Reading back on the last post, I am reminded how good it is when I go quiet and let ‘you’ speak. Thank you for the wisdom.
I’ve been doing the breathing work eg. using the Breathe+ app to go into an amazingly deep and welcome afternoon nap.
Keep practising…
I pondered on the last Tao Te Ching chapter and its idea of ‘when you’re sick of being sick you’ll stop being sick’. It applies to tiredness too, doesn’t it? When you’re tired of being tired, you’ll stop being tired.
I’m tired of being tired – and stressed. Work with me on this.
Immense courage to clear clutter and consolidate. One last push for the year!
It’s going to be like pulling off one long plaster, isn’t it?
Yes!
Hm.. Let’s read..
…And breathe out!
-72- When the people lack a sense of awe disaster will descend upon them. Do not constrict their living space. Do not harass them in their work. If you do not oppress them, they will not weary of you. Therefore, True Persons know themselves but make no show of themselves. They know their value but do not exalt themselves. They prefer this within to that without. (The Tao Te Ching 72)
If I were to truly tap into my sense of awe, I would… be changed. When we have awe in our lives, we really do know the value of things and of ourselves, and we really don’t need to exalt ourselves.
How can I settle into awe?
By nurturing yourself and preferring ‘this within to that without‘. Are you aware of your ability to ‘check out’ of your bodily sensations and the wisdom they convey?
Yes. It’s true, sometimes I switch off the body-listening mechanisms if the message is inconvenient or hard. Shall we do some mindful breathing?
***Breathe+ app: 6 seconds in/out for 8mins***
So… by the end of 8 mins of very active breathing (filling ribs/belly through nose, and puffing it all out fully through the mouth) I can really feel my capacity for deep breathing returning. This brief practice will help me breathe effectively later during the day. But also, within seconds of breathing deeply just now, I hit on a strong emotion that stayed wordlessly for the 8 minutes: fury.
Speak to me of this fury.
Decluttering the psychic body is about feeling old, resisted and buried emotions. It’s hard. We are aware of this. You must trust the process deeply to follow it to its conclusion. This is the work of consolidation – and undertaking it is an act of bravery, courage and refusing to collude with the notion that staying in pain is what life is all about. Your body knows what it needs to expel. The breathing does the expelling. Once you expel old pattens and energies, you are less likely to take them on again. In resetting the system in this way, you are consolidating the wisdom accrued through tough experiences. You are releasing the toll of the lessons, and keeping the wisdom gained. A skin bruise eventually clears out the purple blood cells from the site that got knocked. Breathing deeply flushes out the emotional bruises acquired on the Tough Mudder obstacle course of your spiritual journey.
No wonder I have always resisted deep breathing exercises. No wonder smoking felt like a wonder drug to me! No wonder walking, swimming, singing and qigong are so powerful in maintaining my mental health.
I need your advice on turning the tanker for this last month of the year: clearing, decluttering, pushing away old gunk, resetting for a 2020 that is less stressful and exhausting in terms of work.
As your beautiful mother used to say: ‘Keep breathing in and breathing out.’
She did! So, literally, just keep doing the ‘breathing-busy-work for the soul’?
Or you could try and *think* your way out of this tight spot…
Very sassy. Ok. I trust you.
I am breathing in and breathing out