Pause.
In this moment, what do you feel? Is there a sense of discomfort and uncertainty? Or are you floating in peace and contentment? Can both co-exist at once? What is having the experience? Can you observe the thoughts that are telling you stories about how it is you are feeling and who you are as a result?
Our thoughts are incredibly powerful. It’s not until you pause and really pay attention to what thoughts are being raced through your mind that you gain an appreciation of what is actually going on in there. The distractions of daily life help us mute the noise of the critical and limiting beliefs we have towards ourselves and others. But muting it doesn’t stop it from playing in the background, you’re just not noticing that they’re taking place.
What if we chose to pause and help ourselves navigate the thoughts with love and kindness? What if we decided to prioritise the quality of our thoughts over the external demands and distractions that can make us feel miserable? What if we could choose the experiences we have in the face of the external events that are taking place. There is more than way of being and living, unfortunately most of these haven’t been taught to us because they counter the culture of capitalism that is there to serve a few and destroy the many.
Throughout our whole education system we’re focused on the sciences and the anatomy but no one teaches us that the way we experience life is largely in our control. That we are able to craft the narratives that surround us with love and acceptance, even at the darkest times. When you’re not taught how to do all this you grow into an adult who struggles with a lot of unnecessary suffering. Life is hard as it is with the adversity it throws at you, but when you are not taught how empowered and resourced you are, you end navigating these adversities the best way you know how which often involves numbing yourself and or avoiding the pain that they ignite in you. These types of behaviours only result in us going further into the depths of the hell that our mind creates. We need to learn how to climb out of this state and how to create heaven on earth for ourselves.
I’ve been through this so many times, it’s a pattern that I keep falling into despite all the awareness I’ve gained throughout the past decade. Awareness alone doesn’t change anything, you need practice otherwise you will not be able to reap the benefits of the wisdom you’ve gained. Whilst we can’t control external factors, we can influence internal factors. It’s important that I point out that this isn’t about fostering a culture of toxic positivity, like many I’ve been hurt by this false sense of positivity. What I’m referring to is going through life with a sense of wholeness and a holistic view, instead of getting lost in the rabbit hole of pain. It is possible to feel the pain and not give into it, it’s possible to feel the pain and not have it wrap itself around you; it is possible that you wrap yourself around pain with love, compassion and understanding. This dynamic will ensure you are not drowning in the pain and therefore not suffering, instead navigating through it with a sense of resourcefulness that allows you feel it, but not identify with it.
It’s about always knowing that you deserve better, that you will find the sun behind the clouds and no matter how hard life gets there is always beauty in you that you can tap into through practice and personal will. This is life long work for some and easier for others, it all depends on where we are starting from and how determined we are to do the practice. Either way it’s not a competition and it’s important you only look at your own Soul Journey and not that of others. For me, it has been a journey full of ups and downs, two steps forward and 10 steps back. It’s been full of challenges and at times so exhausting that I don’t know why I bother. Every time you fall down, it gets easier to get back up, so you just have to keep at it.
Our Soul Journey is not about having a linear experience or an easy one. It’s not even about the end outcome and or a destination. It’s about choosing to increase the quality of your moments, one by one. It’s about knowing that you can and do have the ability to experience life differently. It’s about going on a journey of self-discovery and self-recovery. One step at a time, forgiving yourself throughout every point with a heart that is full of love and kindness.
Pause.
What do you notice? Is it the discomfort that you want to immediately eject yourself from? If so, know that if you breath through it and stay in stillness, you can and will get through it and come out from the other end realising that the thoughts have no power over you if you choose to sit with them.
Pause.
Breath.
Be Here.
Love Always,
M
Souloom™ 