Day 152 - A Year to Clear - Take Your Time

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Lesson 152: Take Your Time

If we take our time in clearing efforts, it creates a sense of ease and fluidity. It doesn’t become such a chore and a natural flow falls into place. This can take time or practise or you might feel this instantly.

I know when I decide to do a big clean, I’m just focused on the one task before I move onto the next. Even if the first task takes longer than normal, I’m always going at my own pace and not in a rush. I find I am a lot calmer this way and keep telling myself to get it done in my own time.

I find that I don’t only apply this to clearing efforts but simple tasks like walking to work every day. I don’t rush myself, take my time and am aware of my surroundings. This came about when I visited a councillor to manage my anxiety and the advice given was to be more in the moment. If you aren’t rushing, then you aren’t adding any more pressure or stress on yourself to get where ever you need to be on time. Sometimes I think it’s just more careful planning that allows more fluidity.

What ways have you brought about ease in your clearing efforts or every day life?

Day 147 - A Year to Clear - Check In WEEK 21 - Cultivating Ease

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Lesson 147: Check In WEEK 21 - Cultivating Ease

The week’s message was very much how we can approach ease. We can relax and feel peace and joy if we so choose. Today we are to think of ease, peace and joy as distinct energy and describe what their main differences would be. How does each one feel in the body and how do you embrace them.

I personally feel like peace is a balance and calming state within yourself. Like nothing can bother you as you feel like everything will be okay. It’s an acceptance.

Ease is a state of relaxation. Like you’ve gotten relief from your anxiety and stress and you just need to take a moment away from the situation.

Joy for me is a state of happiness and being. It’s the high you get from life from various experiences and situations that you feel extremely happy.

With any of those feelings, I can a sense of the weight is off my shoulders. You can set aside your worries if you try and just embrace the calm that you can create. Don’t let the mind take over and just feel peaceful. To me, it’s about telling yourself that everything will be okay and I find that it always works out.

Day 146 - A Year to Clear - Reflections On Ease

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Lesson 146: Reflections On Ease

After the meditation of ease from the last post, we are to complete the following sentences and take a moment to really think about them:

• Some the ways that ease shows up in my life are______

• Some of the ways that I experience peace in my life are______

• Some of the ways that I experience pure joy in my life are______

******

• Some of the ways that ease shows up in my life are through support of friends and family.
• Some of the ways that I experience peace in my life are by walking through nature and seeing the beauty in as well as the beauty of those around me.
• Some of the ways that I experience pure joy in my life are living for experience and doing things that truly bring out the best version of me.

What do you sentences look like?

Day 145 - A Year to Clear - AUDIO Meditation - Ease

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Lesson 145: AUDIO Meditation - Ease

Today is all about going through a 5 minute meditation with the following phrases:

·         I choose ease

·         I choose peace

·         I choose joy

The audio on this post should play but if not, it’s about taking a moment to breathe in and out those phrases and noticing how your body feels. Note down as you say each phrase how you are feeling and what thoughts go through your head. It’s important to take deep breaths in and exhale through your mouth. You can do this meditation with eyes open or eyes closed – however you feel comfortable.

I chose to close my eyes as this is how I meditate. I felt like a weight was lifting from my chest. I got a bit worried as I was searching my whole house for this bill that I needed to pay. I was a bit panicked prior so felt anxious. As I did this exercise, I felt more relaxed and that anxiety dissipate. I think it’s a powerful meditation to change a bit of mental thoughts and the processing we churn in our minds. We can achieve all these things in our life and can repeat those words as personal mantras.

How did you go with the exercise?

Day 144 - A Year to Clear - Reduce Overwhelm

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Lesson 144: Reduce Overwhelm

“When you feel overwhelmed, you’re trying too hard”

— Thich Nhat Hanh

I think we get overwhelmed when we invest too much emotion and feelings into something. If we’re getting stressed at work, we might be placing too much pressure on ourselves. If we are anxious about going to a party, is it because we’ve built up in our minds that we are uncomfortable in meeting new people? When we’re over analysing a situation and welcome in worry, do we spend too much time going over the finer details that causes overwhelm?

Today is about reducing our overwhelm. What is something that you can do to reduce it?

I personally have a situation at work that causes me anxiety now. I am trying to take the advice of my councillor who says that I should try and think of ways to add value to myself and the department. Because I have no team objectives and accountabilities, it makes it difficult for me to think of what I can do to help improve our department. What I am focusing on is reports that I can do with the potential of them becoming useful later. By focusing on how I can add value, this draws away from the anxiety I get. The anxiety is caused by not having answers and directions from upper management passed down and sometimes it feels pointless coming to work with no clear objective. This all stemmed from a restructure and I’ve been told to relax my expectations as the company catches up. It’s good advice to not overwhelm my mind. I am just trying to place it into practise.

What can you do today that will bring on more ease?