Pause and Witness

in blog •  7 years ago  (edited)

I woke up with a startle. I don’t even know what had come upon my mind, but it was something causing worry, angst, sweating, scanning the past, and planning the future all at the same time.

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But somehow, this time, I was able to see through the angst. Like, for a flash moment I was a witness to my own struggle and could see it with clarity.

Like I said, I had awoken with a worry. A feeling that something was not right, and this brings a great sense of discomfort! To relieve and avoid this intense uncomfortable feeling the mind goes to work...simultaneously scanning hindsight to see what went wrong to cause the situation, and planning future all the things to try to fix it. This is the essence of what’s happening when we panic.

Just think about it...BOOM 💥 some situation happens that startles you and triggers angst. The mind, now immensely disturbed, is DESPERATE to relieve this intense discomfort it is now experiencing. Towards that effort thoughts of past and future actions come FLOODING in such that you can’t even think straight or decide how to proceed!

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It’s simply desperation to remove the sensation of discomfort! Maybe instead I can learn to just notice, observe and be with the discomfort? Even for a moment...pause and breathe through it, instead of this flood of thoughts towards avoiding the pain.

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Photo of me, credits to @sean-king

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superb post i like it

I had something like this happen, where I stared deep into my own eyes, thought about life and where I have come. So much rushed into me that my heart started to race. It went up to 180 bpm and didn't stop for 4 hours. I realized to not keep anything in, continue to push and progress. Always strive to achieve your goals or you may have a panic attack because of regrets or getting stuck in an unfortunate position. When we a striving for everything we want in life, I find anxiety and stress disappear.

On a second note... when we are in pain/sickness, it is the only thing we think about and need to fix. Thus why our health should be the first essential concern in life. Most pain however is psychological and can be overcome with our mind. Mind and panic is a different case for sure.

We must find out who we really are and what we want. Then push to our full potential to make that happen. I think it is human nature to achieve our purpose or biggest goals so we must push towards that.

Great post here @steemed-open. Following you.

The important thing is not to allow the panic reaction to lead you into making dangerous decisions.

I've even heard of people inducing that lightheaded dizzy feeling of a panic attack by hyperventilating on purpose -- as a form of practice! The idea being, next time the feeling comes over you, you can accept it's just a physical reaction and it will pass.

I haven't been inclined to try this myself, but I think I can see the utility in it, kind-of. Yoga is probably better... and looks nicer in photographs.

@steemed-open Your topsy-turvy emotions are not restricted to you alone. We all go through them, especially in moments of uncertainty, of confusion, of despair.

But your response is in the right direct - to pause and witness, to wait and listen, to awake and internalise all that make up the past, the present and indeed, the future!

A constant and regular deep-seated raciocination brings about the solution because once the mind can detach itself from the body it sees clearly the path to take.

Keep going, @steemed-open, in the direction of your purpose.

Perfectly understand how most people would at first try to think of ways, how to deal with such a situation. For me, simple physical work, even something like doing the dishes helps me find my balance.. with your mastery of yoga, that's probably a better approach.

For me it would be important to find the cause, and trying to work on that too. Ok, there is a lot of teaching out there about not to worry about this and that and so on... but you have just been through some major changes, and that has to have some effect, even if everything is all fun and games. Or at least looks like it.

When I moved to the US from an "underdeveloped country", like Germany was in the eyes of some of my friends there, they could not believe, that I wasn't constantly deliriously happy in this paradise I supposedly had come to.

Thing is, it felt, as if my soul couldn't keep up, particularly with getting form one place to another by plane and at these speeds. You get into this thing, sit there for a little while and ding.... you are somewhere else. I deliberately went a lot of long distances by car for instance, to get a feeling for the distances and the place where I found myself all of a sudden...

When the inner being decides its time to start growing roots after the initial rush, it can easily get scared to get "uprooted" until its safely anchored...

This captures the ESSENCE of what any Sadhana should be about: "It’s simply desperation to remove the sensation of discomfort! Maybe instead I can learn to just notice, observe and be with the discomfort?". You nailed it. Nothing else is needed really. Amazing post @steemed-open ! THank you

Thank you so much. 🙏🏽 I agree that’s the nugget we are going for with any number of spiritual or life practices. We humans tend to attach to our practices and think “if I just find the ‘right’ one or the magic one...” but the opportunity is really under our nose in every circumstances. Hard to see sometimes though.

  ·  7 years ago (edited)

I love Your cyber space dear. It's so unique and real. Keep being real @steemed-open

Thank you @ambdavid. I’m glad you commented so I could find your page...we are like minded and I love your page too.

Hello, Sometimes I have anxiety and its very difficult thank you for sharing your experience its very inspirational. Namaste

DAMN GIRL YOU FINE IF YOU IN PAIN OR NEED HELP JUST COME TALK TO ME BOO BOO I GOTCHA GIRL

Man that's funny. I can almost here you saying that. LOL

Thanks honey, but I got a Man.

Nice post.I respect you very much because you contribute to steemit.I will do activities like you.I would like to extend the steemit.

Thanks for sharing your anxiety experience.

This is exactly what I’ve been trying to do today all day long. Didn’t succeed much, because toothache seems to be the most hopeless ache ever. But I agree with you, we’ve got to declutter the mind, pause, breathe, repeat. That’s why I like to do four 5-minute meditations a day. They are short, but they help me organize the roaches in my head :).

That sounds like a great practice to meditate for a bit multiple times a day. I tend to cram all of my habits for wellness in the morning, thinking that it will sustain my day, but then as the day goes on and sometimes the mental shit storm ensues...I lose my connection to source and calmness. How do you remember to reconnect and meditate?

Btw, how is your tooth feeling?

This is exactly how I remember to meditate - when I feel like I’m about to lose my shit or when I start feeling like I’m not happy with my day for some reason, I mediate for 5 minutes. I do it after I wake up (because I feel like i always wake up already all worked up and trying to figure out what I need to do next), then I meditate after I take the kids to school (because the entire process is so chaotic it leaves me disoriented), then in the afternoon (because I tend to feel a bit depressed in the afternoon for some strange reason), and then in the evening when I take a bath with candles lol, because I need to make myself relax :). Sounds like a lot, but I use an app called Simple Habit and they have a lot of cool meditations structured by what you are looking for - fear, anxiety, insecurity, etc.
Oh the tooth appeared to be so bad they had to pull it :((. Now I have a huge gaping hole in my mouth (luckily, you can’t see it!) and I’m high on Percocet lol. But I’m definitely getting over it!
Thank you very much for asking :).

nice one, thanks for sharing

exelente post todo un poema, y es como si estubieras viviendo el dia a dia en mi pais venezuela !! saludos...

Great post. Unattached witnessing is great spritual work. Thanks for sharing

Thank you! Now if I can learn to sustain it for more than the briefest moment...

We do not spend time in the nature, away from the crowd of the city, the lights, the electronic devices, the nature of the rhythm. The rustling of the leaves of the trees, the voice of birds, the smell of flowers and earth, the wave of the sea naturally meditates without doing anything else. Thus, your stress level decreases, you get away from the negativity, you feel more positive and you sleep more comfortably. hopefully you will soon be away from all the negativities :) this was a friendly and nice share.
thank you so much :)
See you. kisses.. :)

Good advice. Thank you for that, and kisses back.

that was great, i think i should do like that every morning. thank you for teaching us and for the tips @steemed-open

chamomile tea is good too

Interesting post ..
I love to read it ...
Thank you for sharing ....

what a good and important topic to cover thanks :)

My comment is a bit late. I found this because I saw you as the model of @sean-king's color challenge photo today (I must say that you look so beautiful there and I as a girl wish I have curves like that). Thank you for sharing this very honest event in your life, your photos speak of these emotions as well . I am suffering from anxiety sometimes and thank you for what you said here - to just pause and observe what's happening in me. Too often we're overwhelmed and we want to run away. But sometimes the best way is to just sit still and be an audience for yourself. Thanks again. I hope you feel better.

You’re not late to me. I appreciate a thoughtful comment like that anytime. I’m sorry you struggle with this too. Sucks, no? But we all have our issues I guess. Thanks for your support and compliments.

Yes, there are days it sucks but recently I have just managed to just let it be. And you're welcome. You deserve the compliment and support. :)

Wow, @steemed-open am so happy seeing these photos, am a photographer in Nigeria and I love Good quality photography, it's obvious your photographer is as good too.

@sean-king you are a great guy, keep loving @steemed-open, I love your family.

To remove the discomfort and anxiety these exercises are wonderful to get relief from the panic situation. Appreciations @steemed-open to you for your efforts.

Discomfort is a necessary part of being strong, it may be hard but we come out stronger at the end. You look fantastic on that lingerie @steemed-open.

Absolutely. Thanks so much 🙏🏽

Without discomfort it's impossible to have experiences and lessons, without which no improvement. Man must learn to see discomfort as a necessary tool for greatness. Thanks @steemed-open

So true! I’m trying to stay aware of that. Thanks for your support. :)

Well written scholar, many at times people toil around in toughts just to avoid the physical pains.
Learned much from your post.
Am inspired @steemed-open

Yes we do everything to avoid pains...silly humans. Thanks for your comment. 🙏🏽

You and @sean-king one complete the other you're both doing a great job i like your works together hope god bless you forever together 💗 and as BOB MARLEY said "don't worry about the things cause every little thing gonna be alright".

Awe, that’s a nice way of putting it. He certainly completes me. 🙏🏽🙌🏽 Those are wise words Marley wrote. Thanks for commenting.

Pleasure i just said what i saw
Im photographer feel free to take a look at my blog