How have you changed since the corona virus arrived in 2019?
Have you grown emotionally?
Have you discovered strengths you didn’t know you had?
Have you explored creative ways to challenge and nourish yourself?
Over the past two years maybe you have questioned your own reactions and found excellent ways to center yourself by doings things you genuinely love.
Or, have you found that you have become a little more impulsive, critical and judgmental?
Have you found yourself glued to the TV watching the present Global chaos and feel powerless to make a difference?
Over the past two years I know my own life has changed dramatically. Spending time in the silence of my home, doing and not doing as it pleases me, gave me the time and space to listen. I don’t mean listen to the birds outside, though that has its joy. I mean listen to my own wisdom. Listen to my guidance. Listen to my heart. Naturally I was not always successful. So I looked at some of the ways I stopped myself from making these connections.
In order to listen deeply there are a few things we need to stop listening to or at least hear them for what they are.
Photo by Osman Rana on Unsplash
I call these things Light Dimmers
A light dimmer is anything we do or say that involves negative judgment of yourself or another. As Beings with a soul it is in our original nature to shine. We are all created with an indivisible spark of the Divine. We are all made of molecules of pure energy. Our soul, when listened to, will guide us forward into a life that is purposeful, powerful, and peaceful. Wishing for that which we don’t have, seeking to be someone we are not, searching for the perfect home, partner, friend, body orjob, dims our light.
The Buddha, after a long time of abstinence came to the conclusion that, the middle road is the best road to travel and desire is the source of all suffering. Wanting other that what Is, is suffering.
Here are a few light dimmers
- Gossip
Gossip runs rampant in nearly all communities. “She said, he did, have you heard, can you believe this, and when I said this she did that, no one likes to play cards with her, shop with them, have dinner with him, work with them…….
Why do we do it? Gossiping is as ubiquitous as it is destructive. Energetically destructive. We do it because we all like to share secrets. We do it because, once we have whispered or shared some gossip, we momentarily feel better about ourselves. The truth is that the people about whom we gossip and the people to whom we gossip often feel very uncomfortable or hurt and our light simply becomes a little dimmer everytime we do it. Eventually there is very little light in us at all.
- Complaining
It is remarkable how much we tend to complain. The car in front of us is travelling too slowly. The line at the check out is far to long. The shop doesn’t have what you need right now. Your boss doesn’t appreciate you. Neither does your husband, wife, child, client, friend etc etc.
Cleveland Clinic has explored Complaining and written 7 ways to interrupt complaining.
https://health.clevelandclinic.org/how-to-stop-complaining-7-secrets-to-being-happier/
- Negative self talk
We have all had these thoughts at one time or another. Negative thoughts perpetuate more negative thoughts. What we think we create. Resisting having a negative thought however never works. However there are a number of excellent ways to retrain our mind to remember, a thought is just a thought and there is no good reason to believe everything we think. Ann Morin, Psychotherapist has an excellent podcast called The VeryWell Mind
https://www.verywellmind.com/how-to-change-negative-thinking-3024843
When we are mindful we can identify what is a negative thought and and then use some of the excellent ways ways, Ann Moran describes to work with them so that they lose their power. Every time we identify a negative thought and work with it we shine a little brighter.
Shining our light, being centered, being mindful and conscious of who we are helps us to become a beacon of light in our world. Can you imagine if we all shone our inner light a little brighter every day. With enough light we have the power to literally light up our world.
And it’s so easy.
Notice when the urge to gossip comes up, or when we begin to engage in some negative self-talk or when we start complaining and stop, acknowledge it, take a step back and ask yourself, “What am I going to choose right now?
The intensity of our light is 100% up to us.