Everyone has their daily practices. Some people wake up and have to make coffee first thing. Others will spend time in bed with their phones, sometimes for hours, before getting ready for the day. These habits are either invested in consistently and they grow in importance to us. Or they come in like a new year’s resolution and fall back away the 2nd week of having that fancy gym pass.
Once I entered into the Christian faith the first thing I was asked to consider was the underlying impacts that these seemingly inconsequential thoughts and actions were creating in my life. When I lay in bed for hours before I get up how do I feel once I finally have the motivation. What am I looking at as I lay there? Am I thinking about how it seems that everyone else is listening to each other and being heard? Or am I thinking about the people that I could listen to and maybe learn from?
That’s been a huge aspect of this growth for me. Even when I was homeless between the ages of 18 to 20 I just wanted to help and be heard by those around me. When I feel comfortable enough to speak, which is thankfully more often now, I enjoy doing so. When others speak I try to listen as intentionally as I can. Words are powerful, intentions through your words are powerful.
But to be honest, I think we speak way too much right now.
I’ve been learning recently how important the intentions that are sent out from us are. And these are not reflected by words, but by energy. Energy that begins building in our hearts the moment we wake up and will still be there when we try to sleep at night. Every thought, every inclination, every internal commentary affects the energies that we are portraying by just being in this reality, and everything can pick up on it.
Why should you not be afraid around a rabid dog or a wild animal? They can sense your fear.
But here’s my question. Can you sense your child’s fear when voices are raised? Can you sense your dog’s fear when the fireworks are going off? Can you sense your lover’s fear when you leave out that one aspect of the conversation that changes the whole context of what you’re saying.
Can you sense your own fear? Can you feel how it is affecting your environment? Do you care enough for yourself to find habits that help mitigate the fear and help grow the courage to stand a little straighter in the face of adversity.
I use to spend hours in bed with a phone, starting my day by watching all of these people talking about how excited or fearful they are. And they would change their story each day. I would get into judgemental mentalities where I felt that no one would want to hear what I would say. Then I would go through the day thinking dark thoughts about the people around me that were obviously living such amazing lives on the outside, but felt so tumultuous to me on the inside.
But then again, I’ve felt pretty tumultuous myself during those times. And I wasn’t building a habit that helped, but one that exasperated the situation even more.
The personal habits that I have incorporated into my life to help with this are as follows. I hope that some of them would be habits you can incorporate into your life. Just like coffee in the morning, they grow stronger and more stable with consistent time investment each day. To those individuals that showed me these practices in the first place, thank you. :) You know who you are.
- Instead of grabbing my phone in the morning, I like to sit and breath intentionally as I first wake up. Dreams have been getting more intense and sometimes I feel like a bag full of spiders and rats running around causing havoc to my energies. Laying and breathing helps start the day more intentionally.
- Next I like to go through a yoga sun salutation. I try to do these 3 times a day. Morning, afternoon and evening. Picture of flow is at the top.
- Through the day I like to put good intentions and thoughts into my food while I eat. Which means I usually eat in silence or prefer silence.
- I like to repeat mantras in my head during the day when I can feel that balance of energy inside of me start to shift through my emotions. My favorite one is Om Mani Padme Hum. Which is roughly translated to the universal lotus holds the jewel of enlightenment.
- I like to read, study, practice, or think about something a little farther than I did the day before.
- I like to listen to intentional music and try to consider what kind of energy influx certain songs will have at certain times.
- I like to listen to the wind, the rain, the water and especially the birds through the day. Allowing times of silence where the world around me can speak for a moment.
- I like doing epsom salt baths. But really really hot ones. Kind of mixes the idea of the intensity of a sweat lodge with stagnant water instead of steam. You can put all kinds of cool things in it too. Essential oils, diatomaceous earth, stuff like that.
- More than anything, I like to pray. I like to intentionally try to think and say good things about people in my mind and out loud as I feel the pull towards my own selfish behaviours.
I feel like these practices allow one main thing for me. They allow me to hear what I am saying and what others are saying when words aren’t enough to reflect the true heart behind the emotions. I’m grateful for these practices and I hope that some of them might help you too.
May we hear our hearts, hear our minds, hear our bodies, hear ourselves, and through this hear each other in our moment by moment truths. May it lead to compassion, love, trust. May it lead to moments when words can be used to uplift.
May everyone’s verbal and silent voices be heard.