WANTING WHAT IS
Getting into alignment
Wanting is an inclusive energy. Wanting invites, welcomes and moves towards. Wants guide our actions, our choices and they are the fuel behind our motivations. Wanting is an attractive force. When we don’t want we tend to feel aimless, lethargic and like we are just trying to get the day (or our life) over with. When we do want it brings more energy into our system to move in a particular direction. Sometimes we will try to convince ourselves that we want something other than what is in our present moment, yet when we realize that what is, is what we want, the inner battle ends and we become available to life again.
I think it is frequently the case that people have the experience that whatever it is they are experiencing is not what they want. We tend to call this having a bad day, feeling low energy, or being out of alignment. When we look at life through the perspective of seeing it as something we don’t want then we are out of alignment. We are out of alignment with the way life is expressing itself in that moment, or said another way, we are in disagreement with the universe. It never feels good to be in disagreement with what is. It’s heavy, we feel irritation or annoyance, and generally experience less vitality or zest for life. This is why feeling bad is an indication of being out alignment. Sometimes we can’t always pinpoint the “thing” that created the sense of out alignment for us, all we know is that we feel bad. Whenever you notice that you feel bad it is an opportunity to stop, pause, and notice that you are in disagreement with what is. You are not wanting what is to be what is, and yet it is what is. This is also an opportunity to shift your perspective to wanting what is, which brings you back into alignment.
As casually as I write that it does not always seem so easy to get ourselves into agreement with what is. When we perceive that what is, is not what we want, we will often fight tooth and nail to convince ourselves and the world that what is should be different. Perhaps it’s that we should feel different about how we feel or what we are doing with our day or our life. Maybe we think we should have different sensations in our body than we currently do. Perhaps we feel cheated by our experience or lack of experience and we want to insist that we were wronged. Maybe we are trying to convince ourselves that we want something we don’t really actually want, but that we think we should want. It can feel hard to let go of our story about what is and simply let what is be. Yet this is exactly what must occur if we are to get into alignment with ourselves and feel the freedom of being present.
OPENING THE HEART
Choosing what is
A beautiful thing happens when we change our mind, and rather than disagreeing with what is showing up we decide to want it instead; our heart re-opens. It might be that 5, 10, 20 or 100 times a day your heart oscillates from being open to being closed. The only difference in it being open or closed is whether or not you are in agreement with what is showing up inside of your experience. Being in disagreement tends to shut us down. We get opinionated, judgmental, righteous, disgruntled, peeved, angry, sad, scared and on and on, when we are in disagreement. Reactions, agendas, fears and self-survival dominate and motivate our actions. When we are in that state of being the heart is not open and not in free flowing acceptance and love of what is.
It takes a hell of a commitment/devotion to being in an open hearted state in order to get ourselves to make the decision to shift our perspective, or to shift where we are coming from. To turn towards wanting what is. You are the one that must choose what you value. In fact you are the only one that can choose. If your value is open-heartedness and living from the perspective of love, than making the shift is a must. It’s really not even a choice, it is simply the only possible way to go. What will then be required of you is that you must turn towards and lean into what is. You must want what is. Even if what is, is the most undesirable thing that you can possibly imagine or feel. If you feel heavy or tired, want that. If you just got turned down by a potential partner, want that. If your body weighs 10 more pounds now than it did last year, want that. If the house is dirty or disorganized, want that. If a big project you’ve been working on tanks, want that. If you are scared or depressed, want that. If your body hurts or expresses some other sensation or experience, want that. See if you want it, you stay open. You feel what you are trying to not feel and that lets you relax and let go. Can you feel that? If you don’t want it, you close down and keep fighting or resisting, and you don’t really get anywhere new.
We must first accept what is before any change will show up inside of how we experience life, and acceptance of what we think we don’t want is one of the hardest things for us to do as humans. Yet when you master this, you master life. You master life because no longer does what is showing up inside of your experience dictate how you experience it. You become the source, seer and chooser of the experience when you come into agreement with what is. This is where true power lies, where miracles are the ordinary way things work, and love/bliss is how you feel and see even when sensations in your body or other various emotions are present. You realize none of it matters, because you’re in charge and the experience/appearance is not.
Wanting what is opens the heart. When your heart is open you give everything the opportunity to be as it is, you include all, you recognize wholeness and perfection, and you give everyone around you the opportunity to open their heart as well. This is what it is to be of service, to be living your purpose, to be in alignment. Being of service, in purpose and in alignment are not about what you do, but instead who and how you choose to be and see. Here is the invitation to be brave enough, devoted enough and committed enough to love, to choose what is and want what is. Any fear you have around doing this will be resolved in the act of you doing it. This is true sovereignty, autonomy and power.
Dr. Amanda Love, Chiropractor, Network Spinal Analysis & Somato-Respiratory Integration, Boulder, Colorado