So here we are nearing the end of January ‘21 and ten months living with this pandemic. What are we learning? Many of us are feeling stuck, trapped, vulnerable and overwhelmed. We have to ask ourselves what do we believe in? If we don’t have some sort of spiritual anchor, we can get blown all over the place with what is going on in the world around us. We have to find a way to work through these difficult times and hold ourselves together. We are the only being on this planet that has the gift of free will. We have the choice to think, feel and do in whatever direction we want. We not only need to protect ourselves physically we need to protect ourselves mentally and emotionally. Our mental health is our health! In this age of technology where there is so much information coming at us, we need to be very careful with what information we allow into our minds and how that information influences what we believe. We will not find the answers to our problems outside, we need to look inside.
As we have been watching events unfolding worldwide, we see the development of huge grief, depression, anxiety, shock and fear as we all have had to make major adjustments to our lifestyle. We may look out at the world and think the whole system is breaking down into chaos. The world as we knew it is disappearing. What is happening without has an effect on what is happening within us and vice versa. This is The Law of Cause and Effect – as above so below, as within so without…. We need to pay attention to what we ‘feed’ into our consciousness. What we look at and see around us, consciousness has a way of mirroring back to us and reminding us of deep truths.
Like a magnet, our consciousness gets sucked into the same drama in the world without as is going on in our world within. We need to take our attention away from the outside and pay attention to what is going on inside. Social media has a very biased perspective. We cannot solve a problem with the same thinking that caused it – fear begets more fear, anger begets more anger…. Our thoughts are powerful. We think in words, we speak in words and our words influence our very neuron connections. It is our duty to be of service in this world and to each other. By taking personal responsibility we can find the courage to develop a new way of thinking, a new way of being.
This is what we are doing in meditation. We first learn to still the body then we learn to still the mind and with focus we regulate our breathing. When we regulate our breathing, we regulate all the systems in the body. Then we learn to ‘reprogramme’ our mind with higher feeling thoughts. Thoughts of gratitude, compassion, empathy, appreciation and loving kindness for ourselves and for others. We learn to take control of how we respond to the world without rather than react in an undisciplined emotional manner. There is now scientific evidence that our thoughts and feelings can change our DNA.
The Eternal Law of Life – What you think and feel you bring into form. Where your thought is, there you are, for you are your consciousness. If we want to make a change in our world without, we have to start with changing our world within.
Watch your thoughts, they become your words
Watch your words, they become your actions
Watch your actions, they become your habits
Watch your habits, they become your character
Watch your character, it becomes your destiny
Lao Tzu quote