Saturday, February 16, 2013

Shhh...be still

The flu and the weather conspired to keep me from physically going anywhere
but did not deter our little neighbour Leah :-)
I am an information junkie with a voracious appetite!

I like to learn; I gather information like a squirrel. But information isn't wisdom. So I test what I've learned by applying these lessons to my own life. Direct experience is the best teacher so you might say that I am my own laboratory. Only when truths are experienced and understood do I share them with students through the workshops I facilitate. However, for body work treatments (Shiatsu, reflexology, hot stone massage and lomi) that I provide, over time the wisdom is wordlessly, magically, seamlessly, integrated.

It is both a blessing and a curse that the internet is open 24/7 and my FaceBook friends post some pretty amazing and intellectually stimulating information. Through my FaceBook connections I find inspiring posts and positive news of what's going on in the world, or at least what could be going on if we would only look outside the box.

More and more e-mail my clients arrange appointments through e-mail. Advertising is a hands on affair that I maintain through e-mail and my website. I post entries on this blog for fun and on AWAKENING CHOICE DREAMS to educate the public about dreamwork.

I am the thing that lives at the bottom of the stairs.

Fortunately for my physical health, my body has a huge need for movement and so I break away to do my yoga, go for a walk, fly, skate or kayak depending on the weather or perform some menial physical chore. But lately while engaged in these activities my mind is in overdrive. Instead of coming away refreshed I just feel busy, busy, busy.

I don't know when I slipped into multitasking as the order of the day. I watch some T.V. and do dishes or throw in a load of laundry during the, far too many and too lengthy, commercial breaks. I study Spanish or pour through hypnosis magazines during "brain candy" programs.

Restless by nature, the default of my brain and body is set for constant motion. With all this exposure to information, information itself feels like movement and incessant noise in my head.

After recording and working with my dreams, I consult the Voyage to Kanaka Makua cards each morning upon arising to ascertain the tone of the day. Over the past weeks the cards have been imploring me to return to meditation, listen to my breath, my heart, my body, be in the present, be still; NOW.

I have been paying heed and have cleared time and space to just sit and be. This has shown me that my senses have been bombarded with information to the point of overload and that my revved up brain is filled with a cacophony of urgent thoughts all clamouring for attention.

This is what silence feels like to me.
the woods at Mosswood Hollow
20 minutes of meditation a day isn't cutting it; I return to my old patterns for the rest of the day. More downsizing has been the remedy in the form of: increased visual, auditory and physical silence; decreased time on the computer and T.V. and more discriminate and limited use of my time on FB. More time for writing and reading books with actual pages.

It's so easy to get caught up in it all and in all my striving (striving for its own sake is another default state of mine) I have forgotten to just be.

Lengthier periods away from all this info/noise means, on my return, I'm greeted by an e-mail inbox spilling over with messages. Twitter and Linkedin kindly remind me that during my absence LOTS of interesting info has been zipping around cyber space that I absolutely must see. Important people everywhere are saying important things and since I probably don't want to miss any of it they kindly supply me with tid bits to tempt me to dive into the fray.

What are you missing?

Out from the silence I answer, "Nothing".