Align your outer life with your inner clarity so you can thrive
One of the things I enjoy helping clients with is aligning your outer life with your inner clarity, But how exactly are you to get clear?
If you are not clear inside, how can your outer life reflect anything but chaos and results you don't like. Others' ideas and opinions derail us from what is alive in our own hearts. If you are serious about being happy, let alone look forward to what you will do when you get up to meet your day, then first things first: Take time to get clear inside.
Getting clear about what you want can take time if you have been overloaded with social media, movies, others opinions, print media and so on. I have been meditating for well over four decades and these days I notice how long it takes for me to get past all the chatter I have heard to get into that still exquisite peace that lies beyond all that.
I do advocate a daily meditation practice as a reset button to bring mind and body back to equilibrium. This is something a little bit different and that being said, it is fine if you do not sit for a formal meditation. No big deal. There are other ways you can begin to access your inner clarity.
Try shutting down all devices and your television for a day. Better yet, keep them off for a week. Turn off your phone and your computer. Don't read the news during this hiatus. Notice what starts to happen. At first you may notice how addictive it is to constantly be connected to a cellular device, computer, or print media. After a while, all that stuff flying around in your brain, all the myriad thoughts, opinions, judgements and beliefs all that have been running around in your brain, will become less intrusive and begin to fade away. It may take some time. Stick with your hiatus. You will begin to hear your own voice without obstruction. You may even go out in the garage and dig out the hobby you used to enjoy, paint a picture, or write a poem, play that instrument you put aside in the name of busyness. You don't have to go out into Nature but walking on a trail or in a park daily, in some way connecting with Nature, can be helpful as well to help you start to become quiet inside. Take your time eating, have coffee in a coffee shop without walking out the door or getting into your car. Enjoy each moment. Let your overloaded brain have a break!
You can keep a notebook or journal to write ideas or inspirational actions that come up during this time. Sit with them. At the end of the long pause you have taken, you may be clear about what is alive for you to follow up on and how you might begin to integrate that into your life or weed out what has not been working for you. You may be surprised how clear you have become, or at least willing to sit in the unknown without panicking, until you do become clear.
If you really can't see your way to doing this exercise for twenty-four hours or a week, then at least do it for a few hours. Sometimes, with habitual practice, a morning or afternoon or evening can take you toward your unique knowing what it is that will bring more contentment and joy into your life. Isn't that worth the time out?
