Relax, accept what is, relax and breathe
The Art of Rest & Relaxation - Week 8
Relax - nothing is in control. Unknown
If you thought until now that you had your life under control, coronavirus has taught us a different lesson. It can feel so very freeing to realize that we actually have nothing under control... Control is an illusion, a BIG illusion, a huge self-deception.
The only thing we de facto have control over is our breath. Most people run around being completely unaware of their breath most of the time, so it is a great start to begin with observing your breath - thus making a first conscious connection with your breathing. Our breath tells us what is going on with us in every moment of our lives - if only we listen.
Listening to our breath is simple and profound - enjoy this precious sound - you are alive!
The next step is to accept whatever we perceive - while listening to our breath - without trying to influence it. Such beautiful acceptance IS relaxation in it's core.
Relax, accept what is, relax.
Then observe yourself and your likes and dislikes about something or someone - and the impulses that come with it, trying to push you to do something about it. If only we can relax and let acceptance take over, THEN likes and dislikes also will magically disappear - and next minute your need to do something about something has dissolved as well. If we simply accept what we dislike, it gets neutralised and doesn't bother us anymore. So freeing!
If we simply accept what we dislike, it gets neutralised and doesn't bother us anymore. So freeing!
"Nothing can bring you peace but yourself", said Ralph Waldo Emerson and the acknowledgement that nothing is in control anyway frees us up to direct our attention inwards and start our work there.
When nothing is in control, then we cannot do much about it either, so the best thing to do is to just relax. In a relaxed state, we can observe our breath, become present in this very moment, and realise that realistically in this very moment nothing really matters apart from the fact that life happens and we are part of it. As Charlie Chaplin had put it: "Nothing is permanent in this world, not even our troubles." And then simply and slowly start to control the only thing you have control over - start to control your breath with deepening it and making it slow, smooth and even...
This has a profound calming effect on body, mind, and spirit. If you stick with it, it will bring you peace. It will happen, it can't be any other way. And the need to control anything else will fall away as well. You are free to be free! Enjoy & relax!
Please take 10 deep, slow, long, smooth and even breath - and say to yourself "I am aware of my breath, I enjoy being alive, I accept what is and relax, I bring peace to myself".
Feel free to vary these phrases and arrange them to your liking - use your intuition to make your own individual adjustments...
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