THOUGHT INDUCED COMA
Snapping yourself out of it
Sometimes we feel stuck, bored and tired. We want to feel purposeful, excited and productive, but rather we are looped in our habitual ways of being and doing. The mundane quality of everyday life is taking up the front and center space of our awareness. We search for a way out of our misery of the ordinary, hoping to find some shiny object, thing or person that will re-inspire life in us. Only to experience the fleetingness of the shiny object, or coming up empty handed altogether. It seems as though all we can do is let these feelings of lack of inspiration pass in their own timing and rhythm. It seems as though our only choice is to keep feeling stuck, bored, tired and kind of miserable.
What is really happening in these moments or rhythms of our life? What it boils down to is that we are out of alignment with ourselves. This could be said lots of ways. We are not present, we are not in gratitude, we are seeing through the perspective of lack, we are disconnected, we are checked out, we are focused on appearance rather than essence, and on and on. You get the point. When this is our general disposition then nothing is exciting and we’d rather be somewhere other than where we are. In this state of being we tend think/believe that happiness is somewhere else. That joy, love and peace is somewhere else. That what we want is somewhere else. This mysterious, magical, fantastical somewhere else lives nowhere other than in the thoughts of our minds. While it’s lovely to fantasize, it keeps us in our head and does little to bring us into now. Now is the only place that anything is happening. Now is the place where we feel alive. Now is the place of lived reality-fantasy instead of thought fantasy. Again while thinking about things is nice, it doesn’t lead to presence, it only leads to more thoughts.
We need to snap ourselves out of our thought induced comas and come back to what is happening now. We must ask ourselves why we are choosing to be asleep during our day? Why are we attempting to get certain things over or finished? Maybe it’s that we don’t like certain activities. Why is that? How can you make them more enjoyable if you are not enjoying them? Maybe certain things feel like they aren’t working or responding to you as you would like them too. Where is your focus in that moment? Is it on getting something or trying to make something happen, which by the way are the same thing. Can you reorient to giving rather than getting? I mean really giving which has absolutely nothing to do with what you will get in return. Do you need to make changes in your life to make it work better, but you refuse to change and therefore choose to be stuck, bored and tired instead? Do you fail to see and therefore have gratitude for what is in front of your eyes because you desire the picture to be different?
SERVE WHAT’S HERE
Becoming present
In general our lives are pretty good. Probably most people reading this article are neither starving or homeless. Your basic needs are met and you are even likely doing some things in the world that feel like they are contributing to something beyond your own personal selves. Most here also have some level of self-awareness, impact on others, and personal and spiritual development. This puts us in a prime position to really hone our alignment and be of service no matter what is occurring. I’ve said this before, but I will say it again, being of service is not about martyrdom or self-denial. It is about being yourself and having the desire to give to others. Once all of your basic bodily human needs are met and your personal and social connection needs are met, there really isn’t much left to do but be of service in some way. If you aren’t then you tend to feel stagnant, bored and slightly miserable.
Now you might find yourself perseverating on a few things you want, but still don’t have. If you perseverate long enough then that focus might overwhelm your desire to serve because service is not about getting anything. Not even the things you think you really want badly or the things you think you need in order to be of service. There is never anything you need to be of service except the desire to serve. One thing I can promise is that being of service is 1,000 times more fulfilling than getting those last few things you think you really want like a partner, a house or having the next big project or breakthrough happen. Also being of service has nothing to do with your job or work, but rather it’s about what you give to everything you do.
Next time you find yourself bored, tired, stuck, or slightly miserable, wishing you were somewhere else or in some other moment in time where things were different or you felt differently, I invite you to do this one thing. Internally ask yourself the question, “how can I serve this?” or “how can I be of service here?” It’s simple, like most things I recommend, but incredibly effective at getting you to shift out of your habitual, asleep, mundane reality and into the present moment. Even though you might not feel completely shifted, you are beginning to shift. You are shifting out of seeing what your mind thinks it’s seeing from its past experiences and memory banks, into the actual aliveness of what is always the present moment. Understand nothing is ever mundane or the same as it was yesterday or even 5 minutes ago. It’s only your thoughts recreating the same images, thoughts and ideas, which gives the appearance of sameness.
To be of service you must be present. It is the only way you can attune or be in rhythm with the unfolding dance of life. Rather than believing that you must get somewhere else first before you can serve, recognize and serve what is already here. After all there is nothing else. Even if what’s here is not your preference, find your way into the state of being of service. If you do you will snap yourself out of your thought coma and find aliveness. You will start participating with life rather than thinking about it. You will quit caring so much about all the things and experiences you think you want. You will feel more love and gratitude as your ever present state of being.
Dr. Amanda Love, Chiropractor, Network Spinal Analysis & Somato-Respiratory Integration, Boulder, Colorado