“No problem can be solved from the same level of consciousness that created it.”
~Albert Einstein
If you’re interested in finding freedom from automatic habits that overtake you, where do you start?
How can you begin to make the sacred shift back to yourself?
Just asking this question is an opportunity for celebration because it’s the beginning of a new relationship with your own experience.
Rather than being gripped by the patterns that arise in you, you’re ready to bring consciousness to them. You’re ready to move beyond same old, same old to a way of being that is fresh and free.
You’re poised to discover the stable field of ease and well-being that’s always available beyond any painful story of lack or need.
Whatever your pattern is—fear that blocks you, the need to please others, a sense of not being good enough, a tendency to criticize, compulsive behaviors or addictions—these arise in you, but they aren’t the truth of you.
How to meet these conditioned habits so they serve your awakening?
Find the Gap
If you look carefully, you’ll see it’s possible to find a gap between you and the thoughts and emotions that arise in you.
Instead of being locked into the content of your stories, notice your thoughts. Observe how emotions move in your body. Be aware of the urges behind your behavior.
Get curious about what these patterns are and how they bring about suffering.
And notice that the observing part of you, that which notices, is peaceful and problem-free.
Press Pause
When you’re caught in the energy of a habit, press pause. Habits are automatic and repetitive. They run outside of conscious awareness.
As much as you can, stop the momentum by pressing pause. Take a conscious breath. Look around you and deeply experience the present moment.
Feel the radical shift from the tension of conditioning to expansion into present moment awareness.
Now move from this sense of being fully alive rather than from the fog of conditioning.
Ask Questions
Forget the self-bashing and shame when you realize you’ve been locked into a pattern. Instead, with great kindness, ask questions. Be curious about the answers that appear.
- What is happening in my experience right now?
- What stories am I believing that may not be true?
- What can I surrender right now that isn’t serving?
- What am I avoiding that is asking for my attention?
- Can I open to what’s happening in my body right now?
- Can I stop, breathe, and simply be aware?
- What is most alive in me right now?
See how you can have a whole new relationship to your experience? You don’t have to mindlessly play out patterns that take you away from peace.
Find the gap, press pause, and ask questions. No longer stuck in the story, you’re here: awake, openhearted, and fully intimate with life as it is in this precious moment.
What About You?
What is your experience with these practices? Questions? Reports? I’d love to hear.
