Day 158 - A Year to Clear - Pay Attention Inward Now

Photo by María Victoria Heredia Reyes on Unsplash

Lesson 158: Pay Attention Inward Now

“PAIN = Pay Attention Inward Now”

— Iyanla Vanzant

I had trouble reading today’s lesson and understanding it. The concept of spacious detachment is brought to our attention. Everyone has ways of dealing with pain. The body offers us a way to pay attention to pain and it allows us to put into practise the act of not identifying with every little “twinge or hiccup” that goes along with those slight moments of pain. This is how “spacious detachment” comes about.

When Stephanie goes through the lesson, she says that addressing pain doesn’t happen overnight and I totally agree. She mentioned that she is not a “glutton for punishment” and has a “unconventional approach to address pain”. She goes on to mention that she has a high threshold for physical pain but knows when to use medical relief when needed.

I believe the point of the lesson is to know your pain. Whether physical or emotional, really try to identify what you can work through and handle versus what you can’t. It’s about knowing your mind and body’s limits, but also not making a big deal over minor incidents that can occur. For instance, I might get a headache and I’ll get a tablet to relieve the pain though thinking about constantly that I have a headache and I’m in so much pain, would just blow out the pain. I think detaching ourselves from thinking about the headache is how we can overcome it. I feel like this is the lesson from both physical and emotional pain.

If I apply the same logic to emotional pain, just say someone says something negative towards us, we can get hurt by that person’s words. We can absorb everything they say and wallow about how they’ve hurt us or we can stand up for ourselves, say how it made us feel, deal with it and then move forward. We can then detach from there rather than have it circulate through the mind. I think by paying attention and dealing with our pain, it’s better than not having the awareness and expanding pain further than it needs to dwell.

All in all, I think the message of today is that pain can be better managed by all of us. We just need to pay attention.

Day 158 - A Year of Spiritual Awakening - Consider the Balance...

Photo by Martin Sanchez on Unsplash

Lesson 158: Consider the Balance...

We all need to keep balance between physical and emotional care. We shouldn’t place one above another and should always make an active approach in keep both in check. Today’s task is to write a list of what I do to keep my body healthy and then how do I keep my emotions healthy. We are asked to take notice if one list is larger than the other. I guess this is to try and keep them both balanced.

To be honest, I could do more to keep my physical body a bit more healthier. My list in trying to keep my physical body healthy is:

·         Do my dancing as much as I can

·         Drink plenty of water or fluids without sugar

·         Do my stretches to help my back issues

·         Go for regular works during work breaks to keep body and mind good

·         Rest when I need to

·         Don’t overdo things

·         Get plenty of sleep

How I keep my emotions healthy:

·         Meditate

·         Be more mindful and present

·         Listen to music to relax and calm my emotions

·         Go for regular works during work breaks to keep body and mind good

·         Don’t assume someone else’s feelings and emotions towards me

·         Find the truths behind my emotions

·         Let go of what I need to once I’ve faced what I’ve needed to

·         Don’t over think things

I think my focus for the moment should be eating better. If we feed our bodies good things nutritionally then that makes us feel good and has flow on effects to emotions. It’s something I struggle with but do need more focus on. I am aware of what I need to do. Things to work on really.

What did your list look like?