The other day one of my students raised this reflection which I found very interesting. She said, you know Purnima, if we don't brush our teeth for two days or take bath for 2 days, our mouths and bodies start stinking, so we are forced to be regular. The same applies to our daily conscious living practices. If we don't do it regularly it starts to show up in the way we live our lives.
Nothing can be truer than that. The practices of "conscious breathing, conscious relaxation, meditation, mindfulness, self love etc have to be done every single day just like brushing and bathing.
However you would notice that we tend to overlook these practices over taking care of just our bodies and focusing on those aspects of our life that are seen by others - such as our education, possessions, income, status. And in current times followers, likes, and such.
Why does this happen ?
A little reflection, will tell you a little more about the nature of our minds. The mind ( unless trained ) likes to focus on things it doesn't have, and craves for external validation. So our primary focus becomes attaining popularity, wealth, status etc. Stuff that people can see. We don't ask ourselves the question, am I happy and at ease with myself often. If we did, our daily routines would look a lot different 🙂 If we wanted inner peace and ease, we would prioritise conscious living practices such as
"Mindfulness and Meditation". We would take the time to do these.
Think about it.
The other day, I committed these 10 self love affirmations to memory :
1. I choose to stop apologizing for being me
2. I release negative self talk
3. I love the person I am becoming
4. I believe in myself and my capabilities
5. I deserve all good things
6. I am powerful
7. I accept myself unconditionally
8. I acknowledge my self worth
9. I am radiant
10. I am enough
As I stood in front of the mirror, repeating each of these affirmations, slowly and deliberately to myself, I felt so much of love - love for me, that's difficult to explain in words. That moment, I really didn't care a bit about whether anybody else accepted me or not. It was enough that I loved and accepted myself ❤️ That's the power of the "self love" practice.
Sitting quietly in some corner of my house to do my breathing work and meditation practice, gets me centered and grounded. I don't feel the need to articulate much after the quiet time. I am more at peace.
Simple daily chores like washing vessels, drying and folding clothes, when done mindfully don't feel like boring tasks that need to be avoided or done quickly so we can get on with life. They become part of our life - precious moments to be relished and enjoyed.
And these are all personal experiences. That nobody can see, but only the individual can feel and experience.
Unfortunately many of us have not found these experiences for the simple reason that it has never occurred to us to prioritise inner peace and ease.
Infact many of us even lack the discernment of what's causing unease into our life.
Whenever you feel unease, question yourself, "what's causing the unease?" Most often you can trace the source to your own mind - a belief, an idea or a goal that you are clinging to which isn't serving you. It requires mindfulness as well as courage to let go and drop that which causes unease.
Some people might misconstrue choosing ease to mean not growing or challenging yourself. This is far from truth.
When you are at ease and at peace with yourself, you tend to set more meaningful goals that serve the higher good. And you are more likely to focus on the action, and enjoy the journey over being obsessed with the result.
Because we live in a world that's very outward focussed, we are influenced to focus mostly on the external. It's important to acknowledge this so we are aware of being pulled by the world around us 🙂
Once that awareness is turned on, we can choose different. We can choose to pull away and in.
We can choose ease, peace and happiness. It is our true nature. Not to be earned, but to be claimed.
The question is, are we willing to choose it ? 🙂
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