Connection with others…
I guess it is firstly presumed that we make a connection with someone or some people, a community. Something outside of ourselves. This can be very nurturing, supportive and instils a feeling of inclusion – and who doesn’t want that? But while this connection with others is fulfilling a need on one hand, is it enough? The chances of those connections staying unchanged and constant, as we can see from past experience, is highly unlikely. We change, the people we connect with change and life’s circumstances change. As it should. This is something we cannot control. As hard as we may try!
So, what else can we connect to or with? The obvious constant in our lives is ourselves.
Connect with ourselves…but how?
Connection with our body….
First, we need to connect with our body – listen to the wisdom of our body. Begin to become aware of what feels good and nurturing – become aware of how your body wants to move. What form of movement through exercise makes your body feel strong, flexible, stable, grounded and happy. But we should not lock ourselves into a form of movement forever, knowing our needs change with age, the seasons and our feeling of wellness.
Flowing on from movement, we can also tap into feeling the effects that our food choices have on us. When we take the time to really feel how our diet affects us, it can be life changing and empowering. Do your food choices make you feel energized or bloated or sluggish? Take a closer look, make a connection to what is truly nutritious or depleting. Your amazing body will thank you.
Secondly, when we connect with our breath there is a subtle shift that affects our nervous system. When we become aware of our breath, it naturally starts to slow and deepen, having the amazing power to turn on the parasympathetic side of our nervous system. This is our rest, restore and replenish response. Iliciting a feeling of calm and focus within, allows us to respond in a more measured, thoughtful way especially when face with difficult situations.
Connection with our heart….
Another connection we can make with ourselves is to our heart. When we feel into our heart centre we really make a deep connection to our inner knowing and wisdom. Sounds quite woo woo doesn’t it?! But when we feel into our heart we see our emotional heart. We see emotions that are holding us back, stifling us, not allowing us to be our true selves. With compassion we can see these emotions as responses to life’s situation from our conditioned mind and habits. We should not identify with them….hold onto them….and try not to repeat them.
In time we will feel gratitude for the challenges in our life that have engendered these less than helpful emotions. As well, we will feel gratitude for our life. And compassion for ourselves, even when we make less than ideal decisions that can result in us feeling shame, guilt or anger at ourselves. We will find self-acceptance. We will begin to value ourselves, approve of ourselves, start to like ourselves….and….love our true essence. And when we love and nurture our true essence we understand that this is a part of us that DOES NOT CHANGE. No matter what we do, think or feel our true essence remains the same, unchanging, constant. THIS IS OUR TRUE SUPPORT. This is what we need to connect to and with.
Funny, this is not the blog I thought I was going to write. I was planning to talk about connection with friends, time spent in the company of others while also needing alone time, but not feeling alone….finding balance. Another word uttered often in a yoga class! But after meditating this is what needed to be said.
I hope you can connect with your inner, true essence and stand in your truth.
Then we can all take OUR truth out and connect with family, friends and strangers.