nicer place to be!

New Goal: 90 – 10

On top of the Rockies!  I just read this great idea of focusing 90% of the time on positive things and only 10% on negative things.

So all that time I spend fixing what’s wrong, would only take up  10% of my time.

And all the love and laughter would be the ENTIRE other 90%.

That’s a ratio worth living!

This really came home to me yesterday when I realized that this shadow work that I was doing didn’t have to be so depressing… I could actually ask myself to have fun with it. Fun looking at my deepest, darkest crud? Well why not?! I get to decide how I do things, where I focus my attention, where I focus my energies… whether I revel in the bright sides or lull myself asleep with the heavy darkness. So, I’m trying it and so far it’s much nicer. The dark is still dark and I’m reminded to not take it so seriously, reminded to keep my distance from it, that I am not it.

Then this 90 – 10 idea floated by and it felt like a great idea to live by and confirmation of my decision. Isn’t the Universe grand?

Thanks Universe. Thanks whomever wrote that idea down.

Enjoy!,

Elena