Our minds are over-stimulated by the wrong things. Our lives are crying out for grounding and simplification. We need to add more “nothing to our lives.” I see around me the constant evidence of how we now apply the action movie standards to our lives. We are accustomed to constant stimulation: TV, Internet, video games, texts that don’t have any real content, and music that is not thoughtfully chosen but that is playing all around us. Everywhere we go we are being activated, “entertained.” Screens show us images and advertising and even restaurants have televisions hanging from the ceilings blaring content we don’t invite into our lives. I see families at dinner together but there is no communication and connection—because each them is on a cell phone! There are gas pumps with screens broadcasting advertising and junk content. Everywhere. Too much of everything, not enough nothing!
We don’t know how to just sit, just walk in silence, connect with our loved ones, or do nothing and be perfectly content and at peace. The brain and body needs this quiet, this doing nothing to heal and reflect and create.
It is during this time of “nothingness” and silence that the universe talks to us. It is in these moments that the emptiness fills with magic. Learn to be slow and quiet at times so that you can communicate with the universe and it can talk to you. If people have to pay for silence and pay for time to reflect by taking a class, we’re adding commerce to things that are free and doing so for no reason.
The phrase “time is money” does not apply to ancient cultures because life is life and is too precious to be bought and sold. People in other countries take several coffee brakes during the day because of course you would stop to connect with others or just be quiet inside your own experience for a few minutes throughout the day. A store would naturally close for lunch so that the people who work there could rest and eat together. The pace of life is slower than in the United States. Different cultures have different approaches to time. It’s good to know these differences. In Greece, and Latin America, time is seen as an infinite resource. If your friends invite you to a party, you can be one hour late and no one will be upset because the party will start in waves as people arrive and leave.
Because so many people run around watching the clock and not connecting to the natural world, it is helpful to slow down. This is a moment to “work” at playing with your energy and consciously feeling what you feel. Let’s go into nothingness and give yourself a true break. Before you perform these exercises you may want to learn how to feel energy with more sensitivity. Everyone is able to feel this energy. The way different people feel this energy is – well – different. I can only describe how I feel this energy and see if you experience it similarly or different. To me the act of relaxing my body and mind, feels as if someone is gently tickling me. Some people report feeling pins and needles, some say it feels like a warm current running through their body. But everyone agrees on one thing: it feels good! Why don’t we do something that feels so good more often? Only because we don’t think of it. And now we are and I’m giving you permission to stop to feel your energy any time you want. You can make this demand of your life and everyone and everything in it. You get to stop and be with yourself!
Try this. Put your hands under hot water, and of course your hands will feel warmth. This is not the same as feeling the life-giving energy that can also produce a feeling of warmth. Energy the Hawaiians call Mana, the Chinese – Chi, the Japanese – Ki, the Romani – Di, in India it is called Prana, and Dux in Russia. Although this life energy can produce feeling of warmth, it is different from having warm hands.
I encourage you to experiment with feeling the energy around you. Feel the energy of different parts of your body, feel the energy of your family members, your pets, plants and even furniture. Notice how different homes and outdoor environments have different energy. Have you ever toured a number of homes in a day and noticed how different the energy is in each one? This is a good way to test your ability to sense things. If you have a day of running errands notice the energy of different neighborhoods, different stores, different people you encounter in a day. Everything has energy. Every place has energy. Every person has energy. Tune into it and soon you will be able to distinguish the negative and positive energy around you and choose more thoughtfully where you will spend your precious time.
