Thought - Personal Practice

To this day I feel bad about a situation in which I mindlessly made a statement and hurt someone else in the process.

I repeated something someone else had said in order to be accepted by a new crowd of friends.

I am maybe being a little harsh on myself as I was very young.  

I think the lesson is valid, especially since I’ve had a lifetime of the memory of the reaction of the person whom I hurt.

That memory creeps up on me from time to time without warning and I’m left with the feeling that I could have been a better person.  I often wish I hadn’t said what I did because I truly did not feel that way.  

I simply repeated something said by another without thought.

I think this memory creeps back on me because it’s a life lesson I’m still learning.

When I make a statement or judgment to someone, how much thought have I really put into it?  Am I really prepared to stand by the statement?

It’s a question I’ve started to ask myself more and put practice into.

I find the differing perspectives of the people I interact with daily can be a bit trying.

Everyone has their perspective on subjects or other people.  

I want to have my own thoughtful opinion.

So I will practice doing just that!

Thinking and being mindful in all that I do.

Thought - Yoga Lesson

Thoughtfulness is something we usually think of as how we treat others.

How about how we treat ourselves?

The lifetime of accepting others thoughts or opinions can be plaguing.

It’s not that you don’t have your own opinion or thought it’s that we can become accustomed to trusting a source or a society standard that the thought of questioning may not cross our minds.

Why not question your thoughts?

Why not investigate how you think or feel about a specific subject, standard, or opinion?

What you find in the process may surprise you.

The only way to find out is by thought.

Reacting - Personal Practice

I use to react mindlessly.

Sometimes I would burst with positive emotion and other times it would be negative.

The reactions were intense and could be overwhelming to me and to others.

Then I started upon the journey of learning about why I react the way I do to given situations.  I could look back on my life and see the experiences that led me to my reactions.  

I started to question if I was reacting for the sake of reacting or if I really truly felt the reaction.

It was both.  

It was as if I was in the moment of the past when faced with something similar in the present.  The emotions would be overwhelming and I would think “I’ve been here before, I know how to react”.  

Experience is a tricky thing.  It protects us and gives us a point of reference.  However, there may be times when we “over” react based on experience.

The situation and the people are sometimes not exactly the same.  There may be dynamics that make it completely different, but we try to make the experience the same.

At least that is what I found myself doing.

Then I started the practice of watching my reactions and found that I often reacted for the sake of reacting.  I was forcing the situation to be the same as a “similar” situation in the past.

I started holding the reaction in and giving myself time to think about it.  I allowed myself the reaction, but often in private.  Then I would gage whether it was fair to share that reaction with others or not.

I’ve made some mistakes in the process along the way.  I’ve not shared when I should have, or I’ve shared when I shouldn’t have.  Over analyzing can be a problem with this approach.

So, now I try to find a healthy outlet to talk about what I’m thinking about when I find myself over analyzing.  But, the awareness of me is worth any mistakes I may have made along the way.

I like to think before I react.

Reacting - Yoga Lesson

Sometimes we react without knowing why.

It could be dramatic the way we respond to a situation or words.

We have a whole personal lifetime of reference which guides us in our reactions.

Our reactions are very personal and only we ultimately know why we react the way we do.

The challenge is in knowing ourselves.  Taking the time to understand why we react to any given situation the way we do.

Knowing ourselves is the hardest part.  Once you do, the reaction is easy to understand.

Be aware and patient with yourself as you watch your reactions.

After all, it’s a lifetime that has guided you to this place where you behave as you do.

React to your reactions!

Emotion - Personal Practice

When I use to think of emotion, I viewed it as something to hide.

It didn’t matter what emotion it was, I needed to keep it guarded.

When I was indifferent, sad, or even angry I did my best to keep a straight face or act really polite and pleased about what ever it was I was involved in or doing.

When I was really happy or excited, I was afraid to show those emotions to others as they may see it as a sign of weakness or try to use the circumstance that created my happiness again to manipulate me.

If I did break down and show emotion, I would find a way to blame the person I showed emotion to.  It was their fault I had that break in my armor!

Wow!  What a lot of wasted energy!

Why couldn’t I have emotion?  What did I have to loose?

Why would I worry about how my emotions may affect someone?  

Why would I worry if my emotions could be used against me?

Life is richer with emotion!

Now I notice myself crying when I’m sad.  I allow others to see this.  I still am uncomfortable and I question myself, but I’m practicing to recognize the emotion and let it be.

When I’m excited, I say it!  It doesn’t feel natural to me to say it out loud, but I do.  With each time I say how excited I am, it begins to feel better.

When I’m angry, I let myself be angry!  I proclaim it out loud, but I don’t let it control me.  I accept that is how I feel and then focus on identifying why I’m angry and then work to let it go.  Besides, anger makes me feel tired.  Who wants that?!

I let myself be happy too.  Instead of thinking that something bad is going to happen because I’m happy, I think how grateful I am to be happy and try to share it with others.

When I’m uncertain I tell someone what I’m uncertain about.  I say it out loud to clarify what it means to me and if applicable the person I’m interacting with.  If it’s silly, it becomes apparent.  If it’s valid, we talk about it and come up with a solution or the other person confirms for me that there is nothing to worry about.

I find my emotion is based on perspective and I let myself have it!

Emotion - Yoga Lesson

Sometimes we fight Emotion. 

It doesn’t matter if it’s happiness or sadness, but for some reason we feel the need to question the emotion.

Why?

We could be calm or angry, but we wonder if the emotion is appropriate.  

Can we, should we, feel this way?

Why not challenge yourself to accept any emotion that comes up?

Live it and allow the emotion to be there with you, there is a reason you are experiencing it.

What is the lesson to be learned from the experience of the emotion?

The lesson may not be apparent right away, but with practice of allowing your emotions you will see the lesson sooner rather than later.

Be Emotional!