What Are Your Growing?

Spring has sprung and with it, so has the feelings of renewing!

So with the idea of spring, I am here to ask you, ‘What are you growing?’.

“Done properly, yoga is the science of channeling all energies upward until they merge together at the highest point—Oneness.”

— Michael Singer

Yes, it could mean in your garden… Davey has the green thumb in the family and is currently growing lettuce and herbs.

BUT I mean in your life…. What are you allowing to take root in your life?

This idea and question have popped up multiple times this week while listening to Michael Singer’s book, The Surrender Experiment. (If you are looking for a good audiobook I 100% suggest this!)

In his autobiography, Michael Singer notices he is NOT the constant chatter in his mind, that he is the observer. When you realize you are an observer, you can start the long process of not attaching to the fleeting thoughts, especially the negative ones.

Power of Intention

One of my FAVORITE quotes in one of my FAVORITE books, The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success, Deepak Chopra states, “Attention energizes, and intention transforms. Whatever you put your attention on will grow stronger in your life. Whatever you take your attention away from will wither, disintegrate, and disappear.”

SUCH POWERFUL WORDS!

This makes me think of Tony Robbin’s catchy one-liner, “Where your focus goes, your energy flows”.

Both quotes are so similar and stress the importance of focus and energy!

Focus Your Energy

When our mind is focused on things that we want to grow, our energy goes to creating that which we want to build.

When our mind is focused on things that we don’t want to happen, our energy still goes to that which we don’t want.

It’s a tricky thing BUT when we become aware of the power that our thoughts have, we gain the ability to use them to our advantage.

Surrender

We are going to have negative thoughts. Hard things are going to happen…. Shit is inevitably going to hit the shit fan (hellooooo COVID-19)…. Things are going to end…. Hearts are going to break…. Yet, we can still surrender to this madness.

We are not the madness, we are observing the madness. We are not the drama, we are observing the drama.

When we lean into the power of observation can then take the power away by TAKING YOUR ATTENTION AWAY.

It’s hard a f****…. And truthfully, it’s easier in our pre-programmed minds to let our thoughts get the best of us. It is even easier to believe the voices inside our head. But thankfully, like everything we go through, ‘this too shall pass’.

We can then take our attention and focus it on something that we want to see grow!

Tangible Actions

Now I recognize that this isn’t a very tangible concept, but I want you to understand the power that your mind has! Here are 4 actions to switch your thoughts from negative to positive.

Instead of thinking about EVERY way things can go wrong, think about how they can go right…
- This is one of my favorite tips. In life, we think if we are thinking about ways things can fail, we are being productive, but the truth is we aren’t! It is just our mind/ego trying to feel like it has some control over the future (spoiler alert, it doesn’t). So when you feel your mind racing with every possible bad scenario, make it a game to see how how the moment could lead to the BEST CASE SCENARIO.
Meditate!
- Don’t just read about meditation. DO meditation.
- Try ‘the cloud’ meditation. Sit down and make yourself comfortable….
  - Close your eyes and take a few breaths to go within….
  - In your mind’s eye, start to picture a beautiful horizon….
  - Focus on the changing horizon, and notice… Any thought that pops up, picture it as a cloud.
  - When you become aware of the cloud, you can either watch it move out of the horizon OR touch it and watch it dissipate.
  - Continue this non-attachment meditation for 3-5 minutes to start and then maybe increase to 10-20 minutes.
Rampages of appreciation.
- If your mind is really racing (like mine has the last few days) pull out a notebook or open up a word document and start a list of EVERYTHING your grateful for… Don’t hold back! My list can quickly go into the 100’s and include very practical things like:
  - ‘I’m grateful that I have hands… Life would suck without them’
  - ‘I’m grateful that gravity exists because everyday life would be much harder without gravity’
- You get the gist… Force your brain to FOCUS and bring it’s awareness to gratitude because we know “What we focus on expands".
Journal on what your DREAM day would look like.
- What does your house look like?
- What does your food taste like?
- What type of clothes are you wearing?
- How do you feel in your body?