Conscious Response
Hello everybody!
Yeah summertime : }
This month I would like to focus on consciously choosing a response vs. unconscious reaction.
Please allow me to clarify that not all unconscious reaction is bad. There is the “gut” reaction which is wonderful and can be life saving — instinct at it’s best.
The unconscious reaction that I would like to bring into focus is the programmed/judgmental reaction that involves emotion and thought. It is what modern psychology refers to as conditioning. This is the reaction programming that may have you looking at yourself saying: “I wish I would have handled myself differently, or I wish I didn’t say that.”
Awareness is the first step you know!? : )
Once you have become aware of yourself “reacting” (and thinking) in ways which are “out of control” and disrespectful to your Being (let alone the other Beings) you are now in the position to do something about it.
You are the boss of you and only you are able to create change for yourself! There is no point in waiting for other people or situations to change; it will never happen!!! Remember, we must take responsibility for ourselves; for the way we think, the way we act and speak as well for the way we perceive.
Perception is really where it is all at because perception is a filtered reality. Your personal conditioning — emotions and thought patterns — is perception programmed years ago.
What can you do and how do you do it? Get to know yourself! Observe yourself! Know where, when and how you get triggered into reacting, yet please, observe yourself without judgment. Change wants to be created out of love for yourself. The desire to better yourself and to represent yourself in a graceful way is already a loving experience. Good for you!
Try to pay close attention when the moment arrives that might trigger you into an old and outdated way of handling yourself. Watch your body’s sensations because everybody experiences the body’s reaction (oftentimes a “tell” or precursor to the reaction) in a different way. Remember your breath!?
Remove yourself from the situation if need be, there is nothing wrong with giving yourself a “time out” and being with yourself in the way that you know you don’t want to react — breathe through i t… Focus on your breath, cool yourself down, remind yourself of the negative words and raised voices and see how that feels outside of the context of that moment. Simply shrinking into yourself and saying nothing at all for example is not a healthy alternative!
As you are breathing encourage yourself; remember how you want to represent yourself and then choose an appropriate response — now you are truly in control! Do not hesitate to be strong yet gentle. The gentle strength is your true authentic power.
Express your truth, honor your truth, live your truth.
One last thing, repetition is the mother of success!
Namaste everybody.
Love and Light,
Britta