Thought for the week
There are many of us who spend busy lives going from one task to the next. Sometimes the tasks are regular jobs we do every day, some are urgent or even panic jobs. When the jobs are done we look for other distractions such as television, alcohol, sport or some social events. We rarely take time to be with ourselves, to reconnect with our happy peaceful self. Our jobs and tasks in the physical world keep us distracted from our true inner self, Soul.
Our lives are a rush. For some people there is no way of avoiding the amount of things they have to do every day but allowing these tasks to be the sole focus of our lives can damage us, mentally and spiritually. When they become too much, we can develop resentment towards the tasks and those involved with them or towards the people who benefit from our work, such as our family or friends. We can also get the ingrained attitude that the way we do these tasks is the only way, thereby loosing the chance to learn something new or explore new ways of doing things.
Just what our mind can see
This is one of life's lessons, to discover that all these tasks are part of a test to distract us from finding peace within ourselves. Our mind sees these tasks as something we have to do. It is logical as far as the mind is concerned. There is no other way of getting these things done. We have to cram them all into the few hours in the day that we have in our busy lives.
What's happening here is, the mind is stuck in a grove and cannot get out of it. All our tasks have to be done, this is obvious and logical. But this is just what our mind can see. We often feel overwhelmed by our busy lives. At this point we can go into a panic, get sick or collapse with some kind of a breakdown. These are ways our body reacts to the stress and pressure and instigates an end of operations so that it can have time to revive itself.
Need to balance
Some of us are scared to be by ourselves. We are afraid to meet the fears we keep running away from. If we are alone with our thoughts we may be drawn to an unpleasant memory or event from our past which we haven't been able to deal with. It could be something horrid we did or was done to us.
We do have a higher self, Soul, which can see that we need to balance ourselves if we are to survive this onslaught of tasks. We have to take time to allow peace and love into our busy lives. There is no need to allow ourselves to get to the point of collapse.
Two techniques
Here are a few techniques we can use to ease this pressure out of our busy lives.
Ho’oponopono
I love you. I'm Sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.
The Ho’oponopono technique is an act of accepting responsibility. Using this technique, we bring our awareness to a person or issue with whom we have a difficult, painful or troubled relationship. Wrong or right doesn’t matter here. It doesn’t matter which one of us was the abuser or the aggressor. We bring this person or situation to mind and simply say
“I love you. I'm Sorry. Please forgive me. Thank you.”
Here's how Wikipedia defines Ho’oponopono: “Hoʻoponopono (ho-o-pono-pono) is an ancient Hawaiian practice of reconciliation and forgiveness. Similar forgiveness practices were performed on islands throughout the South Pacific, including Samoa, Tahiti and New Zealand. Traditionally hoʻoponopono is practised by healing priests or kahuna lapaʻau among family members of a person who is physically ill. Modern versions are performed within the family by a family elder, or by the individual alone.”
HU Song
Another ancient technique is the HU Song. This can ease us into a way of getting in touch with ourselves. Take about ten to twenty minutes to do this. Firstly take a few deep breaths and on your outgoing breath sing the word HU, pronounced like 'hue'. With your eyes closed, watch for lights on your inner screen and listen for sounds or music from within yourself. This can often lead us into a relaxed contemplative state where we may get insights into the stresses in our lives. Click here for more details on the Hu Song technique.
We can get stressed by our busy lives because our mind dictates it. We need to find out what our heart wants so that we have purpose in our lives. Both of these exercises will help us move closer to our true selves, Soul, which has our best interests at heart. Soul can rise above the mind's mechanical logic allowing us to get a better view of the situations we are in and the people we are involved with. Soul looks at all these with love and kindness and shows us insights while we are in a calm contemplative state.
Hoping you can find the time in your busy life to discover the love and peace of Soul.
*Ed Parkinson
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