So many of us drive, even for short distances. Is it a way of avoiding the world? What are the gifts of walking? Here is my short reverie on a walk across town.
My chiropractor’s office is a very short drive from my home – about 3-5 minutes or so. Since I wouldn’t have time for my usual routine of weights and yoga (or a morning hike), I decide, what the heck – why don’t I walk there?
Anger gets a bad rap in the therapy – and spirituality – community. It’s labeled a “negative” emotion, and for good reason. When anger runs us and we react to it, it can blow like a volcano and make quite a mess of our relationships.But the truth is that anger isn’t inherently a bad emotion. In fact, anger, like all emotions, has a purpose and is a necessary part of being a human. Anger matters, and you can learn to work with it in a helpful way.
There’s a way to shift ourselves out of a dour mood. From a pre-pandemic blog I originally wrote for Psych Central (when I actually had a physical counseling office!), here’s how I returned to feeling more alive and happy.
We’ve all had those days where we feel off, or maybe worse. Sometimes, we’re down, overwhelmed, or in a funk. Yesterday was one of those days for me.
All of us struggle with thoughts. We may not always be aware of it, but our thoughts are going on in our mind constantly throughout the day. The way we think about ourselves, our circumstances, and life in general – whether conscious or unconscious – affects how we feel and actually affects our experiences. Thankfully, there is a way to get a grip on those thoughts and then let them go. One excellent way is Presence.
In a previous post, I introduced the practice of Presence. Essentially, it is being here, in this moment, with your awareness and attention. The heart is open to what you feel and sense within yourself and the world around you. The mind is quiet and witnessing, rather than narrating what we experience.
If you’re willing to be patient and present – to wait a bit in the unknown – you’ll perceive the blessings showing up. No matter where you live, you can find life and inspiration; even on a busy urban street!. Here’s a snapshot from a couple years ago of a simple treasure that brought a beautiful insight.
At the age of 19, I started on my spiritual path, believing that I’d become perfect. Boy, I was wrong. It took decades before I realized my goal was to be awake, not perfect.
As I’m writing this, we are coming to the end of the first phase of our shelter-in-place for corona virus, and restrictions are beginning to lift. Everyone is looking forward to going back to “normal” – but that’s not what I’m thinking at all.
In fact, there’s a lot about “normal” that I am not interested in going back to, both in my own personal life and in our planetary experience. Instead, let’s stop fully in the present moment to assess what’s true, and step forward into the extraordinary!
It’s in nothing, not in doing something, that we find true freedom. The freedom of Being.As I write this blog, I’m ending week 7. You may think I’m referring to the corona virus shelter-in-place, but I’m actually referring to something else: my journey through hyperthyroidism, which has incidentally overlapped, for better or worse, with the global pandemic.
