“If you do not have your own self as your essence, you will fill the void with anything you can... Revolution really must occur within.”
- Alice Walker, Anything We Love Can Be Saved
This is a meditation on the necessary resolution that must occur as we move through our own personal inner revolutions, especially as we close one door and open another into the new year. There is no doubt that every one of us has had more than a few moments of pause over the past year to consider the state of our outer world and inner worlds. How might we reconcile the difficulties we face with the hope to live a good life? This is not just another fruitless new year resolution.
Finding resolve requires awareness of what is going on inside our minds in response to the outer world.
Have you noticed that when sitting to meditate the mind wanders, seeking from the depths of the psyche that which is unresolved? Even when we don’t have any surface drama in our lives our awareness proceeds to dig deeper and find that which has been left to fester. Allow this process to occur, knowing that you can return to your breath if you do not find resolve at this time. You may need to take action in the world as a result of your insights, it doesn’t need to be dramatic, it might just be a single step in a new direction.
Unfinished business in the psyche can present as anxiety or depression without a known cause, finding resolution begins with awareness and acceptance.
Awareness requires that we create time for stillness to observe our thoughts and emotions. Acceptance requires that we turn towards ourselves with the care and compassion that we would give to our dearest friend. It takes practise and perspective. It is common to use the metaphor of the breath being like the waves of the ocean when we meditate – the wave rolls in, the wave rolls out. I like to use the same metaphor but with an expanded perspective, the breath is like the tides of the ocean – the tide rolls in, the tide rolls out. Imagine, visualise or sense this elongated time period for each breath.
An expanded perspective gives us a greater distance between ourselves and the life stuff that plays out in our minds, this perspective gives us peace of mind.
It is possible to see the micro-events or distant past regrets of your life as tiny little grains of sand on the shore, rather than boulders that weigh you down with every recurring thought. Meditation, or any contemplative exercise can give us a transcendental experience, similar to the feeling of being far away on holiday. The aim is not to transcend our very humanness but to transcend the minds attempt to cling to that which is unresolved inside. It is also not to bypass the necessary action requires to find resolution in our lives, whether that be initiating a hard conversation or making a decision on a longstanding issue.
The aim is to gain perspective, with distance from an emotional trigger we are better able to respond to life.
Inner revolutions are a necessary process of growth and it requires a lot of self-care. Self-care is not a selfish act. When you know yourself, your patterns and reactions, and you are kind to yourself, you become a kinder person in the world. May you thoroughly enjoy the holiday season and laugh so hard it ripples into your bones. And may you be nourished by your own inner revolution. Follow the link to our latest meditation, INNER REVOLUTION, a variation of Yoga Nidra or Non Sleep Deep Rest to find your resolve and seed your dreams for the new year.