Do you feel like you always have to be doing something? Do you feel it's necessary to fill every minute of every day accomplishing something or getting another item checked off of your to-do list? I know, there’s a lot to do, and it can seem like there is little time to do it all.
Even if you have a few minutes of downtime, do you spend it attached to technology staring at a screen, scrolling through condensed information at lightning speed? Do you even take your phone to the bathroom with you? Right?!
It's a product of being raised in this modern fast-paced world and technologically advanced, capitalistic culture. It seems there are an infinite amount of things that compete for our attention all hours of the day and night.
Compulsive doing and giving all of our attention to the external world actually keeps us disconnected from our higher self, our inner consciousness, the place from which we cultivate our most efficient and powerful self. It is pretty much like trying to call someone on their landline but you keep getting the busy signal (back in the day, before cell phones, before call waiting...sorry to the younger crowd if you can’t relate). Our higher self just cannot be reached this way.
When we keep ourselves always occupied with the business of the outside world, we can’t get through and connect to our true self, our inner essence. We can’t receive messages from the place of our eternal spirit, our immutable soul, the place that possesses our deepest wisdom. If we don’t create time and space to connect with this part of our being, we can’t really know ourselves.
Truly knowing ourselves, connecting to our higher wisdom, is how we reach our full potential and how we realize genuine happiness.
We have incarnated into human beings to learn, love, and grow, and to develop higher awareness. Yet we are so distracted with just the physical and external aspects of life ~ the doing, the accomplishing, and only until recently have we started to pay more attention to the mind. But our spirit, the eternal and infinite part of ourselves gets the least attention, yet it is the most transformative, the most powerful, and most evolved level of our existence.
Make a regular daily practice of stepping back from the constant doing, turn off your devices, quiet your mind and connect with this part of yourself. I promise you it will bring a level of fulfillment that goes well beyond getting all the tasks checked off of your to-do list.
A very simple practice that will help you quiet the mind, calm the nervous system, and connect you with your higher consciousness is the So Hum Meditation.
Take a few moments and a comfortable seat and just focus on your breath. Let the breath flow naturally, breathing in and out through the nose. On the inhale, mentally recite "So". On the exhale, mentally recite "Hum". These sounds constitute the natural sound of the breath. Using this mantra So Hum as support, helps you stay focused on the breath. This can be done anywhere, anytime and it is one of the primary and foundational forms of pranayama (breathing practice).
So breathe, and just be!