Day 302 - A Year to Clear - How Spacious Can You Be?

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Lesson 302: How Spacious Can You Be?

“There are the obvious external clues of clearing success, of course: an emptier bookcase, more white space in your email inbox, a new love interest, a job offer. But what about the internal markers? How spacious, and detached and present can you truly be when the next family reunion rolls around? Or a child becomes seriously ill. Are you able to glide about your life without as much as a button getting pressed?”

— Stephanie Bennett Vogt

New week equals a new theme and this week is “Marking Progress”. Very different from making progress. How does one mark progress? I guess the answer lies within the paragraph above. If we do physical clearing, our mark is made by having more space in our physical environment. But what about all the mental clutter we’ve got under control? Do we notice the progress then? I guess because I’ve been more down lately based on personal circumstance, I might not see the progress as I’m not in the best head space right now. But if I think back on the person I used to be, I would have had headaches by now with all the stress I would have had on my mind. I would feel the pangs of worry overwhelm my body, whereas now, I am better able to take on the load. Yes, I have a redundancy of my job to deal with, but I know it’s going to be okay. I remember that I can always return to breath if I need to. I don’t have a monkey mind like I used to. That to me is marking my progress. We shall see how the lesson unfold…

Day 198 - A Year to Clear - Self Accepting

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Lesson 198: Self Accepting

Today we are to practise the following statement in present time “I allow myself to be myself.”
Notice your feelings as you say this statement over the course of the day but also any resistance to this but allow them to be.

When I allowed the words to flow from my mouth, I felt a sense of calm and acceptance. I really felt like those words were true. I guess when you’ve never really told yourself to just be yourself, it’s a new feeling and sense. I was reminded to just be a better version of myself when I did a group meditation today. The messages I received from meditation is that to not let the emotions rise up from things I truly don’t care about. I received the reminder that it’s okay to let the annoyances of the day to just wash over me and not to let them get to me. There is something better for me than to fall victim to the noise of the world. This is all in reference to my office job – it’s not truly what I am meant to do in life, so why am I letting it bother me so much. I just need to let the emotions go and let them wash away. The emotions I get from the woes of work, is not truly me. If I allow myself to be myself, then I would just let it out to the Universe and move on.

I will continue to practise this statement out loud so that this calming feeling can spread to any day of the week.

Day 109 - A Year to Clear - Become More Fluid

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Lesson 109: Become More Fluid

Today is all about observation. We all should take a moment to watch someone or something move with fluidity. It can be anything from the cars passing by, the trees moving in the wind, people working on a construction site. We should come to realisation that they all move with ease. This is where we learn – from the simplest of activities.

I was watching the people prepare my food and drink at a café, as well as watching people order their food and drink, then wait. It’s very much like clockwork. Without thought, I see a lady put my food on a rotating griller and then multi tasks onto the next order. The person man my hot chocolate, knew my order before I even finished my sentence, goes to make other coffees in line before mine, whilst having conversation with other customers. I see another girl, not the original girl continues preparing my order. Everything is fluid and no one stops but they are not busy at the same time. It’s natural and done without too much thought. Even those people waiting on their order – order, pay, wait, daydream possibly, pick up order and move on.

What I learn that is that all our actions can be fluid if we aren’t overthinking it. It can become a natural movement or occurrence if we aren’t processing on it for too long. I think with any task we set ourselves, as long as we have an initial plan, we should just go with it and not ponder on it after initial thought. This is achievable for anyone.

Day 108 - A Year to Clear - Your Spacious Zone

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Lesson 108: Your Spacious Zone

The theme of fluidity is continuing today. Is there something you can do today that will bring about a more fluid day? Is it something you can adopt ongoing?

The most simple exercise suggested is to take in a deep breath and exhale repeating “I choose ease”. You can adopt any phrase or mantra you like. Whatever embraces fluidity and helps you flow through life.

I decided to use the phrase “I choose mindfulness”. I think I can get overworked or overwhelmed by things that go on in my mind. I think if I can focus on mindfulness and proactively implementing this into my day, I am more productive in my day. Let the stresses escape my mind and just focus on the task at hand. If I’m productive at work, then that should transcend into my personal time. But, also not allowing so many thoughts that are no use to me cloud my mind. I think when I am at work, I get anxiety and stress. I need to let these thoughts go by being more mindful. Focus on the important things, getting through that in steps and then not think about it further once I’ve dealt with it. It takes some conscious effort to be more present. I got to let feelings go and not let it consume me.

Day 107 - A Year to Clear - How Fluid Can You Be?

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Lesson 107: VIDEO - How Fluid Can You Be?

http://www.martapr.com/svenotten-justsomemotion Hi, my name is Sven Otten, also known as JustSomeMotion. At the moment this channel is all about dancing. Over the years I learned many different styles to combine them to my own. After a long time without you guys, I'm glad to say that I'm coming back.

The lesson today is about watching the video and noting how it makes you feel. The idea is that the guy dances effortlessly and his body movements are fluid. This is to be “symbolic and energetic”. As he moves with ease, it’s here to teach us that we can be this fluid too, when it comes to our clearing activities. So the question is “How fluid do you want to be?”.

I think I could be a lot more fluid than I am. I think I am becoming more open and easy going, thought processes are being managed also. What I am not fluid in, is the physical excess and clearing efforts towards these. It’s a lot of stop and start but I don’t feel I’m fluid enough. I think time management is where I fail, though as I am typing this, I realised I should place calendar reminders in my phone and ensure that I dedicate even a minute a day at the same time of day to conquer this lack of fluidity. When watching the video, it was seamless – one movement that continues onto the next without thought. It would be nice to be this way and it’s definitely something to work towards.

What do you think of the video and how did it make you feel?