#58 - Brain Break

Have you ever caught yourself driving along in the car, windows down, hair blowing in the wind, belting out the song on the radio?  What about getting lost in thought as you walk down a path hearing only the sounds made when your feet hit the ground?  Take it even one step further, how about when sitting or walking on a beach, hearing nothing but the waves and maybe an occasional bird overhead?  Those are the moments that I love.  Those moments when you get absolutely lost in time, having not a care in the world.
 
I think that more of these moments are needed.  More time to just not think, to relax in the moment and just be.  I am hoping to find more of these moments in the coming week as I remove myself from my current situation, get away from the office and really just get back in touch with me again.  As I get older, I find that this to be more of a requirement.  My mind spins as such a crazy speed, with all the work and life events getting caught in the whirlwinds, ever intertwined making me feel exhausted a lot of the time.  Time to release those things which hold me down and soar.  Stop spinning and just blow through the trees, through the fields, stop spinning and just ride the wave of wind and see where it takes me.

To take flight like the seed of a dandelion flower, landing wherever the wind decides to slow and release me.  How wonderful a thought, a feeling of almost pure freedom, only being held by the wind.  Oh the things one could see and experience during a flight.

The nice thing is that if you learn the art of meditation or self hypnosis, you can experience these types of travels, of releases of energy, of brain breaks that really give you a sense of peace.  Personally I have been able to experience many of these in recent months, working on mastering them more and more as the effects on my body and mind are astounding.  A calming sensation that has begun to change who I am, how I react to situations, and what I truly care about.  The thought of don't sweat the small stuff come to mind often, not that I have read the book, but that the comment makes such sense in itself.  Through the use of meditation and hypnosis I see so much more as small stuff, things that don't seem to matter nearly as much to me as they have in the past.  Those things which are important held close, the rest left to float away in the wind.

Well, time to put this away for the day and go complete my last day of daily grind before a week of sheer bliss. 

Needing a beach recharge - day 42

Do you have a place that you go to recharge your battery?  Is it your childhood home with your parents?  Is it the mountains to get back to nature? Is it the desert? What about a field of corn or wheat?  Does the open prairies make you feel at home?  Trees, do you require lots of trees that block all view and give you a natural hug?

For me my happy place is the beach. I was born surrounded by water, ocean on one side and gulf on the other.  Spent most of my good days as a child on the beach or in the water or fishing with my grandfather out at sea.  So my current landlocked situation has got me out of sorts at least a couple times a year where I must go recharge my soul's battery, sitting on the beach, toes in the sand, birds squawking overhead, and the waves rolling onto the beach blanketing the sands with their warmth and then rolling back out again to allow another to take it's place.

When on the beach, time escapes me. I can sit for hours just meditating in the warm, soothing sounds, letting my mind free of all that clutters inside.  I think that finding that place where we can unwind and let go is something we must do to survive.  We have to be able to remove ourselves from the  hustle and bustle of the every day monotonous insanity that must be done to pay for all the this-n-that required to exist.

For many years due to financial constraints I could't make my trek back home where I could recharge.  As a single mother, my finances were bound to making sure that my children had a roof over their heads, food on the table, and some of the things they desired.  Not all, because that would give them nothing to strive for, but enough to make them want to work hard to get there.  During those years I found ways to get there without leaving my home.  I was introduced into the art of self-hypnosis.  Being able to focus the mind on the body, turning off the senses with simple countdowns, and finding the ability to all but mentally leave my body and travel to a beach where I could relax and recharge was what saved my sanity.  This was actually something I taught myself in my younger years when I was not in a safe place and needed to escape the pain.  I believe it actually saved my life.

Hypnosis is a very powerful tool.  Many have used it to avoid being put under anesthesia before surgery (not sure I will ever be that good at it), others have used it simply to turn off the mind and release.  Hypnosis also helped me quit smoking, something I did for many years.  I am now trying to use it to lose weight and well, that apparently is harder than quitting smoking. Still a work in progress.  The ability to self hypnotize is a true skill that I am blessed with.  I have used it in short bursts or for longer periods depending on the need at the time. I mostly use it to cure what ails me and allow my body and mind to heal when they get to a point of needing release from pain.  I have removed myself almost completely from any use of over the counter medications simply by first getting them out of my system, then finding more holistic remedies, but I will touch on that another day.

Finally being at a place in my life when I can just go to the beach and relax, recharge, and recover my sanity is such a blessing.  I know that all my worldly worries will be there when I return yet the escape is so amazing, almost like a recharging my soul.

The ocean is calling, I must answer.

Dream a little dream - day 39

Do you ever stare up at the night or morning sky, admiring the stars and all their beauty?  Do you ever look at the clouds and see shapes? How about stopping to notice the ghostly light of the moon when it rises during the day behind a beautiful blue sky?  Have you ever been lucky enough to use these times, these dream-like moments to travel outside yourself or let your imagination roam?

OK, are you wondering what the heck I'm talking about at this point?  Promise...I'm only half crazy half of the time.  I am talking about day-dreaming and for those who are lucky enough to have figured out how to do it, self-hypnosis.  Those are the moments that really allow you to explore, to soar and to grow.  Here is what I mean.

When you allow yourself to just wonder, to ask questions internally, to see things from a different perspective, you are growing.  Your mind is expanding, even if opening up just a little to the possibilities of seeing or experiencing something new.  You are becoming bigger then you were by way of absorbing the energy around you. Using that energy to go new places or think of new ideas, new ways of doing something or how to create something new all together.

Example:  An artist sees around them the beauty in the world then absorbs that beauty and uses it create beauty in their art.  Using the energy around them, the feelings and emotions from those things that stimulate their artistic side to create something, they are growing by way of seeing something and allowing it to affect them.  Then, as artists do, they create something from that energy to see or hear or feel and share it with others to see or hear or feel as they experience it.  The outcome may be bright or dark depending on the feelings the artist had when it was created.

Allowing yourself to float on a cloud or bounce among the stars, allowing yourself to dream, to see more than what you currently are, to see where you could be and want to go, not only helps us grow and become more but it also gives us the courage to go further.  It builds up our sense of self-worth by way of expanding what we see ourselves achieving and potential maps to get to those end results we seek.

If you set a goal for yourself are you not, internally, seeing yourself reaching that goal?  Do you not picture yourself reaching the thing you are striving for?  If you are preparing to run a marathon, do you not picture yourself hitting the finish line, exhausted but holding your arms high in representation of the success of reaching the end?

As I am sitting here writing this, I have to wonder if maybe this is something only I do. I have never asked anyone else if they do this. I have not conducted research on this to see if other people do this or if I maybe I am a little more than half crazy.  If I am, I will gladly stay in that state of mind because I could not imagine a life without those little escapes from reality that make me think beyond the mundane existence of the every day grind.  Wake up, start work, stop work, cook/clean/chores, relax a bit, go to bed, wake up, and do it over again.  That is not the life I wish to lead.

Goal:  Dream a little dream every chance I get, making sure to use them to continue to push me further than I have gone.