Today I'd like to give a review of a meditation exercise I tried at the end of Chapter 5 of a new book that just came out this week titled "How Big is Your BUT" by Rene Brent.
After taking a deep and full, easy in-breath and filling my lungs then holding my breath for a few seconds and as I exhale, I think to myself, "relax." I repeat this one more time. So feeling relaxed and released as my eyes are closed, I ask my mind to take me to a time when I felt free and relaxed, a time when I felt open and happy.
What came up for me was how I was feeling last June of 2015 after I left my corporate gig and I had $12,000 in my checking account and I knew I had more than enough money to pay my bills for a few months. My morning meditation times lasted for 2 hours every morning and I felt a deep peace and calm. I was also simultaneously filled with joy at the prospect of working on my new blues guitar lesson web site and my Facebook page and I was filled with confidence that I would attract at least 4 to 8 students in a few months.
Then I see myself as though I'm watching a movie. I allow myself to enjoy watching myself for only positive memories. I watch for a while, then I notice how old I was and who was around me. What I was doing. "What were people saying to me, or what was I saying to myself?" I paid attention to how I felt emotionally: Happy, excited, or fearless? I notice how I feel physically.
I felt fearless (which was really a feeling of deep peace and calm) and I felt frozen in time like I felt like I had forever to get things done, the things I felt would attract new guitar students. I was saying to myself, "I can do this...," David Ralph of Join Up Dots podcast told me, my Blues niche idea was brilliant.
Next, instead of just watching this memory, I allow myself to become the person I was back then. I imagine I feel how good it felt physically when I was in that Happy memory. I'm listening to the words I told myself and what others said to me. I was that person again and I noted what I believed about myself, "I Am Joyfully confident!" I notice how that makes me feel emotionally.
I absorb the entire memory and try to find one word to describe it. Maybe "Happy, peaceful, or loved but something amazing." A word that describes this state which I would like to return to again and again. I do my best, remembering, as Rene writes in the book, "there is no wrong or right way to do this."
I picked a two word phrase as I worked out how to put what I'm feeling into words.
Deep peace and calm?
Joyfully confident?
Joyful confidence!...is the best description of how I felt during this time.
What I did next was to anchor in this feeling to my body so I can return to this feeling again and again.
In the book, Rene suggests I put my hand on my heart or put my fingers together, "whatever action you want." "Take a big breath in and as you exhale say the word that best describes the state or feeling from this memory. Only bring in positive feelings because you do not want to anchor in a negative."
Next, I took another big breath in and say my positive two-word phrase as I hold my hand to the side of my thigh as my body anchor. "Really breathe the word in and feel this emotion." I feel how good this is for my mind and body. I am sending a message to my mind: "when I do this action and say this word (even if it's to myself), this feeling comes back to me."
I do this one last time.
I now can do this any time I want to feel this way again. All I have to do is touch my thigh to fire up my anchor. I can put my hand on the side of my thigh and repeat the steps of breathing in and out and this feeling will come "washing back" over me. Now I can return to this feeling anytime I choose.
The best thing about this is I can use my anchor when I am feeling overwhelmed or stuck.
I just learned this today and have been practicing this 3 or 4 times tonight to see if the same feeling comes back to me. It does indeed.
I plan to use this tomorrow also so I can practice this for later to ease any physical and emotional responses to stressful situations. This as Rene writes "...gives you room to actively reason with yourself and find new solutions" during times of stress.
You can also bring in your "Higher Self" or do the "Truth Talk" exercise which are the first two exercises in the book which I highly recommend you go to Amazon and buy the book right now for .99 cents so you can find out how to do these also. What a deal. There's no fluff, all substance and straight to the point. Just do a search for "How Big is Your BUT" on Amazon.com.
Well, this is just one of the many mind exercises in the book and there are neat explanations in the book for how our minds work. Really cool! As Rene puts it in the book, you can be Happy right now and for now on if you practice these exercises. It's called practicing Happy!
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