Stop chasing life so it can find you
Have you noticed how your entire way of being is designed to chase life?
Whether that is money, love, fame, family, pleasure etc.
The collective ingrained programming is the more you chase, the more you will succeed.
Sadly your inner knowing begs to defer from the sheer exhaustion from having to impatiently hold it all together and keep chasing until you ‘catch it’.
What would happen if you, instead, stopped chasing life and let it find you?
It seems almost impossible to imagine. But if you tune into the feeling in your body right now - perhaps one of relief and hope?
Below are 6 simple ways to get life to meet you where you are, instead of fearing that whatever you are chasing will slip through your fingers.
1. Keep your energy open - mind, body, spirit
Your heart that may be still aching from past traumatic experiences is still unconsciously dictating your present and future experiences.
This may show up as self-judgements, high-expectations, self-ridicule, belittling words, increased frustrations and/or numbing yourself from your surroundings.
Imagine a time when you were judged for something about yourself that you cherished? How did your body respond to that memory just now?
That tightening, hard to swallow, hollow-pit-in-the-stomach feeling are some of the many ways in which your energy unbeknownst to you closes up.
And with each closure overtime it not only starts to harden but also leak into other areas of your life.
The practice of keeping your energy open is not about ‘not feeling the fear’
It is to consistently ‘feel the fear and do it (stay open) anyway’
To practice introducing gentle, nurturing, supportive ways to learn to be with your fear, pain, anxiety, stress etc and staying open to what unfolds as part of that process.
The darker and more menacing the fear, the more important it is to become tenderly intimate with it.
Why you ask?
From the death defying darkness arises the true nature of self - uninhibited and unafraid to shine.
2. Be the observer
Practice becoming a witness to your thoughts, feelings, emotions and experiences.
Do not identify with them, simply observe them with some healthy distance.
Observe how they rise and fall, ebb and flow, contract and expand just the way nature does.
Imagine the waves of the ocean, sunrise and sunset, full moon and new moon. This is the same rhythm with which your thoughts, feelings and emotions flow.
And then take it one step further and become curious about what exists in-between the flow, in your heart and body?
Example: If you are feeling frustrated, instead of trying to get rid of the frustration, become curious. Speak to your frustration as if it were someone you love. Ask what is it here for? What does it want from you? What does it have to share with you? And wait to hear, feel or sense the response (you will be pleasantly surprised!)
You often forget that;
You may want give up on life, but life will never give up on you.
3. Slow down
In this insatiable fast-paced world, what would happen if you were given permission to slow down?
You slow down enough to:
Enjoy your afternoon nap without any guilt or pressure of wasting time
Lay down on the grass and observe the blue sky without asking or needing anything in return
Sip your favourite drink and notice how the fluid travels from your mouth down your throat and into your body waking up every cell of your being, just like a lover’s kiss caressing every inch of your body
Be with your friend, lover, child, even a stranger and gifting them with your undivided attention, without a time constraint
When you slow down, you open up your communication channels with subtle energies of life - the same energy that gave birth to you in this human form.
From this place, how can life not rush in to meet you? It has been waiting all along for you to receive it!
I personally don’t know of anything more alluring in this world than getting intimate with the creation of life.
4. Breathe consciously
This is not an invitation to practice breath-work i.e breathe slower, harder, longer, etc.
It is the complete opposite.
Without trying to control your breath, become curious about its natural rhythm.
Are you naturally breathing fast or slow, deep or shallow, longer or shorter exhales, any shortness of breath?
Notice without any judgement or expectation.
Whatever it might be, let it be, nothing to fix, change or alter.
You will realise that all along you have never been in control of your breath, you have been receiving.
You are not breathing, your body is breathing you.
5. Do not abandon yourself
Every time your attention is outside of your body, your awareness gets misplaced.
When awareness gets misplace, you will often feel confused, anxious and unbalanced.
Practice being your most favourite companion by staying present to what is happening in your body.
Discover and attune to an area in your body that can become your anchor, your point of reference (e.g your lower belly, your heart, your belly button etc)
Whenever you feel overwhelmed with emotion, place your hands over this area, gently massage, apply some pressure if that helps and breathe while imagining your energy coming back into you body - returning home.
There is never a need to step out of your own energy to love another.
The more present you are with your own energy, the greater capacity for intimacy with people, and ultimately with life itself.
6. Resist negotiating with life
"If I repeatedly chant mantras 3 times a day, I will meet the love of my life""
“If I fast twice a week, all my sins will be forgiven"
"If I sacrificed my sleep once a month, I will remain blessed"
“If I only wear white, I will become pure”
The above are some examples in which we have all at some point negotiated with life, conscious or not.
The belief that the Universe (God) is our father/mother figure and will reprimand or reward us depending on our behaviours is the cause for many of our unhealthy relationship dynamics.
Life is simple.
It just is.
Focus on building awareness of life, through your own mind and body, moment by moment.
In doing so, your energy will automatically open up to opportunities for life to meet you here and now. It will show itself through heightened intuition and synchronicities which will feel like pure magic.
If you are aware that you are tired of chasing, but are struggling to stop and slow down on your own know that in order to self-regulate into this new frequency, your nervous system may just be in need of another to help co-regulate first.
This is a normal physiology need of every living being.
So, there is nothing wrong with you.
Please drop me an email here with subject line ‘stop chasing’ and I would be happy to schedule a chat to determine how I can support you in your exploration.
Eager to book a session and get on it sooner than later, you can do so right here, at this link!