Last week, I spent a few days cleaning and painting an apartment. It’s the kind of project that can turn into tedious, grueling, and even painful work. There are so many ways I could have crumpled myself into the dusty corners to make sure I got every last dust bunny or overreached to get fresh paint onto the ceiling. By the third day, I definitely had a few aches, but I wasn’t in bad shape. In fact, I was feeling inspired to paint my own apartment.
I had spent 3 days making choices about how to do the tasks before me. I could have chosen to push through discomfort or distract myself from it just so that I could finish. Instead, I took rests when I needed to and I gave myself a lot of little reminders to be coordinated and whole. Detailed tasks were made easier when my hands and arms were adequately supported by the rest of me. Getting the hard to reach places while remaining connected to my center became a fun game.
The day after I finished working, I climbed up to the roof to look even further beyond where my focus had been. The skyline was a lovely reward that seemed to really fit what I had been thinking about.
We all fall into the trap of getting narrowly focused on details sometimes. We lose sight of any part of us not directly involved in what we’re doing. We push to get to the end, no matter the condition we’ll arrive in. Once a task has been completed and checked off the list, the result of concentrating too hard sets in. Often that’s when pain and discomfort appears - and that’s when we remember to notice how we feel and how we’re doing things. What if we could notice ourselves when there’s ease and freedom too?
Of course, pain happens. Even when you make good choices you may find pain and discomfort. When it shows up, you can choose to put your attention on onlythe pain or you can widen your lens and include more of yourself in your awareness. If you open yourself to the realization that there are already places of ease within you, you’ll be able to notice them more readily.
In this week’s lie down talk, we invite you to include more of yourself in your awareness than what doesn’t feel right. Follow the freedom.
Alexandra & Kateri
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