All this past week I received messages from the Universe to trust, let go, and receive. From a chapter in my latest audiobook selection, “The Universe Has Your Back” by Gabby Bernstein, to the quote I happened upon in Melody Beattie’s “Journey to the Heart”, about trusting your experience in “the dark”. So I went with this message. It made me think about how resistance to any situation only creates mental strain. Have we ever witnessed resistance resulting in any real results? I’m not talking about a resistance movement, but the desire to be away from or outside of your current situation, to dread or abhor a current situation or task that you face. It does not make that situation easier. It only seems to create mental strain. Have you noticed that? Just wanting to be out of your current situation does not lead to anything but stress. It puts us in a place of deprivation and separation from our wholeness, a place of lack. And being in that space never feels good. So what if we are unhappy with our current situation (or some aspect of it)? What can we do?
Fortunately, there are a few things we can do to lift ourselves out of this resistance and be content in our current space.
1. Harness presence. Stop reading right now and say to yourself, “Am I okay right now?”. Chances are, if you’re reading this post, you are enjoying a rather mundane, still moment without any immediate threats present. Right now in this moment, everything is fine. You are good. Whenever you’re feeling pulled away from contentedness in your current space, do this little exercise and take inventory of the present moment.
2. Choose to release. Okay, this may not seem very easy, but intentionally giving up control over a situation, and passing it over to a higher power (whatever that may be to you), can take some of that strain off of you.
3. Meditate. I may sound like a broken record when it comes to talking about meditation, but it is a great way to harness presence, feel calmer, and center yourself. Unlike popular belief, meditation is not relaxing and trying not to have any thoughts. It is a practice of focus. Depending on the meditation, you can focus on any number of things, but this focus is what brings about the various benefits of the practice. Different types of meditation can help you be more present and allow you to enter into a more receptive state.
If you’re a beginner meditator, try a guided meditation. I’ve been enjoying the selection on the “Insight Timer” app that my friend told me about (which has helped her insomnia!). Listening to another’s guidance can easily help you focus on something besides your unpleasant feeling.
Listening to sounds or music (without lyrics) while meditating can be a great way to focus on the present moment as well, and distract you from your worries. Headphones are ideal for this method of meditation, as they will more easily allow you to focus on where you sense and feel each sound in your body. And you can just ride the rhythm like a wave.
There are also types of meditations revolving around a combination of a) helping you remove your thoughts from your current environment, and b) focusing on what it is that youdowant. These manifestation meditations (like those by Dr. Joe Dispenza) focus on helping you align thoughts of what you want with emotions (and corresponding bodily responses) you would feel if you have already received what you want. This is thought to bring about events you want to happen by creating a “memory” in your body and attracting what your whole self is attending to in the practice. This technique may seem very “out there” to some of you, but if nothing else, practicing it can help you feel positive emotions for a few minutes, which has shown to lower stress by itself (find that research here)!
Are there other ways you’ve found helpful in breaking that feeling of resistance to your current situation? If so, I’d love to hear about them below!