As we continue to face this lockdown, it can bring feelings of chaos, confusion, fear and uncertainty to our lives. However, these feelings are not unique to this time in history. Most – if not all – of us have faced similar feelings at different times in our lives. It is just that our current situation has highlighted and exacerbated these feelings.
At any time that we face these feeling we are left with only two choices:
We can choose to respond to what is happening around us from an empowered place, or we can choose to react from a place of fear.
I believe that life and its many challenges are our litmus tests. What we face along our life journey is meant to help us grow, and develop our personal awareness. It is meant to help us consciously evolve and embody more of who we really are. Whatever we face is not there to consume us with fearful thoughts and emotions. When we are in the grip of fear we close down to possibilities and pathways that are always present within the suffering.
Fear doesn’t exist outside of us. It is created from within – from our focus, thoughts, beliefs, and more. When we give in to fear and uncertainty, it becomes suffering. When we suffer, it tends to cloud our judgement and control our decisions. Decisions made from fear/suffering tend to have negative or damaging consequences for us and for others.
That said, suffering if looked at from a higher perspective, can be seen as a gateway to deeper, truer emotions. All negative emotions – forms of suffering – actually have a positive intent behind them. If we truly wish to become empowered and live a life of Truth, peace, empowerment and fulfillment, it is critical that we discover and embody whatever that deeper intent is. It’s the message or gift that the suffering aims to provide.
But it is up to us to learn to move through the suffering. We need to learn how to feel whatever emotions are underneath the suffering so that we can start uncovering their message to us.
But how do you do that?
There are several methodologies that I use in my courses and with my one-on-one clients. In truth, no one methodology or process fits everyone all the time. A lot of it depends on the person, on their patterns, unconscious blocks, openness, willingness and more.
Nonetheless, there are a few key processes and practices that can really help us move through suffering, instead of remaining stuck in it. These processes can help us move from fear to freedom. From chaos to calm. From anxiety to peace.
I’m going to share a few practices you can start using right away, and share with you, a valuable opportunity to move through your suffering. I hope you will be able to benefit from it and discover the Truth deep down inside you.
It’s the Truth that you already are.
This Truth – this power inside us – opens the door to wellness, and holds all the treasures we seek. However, when we remain in fear and suffering, we are unable to connect with it.
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MEDITATION:
Through meditation, we can release emotional blockages and uncover the power within, by stripping away the layers of our ego, mind, and intellect that have built up over our lifetime. It helps us navigate and process our suffering, fear and uncertainty. It allows us to tap into that inherent Truth.
Meditation is the most direct way to experience inner silence, presence, joy, and healing. It has a powerful effect on the way we react to external stressors. It also increases our resilience to stress (essentially another form of fear) in ways that other forms of relaxation can’t. Meditating for even thirty minutes per day can provide more psychological rest than a full night’s sleep.
Yes, challenges still happen (as we can see from the global situation), regardless of whether we have a meditation practice in place – but how we respond to those challenges changes. Our stress, fear and anxiety are significantly reduced, and this, in turn, allows us to respond to situations that arise, rather than react to them unconsciously (read: knee-jerk reaction). In other words, we stop suffering and start connecting to the deeper emotion, Truths, and gifts that await us.
There is a life beyond our physical and emotional suffering, but it requires an inner journey. It requires us to open a dialogue with ourselves, and weave silence and stillness into our mind and body.
We can do this with a combination of meditation and two other practices that I’m going to share with you. These two practices work together to move stuck, emotional and energetic blocks, to revive presence. Presence is critical not just for responding to life, but also for enjoying it and making the most of every moment we have.
Meditation has been found to:
- Heal depression and anxiety
- Decrease addictive behaviour
- Strengthen immune function
- Stimulate the body’s self-repair mechanisms
- Dissolve reactive patterns in our lives
PLEASE NOTE: not all meditation is equal. To learn more about the three types of meditation click here.
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SELF-INQUIRY
At first, self-inquiry is just that: IN-quiry.
It is turning our attention inwards, towards ourselves; our true nature. It is a practice of redirecting attention away from outward objects, events, and experiences, toward the experiences within our body and mind. With this practice, we get to see through unconscious beliefs. This inward focus allows us to experience our true nature, especially when combined with meditation practice.
I encourage you to open up a dialogue between you and yourself.
Engage your beliefs and fears in conversation. If you don’t bring these feelings to the surface and into conscious awareness, they will continue to affect you in destructive ways. They will leave you feeling empowered instead of disempowered regardless of what life presents.
It’s important to realize that all of our resentments and built-up anger have an agenda. When these old beliefs and fears aren’t questioned, they have control over our actions, and we can feel trapped in our circumstances.
Self-inquiry is a way to bring old wounds to the surface for healing so they are impacting our current situations in negative ways.
It’s quite simple and uses questions that direct your attention to your sense of self or “me”, or to your direct experience of your existence and/or that particular moment in time.
For instance, you can ask:
- In what areas of my life do I feel stress regularly?
- What is my greatest fear?
- What meaning am I giving this situation?
- Who would I be without it?
Once you bring these feelings and corresponding beliefs to the surface, they can be embraced and transformed. And meditation allows us to observe these feelings with childlike wonderment and detached curiosity. We can observe our thoughts and become conscious choice makers, using our minds the way they were intended, rather than letting our thoughts run wild and create chaos.
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BREATHWORK
Breath is life and it moves through our body every second of every day. But how many times do we stop and pay attention to it? Not very often. Instead, we experience stress, pain, anxiety, confusion, and uncertainty.
Breathwork is a practice that helps you reclaim yourself and your emotions.
Much like meditation and self-inquiry, it opens the door to your inner world—your inner emotional body. It welcomes you to an unknown place inside of you; one that you may not have known existed, but is exactly what you needed.
In moments of stress, pain or trauma, we hold our breath. It’s instinctual. The only problem is that when we hold our breath, that emotional trauma becomes lodged in our bodies, and in our psyches. It can then impact every decision we make. Every action we take. And that pain sustains itself and festers for years.
Breathing intentionally and in specific patterns can change your life. When done correctly, the breath allows you to access, feel and process suppressed emotions – even ones that have been suppressed for a lifetime.
You can realize truths about yourself, heal trauma, ease physical pain, and experience revitalized energy.
YOU ARE MEANT TO THRIVE NOT JUST SURVIVE
Byron Katie says, “Life is simple. Everything happens for you, not to you. Everything happens at exactly the right moment, neither too soon nor too late.”
Healing requires weaving silence and stillness into our minds and bodies, as we unravel our deepest thoughts, beliefs and concepts about ourselves, about life, as well as often long-buried emotional pain. The practices of meditation, self-inquiry and breathwork allow that to happen. Once this process begins, we restore balance to our minds and bodies and learn what it means to truly feel empowered and peaceful. Even when facing challenging situations.
These practices – whilst incredibly powerful and transformative – are best learned from someone with the knowledge and expertise to guide you through them properly. Just like learning anything else.
That brings me to ways that I can support you to learn these practices (or deepen them):
Firstly, you are welcome to work with me directly during one of my TOSA Healing Journeys. A TOSA Journey is an immersive live, online, group breathwork, inquiry and coaching workshop to support your emotional, physical, or spiritual healing. They run on the 1st and 3rd Saturday of each month and are by donation.
Here is the link to learn more: https://theothersideofaverage.com/tosa-healing-journey-main-breathwork-meditation-self-inquiry/
Secondly, if you have any questions or are in need of extra support, please reach out to me and book an inquiry session: : https://theothersideofaverage.com/inquiry
Much love and appreciation to you for being you.
