Image show bright green moss growing from grey rocks. I stood and looked at it for the longest time.
Cultivating a sense of awe is an important skill to have.
Instinctive Meditation® is one of the ways to increase this sense of awe. It doesn’t require large block of time, uncomfortable postures, or memorization of mantras. It’s a practice that is unique to you, and unique from day to day.
Awe doesn’t have to be a goosebump moment. It can simply be a deepened sense of appreciation and wonder.
“On fMRI studies, awe quiets the default mode network in the brain, which results in the quieting of our internal and self-referential inner voice, hence a smaller sense of self and greater sense of connection.”
More good stuff in this article I found via The Good Life Project. It’s geared towards those in the caring professions, and has much good in it for the rest of us, too.
I would love to collaborate with you in creating your own instinctive meditation practice. Send me an email at craftingthespirit1@gmail.com, and let’s begin our adventure!
This morning on my walk suddenly came to me the phrase “the texture of light”… hmmm.. ok.. that seems a bit vague, and intriguing. I’ve just gotten used to the concept of the texture of breath, so let’s explore the texture of light as I walk. Mostly I let my body feel the idea of “light” as I walked, and then came home sat with “the texture of light”. And all my senses came out to play.
How a sunny day can feel like plunging my hand into honey, or a pocket lines in something fuzzy and soft. The laughter of butterflies. Exuberance. The smell of a puppy’s head, or chamomile in summer fields. Bright light can reveal, invite growth, and it can be searing, desiccating and deadly. It can sound like trumpets, or a party.
Light bouncing off water- dancing on a wall and feeling like cold rippled glass. The shimmering of chimes.
Shadows like voluptuous velvet, or digging my toes into crumbling dirt. A deep and distant hum.
Cool light like the tickle of mist or snowflakes. If I stand still with ears and heart open, I can hear the mist settling on my skin.
Moonlight- mystery, magic, connection, and cycles. Coldness. Sorrow.
Candles and firelight invite me inward. Into story time, coziness and sleep.
Considering something from outside its usual perspective or sense can not only enrich experience with something, in this case light, but can also serve to spark creative thinking in other ways.
What in your world might you explore with this approach? What fresh insights did you gain?
I can’t wait to explore more this idea of the texture of light. *************************************************************************************** Image is a close up photo I took of my dish scrubber. It’s all a matter of being willing to experience differently.
How many of us have said “I don’t have time”? To go for a walk. To spend time on a hobby. To meditate.
There’s a way in. And it’s micropractice. A very short dedicated time to doing a thing. One way is to set a reminder to stop and do the thing. For five minutes. For one minute. For three breaths. For one. Get up and walk around the block. Have a picture of your favourite place or people and spend a couple minutes looking at it.
Let’s dive in to meditation as an example.
A practice that I give to clients for when they sense they are becoming overwhelmed/stressed out/just need a quick break is for each inhale and exhale, touch your thumb to a finger… index, middle, and so on. And back up. It’s helped me so many times. I believe combining the breaths with the touch helps embody a relaxation response.
There are so many ways to incorporate a micropractice into your day.
Inhale the aroma of your morning beverage, the sensation of heat or cold, the feel of the cup in your hands.
Delight in the colour of light and the play of shadows.
The sensation of gravity on your body.
Take one deep breath, and on the exhale, exaggerate with a drop of your shoulders. Or take a three part breath- two on the inhale and one long exhale. Like when a child is done crying. For some people that’s more effective than one breath. With practice you may find one breath is a great reset!
Eventually, you may find you have or crave more time to do the thing. This is part of habit formation and it’s amazing how it works.
When I want to regroup/reset/refresh, I often like to get out in Nature. If I’m really feeling wound up, I choose a route that requires some physical exertion to dispel that pounding fight-or-flight feeling.
I find a place to sit or walk, and take in my surroundings. Maybe noticing how my breathing is changing. Allowing the thoughts to flow, and usually they will settle down.
I will follow the whirls of tree bark, the swirls of flower petals, the flow of water down a stream. The shifting shapes of clouds. The dancing of light and shadow at my feet. Watch a bee fly from flower to flower, and delight as its yellow pollen pants grow fat and heavy.
I once laid on a rock in the middle of a river so long that I became both the river and the rock.
Sometimes an answer comes, if I’ve been looking. Sometimes I feel lighter. Almost always I come back from the mountain, or forest, or ocean ready to take on what’s next.
My invitation to you this week to to experiment with incorporating micropractices into your day. Set aside several of these micropractice minutes in your day. I’d love to hear how it goes!
It’s so important to make time to reset and regenerate, both for well-being and resilience. Within an organization or community, this is called a relational pause.
There’s been a huge upsurge in meditation apps and personal self care programs. I think that’s fantastic.
It’s also important to foster a sense of community, which so many of us crave, and I feel is part of what will encourage healing and rebuilding of our geographical communities, organizational culture, and the planet.
I invite you to form real-life groups for this kind of connection. I was amazed during my meditation teacher training how incredibly intimate and effective a virtual real time meeting is. In person is even better.
craftingthespirit.com 