In the Fade

Feelings come and go like clouds in a windy sky. Conscious breathing is my anchor-

*originally published on CultFit.org sometime ago

If you continue to do what you’ve always done in the past … You’ll get what you’ve always got coming to you. If the same old ‘things‘, same old ‘self‘ don’t work anymore? Maybe it’s time to do something about them? Each and every morning we wake up, we have a choice to make: To continue the painful status quo or to move forward in life towards a brighter future. I encourage each one of you reading today to let go the of past negatives, start building (like today) towards a brighter future. It is only when we surrender to ourselves that we can experience the joyous present.

Surrender and open yourself to embracing whatever comes your way.

Meditation Practice-

*This particular meditation practice uses cloud imagery, you may also like to use:  Cars, yoga moms … really, anything  you can imagine going past you.*

Begin with a standard lead into visualization practice: First you need to become aware of your breathing.

Let’s imagine that you are on a beach. A beach that is beautiful, sunny and pleasantly warm (we ruled out all beaches in Nebraska). As you lay comfortably on this beach, you can feel the sun warming you. You can hear the rhythmic sounds of the water playing against the sand, and you can smell the rich beach smells (pleasant – not the sweaty old folk).

As you look out on the open sky, you notice a few clouds as they drift by. You see them come into your field of vision from one side, carry on and pass in front of you and disappear on the opposite side. As you lay on the beach, watching these clouds go past, you begin to notice that each of the clouds has a particular shape and each of them behave a bit differently. There’s one that looks like a smiling face, full of joy and another one appears full of  happiness, along with a few others that look sad and angry.

As you lay on the beach, watching the clouds float past, you start to notice that each of them brings with them the emotion that it’s named for. When joy comes, you feel joy springing forth from within you, and maybe you wish you could reach up and capture it and keep it from leaving. But, no matter how hard you try, the cloud comes into view, and then drifts away. When anger comes, you can feel it coming upon you, filling the sky with a bleak darkness. you wish that you could push it away, trying to get rid of it, but, no matter how hard you try, anger comes into view, and then drifts away … Peacefully.

As you lay on the beach, in Stillness. Watching the clouds float past, being fully Aware.  Comfortable in the emotions that each cloud brings, until they continue out of view.

Notes:

Make today the day you focus on what matters most: Your new self.