Seeing things in a different light: stepping into a new reality

I decided to do something a bit different this morning.. I took myself off to a new supermarket in another part of town to do my shopping and it was a breath of fresh air compared to my own environment.. It made me realise how often I get trapped in old patterns of thought and behavior. It was refreshing to be in a place where there was moe activity and a different ‘vibe’ to what I am used to.

I listened to another talk my Eckhart Tolle in the car on the way home.. it was about keeping our attention on the body and the breath instead of getting lost in thoughts, and thought definition.. and it made me question how often do we make ourselves miserable by following a certain train of thought? How often do we put others in boxes because of certain thoughts or judgements we make about them based on just a couple of behaviors? And do we understand they may also be motivated by unhelpful thoughts?.. It may be due to Mercury planet of communication, short journey’s and perception slowing down to station direct later today that is prompting this new change for me.. I am also not getting as ‘hooked’ in to ways of thinking.. such that I ‘should’ help others even if that is not the best thing for me at the time.

Eckhart said something towards the end of that talk, that I will link to below, the really resonated with me.. It was this :

To be free you awaken to who you are beyond your history

and your life situation.

How often do we allow the past to define us, even past pain? How often do we tell ourselves we cannot do something that may be possible for us were we to believe? How often do we continue to get trapped in the mind or a certain sense of Self and in so doing lose that sense of a vital, vibrant living connection to life and the life of our body?

With PTSD and Complex PTSD sadly the body can come to feel like a battle field.. When those old sensations of pain hurt us we may tend to freeze up, contract, hold our breath or resist. We may also in ongoing unhelpful thoughts of despair or of failure. We may also choose to resist certain things in which we could be free or at peace if only we let go of that resistance.. Allowing the experience of sensation and then not imprisoning ourselves with fear or thoughts of fear about them is not easy.. Perfectionism can also make us reject things or not try any more, all due to a fear of failure we may not even be fully aware of.. it most certainly is not easy for us to become awake in the body but it can be done.. And stepping into nature we can feel that freshness or aliveness that resonates with us, being in nature may even help to release some of the toxins we generate or absorb due to negative influences or negative thinking..

Choosing to step out of old patterns or routines in order to try something new can refresh us, it can open us to new energies and show us that the old ways we so often use to define or organise our life are not set in stone, we can lose our fear of change and step out in small ways to embrace it..