Mind Calm (19 page)

State the problem that you want to heal your relationship with today.

Be here now by tuning in and noticing that this moment is happening.

Temporarily engage the story in your mind about the problem.

Notice the ‘special thought' you are resisting and where you feel it in your body.

Let the ‘special thought' and feeling be present within you with no resistance.

Play with ‘seeing it, not being it' during a Calm Sitting.

For example, let's say you have noticed that you feel your goals are out of reach. To use the protocol, you want to consider what thoughts you are having in relation to not being able to achieve your goals. Maybe you have the thought,
I will never be able to do X
. You then want to notice where you feel that thought in your body, before ‘bringing it on' by letting both the thought and emotion be present within you with no resistance. You will find the energy surrounding the thought disperses and will no longer feel so true.

Liberation from self-judgemental thoughts and resistances like this can free you up to harness your inner power to fulfil your potential.

3

JOY

MORNING MIND CALM SITTING

OM JOY (Navel) Calm Thought only

(Recommended duration: 10–15 minutes or longer if you have the time.)

DAYTIME MIND CALM GAME

Inward Gazing: Be inwardly attentive towards your heart

DAYTIME PEACE WITH MIND PROTOCOL

Get peace with EMOTIONS that you judge as negative

EVENING MIND CALM SITTING

Use all 10 Calm Thoughts

(Recommended duration: 10–15 minutes or longer if you have the time.)

Calm Thought meaning:
Joy is the natural expression of life. It is the creative juice of the universe. Joy is beyond the temporary highs of happiness. Letting go of judgement, resistance, attachment and the past and future allows joy to be consciously present. It is the natural by-product of being thankful for one's existence.

Calm Thought purpose:
Growing up, it is common to mislabel joy for fear, angst or anxiety and end up suppressing its transformative powers. Joy is the flow of inner-life-infused energy existing in everyone. By letting go of the mind-made labels about emotional energies and letting emotions be present within you with zero resistance, you can find that feelings you once knew as anxiety or fear have always been joy's powerful presence. Furthermore, although we are taught we need things to make us happy, joy is beyond mind-based reasoning. In the pursuit of happiness by fixing, changing and improving circumstances, many miss a glorious gift in being born human, which is to experience joy for no reason. Joy is ever-present to those awake to its on-going presence.

Calm Thought Focus:
Using ‘OM JOY' with your attention in the ‘Navel' can help to heal your relationship with this potent force for good within you and let the energetic celebration of existence carry you on its wondrous wings.

This game helps you to let energy be present within you. What is it like if you pretend to have double-sided eyes and look outwards while gazing inwards towards your heart at the same time?

• Find something outside and in front of you that you can use as an external point of focus. This might be a door handle, the corner of a picture frame or a spot on the wall.
  
• Then, while maintaining some attention outwards on that external point of reference, pretend that you have double-sided eyes and look back, in and down towards your heart area or towards where you are feeling a negative emotion (usually your stomach, solar plexus or heart area).
  
• As you do this, notice what happens to the thoughts in your mind. Do they quieten? Do you become aware of how still it is within you now? If you are watching an emotion in your body somewhere, notice what happens to its intensity as you ‘see it, don't be it'. Does it dissolve? Are you able to be at peace with it being present within you?
  

Inward gazing is a fantastic way of cultivating a more consistent inward attentiveness. You will find that you can take your attention inwards and place it upon your heart, and still interact very effectively with the external
world. In fact, many people who practise this technique find that they become more present than when all of their attention is outwards on stuff, sound and movement. Play with inward gazing when speaking with friends, working at your computer and walking in nature. It can help you to become aware of the presence of peace within, as well as hone your skills at context awareness.

After a couple years of meditating regularly, I reluctantly went to my meditation teacher to tell him I didn't think it was working. My reasoning was the simple fact that I was still feeling intense emotions in my body that were uncomfortable. Sometimes feeling as if my solar plexus were on fire with feelings, I would meditate often but it didn't appear to be getting any better.

Upon hearing that I was trying to make them go away, he compassionately challenged me, ‘When did I tell you to try to get rid of your emotions? You are a human being with a body that will always have energy within it. If you want to enjoy true peace, then you must learn how to be at peace with how you feel.'

Peace is not the absence of emotions. So, by learning to let them be present within you, you can discover a calm stillness present alongside all movement. To explore this for yourself, use the Peace with Mind Protocol to heal your relationship with any emotions that you might habitually judge as negative and therefore resist, including:

• Anger
  
• Anxiety
  
• Fear
  
• Sadness
  
• Guilt
  
• Hurt
  

Using the above list as inspiration, consider what emotions you currently perceive to be negative and problematic. Then use the Peace with Mind Protocol to get peace with the emotional energies so that you can either let them go or harness their power for good.

State the problem that you want to heal your relationship with today.

Be here now by tuning in and noticing that this moment is happening.

Temporarily engage the story in your mind about the problem.

Notice the ‘special thought' you are resisting and where you feel it in your body.

Let the ‘special thought' and feeling be present within you with no resistance.

Play with ‘seeing it, not being it' during a Calm Sitting.

For example, let's say you tend to feel anxious when thinking about public speaking. You want to consider what it is about public speaking that makes you feel that way. This might be ‘everyone looks at me' or ‘I might make a fool of myself', etc. Using the Peace with Mind Protocol you will notice where you feel the most special thought in your body. Then see what happens when you let the thought and feeling be present within you with zero resistance. Having shifted into the ‘bring it on' mind-set, you will find the emotional energy stops being problematic and the thought of public speaking, for example, is no longer a scary situation that you would feel the need to avoid.

By doing this protocol with emotions you tend to judge as negative, you can enjoy more emotional liberation. Remember, it is not the things in life that we fear or necessarily want to avoid, but the way we believe these things will make us feel. Getting peace with your emotions about life therefore enables you to harness the power of your emotions and frees you up to engage life fully.

4

PEACE

MORNING MIND CALM SITTING

OM PEACE (Solar Plexus) Calm Thought only

(Recommended duration: 10–15 minutes or longer if you have the time.)

DAYTIME MIND CALM GAME

Heart Watching: Look out at life from your heart

DAYTIME PEACE WITH MIND PROTOCOL

Peace with the ENVIRONMENT where you live and work

EVENING MIND CALM SITTING

Use all 10 Calm Thoughts

(Recommended duration: 10–15 minutes or longer if you have the time.)

Calm Thought meaning:
Consciousness is peaceful. Or said another way, consciousness is full of peace. Everything happens within the constant context of still silent spacious consciousness that is inherently calm. All movement happens within peace, including the natural flow of joy within. All noise can only be distinguished and heard due to the context of silent serenity, and all stuff is filled up with and fills peace-filled consciousness.

Calm Thought purpose:
Trying to find peace by stopping your mind, body and life doesn't work. Pushing against the natural flow of these aspects of being human actually causes stress. Only when you learn to rest back, let go and just be… do you notice the presence of peace that remains. You see how it actually takes vast amounts of effort and energy not to be peaceful. Being distracted by thoughts and emotions can lead to the impression that peace is not present. However, being consciously aware and, more importantly, noticing what it is experientially like to be aware, you find the oasis of calm within.

Calm Thought Focus:
Most people experience emotions in their solar plexus area, so by using ‘OM PEACE' with your attention in your ‘Solar Plexus', you can heal your relationship with any movement in your mind, body and life - to rest in perfect peace, while fully engaging life.

One easy and fun way to gain immediate mind calm is a game I call ‘Heart Watching'. This game draws your attention further inwards - naturally making you more consciously aware. With practice, it can help you to engage life with an inward attentiveness to the still silent presence within, as you go about your day.

• Although your eyes are clearly on your face, this game encourages you to notice what it is also like to look out from the centre of your chest in your heart area.
  
• As you continue to read these words, notice what it is like to look out not only from the eyes on your face but also to look out at these words from your heart centre.
  
• Continuing to be attentive in this way a little longer, how would you describe your inner experience?
  

Common answers include ‘calm', ‘still', ‘quiet', ‘present' and so on. What is it like for you to engage Heart Watching by looking out from your heart area? It is fun to play this game with objects or with people you know. You can do it by facing each other and intending to look out at each other from your individual heart areas; it can lead to more Mind Calm and kindness.

Being in one place while wishing you were somewhere else causes discontentment and limits your ability to see the beauty that is always present. Use the Peace with Mind Protocol to heal your relationship with your living and working environments, including:

• Home
  
• Workplace
  
• City
  
• Country
  
• Nature
  
• Earth health
  

Using the above list as inspiration, consider what you currently perceive to be a problem relating to your environment. Then use the Peace with Mind Protocol to get peace with the thoughts and emotions that you are having about a specific issue relating to where you live and work and the world you live in.