Unwind and be present

People in the Western World find it difficult to just relax and be present. If not focused on a duty, the mind tends to wander between the past and the future or keep busy judging what is. The “thinking device” is so much in use, that the mental chatter easily keeps you from experiencing what is going on here and now with all senses. Being present is feeling alive, life happens now, not tomorrow or yesterday. The biggest ideas tend to appear in moments when we take a break, relax and let go. Creativity happens in the space between the thoughts, “when Einstein takes a walk”.

How to become more present:

1. Walking Meditation: Take a walk for 5 or 10 minutes around the block. Focus on how the air streams into your system. Feel fresh air filling up your lungs and silently say “breathe”. As you exhale feel the sensation when the air streams slowly out of your nostrils. Silently say “smile”. 5 or 10 minutes is enough.

2. Observe the mental chatter: By becoming aware of the mental chatter you become the observer, identify less with the thinking process. This creates a healthy distance to realize that you are not your mental chatter.

3. Rituals: Introduce easy meditation rituals, such as sitting in front of a candle at morning and at night just for 5 minutes, autogenetic training or other simple relaxation exercises. Please feel free to contact me if you need further details.

4. Stimulate the senses: have some incense sticks at home, a perfumed candle or an essential oil lamp with calming oils and light them eventually.

5. Get a reminder:

My husband and I created a sweet gift idea, that actually came to him in a dream: The intention of the OMLOVE™ pendants is to remind you to take a break from thinking to just being. Become aware of what is right here, right now. The design combines the symbol OM, that stands for the universal vibration Om or Aum (translated into Amen) with the heart symbol.

If you live in a stressful environment, experience nervousness or have a hard time to unwind, check it out!
You may feel resistance at the beginning, but this is just your ego mind trying to stay in control.
So smile and experiment anyway!

One response to “Unwind and be present”

George Schiaovne

July 15, 2013 at 12:06 pm

I have a group called UGOIGO consisting of a 5 year old a 6 year old and myself. We place a canvas or a colored paper before us. i administer one Chocolate kiss to each member to induce a good time through taste. The first rule of UGOIGO
at the outset is “No Thinking Allowed”. I then ask if anyone needs to dance. This sometimes delays the painting several minutes yet it engenders direct thoughtless action (chatter). I close my eyes and make a post on the page with Tempera paint and turn to the child to my right and say UGO and the child immediately make a statement without thought. Direct! From the impulse to the page. The process continues and we respond and augment each others contribution to the page.
The focus is incredible and as we are playing this exercise I get in touch with the right brain as do they. What comes out is
dialogue with all the information that is hiding behind our language and logic. The results are mostly beautiful and always creative. The point to this exercise is to find the” greater you”. Children are good at this as they have less layers of responsibility to cut through and as a result I benefit from their example. I include a link to view the results. For decades now i have been examining the creative process. It started when i was given a position that constantly demanded new ideas. After a while I became worried that a finite amount of creativity would be tapped and I would be finished. I read a book on right brain left brain functions. I then took a morning course in existentialism at U of Miami. in the afternoon i would get all my work done.A very nice schedule. in the courseI I found a word Heidegger used to mean “there to be”. The word dasein. i am not sure my spelling is correct. This explained to me why at times when I needed creative ideas i had trouble finding any. By combining what I learned about right and left brain behavior and the concept of being “there to be” opened a new door to
the creative process. I was able to reduce chatter by dismissing all things reasonable and fraught with logic. I found that many good ideas came to me while driving. My mind winds down the chatter as I drive and allow anything to enter while i am focused on the road. Suddenly as the resistance is reduced lightning strikes. Ideas just appear making use of dat that has been stored as intent. s
Since then i have found truth in sayings like “get out of your own way” and “use the you that’s greater than the you you know” and “let it be”. Your post made me mindful of this process and i thought i would relate it to you. your post is door to dasein.
Here is a link to the results
.http://www.schiavonephoto.com/UGOIGOss/index.html

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