Most of our thoughts aren’t ‘ours.’ They aren’t our truth, and a lot of the time, they aren’t serving us, or anyone else.
Thoughts flow through from all directions - things we’ve witnessed, been told, watched, read, conversations we’ve had - the life we witness and hear is imprinted within us, whether we are aware or not.
What I mean by ‘they’re not ours’, is that we have not chosen these thoughts. We have not consciously decided - ‘these words are truth and I wish to flood my being with these word’s vibrations.’
If thinking were that conscious a process, would we really be so casual about the thoughts we let dictate our actions?
Our mind is a beautiful friend - an incredible ally for doing life - thinking, planning, interacting - it thrives on this movement.
Though like a small child that doesn’t know how to rest, it needs some help. It needs a loving caregiver to gently let it know that playtime is over and rest is what is needed right now. I think of it like the caregiver helping the child to relax and rest.
This, we can do with our mind.
Notice what thinking state you’re in. Are you letting thoughts flood in, and attempting to grasp at which one is really ‘true’?
Are you getting overwhelmed by all the different competing thoughts/justifications/ideas, and feeling unable to pick out what really feels right?
Then this is where the body comes in - the ‘FEELS RIGHT’ - that happens in the body, not the mind.
Take it to the body.
If you’re frustrated with your own thoughts, and feeling ‘bad’ for thinking certain things or for the overwhelm you are creating, then know that this is just a perpetual loop of the mind interacting with itself.
It’s the child denying sleep by being in bed, but still chatting away and being the naughty toddler that WILL NOT GO TO SLEEP, THANK YOU VERY MUCH.
That’s where the loving caregiver comes in. That’s where the compassion and nurturing self is needed.
So, Step #1: NOTICE your thoughts.
Be with them.
Breathe there.
And rather than seek to latch on to what is true and what to believe - be neutral to all of them.
Step #2: Put your hands on your body.
For women, hands on the womb space is deeply affecting. For men, the intuitive center is felt in the belly.
Lower than the heart. Though the heart can be pure and has its truth too, the proximity of the heart to the mind is close. Sometimes too close, in terms of how the mind affects the emotional body so easily. If you are at the point where your emotional body is already affected, then better to take it lower to the womb/belly.
Now just feel, and ask yourself ‘what feels true?’
The mind wants to answer. The little child is still awake. But again, stay neutral to the mind.
Keep asking yourself ‘what feels true?’ Don’t resist any thought flooding in. Know that they are going to do that, and they are not truth.
If the thoughts create a feeling of murkiness and resistance in the body, then they are not an expression of your deepest truth.
Stay there asking this, softly, lovingly, until the little mind child starts to get tired, and begins to lay itself down on its pillow to rest.
It will become quieter. The less you interact with it, the less you respond in any way (believing it, chatting with it, or resisting it) the more it realises it doesn’t have power over you right now.
Then - a feeling will stir. You will then get a sense of truth in feeling, or in words. The difference is it is not the words trying to make the meaning, it is the meaning being made into words.
Some of my recent experiences of this landed me at these truths:
- I am whole already
- All I feel is love, all there is, is love
- I am ready to move on
- I need to step up
Your mind is not you.
It is a part of you - a tool - a friend - an ally.
Let’s be grateful for all the mind does for us, and just know that it’s a pattern that it has adopted - to think and justify and expect and compare and all of it.
We use those skills to navigate life. What a beautiful gift it is.
The only thing is - it keeps on doing that well after it is needed. It has gotten very good at it. The child keeps playing long after it truly wants to, as the body and heart and mind of the child is all seeking rest.
So, take a moment. Feel.
Be the caregiver of your mind, and a listener of your body.
There you will find truth.
Shae xx
