Mindfulness has to do with fully and openly embracing the present moment. Sounds so simple, right? But in truth we spend our time doing everything but that. And that goes doubly when we encounter an emotion that makes us uncomfortable or even fearful.
Whenever a challenging emotion arises we quickly move into the story we have built up around it which pulls us straight into the past and all the times we have experienced that emotion before. We remember the situations in detail, the wrongs that were done to us or how we failed or were judged by others. We end up getting lost in the emotional drama of our ‘story’ and our connection to the present is quickly and completely lost.
But the past is gone. Those stories are nothing more than stories, they’re not real. In many cases they have been passed to us from someone else and don’t even reflect our own true values.
Unfortunately the stories we re-run over and over, and the emotional ‘rabbit-hole’ they lead us to, hold such a power over us that it can be really difficult to break free of them. Luckily the key to breaking them is a simple technique using awareness. Mindful awareness is an active investigation into the nature of your mind and how it functions.
Perceiving True Mind
Trying to discover the true nature of our mind is impossible using the mind itself. This is because most of what’s in there is hidden in the subconscious, or distorted in faulty memory. But fortunately we don’t have to rely on our mind because our thoughts, experiences, memories and emotions are also held in every cell of our body. And our body cells are a far more reliable and accessible library of these than is our mind.
Using our awareness to keenly observe and witness the messages held by our body helps us to unlock them without getting drawn into the story that has always surrounded them.
This simple exercise will guide you to unlocking your cell’s secrets. And doing this allows you to stay in the present moment even when your emotions begin to overwhelm you.
When you do this exercise at first you may find yourself slipping back into the emotion. When you notice this happening gently guide your awareness back to the exercise, without any judgment. Each time you do the exercise you’ll find your ability to maintain your detached focus, to identify what you observe and to accept the emotion with it causing you more stress becomes easier and easier.
Mindfulness Exercise: Connect Your Mind, Body And Emotions
Observe: When you feel an emotion that’s unpleasant the first step is to take a few slow, deep breaths and quickly scan your body from head to toe. Look for the strongest sensation – the one that bothers you the most. Focus your attention on that sensation. Use your awareness. Observe it carefully, curiously. Notice where it starts and where it ends. Discover as much about it as you can.
Distance: Don’t judge what you find. Don’t try to work out what it’s about. All you need to do is observe.
Breathe: Take a few deep breaths. Breathe into and around the sensation.
Expand: Make room for the feeling. Loosen up around it and create space.
Allow: Allow the emotion to be there. You don’t have to like it or want it. Simply let it be and make peace with it. The goal is not to get rid of it but to give up the struggle with it.
You can do this with as many different sensations as you want to. As you do this exercise one of two things will happen: either your feelings will change – or they won’t. It doesn’t matter either way. This exercise is not about changing your feelings. It’s about observing them and accepting them whilst staying in the moment.
When you step outside the emotion like this and simply observe it with awareness, you begin to strengthen your engagement with your Highest Self, with Source.