Growing Peaceful

Growing Peaceful

Early morning birdsong drifting through the open window on a cool, soft breeze. Baby leaves on the big tree are dancing in their spring green finery, dipping and bobbing to a complicated melody led by a cheery robin. I feel peaceful.

I often feel peaceful in heavy traffic, too. Imagine that.

As I have relaxed into my life, that peaceful feeling has grown up from the inside out. It has pushed out worry, and guilt, and that vague, anxious feeling. Most of the time, it’s right there.

At our core, we are all peaceful.

Little by little, or in big sweeping chunks, we bury it beneath negative  thoughts about the past, negative thoughts about the future. We have these thoughts, they, in turn, generate the physical response of emotions, and we do it over and over and the next thing we know, we are filled with anxieties and worry, even guilt over simply being.

At our core, we are all peaceful.

As I move into my present, the emo-frack falls away. When I am in the present moment, I am full of that experience. There is no room for indulging in the drama of fear of the future, or guilt about the past. When I am full of my present moment, I have a direct line to that nice feeling of peace at the core of me-all.

When I am having direct experience, fully in the moment, I am not labeling my experience, I am having it. I am not thinking about it, I am having it. I am free of the negative fantasy sisters, Worry, Guilt, and Anxiety. They cannot exist in the present moment.

When I notice that I’m in my head in those negative ways, I get into my body. My preference is to notice my feet, to feel them where they are; soles, toes, tops. I notice their temperature, and all the other sensations I can feel. When I am completely aware of my feet, I have stopped the negative fantasy sisters in their tracks.

Some people like to notice their backside in their chair, or their shoulders, or hands. Pick the part you like, it doesn’t matter. What matters is to distract your thoughts from all that negativity, to break the cycle.

My negative thoughts act like salt poured on the ground of my inner garden. How’s that for a metaphor? You gardeners know that you kill plants when you salt ‘em. And enough salt on the ground will stop things from growing at all.

Happily, negative thoughts can’t kill our perfect self, we can always return to it.

We are all peaceful at our core.

When I stop, let go, and soften, peace is right there. I don’t need to try for it, I just need to relax and be present.

How have I changed from creating drama to relaxing into my natural life?

(c) Pam Guthrie 2013 all rights reserved 05112013