Dance in the fire the miracle of life!
Flow with the water to the depth of the dreams!
Breathe in the wind the width of the sky!
Grow into the Earth to the source of your power!
A very powerful piece of wisdom, which however only few people seem to take to heart consequently in the modern, fast moving society. For such pieces of wisdom there is usually not enough time. Some people might read such lines with interest, understand the wisdom with their mind to then put it in the intellectual drawer department into the drawer “understood”, where it sits and vanishes without having gotten full attention.
Yet, how would it be, when you make this Indian piece of wisdom your motto for the fresh New Year and really live it? To be able to do this, it is useful to answer two other questions beforehand:
- Why do you sometimes (or regularly) run through life and are rushed or stressed?
- When do you stop surviving and start living?
The crux is stress and daily hectic are self-made. Do you know the situation that you think you quickly have to do, arrange, or solve this and that, before you can actually relax? Why are you doing this?
The ongoing doing seems to be like a virus in many people. Believe me; I know this virus very well. For years it was difficult for me, to actually take break during the day. It is a virus of the patriarchal society, which has been trained in performance. Many of us have this virus of having to achieve something unconsciously deep in their cells. If for example you are chilling in the park and watching the trees, then you don’t achieve anything. You might even be asked whether you don’t have enough work or are again on holiday. A fatal belief that goes along with that is that you only get recognition, when you achieve something and earn money. “Nothing comes from nothing“ is a common saying. When you are stressed then you are apparently achieving pretty much and are therefore important (e. g. for your company). Consequently, you get admiration. And only if you get sick, do you have the right to take a break. These are just a few, unspoken virus aspects and beliefs. The focus is on doing and having. It is about material and monetary growth. We try to increase and let grow the doing and having instead of growing our being.
Do you realize the gap between the Indian piece of wisdom and the beliefs of modern society? It seems that they cannot be united.
And yet, it is possible! It is possible that you dance in the fire the miracle of life and grow into the Earth to the source of your power as soon as you start getting your power back and stop getting lost in the outside.
Getting lost in the outside means, that you give your power and authority away and are no longer grounded and no longer resting in yourself. You can give away your power to things, people, situations, projects, time, money, beliefs or even assumed social rules and norms. It is therefore useful to check for yourself how often during the day you lose your power in the outside and are no longer centered. Ask yourself for example the following questions:
- How often do you try to please your partner, your boss, your colleagues, etc.?
- How often do you think that you should perform better, do more or achieve more?
- How many tasks have you taken over based on inauthentic sense of duty that stress you instead of inspiring you?
- Does your job inspire and fulfill you? Or does life only start after work?
- How long is your to-do list? How many points does it include (if you write down everything that you think you have to do, even though these are daily repeating tasks like cleaning, ironing, driving the kid to school, etc.)
- How often during the day to you think „I will just quickly finish this and that, before I take the time to drink a coffee”?
- Do you worry about having enough money or about how you can earn more money?
- How often per month do you take the time to really do nothing at all?
- How often are you in your mind in the future or in the past and think about probabilities in the future or about what already happened?
- How often during the day to you make time to get present in the here and now and feel what is going on inside of you and what you feel?
Even if you have a job or a project that really inspires you, it can happen that you give away your power. This happens for example when you miss the moment to take break because of so much inspiration. Then you give your power away to the project. When inspiration is running through you it just flows. Inspiration doesn’t know anything about time and breaks. Therefore it is important in that case that you consciously take breaks to not burn out due to too much inspiration.
It can happen real fast that you end up in the „So-much-to-do“-thing. No matter in which way or to what or whom you give your power in the outside, it is essential that you regularly stop and get back to yourself to be able to integrate the Indian piece of wisdom more and more in your life. Get rid of all the luggage you don’t need and that is not yours (also see the article from December 2018 „With how much baggage do you travel through life?”). Become authentic. Become present in the here and now. To do so, the following 2 steps are essential.
Step 1: Get centered
The first step is that you learn to be really centered. You center yourself by using your attention to figure out where your so called energetic, movable being center is (it usually starts in the size of a grapefruit and we oftentimes put it in our head thinking all the time). Then you use your intention to put it on your physical center. The physical center is in the middle of your body at the height of the belt buckle and keeps our balance. When these two kinds of center are on each other then you are centered. Watch for example on YouTube the starting position in martial arts like Aikido, Jujitsu or others. When you are centered, nothing can get you out of balance. You might want to reinforce being centered by declaring that roots grow from the soles of your feet into the Earth. When you are centered, only the here and now counts. Your mind might not know right now, how this works. The invitation is to try it anyway.
Step 2: Become aware of your personal space
This is something that we definitely do not learn in school and which might therefore sound a little bit weird now. Each person actually has a personal, energetic space around them. However, since most of us do not learn anything about it and can therefore not declare it consciously, the space collapses and is no longer there. The consequence is that you get hit unprotected by the energy of the people you encounter. Have you ever walked through town and came back home being totally exhausted and tired? Most of us have experienced this. This happens when you have not declared you personal, energetic space. As soon as you get hit by all the energy of other people, it gets very difficult to rest in yourself and stay centered.
Try this: Sit relaxed on a chair. Close your eyes. Now use your two fingers to click. Click and declare a bubble around you that includes you completely. You are sitting in the bubble. It is like a soap bubble in the distance of 50cm around you, in front of you, behind you, above you and below you. Now use your hands to feel the bubble from the inside. Really use your hands and move them along the bubble wall. After having done this for a minute, vanish the bubble again with a click and feel the difference. Then use again your intention and click the bubble around you. Again feel the difference. Do this a couple of times. This might be the first time that you become aware of and sense your personal, energetic space. Then walk downtown and consciously declare your personal space around you. Keep part of your attention on it to keep it up. Experience the difference.
When you are more and more centered, arrive in your being and in the here and now, allow yourself enough breaks, in which everything can settle, calmness and peace of mind will follow. Then you can integrate your experiences, let go of things, get clarity about what really matters to you and create something new.
Stress is self-made. When you are stressed and rushed then you are imprisoned by your thoughts, beliefs and in doing and having. But what if you are not your thoughts? What if you can actually break free from the intellectual prison? What if you are not your doing and being?
Each person has a being. The being can be characterized by qualities that represent your essence and describe what you ARE. Maybe you are open, clear, creative, like a shining star, attentive, sensitive, humorous, etc. How would it be for you to shift the focus from doing more to being? You might ask now: “That all sounds great, but how shall I do this? How does it go?” Take into consideration that the answer to the question „How?“ is „Yes!“. Just start! (e. g. by practicing the two above mentioned steps).
The really interesting question is not „How?“ but rather: „When do you finally consciously and full-heartedly decide to
dance in the firer the miracle of life,
flow with the water to the depth of the dreams,
breathe in the wind the width of the sky,
grow into the Earth to the source of your power?"
Take care of yourself. It is your unique, precious life-time.
Best wishes,
Nicola