In the midst of a personal or professional challenge, it is easy to lose perspective, especially when our emotions take us to a place of fear, worry, and anger. In anticipation of life’s challenges, many of us who choose to create a culture of peace practice Yoga, Tai Chi, Qi Gong, or Meditation to reduce stress and support an optimistic and helpful outlook on life despite the strife that may be playing out all around us. Daily practices such as Meditation and EFT help to keep our energies balanced and our minds clear, thus promoting a calm view of life that contributes to positive outcomes despite inevitable challenges and conflicts.
If you do not already practice EFT and Meditation daily, one way to begin is to give yourself a month to satisfy your curiosity regarding these aids to peace, well being, and kindness. I link EFT with Meditation because for me, they work in concert. Meditation stills the inner jumble of voices allowing us to hear what has been called “the first language of Spirit”: Silence. After time spent meditating, I feel more discerning regarding the most fruitful or pressing issues to work on with EFT on any given day. Sometimes, I realize it is fatigue caused by an intense work commitment. At other times, something in the moment related to the day’s tasks presents itself for attention. At still other times, I recognize a new and unfamiliar aspect of an early personal trauma wants my loving attention. Whatever comes up for my EFT practice, I honour with an intuitive session of deep attention presided over by the loving kindness kindled in meditation.
I don’t call what I’m doing “clearing” during these daily practices, because I spent a very long time denying past emotional wounds and present emotional and physical stress. Dr. John Sarno adds to these two sources of stress a third source – a conscientiousness that prompts us to be hard on ourselves because we want to do the very best we can. For me, the gifts of silence and peace that build with daily Meditation and EFT shift my perspective regarding what I and others live through so that I hold humankind, myself included, more tenderly in love. Nothing that happened or is happening in my life “clears’ although the negative emotion around these past and present events transforms into what I experience as a more reverent perspective.
If you long for such a perspective, one way to begin EFT and Meditation is to design a personal month-long experiment using these practices as energetic calming techniques. When your inner and outer critics begin to voice their opinions to persuade you not to spend your time in this way, gently respond that it is just for a month, to satisfy your curiosity. Inner critics sound mean and destructive, but they develop to keep us safe. Knowing those inner cautions are rooted in love, helps us to be more loving in our response to them.
Bringing our inner critics along on the experiment is very helpful, since what may seem like polarizing, unbridgeable attitudes or perspectives are often the first expressions of fear. Framing the month as an experiment to satisfying a curiosity about Meditation and EFT is a nonthreatening way to proceed, one that cultivates a roomy, nonjudgmental outlook. Keeping track of experiences in a journal will also help to support the attitude of curiosity and loving kindness. Asking, “What am I learning about myself, about others, and about the world from this practice?” creates space in our hearts, minds, and relationships. As we view our lives from this spaciousness, we see flow, interconnection, and grace far more frequently.
Discover if tapping and meditating daily really do help to develop calmer and more loving people who are more patient with delays, relationship crossed wires, and the stress of preparing taxes! If these practices do make a positive difference in your life, be sure to share your experiences with others.
Until next week
Jane