The Cycle Of Awareness
March 19, 2021
I wanted to introduce to you a practice that has simplified my life and so often cleared my emotional chaos. The Cycle of Awareness
When things happen we often feel rushed to fix it, solve it, or get rid of it. When we learn the teachings of mindfulness we become more aware of certain patterns that no longer serve us as well as they may have in the past. Bringing the necessary changes to these patterns require desire for change, mindfulness and practical tools.
The Cycle of Awareness was introduced to me in one of my yoga therapy trainings from The Nosara Yoga Institute, and has create that solid tool to help me make decisions, especially when I feel the lack of control and major chaos.
Not sure what happened but it just hit me. The past year I learned so much new information for work and tried to navigate a whole new way of living, and all this just caught up with me. I had just started a new job in November, stopped, started again and then stopped again with all the new protocols. Phew...I have been exhausted. I am still fragile and I still have much to catch up with, so will continue to hang low. Media will wait. Workshops will wait. Marketing will wait.
Like so many of you, I miss my people. I miss my community. I miss my social and recreational diversions. I am focusing on certain objectives that I think are priority at this time, and limit my time to this. I work through things applying the “Cycle of Awareness”. This simple but very effective practice helps me put things in perspective and priority.
In our normal flow of life a challenge interrupts balance. This can be as small as a thought, or as big as any event. Following this change we move into “chaos, confusion and control”. We feel ourselves not having the right answer, not knowing what to do to bring change, and feel like we are not masters of our lives.
Clarifying the challenge and ensuring that you have a true understanding of it are the first steps to take. This can be done by journaling, meditating or possibly sharing with someone that is willing to listen and be present for you. When this clarification is not coming together what we tend to do is go back to habitual patterns that keep us in the same need for change. We run back to what feels comfortable, perhaps not making decision or reverting to old habits. This cycle can feel frustrating, create anxiety/depression and keep us from moving forward with our lives.
Another option is, once we become mindful of the challenge and recognize that we don’t have a solution or answer at that moment, and that now we are not quite sure what to do or how to do it, we can move into the cycle of the fertile void or the muck of it. The place where we choose to do nothing. We choose to let things unfold on its own. We move into a trusting relationship with ourselves and know that wisdom will prevail and that inner resources will arise from your inner voice. Attuning to our yoga practice, our intuition and our resources will help us notice all our options; notice our creativity. We then allow for integration for the lessons we are learning and evolve into new states of being.
The fertile void is where I choose to sit at this time. Allowing my True Self, my Being Self, my Creative Self to take space and time. I allow my seeds of wisdom to grow and blossom.
If you feel tired; if you lack creativity; if you want to do nothing, do nothing. Pause; Breath; and if necessary reach out to one you trust, so you feel supported and guided into greater states of service to others and fulfillment in your sense of self.