mindfulness

TICK. TOCK.

Albert Einstein was once asked to explain his theory concerning time relativity. His response:

“When you sit with a nice girl for two hours you think it’s only a minute, but when you sit on a hot stove for a minute you think it’s two hours. That’s relativity.”

Mind blowing.

What Einstein dared to explain is that it’s all in our heads! Life is relative to our perception of reality. Have you ever been in a waiting room and focused on time so much that it almost feels like your stuck in time?

In a world so insta-sized, we feel as though we are constantly running out of time. Instant noodles, Instagram and “instant relief” remedies are all quite recent terminologies in relation to the length of human existence. Our life now happens at “the click of a button.” It’s no secret that we’re living in a fast paced world and we often feel the pressures of keeping up. There is no doubt that this combination of speed and pressure is why we are all experiencing increased levels of stress, depression and anxiety. We are constantly bombarded by emails, texts, media, social media and phone calls to a point where we actually feel uneasy and “lost” when we lose or break our phones! We even feel disconnected from the world and suddenly alone!

Technology is like a double edged sword.While it makes us feel bombarded, it also makes our lives a lot easier! Could you imagine waiting months for a pigeon to bring back a written letter from a loved one? Not to mention all the innovations and advancements that have helped us in the fields of science and medicine. We are also instantly connected to the rest of the world! That’s pretty exciting!

Considering that our “waiting time” has been reduced exponentially over the years, why are we constantly running out of time? As perceivers of time and reality, perhaps we’re not running out of time but our constant need for more makes us feel like we can’t keep up!

It is not time that we’re trying to keep up with, but rather ourselves. Our ego’s are on one hell of a desire trip. We run on “likes” and the next big thing. We’ve even developed a fear of missing out (FOMO) because the internet allows us to exists in more than one space, even on a virtual level. We now exist physically and virtually. Our depression dominates when we feel like our virtual existence is far from the truth. This gap between who we really are and what we portray, makes us feel like we need to pursue more to keep up. All while neglecting our spiritual essence.

When our minds are constantly focused on the future, feelings of stress and anxiety dominate. That is because our bodies are trying to keep up with our mind on fast forward. Some of us are either imprisoned and depressed by the past, anxious for the future or a combination of both. But these projections can be altered!

The key to freedom is in the present moment.

When we root ourselves into the present moment our minds are not concerned with neither, the past or the future. Time no longer exists in the present moment because you are in a state of being, rather than thinking. Our senses are engaged with our surroundings, clear of any thoughts.

Being present isn’t something we haven’t done before! Try and remember an embrace with a loved one when time didn’t matter, or a moment when you were dancing or painting, maybe even playing a instrument or spinning records. Alan Watts once said:

“The sound of the rain needs no translation. In music one doesn’t make the end of the composition the point of the composition… Same way in dancing, you don’t aim at one particular spot in the room… The whole point of dancing is the dance.”

The idea is to get out of heads and into our hearts by doing and thinking less, and being more:

Pursuing a passion makes makes time fly, yes enjoyable! Wouldn’t you rather warp time in your favor?
Meditation. Frequent meditations can help you cultivate more presence and peace in your life by becoming the non-judgmental witness of your thoughts. See “Meditation Simplified” entry.
Mindfulness is another way to bring awareness to everything that we already do by engaging our senses. See “Mindfulness 101”
Adopt a pet! Pets have the ability to bring joy, presence and even healing into your life.
Train yourself to consciously see the beauty in everything around you at all times.
Daily gratitude lists can help you realize all that is positive in your life now, rather than preoccupy yourself with future desires.

Mindfulness 101

WHAT

Mindfulness is quite simply, paying attention. As a society we’ve really managed to complicate our understanding of mindfulness and meditation even though they are two of the simplest and most ancient concepts known to mankind. This is because we currently lead extremely busy and fast lives that the idea seems farfetched. That being said, all we that require to be mindful is consciousness!

WHEN

Mindfulness is not something you need to pencil into your schedule or plan for. It is paying attention to everything that you already do! The more frequently you practice, the more mindful you will be!

WHERE

You can incorporate mindfulness when stuck in traffic, taking a walk or just sitting in your living room. There is no specific place to practice.

WHY

Do you ever walk into a room and then suddenly wonder what got you there in the first place? This occurs when our minds are on auto-pilot. That is, thinking, planning and strategizing operate subconsciously. In other words, our thoughts are racing against any awareness of those thoughts.

Suffering comes from our own egos, either keeping us trapped in the past or hankering for future outcomes. Mindfulness allows us to step outside of our minds and into the present moment, where freedom and serenity exist.

The side effect of this self-identification with our thoughts is the lack of being and the inability to capture the moment, not to mention exhaustion, stress, anxiety and a drained immune system.

In order to bring awareness into your everyday life, you can begin with a few techniques (below) to plug into the present moment and into your surroundings by engaging your senses.

HOW

To cultivate the practice is truly as simple as you make it! A non-judgmental approach (towards yourself) is vital for turning mindfulness from a new habit and into a lifestyle. Praising yourself as well as using kind inner dialogue is exactly how you do that! Acquiring mindfulness doesn’t have to feel like homework! Get excited about cultivating peace! At the end of the day there is no better investment out there than investing in yourself!

Mindful Steps

Begin by standing still and becoming aware of your body and how it feels. Take a deep belly breath and bring attention to your posture. Feel the weight of your body pressing down toward the ground. now shift your attention to the tension in your shoulders; become aware of all your bodily sensations.

Take your time with your first step. Feel the movement in your hips and knee. With each step, be aware of how your foot functions, from heel to toes. If you are able to wake barefoot on the the earth you will benefit from scientifically proven health benefits of earthing*

Breathe and fully and deeply by filling your lungs with fresh air, allowing your diaphragm to expand and contract naturally. Allowing your breath to flow rather than forcing it, will teach you to allow your life to unfold and to let go of any need to control everything. Allow your eyes to rest softly ahead of you, Casually take in your surroundings with no judgement whatsoever.

When you notice your attention drifting away from walking and breathing, and into thinking, praise yourself for noticing! Then kindly and gently guide your awareness back to the present moment, back to the walking.

*earthing: Walking on the ground with bare feet allows you to come in contact with free electrons. These electrons serve as nature’s biggest antioxidants and help neutralize free radicals that cause damage to our bodies.

Mindful Eating

Start by picking up a piece of food, like a strawberry. Allow your eyes to zoom into the seeds on the surface, take notice of its shape, color, and how the ridges feel on the surface of your fingers. Take a bite and chew the strawberry carefully enjoying the taste. Notice how your tongue assists your teeth by pushing the food to the top of your mouth.

If your mind starts to wander, return your focus to the strawberry.

Sitting Mindfully in Traffic

Start by noticing your body’s contact with the chair. You can even notice how your clothes feel on your body. Then, take notice of how the steering wheel feels under your palms and fingers. Next, move down to your feet. Pay attention to the pedal under your foot. Take a deep breath while following your inhalation and expansion of your diaphragm. Move on to what is around you, even if you start driving. Look at your surroundings, perhaps you see nature or people walking around. Now shift your attention to the sounds that your hear.

Again, the practice requires a non judgmental approach to everything that you see, hear of feel.

Mindful Shower

Showers are the prefect opportunity to get in a daily practice! Your bare body along with the flow of water from head to toe allows for a great mindfulness practice. You can shift your attentions to many sensations which include the temperature of the water, the scent and feel of foamy soap on your skin and the sound of the water as it comes out of your shower head and into the drain.

While physically and mindfully cleansing your body, you can even visualize your past emotional traumas and negativity wash away through your shower.

With loving energy,

Tee

SHAKE IT OFF

How often does the feeling of utter doom creep up on you? We’re all victims of that doom, question is where does it come from and how does it have the power to totally paralyze us? I’m talking about anxiety. It seems that no matter what status, wealth, background, color, race, orientation or gender, we are all suffering from varying degrees of anxiety. I know I’ve felt anxiety ridden almost my whole life!

Anxiety is an intrusive feeling of worry or concern that has the ability to catch us off guard and completely consume us! Some of us have completely surrendered in the face of anxiety and accepted it as part of our lives. Why is it that we feel like something just has to go wrong?

Let’s break it down..

Our health is not only based on what we eat but also what we think and say (you may refer to my earlier blog entry “Holistic Health” for more information.) But let’s tackle the former for now. Right now, is your opportunity to grab a pen and paper and finally admit to yourself if you’ve been abusing any anxiety induced habits. This includes smoking, caffeine, drugs, alcohol and even fast food. Remember that we cannot begin to fix a problem before we identify it.

We seem to underestimate the power of replacing even just one small old habit with new one. We feel like we need radical solutions to our problems. We overcomplicate our lives, because we presume that the solution just cannot be that simple. Keep in mind that this perception is simply not true, it is nothing more than another layer of false beliefs. When I shifted my bed time from 3am to 11pm, I can honestly say my life changed! I felt way more energetic and peaceful. I wondered why I resisted such a minor change for so long and realized that I was just too suspicious and pessimistic towards the simplicity of this solution! With time, I quit smoking and significantly reduced my alcohol intake and experienced even bigger improvements in the way I felt. Nobody is expecting you to wake up one morning and suddenly change all of the above. Make only small but believable changes, and test out your own levels of anxiety. Don’t take my word for it! See for yourself!

Why do we resist dropping our addictions so much? Intellectually, we know they are holding us back. Yet, emotionally we can’t seem to shake them. This indicates that we are emotionally driven in our behavior. After accepting our addictions as escapism, we must find a way to make positive neuro-associations to change. That is, mentally associating change with pleasure and positive outcomes. Picture yourself overcoming your addiction and living a fuller life! Choose creative replacements to your habits and visualize them flourishing into talents or productivity.

Anxiety, although a feeling, must’ve stemmed from some kind of thought process to begin with, also known as a belief system. Reality, as we know is based on our perception. Be it conscious or subconscious, our thoughts are what direct our feelings and create our realities. We can say, that overthinking, specifically about the past or future, is synonymous with anxiety.

Now that we’ve broken it down, we can begin to self-heal and break free. The first and most important step to gaining freedom from anxiety, is by gaining awareness. This means recognizing your anxiety as nothing more than a feeling driven by thought. By recognizing your anxiety for what it is from the view of a witness, rather than a victim, you are able to unidentify. You can even say out loud “I recognize my anxiety for what is it. I am not my anxiety. This too shall pass.” Here we are choosing to accept our feelings by coming to terms with them, instead of resorting to further escapism through drugs or other addictions.

After gaining awareness we can begin to bring ourselves back into spiritual alignment. It is extremely vital to start cultivating kindness towards yourself. This takes place in the form of empowering and kind self dialogue. We’ve already spent way too much energy diving into never ending cycles of self judgmental, and we know for sure that hasn’t helped. So a little positive self talk can be worse than what we’ve been doing thus far. You can even say out aloud “I witness my anxiety as a byproduct of fear, and honor my power by choosing self-love. I ask the universe/god/higher power to guide me.” Here you are expanding your consciousness and inviting a feeling of instant relief by giving it up!

You can then, move on to either of the below techniques. I encourage you to experiment with either of them and see which works for you!

1. EFT – Emotional Freedom Tapping

TAPPING

EFT is a self-help technique in which you use your finger tips to tap on the above points which are identified in traditional acupuncture as energy pathways of the body known as meridians. As soon as you feel your anxiety kicking in, start tapping each meridian 4-5 times and say: “Even though I feel this anxiety, I deeply and completely accept myself.”

The order of tapping is as follows:

Karate chop (outer side of the hand)
Top of the head (crown of the head)
Eyebrow (where eyebrow starts)
Side of the eye
Under eye
Under nose
Between lower lip and chin
Start of collar bone
Under arm where bra strap usually goes.

The goal is to continue repeating the circuit until you feel like your problem moves from a rating of 10 to 0. You may even feel silly while doing it, but wouldn’t you rather laugh at yourself? 🙂

2. Breath-Awareness Meditation

This type of meditation has the ability to recenter your thoughts and alter your frequency of vibrations by bringing you back to a place of deep peace and silence.

The meditation is simple an is as follows:

Breathe in for three counts if you’re a beginner, or 4 counts if you are familiar with meditation.
Hold your breath for three counts.
Exhale for three.

Now I know what you’re thinking, “Tee, give me a REAL solution!” The truth is that we’ve managed to overcomplicate the solutions in our minds. Breathing is the ultimate tool for changing our vibrations. Heres why, when we feel anxious or terrified we take small rapid breaths from the top of our lungs. By altering your breathing rate and pattern, and by taking long deep breaths you have the power to calm your mind and body. Ultimately you are changing the rhythm of your breathing to change the rhythm of your vibrations.

Go for this meditation as many time as you can during the day for how ever length of time you require to feel better!

3. Journaling

Most of us take time and practice to develop positive self-talk and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. Journaling on a daily basis and writing your feelings down is whats iv’e called many time before “the 3$ therapy.” Writing is therapeutic because there is a sense of release when we see your emotions out on the paper in front of us. You can even resort to writing, to dig deep and learn the source of negative emotions.

Write until you feel better. Continue writing your way into happiness. At the start of my journey, whenever I felt major frustrations my hand writing was rugged and angry. Sometimes I was so angry I wrote right through my paper! Yes, I ripped holes right through my page! My words were met with so much resistance, but as I continued I felt better and better.

4. Mindfulness

Mindfulness techniques, like meditation, allow us to get out of our minds and into the present moment. Below is a mindfulness technique you can use to bring peace and presence into your life:

Start by identifying 5 things you can see within your surroundings
4 things you can hear
3 things you can feel (shoes, clothes, accessories, breath)
2 things you can smell
1 thing you can taste

Shifting your focus to your sense has the ability to interrupt anxious thoughts and ground you in the present moment.

I truly hope this entry helps you with any degree of anxiety you may be feeling, just keep in mind that peace is a cultivated process. To maintain peace as your lifestyle and philosophy embrace the 3 Cs of practice: Commitment, Consistency, and Connection.

Remain committed to your practice and healing. By being here, you’ve already accomplished that! Consistent practice results in thicker neurological pathways which strengthens your new habits into your new lifestyle. Finally, embrace your connection to the divine energy around you which is at your disposal at all times.