11/2/11

“What you resist persists.” – Carl Jung

“Whatever you fight, you strengthen, and what you resist persists.” – Eckhart Tolle


This experiment is already shaping up to be much more than what I initially intended. For starters, I have begun each day by making a list of several things for which I am grateful. I have read in various places over the last several years that this practice gets the mind focused on positive emotions and sets the stage for attracting more good things. Honestly, I can feel the shift in my focus and immediately after making a list of the good things in my life. Try it! Also, I am spending a lot of my time being mindful. Noticing my surroundings. Appreciating the tools in my daily life. Finally, I have been reading a really inspiring book called How to Heal Toxic Thoughts by Sandra Ingerman which provides a lot of tools for being more aware of emotional reactions to things in daily life and makes suggestions for transmuting negative energy into positive. I will discuss this more in future entries.

Just shifting my focus for one day, I started to experience stronger intuitive impulses and strange synchronicity, not to mention the most vivid dream I have had in months. I will not describe all of these, but the odd synchronistic alignment bears mentioning because it is just the kind of silly but affirming thing that happens often when one is really connected to the flow of life.

Synchronicity: At work in the afternoon, I suddenly began thinking of Michael Ondaatje, I have only ever read one of his books: In the Skin of a Lion, but that was years ago. I cannot say what made him come into my mind. A couple of hours later, I was home from work unpacking my bag. I had gone to the grocery store at lunch and purchased two different kinds of tea in which cinnamon was the most pronounced ingredient. Since it has begun getting cooler, I have consumed an abnormal amount of cinnamon tea and I started wondering if my skin was going to start smelling like cinnamon. A few minutes later I went for a long walk. As my walk was coming to an end I though I would stop at a cafe in town and get some coffee. I have never done so, and I walk every day. I decided to go to Aj's, a super grimy little coffee shop that I have only ever gone to once before because I don't really like it. When I walked in, I was drawn to a bookshelf but thought I'd revisit it after ordering coffee. I tried to order but the kid at the counter was busy talking on the phone so I walked back to the bookshelf to wait for him to finish his transaction. Sitting apart from the rest of the books, most noticeable of all the books on the shelf was a book of poetry by Michael Ondaatje called the Cinnamon Peeler. I ended up reading a few poems and leaving the shop without having any coffee since I felt pretty certain that the synchronicity was what I had visited the place for. This brings up many different thoughts: first, is time linear or is it an interconnected web? Next, are we prompted all the time with information that would lead us to similar synchronistic evens if only we'd pay attention? Finally, what does it mean? All month I am going to do my best to consider these questions and other like them.

So finally, the actual meditation: A friend had emailed me this guided meditation from the Chopra Center quite some time ago and the email was still in my inbox because I had not had time to try the meditation, so THIS was my first day's meditation. I did not even look to see what it was about before I began, because I have done several of the free meditations that come with the monthly newsletter and knew it would probably be beneficial. In perfect synchronicity, the meditation was about becoming a part of the universal flow and attracting material abundance so that you can, in turn, let that flow through you and share it with others. An especially valuable theme for me because I have spent many years as an artist with monk-like tendencies, I have a deeply ingrained belief that material wealth and integrity don't mix. I am going to work this month to try to make my life a more welcoming, less hostile place for material abundance.