BE THE CHANGE ...

Life gives you plenty of time to do whatever you want to do if you stay in the present moment.

When you experience emotion, recognize that you have a relationship with that emotion. You can choose how your brain circuitry is going to handle that emotion ... it's what defines your "reaction" to a situation. We have a choice in what circuits we run. Does that mean avoid heavy emotions? Absolutely not. It means allow yourself to experience the emotion. The more you keep it at bay, the more it’s going to beckon. Allow yourself to welcome it, savor it, celebrate it - and let it go in 90 seconds.

It’s thrilling to engage your circuitry because then it becomes you. I am my anger, I am my sadness, I am my fear. It consumes me. Well, that’s one attitude. The other attitude is: I am in this moment running my circuitry; is that the circuitry I really want to run, and how long am I going to run it? You do have a choice on that.

Take responsibility for your circuitry. Recognize that everything is circuitry and then be willing to say, Oooh, I feel myself getting angry. Oooh, it feels so good. Oooh, I’m going to be angry for a while. Oooh, I’m going to rant and rave. Oooh, I’m going to rant and rave to these people. Oooh, I’m going to spread it over here. Or, I’m running my anger circuitry. I don’t like the way it feels in my body, because it’s destructive to my health and my stress level. So I’m going to pass it away. I’m going to let it do its thing for 90 seconds and then move on. Owning your power is owning your triggers.

The most important thing is to consciously choose to bring your mind to the present moment. How do you do that? You decide that you’re going to see what your eyes are looking at; you bring your consciousness to the present moment. When you are going up the stairs, you look at the steps, you look at the handrail. Most of us unconsciously climb the steps, never think about the steps, can’t even say what the color of the carpet is, if there is a carpet, because we’re somewhere else.

Pay attention to the present moment. Bring your mind, bring your ears to the present moment, start savoring the awareness of the information you perceive in the present moment, and let that grow. And it’s like with any circuitry: the more you concentrate on it and experience it, the more it will develop itself.

For many of us, this process is essentially a complete shift from Western thinking to Eastern experience: a shutdown of circuitry and the ability to experience being the product of ourselves. A Buddhist ability to experience Nirvana, or wherever meditation might take them, is circuitry - what cells are shut down and which ones are then activated. When monks go into meditation, researchers have shown that they are able to shut down brain chatter, which makes the left hemisphere of the brain become quiet as the right side opens up.

When you do allow your right hemisphere to open up and take on a more cognitive role, you develop a new ego, a new individuality. You uncover your inner child, that part of you that still views everything with wonder and joy. And, just like a little child who comes up and says something to you (what about this, why is it like that, how do I get there, etc.), you are able to either encourage conversation or don’t encourage the conversation. When I choose not to encourage the conversation, I laugh at my ego until it quiets down. It works for me.

The fear of missing out and the lack of willingness to recognize that what is, is perfect just the way it is. In-joy having the right experience. Things are going to happen. People we love are going to die. We can say, Damn, I’m so mad, or we can say, I’m so grateful. I’m so grateful for the time we had. I’m going to celebrate those memories. I’m going to celebrate that connection; it is mine forever. Or, I can be angry, or I can be hurt. But I have a choice in how I look at it ... and if I come from gratitude, and if I allow myself to feel it and I’m not afraid of my emotions - if I’m not afraid of the stigma we get by society’s saying, Oh, she’s overemotional, he’s overemotional. It’s like, no, don’t worry about it; feel it, celebrate what you are as a living being. Celebrate that you’re capable of having those emotional circuits run. Because that’s the power of what you are. It’s the difference between your being alive, and your not being alive, in order to have the experience. It’s a blessing to your life.


BE THE CHANGE ...

Take a moment to notice where you are and what you are feeling. Welcome yourself into the present moment, no matter what you find!


Image: Ifugao villagers working at the Banauwe rice terraces, Philippines