I had a revelation today of sorts. During my quiet time this morning I was reading the Untethered Soul and the content of the chapter resonated so deep inside that I had to pause and re-read the paragraph like 10 times. Well, let’s keep it real, one reason was because it was so profound that I didn’t understand what I was trying to understand. You know those thoughts that you have to pause and then you’re like “I totally know this means something big. What is it? Hmmmmmm…… O wait, I get it. Nope, no I don’t get it……. I GET IT! AHAAAAAA!!” And then your Oprah moment is complete.
The concept that blew me away today was that fear is used just like any other emotion. It can be used to teach us something about ourselves that we work really hard to cover up. Basically creation is telling us “This thing, FEAR, has blocked you from enjoying life so I’m going to throw this curveball (insert your problems here) and now you can figure it out and start living life fully”. Even the bad stuff can be made good if you look at it as an opportunity.
The author (Michael Singer) of Untethered Soul stated that as we continue to grow spiritually we begin to realize that the more we attempt to protect ourselves from our own problems the more we actually create.
“That’s why you worry so much. That’s why you have all these dialogues going on inside your mind. You’re either trying to figure out how to keep things from happening, or you’re trying to figure out what to do because they did happen.”
I think I’ve talked about this before in a blog. How many people have conversations with yourself about conversations that have never happened? How many argue with people (while you are alone…. talking to yourself) before you have even mentioned to the other person that there was a disagreement? Typically the goal of these conversations is to convince yourself that you are probably right. This provides a safe zone because we all know we are right 99% of the time right?
(Sarcastic glance)
Now that we’ve figured out that we have a real opportunity to grow when we acknowledge our fears our approach can take on a totally different meaning. We now see things as they really are vs. this monster that we’ve created in our own intellect. This will take a lot of awareness and a lot of patience with yourself because it doesn’t come naturally to sit and lean in to someone picking at the sore of your insecurity. Rather than instantly running to that place in your body that says “PUT THE WALL UP, PUT THE WALL UP! The HATERS are coming!”, you actually sit and acknowledge that you are feeling this and with a child like curiosity figure out from where it’s coming. More than likely, it comes from a much deeper place that you need to address.
Here are some of the steps I’ve been taking to help me in these moments. Try them and see if they work out for you as well.
Keep in mind this takes about 1 minute of my time.
- Once I realize the “voice” is repeating the feeling over and over in my head or that I’m feeling negativity about something, or someone, rather than acting on that I stop and ask myself “what’s this all about? Why am I dwelling on this?”
- Now I’ll try and put a color to the feeling. This tricks your mind into thinking about the same topic in a different way. An example would be if I feel angry I will typically see red or orange
- I’ll then put both hands on my heart and acknowledge that I’m feeling something. “Right now I’m feeling really (insert feeling). This is just a moment in time and it will pass. With compassion and unconditional love, I allow myself this time.”
- Mentally I then remove myself as the subject and just see it from an outside point of view
- Lastly, I let it go
I feel like this blog is very similar to some of my earlier blogs but the thoughts still ring true. We each have our own journey to live and I’m just sharing mine with you!
Singer, M. A. (2007). The untethered soul: The journey beyond yourself. Oakland, CA: New Harbinger Publications.
The Journey of TooTallTippy 