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MONKEY YEAR
without Monkey Mind
Gung Hei Fat Choy
Happy Chinese New Year (starts 8th Feb)
Here in Australia, it always feels like the new year starts in February after the holidays are over and kids are back to school end of January.
So….
The year of the Fire Monkey for 2016
which basically is
Ambitious, Adventurous, and prone to Irritability
I have to say the word monkey always reminds me of that ambitious adventurous monkey in Bali who brazenly climbed up my body and stole my sarong from my bag. It made me irritable enough to jump up and down and scare it away as it tried to steal my silk scarf as well. What was I thinking? Those are pretty sharp teeth I saw in that gaping mouth. Anyway he didn’t get my newly bought silk scarf. Ooooh just thinking about it makes me feel fired up.
But back to what I wanted to highlight in this months blog. And that is …
Make STILLNESS and connecting to our CALM INTERIOR a PRIORITY so we can embrace the fire monkey energy from our calm creative centre instead of the easily irritated mind.
I read a recent blog entitled Why Yin Yoga can be so Hard. It was about how the mind is challenged more in the stillness of holding a pose for a long time than when practicing more actively.
It addressed how difficult it is for most of us to practice stillness and return to the calm interior of our true nature.
The challenge of returning to the stillness within is not just encountered in a Yin Yoga practice. You can find the same challenge in any meditation. It takes a while for the mind activity to acquiesce to the stillness of the body being and not doing.
It’s what prevents so many people from persisting with a practice of daily stillness. The thinking mind drives them crazy. And then it can feel like you can’t meditate, or that you’re doing it wrong and you don’t know what to do.
My suggestion is to not have an expectation that your mind be anything else than what it’s doing at any given moment.
Rather, practice cultivating your capacity to watch, observe and witness all that arises in your stillness – including thinking, feelings, sensations. Nothing needs to change except the focus of your attention to being a non-judging witness to your inner states.
Another wonderful tool is to give your mind a job. The mind loves thinking, figuring out things and finding solutions. So give it a job.
Here’s a great question to ask yourself and give your mind a job of finding out the answer for you.
“Why is it so easy for me to drop into my calm interior?”
Now if you are familiar with AFFORMATIONS (not affirmations) you will
know that asking that question gives your mind a job of finding solutions. In this case the mind is going to find out for you why its easy for you and let you know the answer. (The book of Afformations by Noah St. John)
I highly recommend making any new year resolutions or intentions in this way. Afformations are questions you give your mind so it takes on the job to assist you in co-creating your desires rather than making some wishful resolution that your mind unconsciously rebels against and in the end undermines your ability to manifest your desire.
Whatever it is you desire to create, remember to create for the love of it, when its finished let it go with love, and enjoy the process as you are creating.
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With love & gratitude
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