Sitting on the solution?

So much time in our heads.

And so much time sitting down.

If only we noticed this present moment. We could find ourselves more grounded. And more resourceful.

Mediation teacher and author, Tara Brach encourages us to access ways to anchor ourselves in the present moment when we find that we are too much in our heads. To pause and get some perspective.  In those times when we are over-thinking with stress. Or worry and judgements. And evaluations and criticisms. Or with doubts and fears.  When we are in trapped in a cycle of reactivity.

And one of those anchors?

Well you are probably sitting on it.

A brief body scan meditation

Feel right now.  Scan through your body and sense yourself sitting on your chair. Feel the weight of your body on the seat. And the contact of your feet with the ground. You are feeling gravity. You are experiencing yourself sit on the earth. Notice the sensations in your body. Bring attention to the fact that you are breathing.

In doing this, we leave the world of mental abstraction of time.  We gain a little more space. A little more silence.  And a little more balance.  We reconnect with a bigger picture. And see ourselves as part of something.

It does not mean that we deny or avoid that there are complex situations in our lives. But it shows us how our mental abstractions can themselves make those situations into big problems.   It reminds us that often we are identified with our minds through being trapped in time. Either compulsively living through memory or in anticipation.

As Eckhart Tolle challenges us, “focus your attention on the Now and tell me what problem you have at this moment”.

We can always cope with the present moment.

Coming back to our bodies. Out of our heads. Brings us to this moment. Even for a micro moment we can gain some perspective.

Go on. Try it now.