8 Steps to Develop Equanimity

8 Steps to Develop Equanimity

Developing Equanimity

Two weeks ago, I shared the story of the Farmer and the Horse which introduced the Power of Equanimity. Last week, I talked about applying this to the experience of fibromyalgia on a day to day basis. This week, in my final installment on the Power of Equanimity, I will offer further insights in to Equanimity and some tools to help build this spiritual muscle in our daily lives.

 

The Power of Equanimity

The power of equanimity is experienced when you can remain centered in a state of witness conscious no matter what is happening externally. Equanimity power comes from the understanding that everything flows from God, Source, Light, Consciousness. Everything is equal in the eyes of God, Source, Light, Consciousness.  Everything we experience is simply the play of consciousness. Also, the conviction that everything that is happening is coming to you to evolve your consciousness and open you to the greatest, grandest experience of your whole amazing self.

 

The Struggle . . .

As I go through my day, I watch myself reacting and responding to my moment to moment experience. As I coach clients, I watch the struggle they are engaged in to heal or fix their problems. I watch friends on a spiritual journey strain to get all their baggage healed so they can be in a place of bliss and joy (all the time) or to focus solely on the Light avoiding or pushing away ‘negative’ emotions, people and experiences.   People from many spiritual traditions are waiting for the day of reckoning when evil will be banished and only love will remain.

 

Is this really the point?

Every spiritual master I have studied with describes the experience of “enlightenment” very different from what I see so many striving for. I believe there are many aspects to the experience of “enlightenment” and I believe that one of these is the experience of Witness Consciousness. In a state of witness consciousness, you connect with a calm centered part of you that can be a neutral observer to all that is happening externally and even to all that is arising within. This can seem like a tall order, and maybe it is, but it is also something we can practically practice in our daily lives.

 

Surrender to Life

Perhaps the point is to simply surrender to life as it is. We often think of surrender as giving up. Yet the act of surrender is simply acceptance of what is and empowers you to consciously choose your response or sometimes not needing to act at all as the problem resolves itself. Often an exaggerated reaction stems from trauma held in the subconscious and is an over reaction to the actual circumstances. Part of acceptance is acknowledging the reaction and then inquiring into it to see if it is an over reaction or projection based on past experiences.

 

The Practice

How do we practice this in our daily lives? Follow these steps and you will be on your way:

  1. Notice – when something in your life “triggers” you. That is when something triggers an emotion like fear or anger or sadness or a stream of negative habitual thinking, or a physical reaction.
  2. Observe – your reaction with an air of curiosity.
  3. Let go – of judgment towards yourself or the situation.
  4. Breath – bring your attention to your breath and slow your breathing down and take deeper breaths.
  5. Relax your body – notice if the body tenses up and focus on relaxing.
  6. Feel – feel all that is going on within you, the emotions and the physical sensations.
  7. Watch – watch the mind, emotions and physical sensations
  8. Allow – let go of trying to change the external situation or your reaction to it.  Allow the experience to unfold and run its course. The experience will end and often situations resolve themselves, emotions move and dissipate. If you need to speak or act, your words and actions will come from a place of clarity and purpose rather than a reaction that only feeds the conflict.

Be Compassionate

Remember that this is a process, a practice. You don’t even need to do it right. Maybe most important of all is to love and forgive yourself for having the experience in the first place and simply create the intention to nurture the experience of witness consciousness. Over time, you will reap the results and can observe an amazing transformation within yourself and within your life.

 

Weekly Contemplation

This week, begin to observe when life triggers you. Once you get that, then practice the steps of opening to and resolving that which is triggered. Share your questions and experiences with me on Facebook or just respond to this email.

 

May you be at peace, 💗Bindu

 

Health, Wellness and Wholeness

Health, Wellness and Wholeness

Health, Wellness and Wholeness

Today, I would like to begin a new conversation around health by looking at the difference between health, wellness and wholeness.

 

Health is a state of the body. 

When we talk about health, we usually mean the state of functionality of the body.  Does it operate at a ‘normal’ level without pain, or at least minimal pain?  When we seek to help our body function better, we look to physical treatments.  Medications, herbs, massage, diet, exercise.  Medical doctors, naturopaths, functional medicine practitioners.  

The focus here is usually attempting to diagnose and change the biochemistry of the body.  Often this approach to health is an outside in approach meaning we need to control the biochemistry of the body in order to feel healthy.  We are doing something to our body to make it function properly. 

 

Wellness expands our concept of health. 

Along comes the wellness industry which redefines the concept of health.  Wellness expands our definition of health to include the mind, emotions, lifestyle factors and searching for happiness in our lives.  We engage in positive thinking, lifestyle modification, honoring our emotions.  Perhaps finding work that inspires, re-evaluating our relationships.  In addition to the physical modalities, we seek out counseling, therapy, life coaching.  

 

Then emerges the idea of Wholeness. 

The overriding name of my business is Integrative Wholeness.  This idea expands the concept of health to include all dimensions and parts of who we are.   It focuses on understanding our multi-dimensionality and bringing all parts of our multi-dimensionality into balance and harmony.  

Integrative Wholeness embraces our physical body, our emotional body, our mental body, our energy body, and our spiritual body.  The intent is to create balance in each dimension.  When balance in each dimension is established the dimensions begin to resonate in harmony with each other.  The soul, mind, heart and body are in alignment with each other.     

Integrative Wholeness is also a process of meeting, greeting, embracing and integrating all parts of who we are.   We each have a personality that includes parts of us that we deem acceptable.  Yet there are parts of us that are wounded and/or considered unacceptable. These parts need to be accessed, healed and integrated.  Some of these exiled parts are the innocent inner children who hold our joy, gifts and talents but were deemed unacceptable by those who raised us and/or our society at large.  When we integrate these parts, we begin to feel more whole.  We reclaim our joy and our passion for life.  

It is this experience of integration that will create health from the inside out.  When all dimensions and parts are in balance and harmony, health on all levels is the natural result.  Your body will be healthy.  Your mind will be clear and focused.  Your emotions will be balanced.  You will feel a connection with your spirit and God.  You will be expressing your gifts and live abundantly.

 

In Summary 

I began on a search for health many years ago.  I discovered that health was more that just the body.  I also needed inner peace.  I discovered that the path to health involved the process of healing and integrating all parts of myself.  

This is my vision and what I am here to teach others.  I invite you to listen, learn, evaluate and apply what feels right to you.  

Stay tuned.  Read my weekly blog.  In 2020, l plan to begin monthly webinars.  I hope you will join me so we can support each other on this journey. 

Wishing you peace, love and vibrant health, 

Bindu

 

6 Steps to Enhance Spiritual Connection

6 Steps to Enhance Spiritual Connection

Connection to Spirit

The spirit, or spiritual essence, is the core of who we are. It has been said that we are spiritual beings having a human experience. Our spirit is the unseen essence within us that activates, guides, and directs us in our lives here on earth.

Spirit is the energetic essence of all life, of all existence, of which we are a part. It is ever-present and unchangeable. It is the creator of life and the destroyer of life. It is the yin and yang, positive and negative, love and fear. It is subtle and beyond description and words. Like me in this moment, many have attempted to put it into words, but the most that words can do is point to an experience beyond words or thought.

Within each one of us, there is an inherent longing to be connected to this inner essence. We each experience our connection with our inner essence in our own unique way. For some it is stillness, for some it is activity, some it is connection through nature. There are as many paths to the reconnection and remembrance of who we as there are stars in the sky.

The Problem

Many of us have forgotten or lost the true authentic connection with our spiritual essence. Inherent in each of us is a longing to reconnect with or remember who we really are. We feel the inner longing whether we know it or not.

When we are not connected with our inner spirit, this longing can be interpreted as a need for more from the world around us. The problem is that nothing in our external world can fulfill the inner longing to reconnect with our spirit. If we misunderstand this longing for more, we can spend precious time and energy “looking for love in all the wrong places,” so to speak.

Imbalance in the physical, mental, and emotional dimensions cause static in the energy field and makes the connection with our  spiritual self more difficult. It is as if a cloud is passing over the sun, obscuring the light. The more balance in the other dimensions, the more light is allowed through. In order to accentuate our connection with our Divine Nature, balance in all dimensions is needed.  The 6 steps below will assist you in strengthening your connection with your spirit.

6 Steps to enhance our connection to Spirit:

1.  Understanding.

An understanding of our spiritual nature and the human journey is helpful to get the mind on board with the journey. The mind is a powerful tool that can be used to enhance the spiritual connection or sever it.

2.  Acceptance.

Acceptance is a major aspect of the spiritual journey. If all is Consciousness, then all is One. In that understanding, everything is an expression of Love. Everything we experience is the “play of consciousness.” One step in connecting with spirit is developing the art of equanimity, seeing the divine hand at play in all situations and experiences.

3.  Awareness.

Awareness is a key ingredient in connection with our Divine Nature. if we focus on increasing our awarness of each moment.  We can feel our body, notice our breath, become aware of our emotions, notice sights, sounds and smells as we go through our day.   Increasing our awareness of what is happening in the moment allow our awareness naturally expands so that we see more and have greater insight. 

4.  Balance.

Balance in all dimensions helps to reduce the static that clouds our awareness. When our mind is busy, our emotions antagonized, our bodies in pain or fatigued, our awarness is dimmed.  When we balance our body, emotions and mind, they become quieter and in greater hamony with each other and awareness of the more subtle spiritual increases.  As our awareness expands, we realize that our spiritual essence is always there if only we have the eyes to see it. 

5.  Connection.

Taking time on a regular basis to consciously reconnect with our spiritual essence speeds up the journey. It can be as simple as pausing for a few breaths or as involved in a daily practice of meditation. What do you do that helps you to feel greater peace within?  What is important is the connection, not the tool.   

6.  Sharing.

We are one. What we give is what we receive. Sharing our authentic self with others empowers our journey and theirs. Being truthful with our self helps us to create an inner connection, sharing that with others enhances it.  Sharing creates an upward spiral flow that uplifts all of life. 

In Summary

Our spiritual essence lives at the core of our being.  When connected with this inner self, a deep sense of well-being occurs.  When the body, emotions and mind are imbalanced, this deeper sense of self can be obscured.  By bringing balance to the denser dimensions, we eliminate some of the “noise” and disturbance, making the spiritual dimension more available to our experience.

Through intention and honing our skill of sensing our spiritual self, we make it more available to us. We experience this inner self, we connect to a sense of inner peace.   When our sense of inner peace is disturbed, we know when we are out of connection and can make choices to restore our inner peace. Ultimately, that becomes your primary interest. Everything else is secondary and yet everything else falls into place once the spiritual connection is strong and consistent.

May you connect within and embrace inner peace.

Bindu

Don’t Take it Personally

Don’t Take it Personally

How often to take what others say personally?  

In his book, The Four Agreements, Don Miguel Ruiz says, Don’t Take Anything Personally.  Several years ago, I adopted this as a mantra.   It was a powerful experience.  As I lived with this statement as a possibility, I became aware of several patterns:

  • I didn’t have a very high opinion of myself.  I expected criticism, so I would hear criticism where there wasn’t any.  It was simply my projection because I expected it.
  • I realized that the people who criticized me, that they were people who criticized everything.  I just happened to be in their line of fire.   But they also criticized themselves.  
  • I criticized myself . . . a lot.  With this increase awareness of my own self criticism, I was able to begin to change the pattern.  To begin to talk kindly to myself.  
  • I was very critical, not only of my self, but of others.  With this awareness, I could begin to think and speak more kindly to others.  

Results of Practice

With this practice over the years, I began to change.  I became more compassionate, understanding, kind and forgiving of myself and others.  

Share your experience.

Give it a try and let me know what your experience is.