Mind The Gap

Posted by: 12listen

BALANCE & INNER PEACE

Now Is The Time To Find It

Oh, really? With this going on! If I don’t have it, isn’t that just another thing on my list to worry about?

The world’s wisdom traditions have spoken for millenia about the importance of looking within rather than believing what we see spinning around us.

In times of hardship, stress and threat when the world looks a scary place, that is the very moment to find strength by bringing your focus, your attention, your intention into your inner landscape. You might call that your centre, your soul, your core personality or your heartspace. It doesn’t matter what you call it. What is essential is that you find your way there.

Let Me Paint You A Picture

There is centrifugal tube, rotating at high speed, throwing everything away from the centre and splattering it around the walls of the outer drum. Those of you who are old enough may remember the fairground ride which did just that. Called the Rotar Ride or Gravitron, it spun humans off their feet throwing them up, sideways and upside down. Just like a rollercoaster, where we experience fear in a safe way, this machine rendered us defenceless in the name of fun, the worse being we came off dishevelled and a little queasy. If you apply the same principle to particles in a paint spinner some may make pretty patterns, while elsewhere looks like an unpleasant mess. The outcome is random. Now consider this in real life where the force driving the machine is fear. Patterns are forming as everything is jetisoned away from the centre and compressed against the outer walls in random formations. The pretty patterns are the positive groups; compassion for others; community spirit; fund raising; self-care and a timely reminder about the precious nature of family and friends. Amongst the mess is greed; hording; domestic violence and fear of being alone with yourself devoid of the distractions of consumerism, over busy days and self medication with chocolate, carbohydrates and alcohol. If you have no power or ability to pull away from the edges and anchor yourself in the centre, away from the flak flying around the perimetre, then the tendancy is to find yourself overwhelmed by fear, nauseated, tossing around in the tornado of news, fake news, conspiracy theories, conflicting experts’ prognoses, rumour and outright deceit, occasionally bouncing off the walls, before tumbling on helplessly. That’s a scary place to be.

That is not to say that you shouldn’t be aware of what is spinning around, but you can’t make any sense of it when you are flying around in it. You have no chance of getting a reasonable perspective. And, it’s almost impossible to get a grip on anything. You find yourself getting fearful and anxious listening to the news, aggressive and upset with others whose opinions seems to threaten your safety, your liberty or your civil rights.You may have your own list of additions! The only answer is to get back to the centre. So, in case you are somene who would like a hand to reach out and grab you, I would like to share a simple exercise I use. it works really well with children, too.

The Way Back Home

1. Turn off the television, your phone and your computer for a significant time. A hour is minimum.
2. Find somewhere in nature and observe it with the wonder of a child seeing their first tree. See the details in the leaves, the nuances of colour. Notice how the textures change.
    If you do not have immediate access to nature, recall a time when you did marvel at the world.
    Stare at the clouds in the sky and contemplate how fast the world is turning in space – the almost incomparable nature of creation.
3. Sit somewhere comfortable where you can get your spine straight. Close your eyes and imagine an invisible string pulling you up from the top of your head, your crown. That is a good way to check if your spine is straight. Next, check your shoulder blades. Are your shouders up around your ears?
Allow them to gently settle back as if you are a bird folding away its wings. Rest your hands on your thighs.
4. Breathe. Breathe down into your belly and then allow your belly to flatten as you breath out. No need to force, just breathe.
5. Now, take your focus to your hands on your knees. What do you feel? Are you aware of the sensation of your hands feeling the hardness of your thigh muscles and bone? Or is it the weight and heat of your hands on your legs that you register? There is no right answer. Each time you do this exercise it may be different. Stay there, breathing and focussing on your hands on your thighs.
    Allow 21 breaths to slowly glide in and out. And then gently open your eyes. Keep your focus on how you felt when you were inside, experiencing your inner perspective.
6. Do this often, especially when the outer world starts to encroach. When you feel proficient at the exercise, try to reach for the space between your hand and your thigh. Can you feel the point where they meet – the gap?

As they say on the London tube system: mind the gap. That space is the door to inner peace.

By Erica Langdon

📞 If you found this useful and would like to know more about finding inner peace, I am a meditation teacher, reiki master, angel intuitive, dragon whisperer and tarot reader on 12Listen.com