July 2, 2009
Here is this months article from my ezine…. enjoy!
RESIST OR PERSIST?
By Gay Landeta
Resist or persist? Each of us has our own way of dealing with the challenges of life.
Some people, when challenged keep on trying. They try and try and try. Eventually they may get there but often through lots of struggle. These people can almost seem to be too optimistic…. “I can do anything if I keep on trying.” is often their cry – that may be true but to what cost?
Others, once a challenge hits, stop dead in their tracks. It becomes too much, the wrong direction, too hard. Sometimes they just completely avoid the issue and turn to look another way, they stick their fingers in their ears and sing “lalalalala”! Nothing can squeeze in to change their view until the next crisis happens.
Still others commit, step forward, falter, run away, recommit, step forward, falter, run away….
Each of these are a coping mechanism and useful till now but perhaps – if you are reading this – not so much any more, you might be looking for a new way.
Maybe you want to be able to keep going steadily in your life regardless of that pattern of turning away.
Maybe you want to stop for a while, not to always try so hard to make things happen.
Perhaps you just want to be able to look at an issue, a crisis or a challenging goal, eyeball to eyeball, and make a clear choice and take action.
The good news is you can. The bad news is that it may well feel uncomfortable and even intuitively wrong because we need to break out of that comfort zone of the personality.
Our higher mind, what some would call the super-conscious and others the mind of limitless possibility, is the mind of clear choices, unwavering decisions and decisive actions; while our lower mind, the seat of the personality, is very comfortable with its own ways of doing things.
We all have lots of stories and reasons and issues and emotions that keep us convinced that we have to do things the same way. And, while our intuition is a magical thing, sometimes what we think is our intuition is actually those patterns, stories and issues sneaking in.
Sometimes even when we believe we are listening to that higher mind, that sneaky lower mind has already influenced where we are going and what we do. We are human after all!
For example we have decided to follow a new eating plan that excludes dairy but our intuition is telling us strongly that we really need some cheese….. is that the intuition letting us know we need calcium or our love of cheese?!
Or we have decided to go back to study, we are determined to do it no matter how hard it is even though our family and even our health is suffering. We know we could cut down the units and bring back balance but we feel that we must complete it on time, that it is essential to our future and the work we need to do….. Is that true or is it left over fear of failure from troubles at school?!
Or maybe we have made some decision about our direction but then something stalls us and we wonder if perhaps the decision was not such a good one….
So, how can you tell if your guidance is clear? If your decision is right and that this is something that you need to keep working towards and not waver – or if those challenges mean you should stop.
One thing you can do is stop and feel for emotions - are you feeling any of the deep and uncomfortable ones? The major roadblocks usually have aspects of shame, humiliation, guilt, blame, apathy, despair, grief, regret, craving, desire, anger, hate, pride or scorn in them. All the yuckies!
If you are feeling aspects of these then best to wait until they pass, once they have moved through our life clarity returns and we become sure of the next step – which brings me to my booster of the month. The best way to do that is to stop. Wait until you are back in touch with who you really are. And only then make the big decisions to go forward, stop or just wait a while.
And if they don’t pass – well at least we are aware of the elephant in the room. Kinesiology, counselling, flower essences… there are many therapies that can help to shift that elephant if it has settled in!
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This Month’s Resolve : When in doubt, stop and smell the roses!
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Booster of the Month :
SIT IN THE SUN AND DREAM
Do you need instructions for this? Probably not! Just find a spot in the sun, under a tree, beside the sea, wherever you feel comfortable and allow yourself to rest.
Let yourself be there until you have relaxed. Feel the sun, experience the outdoors and refocus. And if your mind refuses to stop then try last month’s meditation!
….
“I have a body but I am not my body.
I have feelings but I am not my feelings,
I have desires but I am not my desires,
I have a mind but I am not my mind.
I am a centre of pure self consciousness, capable of mastering, directing and using all my psychological processes and my physical body.”
Have a great month!
Gay
