PUTTING WATER IN SOMEONE'S RIVER

Putting Water in Someone's River.

 

Many years ago one of my favourite teachers said that life was like a river and that we were all in our own little boat trying to make our way up or down stream. It wasn't an especially original or challenging concept, but I loved what he went on to say,

 

'It's very flippin hard to paddle along the river when someone keeps taking water out of it... so be the kind of person that puts water in someone's river, not the kind that takes it out.'

 

I had intended to write a bit about this, but you know, it's pretty self explanatory. This idea becomes a practical tool if we use it as a touchstone to assess our thoughts, words and actions and especially our motivation for them.

Putting water in someone elses river is a great way to soothe and nurture them and ourselves.

 

It seems to me that the Prayer of St Francis gives a great set of guidelines for putting water in someone's river:

  

     

Lord, make me an instrument of Your peace;

Where there is hatred, let me sow love;

Where there is injury, pardon;

Where there is discord, harmony;

Where there is error, truth;

Where there is doubt, faith;

Where there is despair, hope;

Where there is darkness, light;

And where there is sadness, joy.

O Divine Master, Grant that I may not so much seek

To be consoled as to console;

To be understood as to understand;

To be loved as to love.

For it is in giving that we receive;

It is in pardoning that we are pardoned;

And it is in dying that we are born to eternal life.

 

That's all for today. Thanks for looking in and love and light to you all.

Rex 

CALLING BACK THE LOVE

Calling Back the Love

Today’s hack is probably the most subtle and ethereal I can offer. As with everything else I’ve put up on the blog, it’s here because it’s something I use often and with good results.

The fundamental premise for this hack is this: love is simply energy. If we can agree to accept that, or simply be open to it being true, we can go ahead. These are the steps:

Step One: Decide that you are going to call back all the love you have given or felt (for anyone or anything) to yourself.

Step Two: Say to yourself, ‘I call back to myself all the love I’ve ever felt or given…’

Step Three: Put your attention on how your body feels.

          That’s it!

Notes: If you don’t experience an immediate and profound sense of well-being and soothing, repeat the process two or three times. As with the other hacks, Calling Back the Love becomes more powerful with use. Your awareness of both energy and your body will deepen and refine with practice.

          This is probably a good hack to experiment with on those days when you’re feeling a little low and unloved, as opposed to those days when you want to kill everyone in the room with your bare teeth or just throw yourself off a bridge.

          Have a play and let me know how you get on. Thanks for looking in!

          Rex

CLUTCH YOUR FOREHEAD...OR ASK A FRIEND...

Clutch Your Forehead...or ask a friend to do it for you!

Today’s soother comes to us from the wonderful Touch for Health System, developed by the late Dr John Thie in the early seventies. The thing I love about this Soother, is that it’s an instinctual human response in times of stress. Very simply we are going to hold our foreheads, something we often do when we feel a little overwhelmed by things.

In Touch for Health this soother would be called ‘Holding the Emotional Stress Release Points’ and it’s very powerful.

To apply this for self-soothing, here’s what you do:

Step One: Put your hand, palm down on your forehead and gently rest it there. (Your fingers and thumb will be parallel to your eyebrows and hairline respectively.)

Step Two: Put your awareness on your breath.

Step Three: Stop when you feel sufficiently soothed.         

          That’s it!

(Now, I should mention that in Touch for Health you’re not instructed to put your attention on your breathing. I added that step because it makes the original technique more powerful. It seems that breath is key to all soothing.)

This also works when we do this for another person, so do it for friends and family; but tell them what you are going to do first. As far as animals go, I haven’t had much success. The animal usually has to be soothed before it will allow a hand on its forehead and by that stage the ‘technique might not be necessary.

Have a play, and let me know what you think. As always, thanks for looking in!

Rex.

Ps: The picture is of one of the rare occasions when a pony let me hold her forehead; she seemed to like it. The Golden Rule in working with animals is to always let them lead and never to impose.

MAKE MONKEY-MIND WORK FOR YOU

Make Monkey-Mind Work for You

            It’s probably a mainstream cliché at this stage to utter the words, ‘Gratitude is the Best Attitude.’ However, as with all clichés, it contains more than just a grain of truth. There are many techniques out there for ‘practising gratitude’ and they all work.

            The approach I like best, takes no extra time out of anyone’s day and is a swifter soother than other approaches I’ve tried. It also allows us to make Monkey-Mind work for us rather than simply for its own entertainment.

             I like to practice it outdoors while walking from A to B, or simply going for a stroll. It can certainly be done indoors if you wish, but I don’t recommend practicing it while you’re driving any kind of vehicle, with or without an engine. This is because it does require some attention and really, all your attention should be on the road if you’re driving/riding.

             Here’s how to do it:

Step One: As you walk along, in your mind, Say Thank you for everything you see.

            That’s it!

            Now, here are some details: Include every single thing your eyes fall on, however strange they may seem, as well as anything else you are inspired to think of. This really easily becomes a stream of consciousness experience and Monkey-Mind LOVES stream of consciousness! Now, instead of a constant babble in your head distracting you from being present, you can direct the babble to create a very soothed and resourceful state.

             Let me give an example of how it might sound in your mind as you’re walking along:

‘… thank you for my legs, thank you for shoes, thank you for shoelaces, thank you for feet, thank you for paving stones, thank you for the Romans, thank you for pizza, thank you for cheese, thank you for cows, thank you for green grass, thank you for trees, thank you for the smell of coffee, thank you for coffee, thank you for cinnamon buns, thank you for bakers, thank you for colour, thank you for beauty thank you for eyes that work,thank you for traffic lights, thank you for pedestrian crossings…’

            You get the idea, I’m sure. It can be quite entertaining to see what your mind will throw at you; just say thank you anyway. Have fun and thanks for looking in; everything you need is in there!

Rex.

Ps: On Sunday, I’m going to explore what I think of as the Myth of Motivation.

TAKING IT TO THE STREETS

Taking it to the Streets.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzBBBrKfjIQ

...Today’s hack for self-soothing is an indirect one. Instead of trying to directly do something for ourselves, it can be as effective to do something for other people; maybe good karma too. The books are full of advice about forgetting our own woes by getting involved in helping others, so this is not a new or original idea.

However I like to do it in the simplest and easiest way I know.

To do it, you’ll need to go out on the street or into a public space; hence the title of this post. Very simply you’re going out to bless everyone you see with the following words, ‘I send you love and golden blessings’.

Let me first put it down step by step and then I’ll describe how to do it and how not to do it.

Step one: Go for a walk on a street or in a public place.

Step two: Pick anyone walking ahead of you in the same direction and let your eyes rest softly on them.

Step Three: Keep your eyes on them as you say the following words to yourself: ‘I send you love and golden blessings’

Step Four: Pick another person and repeat the process until you’ve had enough.

Note: Do not go out and do this until you have read the important ‘how to /how not to’ below.

           

How to/How not to: Do not make eye contact with anyone while you’re doing the hack; you’ll make them nervous and they might call a policeman. However, you will need to keep your eyes on the person while you’re giving the blessing - best then to do this for people who are walking away from you.

            It would be better to say the blessing in your head; if you say it out loud you will have the distraction of having to deal with people’s reactions to you, whatever they may be. Let your eyes be soft.

            I try and keep my eyes on the person I’m blessing for the whole time I’m saying the blessing. If for some reason my eyes lose contact with them, I start again.

            In about ten years of practicing this I have had one occasion where my eyes didn’t seem able to rest on someone to whom I had intended to offer the blessing. It was very strange, as soon as I began to say the blessing in my head; my eyes seemed to slip off them. I only tried twice and then I stopped trying in case they neither wanted nor needed a blessing from me.

            I recommend anyone having a similar experience treat it in the same way; it’s probably more respectful like that.

            I find with this hack, that I become so involved in practising it that I lose my self; it’s when I stop that I realise how soothing it has been for me – maybe for the people receiving the blessings too; who knows? It also often seems to smooth my entire day.

Have a play and tell me what you experience has been. Thanks for looking in!

Rex