Pause and Witness
I woke up with a startle. I don’t even know what had come upon my mind, but it was something causing worry, angst, sweating, scanning the past, and planning the future all at the same time.
But somehow, this time, I was able to see through the angst. Like, for a flash moment I was a witness to my own struggle and could see it with clarity.
Like I said, I had awoken with a worry. A feeling that something was not right, and this brings a great sense of discomfort! To relieve and avoid this intense uncomfortable feeling the mind goes to work...simultaneously scanning hindsight to see what went wrong to cause the situation, and planning future all the things to try to fix it. This is the essence of what’s happening when we panic.
Just think about it...BOOM 💥 some situation happens that startles you and triggers angst. The mind, now immensely disturbed, is DESPERATE to relieve this intense discomfort it is now experiencing. Towards that effort thoughts of past and future actions come FLOODING in such that you can’t even think straight or decide how to proceed!
It’s simply desperation to remove the sensation of discomfort! Maybe instead I can learn to just notice, observe and be with the discomfort? Even for a moment...pause and breathe through it, instead of this flood of thoughts towards avoiding the pain.
Photo of me, credits to @sean-king
superb post i like it
I had something like this happen, where I stared deep into my own eyes, thought about life and where I have come. So much rushed into me that my heart started to race. It went up to 180 bpm and didn't stop for 4 hours. I realized to not keep anything in, continue to push and progress. Always strive to achieve your goals or you may have a panic attack because of regrets or getting stuck in an unfortunate position. When we a striving for everything we want in life, I find anxiety and stress disappear.
On a second note... when we are in pain/sickness, it is the only thing we think about and need to fix. Thus why our health should be the first essential concern in life. Most pain however is psychological and can be overcome with our mind. Mind and panic is a different case for sure.
We must find out who we really are and what we want. Then push to our full potential to make that happen. I think it is human nature to achieve our purpose or biggest goals so we must push towards that.
Great post here @steemed-open. Following you.
The important thing is not to allow the panic reaction to lead you into making dangerous decisions.
I've even heard of people inducing that lightheaded dizzy feeling of a panic attack by hyperventilating on purpose -- as a form of practice! The idea being, next time the feeling comes over you, you can accept it's just a physical reaction and it will pass.
I haven't been inclined to try this myself, but I think I can see the utility in it, kind-of. Yoga is probably better... and looks nicer in photographs.
@steemed-open Your topsy-turvy emotions are not restricted to you alone. We all go through them, especially in moments of uncertainty, of confusion, of despair.
But your response is in the right direct - to pause and witness, to wait and listen, to awake and internalise all that make up the past, the present and indeed, the future!
A constant and regular deep-seated raciocination brings about the solution because once the mind can detach itself from the body it sees clearly the path to take.
Keep going, @steemed-open, in the direction of your purpose.
Perfectly understand how most people would at first try to think of ways, how to deal with such a situation. For me, simple physical work, even something like doing the dishes helps me find my balance.. with your mastery of yoga, that's probably a better approach.
For me it would be important to find the cause, and trying to work on that too. Ok, there is a lot of teaching out there about not to worry about this and that and so on... but you have just been through some major changes, and that has to have some effect, even if everything is all fun and games. Or at least looks like it.
When I moved to the US from an "underdeveloped country", like Germany was in the eyes of some of my friends there, they could not believe, that I wasn't constantly deliriously happy in this paradise I supposedly had come to.
Thing is, it felt, as if my soul couldn't keep up, particularly with getting form one place to another by plane and at these speeds. You get into this thing, sit there for a little while and ding.... you are somewhere else. I deliberately went a lot of long distances by car for instance, to get a feeling for the distances and the place where I found myself all of a sudden...
When the inner being decides its time to start growing roots after the initial rush, it can easily get scared to get "uprooted" until its safely anchored...
This captures the ESSENCE of what any Sadhana should be about: "It’s simply desperation to remove the sensation of discomfort! Maybe instead I can learn to just notice, observe and be with the discomfort?". You nailed it. Nothing else is needed really. Amazing post @steemed-open ! THank you
Thank you so much. 🙏🏽 I agree that’s the nugget we are going for with any number of spiritual or life practices. We humans tend to attach to our practices and think “if I just find the ‘right’ one or the magic one...” but the opportunity is really under our nose in every circumstances. Hard to see sometimes though.
I love Your cyber space dear. It's so unique and real. Keep being real @steemed-open
Thank you @ambdavid. I’m glad you commented so I could find your page...we are like minded and I love your page too.
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Hello, Sometimes I have anxiety and its very difficult thank you for sharing your experience its very inspirational. Namaste
DAMN GIRL YOU FINE IF YOU IN PAIN OR NEED HELP JUST COME TALK TO ME BOO BOO I GOTCHA GIRL
Man that's funny. I can almost here you saying that. LOL
Thanks honey, but I got a Man.