Day 62 of 365 - Slowing Down the Mind

This morning my alarm woke me from a dream state.  When this happens, and not very often, I am quite fuzzy headed for awhile.  It takes some time for my mind to get on track.  I may allow this dreamy state to continue while I do my morning stretching routine but on typical days, I am already making to do lists in my head and planning my day's activities.

It is in my nature to be busy, to be getting things done, to always be focusing on the next thing on that list to be accomplished.  This attitude does not lend itself to reflecting and going within, as I would like to be doing on these dark December days.

Fortunately, sometimes life and the Universe conspire to support our plans despite our unconscious attempts to sabotage them.  For example, my sleepy brain this morning reminded me of my intention to slow down mentally.  Then, I also read that there is an astrology aspect today which supports this dreamy state.  The Sun is squaring Neptune in Pisces today.  Both Neptune and Pisces tend to foster dreamy and expansive states.

I was reminded that in order to pursue my goal of more inner exploration, more being that doing, I need to jettison my belief that my mind always needs to be in control. That overly busy mind is getting in the way of what I want.

Another synchronicity that is supporting my plan is a series of interviews that I signed up to watch some time ago.  The series just began this week.  It is called the Sacred Science of Sound.  The host is a lovely, gentle and mindful woman.  Her interview style is slow, ponderous and thoughtful.  This leads her guests to respond in a similar fashion.  There are lots of pauses for consideration and feeling into the moments.

I have to admit that style of interviewing makes my busy mind a little crazy.  I sit there watching, wondering when they will get to the point, wondering whether to multitask on the computer at the same time.  But, last night, as I watched, it clicked that this slowing down and pondering is just what I need at present.  Committing to watching one of these interviews every day for a couple of weeks will definitely help me get into a different rhythm.

Then, there is also the support of meditation.  I've mentioned before that one of the types I use is a guided audio series with binaural beats in the background.  The purpose of those is to entrain the brain waves to a calm, meditative state.  The particular one that I'm using at present is very effective for that.

So, obviously, it's a process for my personality to become comfortable with shifting into a more mindful way of living and feeling.  If I want to expand the range of my experience, it is helpful to slow down my mind and to let go of habits that do not serve me.  The experiment continues....


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day 53 of 365 - Christmas Decorating at Tortoise Pace

This past weekend the Facebook posts with photos of completed Christmas decorating began showing up.  Some people decorate every room of their common areas.  Some have up to three Christmas trees.  I admire those photos.  It's all very lovely and festive.  Those people are the hares in the race to Christmas.  I am the tortoise. I'm not judging.  People have their reasons for wanting to get it all done early.  That way they can enjoy gazing upon their holiday décor for several weeks.  Or, they may be entertaining with holiday parties or family get togethers on whatever date works for them. I love the holiday season, the lights, the decorations, the food, the general sense of magic in the air.  But this year I'm just having a little trouble getting the momentum going for decorating.  Before our first snow, which is now gone thanks to a few days of rain, I got excited and put up the balcony lights and garlands.  We have been e...
Read more

Day 86 of 365 - Year End Gratitude

Today I was out doing some of my usual weekend grocery and household shopping.  I noticed that the selection was more limited and that there were empty spaces and shelves.  Most of the holiday inventory that was added to aisles and end displays is disappearing, now at clearance prices.  Regular inventory shelves have not been fully restocked, probably due to some staff being on a vacation break. This made me realize how much we take for granted that everything we want will just 'be there' when we arrive at stores to shop.  It's part of our instant gratification culture here in North America, but it is certainly not at all typical in many other parts of the world.  We are so fortunate with all the choices we have, but we also just assume they will always be there. I felt grateful for the staff of the stores who are spending their shifts restocking the shelves for us.  I said a friendly hello to the produce manager at the grocery store, a man who goes out...
Read more

Day 13 of 365 - The Joy of Singing - Part 1

When I was growing up we had an old upright piano in our living room.  My mother had learned to play piano and organ as a young girl.  She continued to enjoy it as a past time during her years of homemaking and raising a family.  Often she would play from one of her songbooks and some of the children, usually the girls, would stand nearby singing and looking over her shoulder to read the lyrics. Those were fun times for me and I enjoyed singing melody lines and sometimes trying a harmony.  In elementary school I learned some basic sight reading of music and had some time in the school choir.  But, most of my singing happened at home or at church. I was raised as a Catholic and in my pre-teen and early teen years what were then known as folk choirs and now are better known as contemporary choirs came into vogue.  Our small town choir seemed to have limited access to that spiritual music genre and struggled by with a limited number of hymns/songs.  I...
Read more