A Shift of View

 

What's on your list?  What will you attempt out of your comfort zone?

Consider an unpleasant experience you avoid thinking about. What if you change the result to one less stressful?

Write a humorous view of the experience. Play with a shift of view.

Discover Authentic Joy

"Authentic joy is not a euphoric state or a feeling of being high. 

Rather is it a state of appreciation that slows us to participate fully in our lives." 

- Pema Chödrön 

Equanimity involves mental composure. Moving into a difficult situation with calm brings balance. "In the moment we come to abide with the energy instead of acting it out, we are training in equanimity," says Pema Chödrön. 

We achieve freedom by engaging with the energy of the moment rather than reacting. Not an easy activity, it takes discipline and practice to release former behaviors and select others to replace them. 

When sad or glad, we need to widen our circle of understanding and compassion.

Use creativity to change attitudes.

Get out of the way of the ego's control. During a negative experience, project that event as a movie and see it in all its dimensions. Breathe to calm and quiet the emotions that arise. Observe the scene with all senses.

Imagine a musical or comedy evolving from the situation. Sing into silly.

The next anxiety that arrives, use a metaphor from nature. Watch it bloom like a rose. Count the petals, smell the fragrance, feel a touch of breeze. Make positive problem solving choices without judgment.

If an initial reaction to stress is, "Oh sH&^!" find a word to replace the habitual response with a key word.  Say:  Shift. Turn. Flip. Then say the chosen word. Get to the other side of your typical response.

Rainer Maria Rilke said, "This in the end is the only kind of courage that is required of us. The courage to face the strangest most unusual most inexplicable experience that can meet us."

Awareness, creativity, and patience help us dwell in the places that frighten or frustrate. Flexibility in times of uncertainty enables equanimity.

Slow down to savor life's wonders. Appreciate. Discover authentic joy.

Fathomless Bowl Challenge

 

The Tao is like an empty bowl,

Which, in being used, can never be filled up.

Fathomless, it seems to be the origin of all things.

It blunts all sharp edges,

It unties all tangles,

It harmonizes all lights,

It unites the world into one whole.

Consider a bowl configuration today. 

Take the fathomless bowl challenge. What can you empty to feel full?