Pay attention

A new year often evokes reflection. Looking back on the year just passed and reflecting upon what worked and what didn’t. How it left you feeling. Looking forward, an opportunity to make change if it’s needed or do more of what made you come alive and feel good.
My experience is that the time taken to reflect is vital. Vital because it is in reflection that we make meaning of life. We need time to go within and reflect upon how we feel about what we have experienced. We need time to get below the superficial layers and pre-programmed responses that we think others want to hear or what society expects.

Meaning emerges from deep contemplation within. Inner inquiry with our precious unique self.

If we make ourselves too busy, the time for contemplation is lost as we try to keep up with doing rather than being.
It is easy to get distracted in this world as it is designed to distract us from really knowing who we are. If you get caught up in having to watch certain programs on television, hanging out for the next catalogue to see what you might be able to buy, or are hooked on scrolling through social media and clicking on the next suggested YouTube, that’s a sure sign you’re allowing yourself to be distracted and you have lost control of what you feed your mind.

Are you concerned with what others might think of you? Do you get caught up in buying for the sake of buying more stuff? It seems currently many are cleaning out the clutter and making space in their cupboards, drawers, bookshelves and homes. Will you stop long enough to feel what space feels like? Will you pause before the next unnecessary purchase?

It saddens me to see more and more soulless shopping centres being built and more meaningless shops going in. What’s worse is that for some people, this is an activity or outing in itself. Shops full of mass-produced, often unethically, disposable, destined for landfill, goods that we get caught up in buying to fill the spaces. The temporary feel-good emotion is soon lost as we see more and more anxiety, depression, obesity, hopelessness and despair. Our current materialistic lifestyles are not serving us.

What is beneath this need to be busy, to shop, to conform, to say what we think others want to hear?

What if we could sit in the discomfort of stillness and silence long enough to feel our true essence? Inside you is something so big and beautiful that is longing to be heard, longing to be given time to be felt and allowed to gently emerge as your true essence. Waiting for you to pay attention to.

Remember, where your attention goes, energy flows. What we pay attention to grows!

So try paying attention to:

Your breath – notice your breathing and try setting an alarm on the hour, and when it goes off take three deep breaths and sigh them out.

Your body – get up and move every hour if you sit a lot. Movement more often in smaller chunks is better than one long burst once a day. Our bodies are made to move. Try some gentle shaking, twisting, rolling up and down into a forward bend to hydrate your spine. Squatting is a great practice, do a few squates whilst waiting for the kettle to boil.

Your Heart – take a minute throughout the day to stop and feel into how your heart feels. This might take a while to get used to, but start by stopping and asking the question as you place your hands on your heart. Send in some gratitude and thanks for your heartbeat.

Your mind – Stop and notice what your mind is resting on. Is it racing with all the things you need to do? You don’t need to change it, but start by taking time to notice your state of mind and see what you discover about yourself.

Within ourselves, beneath the busyness of the left brain is something very still and open just waiting for our attention. Out of the silence we begin to discover our own voice emerging, bubbling up with creativity and inviting us to stay connected to the life we came to live, from a place of truth and integrity. Pay attention to the inner stillness and let life begin to pulse through you. Allow yourself to surrender and yield to a deep inner knowing that is your truth.

Don’t let busyness rob you of a rich and meaningful life. Take time every day to make meaning of your life by going within.

Every day we have 1440 minutes to spend. Spend them well by, at the very least, taking ten minutes first thing every morning and another ten minutes last thing at night. Use these minutes to pay attention to your body, your breathing, your being. Open your heart in gratitude for a day about to begin, and give thanks at the end of the day for the experiences that you lived and make meaning of them.

Namaste

Sarah