Moving Towards Consciousness and Calm; the Next Bit

The Feathers Fly

I know, I know… I’ve thrown the philosophical cat among the pigeons with Monday’s post. Some of you are confused, some have a headache, some are reading it for the tenth time, a few are one step closer towards consciousness and one or two are a little excited. Sorry about that. It seems that the whole notion of “being the observer and not the inhabitor of our thoughts” is not one that’s easy for all of us to digest… which is understandable when we consider that many of us have never been exposed to this type of message before. In some way, shape or form, most of us have been ‘taught’ that we are our thoughts, so on some level it may be the only reality we know and understand.

Before we proceed….

Before I continue with this little exploration, I want to clear up a few things that seem to be issues for some people (off the back of Monday’s instalment):

1. I’m not suggesting that we pursue a life devoid of thought; thinking is actually kind of important. And unavoidable. However, not all thinking benefits us or serves us well.

2. I am suggesting that we recognise thoughts for what they are; theoretical concepts, ideas, possibilities – not (necessarily) literal realities.

3. Thoughts only have the power (influence, control, impact, relevance) over our life that we allow them to have. Of themselves, thoughts are meaningless and powerless until we attach meaning to them and give them power. That’s why the ‘thought’ of speaking to a large audience might be terrifying for you and exciting for me. It’s not about that particular thought (in this case, public speaking), it’s about the emotion that you and I individually attach to that idea and the meaning we each give it. Capiche?

4. I’m not suggesting that we endeavour to make an instant shift from chronic over-thinker to enlightened being by next Tuesday, what I am suggesting is that we allow ourselves to consider who and what we are beyond our thoughts.

A Different Truth

The truth is that when we’re presented with an idea or concept (such as this one) that doesn’t necessarily fit into our ‘box’ – the one we’ve built to inhabit and the one that tells us how the world and everything in it works – it has the potential to rock our boat and challenge our core beliefs and current level of understanding. And most of us hate that. We hate it because we like to feel safe, certain and comfortable, and our core beliefs and understanding give us that. So when someone walks into our world and says “hey, perhaps there’s another way, another truth, another reality”, we can have the propensity to get a little defensive about, and protective of, our beliefs. After all, those beliefs (the way we look at the world) are the foundation for our reality, so when someone challenges our beliefs, then they challenge our reality…. and that is gonna give us a headache.

What Reality?By the way, there is no universal reality. We each create our own reality – consciously or not. While we all inhabit this physical, three-dimensional world, we actually do most of our ‘living’ in our head. That’s why two people in the same situation, circumstance and environment will often inhabit a totally different ‘reality’ because their personal experience has little to do with what appears (to the rest of us) to be happening externally, and everything to do with what’s going on internally. That is, their interpretation of, and reaction to, their external world and the happenings of that world. That’s why the same ‘event’ can be a lesson for one person and a disaster for someone else.

Too Much Thinking About Not Thinking

One of the mistakes we make in the getting-out-of-our-thoughts process is that we try to over-intellectualise (rationalise and explain with our very logical mind) something that has nothing to with academic intelligence, logic or reason and everything to do with the ‘us’ that exists beyond our thinking, reasoning mind. The us that just…. IS. That’s right; the you that exists beyond your thoughts. When we take away your knowledge, your very specific education, your current understanding of the world, your beliefs and your intellect, do you still exist? Is there a ‘you’ that exists beyond your mind? Could it be that there is another kind of intelligence in you and me; a knowing and an understanding that lives in a place beyond logic, beyond our humanistic conditioning, beyond our Western thinking and beyond our current level of understanding and development? Could it be that in some ways, intelligence, as we understand it, is over-rated (from the point of view of achieving happiness, inner peace, contentment and a greater consciousness)? Could it even be that logic has the capacity to stand between us and personal transformation; the kind that works from the inside-out. Indeed, sometimes the logical mind can be a destructive place to inhabit.

So Why is the Motivator Guy Writing About This Stuff?

I know that writing these types of articles is something of a risk, in that, not everybody will identify or connect with the message. And that’s okay. I also know that I run the risk of losing a reader here or there who’s after more mainstream personal development stuff. Sure I could churn out yet another post on attitude, goal-setting, time-management, communication or even one of those gems on how to get a smaller ass in three weeks, but we already have a library full of those kinds of articles here at me-dot-com (see article library menu option). The truth is that right now I’m on a little journey of discovery myself, so I thought I might take those of you who would like to join me, along for the ride. Hope you don’t mind.

And panic not you hard-core personal development types, there are still many more ‘typical’ personal development articles to come; just not this week.

Learning to Unlearn

Knowing that it’s okay (necessary even) to unlearn and let go of things that I’ve held on to for forty something years has been incredibly liberating for me. As soon as I let go of the need to be ‘right’ and ‘certain’ – about how things work or should work – I began to learn like never before. Realising that it’s okay (normal in fact) to not know or understand most things was also an integral part of the journey for me. As soon as I acknowledged that perhaps some (or much) of my existing understanding and ‘knowledge’ was… er… incomplete, it enabled me to have a much more fearless approach to my own personal transformation journey. Dispensing with my fear, my ego and my previously inflexible beliefs has allowed me to see old things in a completely new way.

Exercise for the Day

Okay, today (if you’re so inclined) I want you to attempt one of the most basic and common (but not necessarily easy) getting-out-of-your-thoughts exercises – focusing on your breathing; a simple meditation.

Here’s the drill:

1. Sit on the floor, a chair or the ground if you’re outside (nature is great for this process). Or you can kneel if you don’t have dodgy forty five year-old knees like someone we both know. If you go for the chair option (which I wouldn’t), make sure it’s not a comfy, falling-asleep kind of chair. If you want to sit cross-legged and you’re not used to it, you may wanna put a cushion or two under your butt. I’m a one-cushion guy.

2. Ensure that your environment is as quiet as you can make it (no phone, TV, radio, etc).

3. Sit (or kneel) with a relatively upright posture – avoid the slump factor.

4. Just sit there for a moment (maybe a minute or two) and notice the busy-ness of your mind.

5. Now do your best to have an awareness of your thoughts without being in them. Picture them on the other side of your fence (see Monday’s post).

6. Now take your attention away from your thoughts and turn it towards your breathing. Just notice your breathing for a moment. Nothing else. Every time you feel your focus slipping away from your breathing and back into your thoughts, gently take yourself back to your breathing.

7. Clear your mind and now focus solely on your breathing. In and out. Nothing else. Calm and relaxed. See if you can make it for one minute (yep one!) without a single thought interrupting your bliss. When you’ve mastered a minute, progress to two, three, four and so on. If you can (well, we know you can but the question is will you?), find ten minutes twice a day for the next seven days to lose yourself in your breathing. Let me know how you go with the getting (totally) out of your thoughts thing – I still struggle sometimes.

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Ciao x

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