Day 15 - As Within ... So Without

My undergraduate degree is in mathematics and my graduate degree is in theology. Maybe that's why I see patterns and meaning wherever I look. Sometimes this is a useful thing. I easily remember phone numbers by converting them into mathematical equations. Sometimes this is a beautiful thing like when the rhythm of my breath matches the ebb and flow of the ocean or when the seasons of the year echo the seasons of my life. Sometimes this tendency gets me in trouble. I assess situations too quickly and think I already understand another person's point of view and stop listening before they finish sharing information. Sorry, Patrick. This is when the benefits of mindfulness are super helpful. Hopefully I'm learning to create more and more space in life to look at things more deeply. Maybe I'm becoming more skilled at seeing the true underlying patterns and not getting trapped in superficial judgements. While this line of inquiry is fascinating to me, that's not exactly where I want to go as we begin our third week of mindfulness together.

So now I'll explain the title of today's post - As Within...So Without. The patterns and habits that show up in my head are the same habits and patterns that show up in my body are the same habits and patterns that show up in my relationships are the same habits and patterns that show up in the world around me. This surprised me at first. I often lived as if my head, my body, my heart, my world were separate realities, disconnected from one another. Now I think of each of those areas as concentric circles. When I'm centered and organized in any one of these arenas, the others tend to flow with ease. But when I get stuck in the head, tripped up by the body, trapped in an unhealthy pattern of relationship, or dismayed by the daily headlines, the impact is experienced on all of these different levels simultaneously. Why is that? Because I'm a human being living among people on this planet. How I show up in my inner world, how I live in my body, how I'm connected to the people around me, how I treat the earth, are all expressions of the one life force that I call "me." Mindfulness then is not just limited to how I think, but has something to teach me about all the ways of being.

This week I want to explore how being in the world, specifically the world of nature, can teach us new ways of being in relationship to our mind, our body, and our heart.

Practice Options

• Pay attention to ways of being in relationship to the mind, using the breath as an anchor. Can you sit for a few minutes and watch your thoughts come and go as you might watch clouds drift by on a summer day? Here's a short Headspace video for guidance.

• Pay attention to ways of being in relationship to the body. Here's a short reflection by Tara Brach to help. The full text appears at the end of this blog.

• Pay attention to ways of being in relationship to the heart. Continue with whatever lovingkindness practice that resonated with you most last week.

• Pay attention to ways of being in relationship to the earth. Take a walk in your favorite place in nature, maybe let your bare feet touch the ground, get outside and breathe fresh air, feel the sun on your skin, listen to the sound of water.

Felt Sense Prayer

I am the pain in your head, the knot in your stomach, the unspoken grief in your smile. I am your high blood sugar, your elevated blood pressure, your fear of challenge, your lack of trust. I am your hot flashes, your cold hands and feet, your agitation and your fatigue. I am your shortness of breath, your fragile low back, the cramp in your neck, the despair in your sigh. I am the pressure on your heart, the pain down your arm, your bloated abdomen, your constant hunger. I am where you hurt, the fear that persists, your sadness of dreams unfulfilled. I am your symptoms, the causes of your concern, the signs of imbalance, your condition of dis-ease.

You tend to disown me, suppress me, ignore me, inflate me, coddle me, condemn me. I am not coming forth for myself as I am not separate from all that is you. I come to garner your attention, to enjoin your embrace so I can reveal my secrets. I have only your best interests at heart as I seek health and wholeness by simply announcing myself.

You usually want me to go away immediately, to disappear, to sleek back into obscurity. You mostly are irritated or frightened and many times shocked by my arrival. From this stance you medicate in order to eradicate me. Ignoring me, not exploring me, is your preferred response. More times than not I am only the most recent notes of a long symphony, the most evident branches of roots that have been challenged for seasons.

So I implore you, I am a messenger with good news, as disturbing as I can be at times. I am wanting to guide you back to those tender places in yourself, the place where you can hold yourself with compassion and honesty. If you look beyond my appearance you may find that I am a voice from your soul. Calling to you from places deep within that seek your conscious alignment.

I may ask you to alter your diet, get more sleep, exercise regularly, breathe more consciously. I might encourage you to see a vaster reality and worry less about the day to day fluctuations of life. I may ask you to explore the bonds and the wounds of your relationships. I may remind you to be more generous and expansive or to attend to protecting your heart from insult. I might have you laugh more, spend more time in nature, eat when you are hungry and less when pained or bored, spend time every day, if only for a few minutes, being still.

Wherever I lead you, my hope is that you will realize that success will not be measured by my eradication, but by the shift in the internal landscape from which I emerge.

I am your friend, not your enemy. I have no desire to bring pain and suffering into your life. I am simply tugging at your sleeve, too long immune to gentle nudges. I desire for you to allow me to speak to you in a way that enlivens your higher instincts for self care. My charge is to energize you to listen to me with the sensitive ear and heart of a mother attending to her precious baby.

You are a being so vast, so complex, with amazing capacities for self-regulation and healing. Let me be one of the harbingers that lead you to the mysterious core of your being where insight and wisdom are naturally available when called upon with a sincere heart.