Blogging each week allows me to pause and reflect. Many of you are surprised that I write my blogs the day of, or day before they are posted. If it does not flow quickly, I “chuck it” as discussed last week. I have been asked my many people to help them release negative feelings and be able to turn them off. We all want to live happily but life gets in the way, and it’s frustrating to feel stuck in the same rut.
What I learned by having a consistent practice, is that shifting our mindset is a BIG change and typically won’t happen overnight. I realized this when I used to do yoga for 5 years 1x a week vs. when COVID hit, and during lockdown, I practiced via zoom 3-5x a week consistently. It was only after several months that I started to feel the change. My body craved the mental grounding, deep breathing, and the stretching. While I always felt good after my weekly yoga class, it was forgotten until the next week. During COVID, my mental shift was not noticed until it had already occurred.
It’s like a cruise ship that must plan for the turn well ahead of time because if it turns too fast it will capsize and sink. The cruise ship needs to turn at such small angles so that the passengers onboard won’t feel the turn and only know it’s happened when the land is on the opposite side. I must give credit to a wise colleague at work who gave me this metaphor when we were having a conversation about cognitive resilience and conscious parenting. These subtle changes require patience and a trust in the process. I still struggle with patience and want things to move fast. I even dislike waiting for an elevator when I don’t know what floor it’s on. In Kundalini yoga my teacher Param Atma Stacey Hirschmann knows I like to understand how many Kriyas we will have and how long each one will be. She purposely has me practicing patience by not telling us. Slowly, I am getting better at just accepting what is to come, keeping an open mind, and breathing through each exercise in the present moment.
So, to all of you who want to make the shift, dive in, and keep an open mind. There are free meditation apps by Deepak Chopra and amazing books by Miguel Ruiz which are very easy reads. My yoga group plus a few other soul seekers read many of these books one chapter at a time and we meet weekly to discuss in depth. It’s so amazing, and just another process to solidify my mindset. What I have described is known as enlightenment change, sometimes we are dumped with a bombshell that forces a fast change and we do capsize and feel pain. I will save this for Part 2 next week.
For parents: Our children grow over time, we don’t see the subtle changes and suddenly they are walking and talking. The earlier we embrace mindful parenting, the easier it will be on our children, our relationship with our spouses and our entire family. Many of the conversations I have are with those who are not yet parents. The parent Do Overs method is helping them to understand their own parents’ upbringing and reasons for rifts in their relationships. They are working to heal and forgive by realizing that they are worthy. Their parents are unfortunately tied to the myths of society where their own status in the community is enmeshed with their childrens’ college acceptance, jobs, or lifestyle choices.
Remember that the cruise ship turns slowly. I am here to help if you want to make a big shift in your mindset. It requires work and commitment, but it will last a lifetime and then be passed to the next generation in our parenting which is the best part of all.
Lastly, I have had a few requests if it’s OK to share my blog. Please do! And, if you are interested in working with me on the Do Overs method the first consultation is always free! Just click the link below and write Free Consultation in the comment section.
~Andi
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