Breaking Free of the Chains That Bind Our Minds to a Limited Life
All of us are connected to that which we focus our attention, and having awareness in our lives shows us what exactly we’re focusing on.
Living a life of awareness doesn’t mean it’s always bright and beautiful, sunshine and rainbows in the way you might think. Becoming aware and enlightened also means that you’re aware of the sticky stuff too; the stuff that doesn’t feel good and needs to change.
For the past year, as I’ve deepened my meditation practices and explored a variety of self-help techniques, I’ve been noticing when old habits rise up and drag me two steps back from the progress I worked so hard to make.
They’re like heavy metal chains attached to the wall of my childhood home, keeping me from ever making it out of the door.
It leaves me to think, “There’s something I’m not doing that’s allowing these habitual thoughts to keep living in the spaces of my mind.”
Thoughts that were planted so long ago and are so deeply ingrained that they’re automatic.
These more deeply rooted prejudices and judgments, that I think about myself and others, are limiting my experience and I want out.
I want to feel free and expansive.
There must be a way to stay aligned with our highest vibrations and remain open to new ideas; to clear the way for possibilities we couldn’t have predicted.
I’m determined to change my line of thought, writing new stories.
Doing yoga, learning new healthy habits and growing in my spirituality can be shrouded by old patterns.
The outdated script knows it is dying, therefore it fights like hell to survive, screaming louder and louder.
Pouring rain over all the fires lit from the work that’s been done to reach a new, expanded state of peace.
What is this narrative anyway? Who makes up what is acceptable or not? Beautiful or grotesque? Worthy or untouchable?
Growing up, it may have been a parent, grandparent, neighbor or older family member who set the standard for societal expectations.
It may have been something someone told me one day that I accepted as truth and now it lives as law within me.
The light of enlightenment and living consciously shows us where we truly are. The challenge is to take heed and re-evaluate… What is true for me now?
With this question I am faced with the task of reflecting on myself often.
Asking over and over, “What do I want?”
“Why do I want it?”
“How will I feel when I have this?”
“What feels good to me, regardless of anything else?”
I am doing the radical thing and rewriting the narrative I was taught around anything that doesn’t serve my happiness and brings me out of a vibration that is high and inviting.
I want to think positively about my sexuality, my creativity, the compassion I have for others, my ability to control my environment. Everything.
I reject the old ways of thinking that seem so small to me — To be a virgin (or at least act like one) until marriage, then get married, buy a house, have a baby and go to a Christian church every Sunday with your family all before the age of 30 or else you’re doomed for a scrutinized life.
To dress in clothes that are more appropriate for the public eye, I am not a politician. I am an artist and a star.
To strive to be perfect in all areas from glamour to dinner conversations, I am allowed to be a mess. I grew up feeling so much pressure to be the most pristine version of myself and it cripples my ability to just be.
Doing the radical thing means making changes that suit your own personal worldview, not the view you were given or the one that’s being sold as acceptable.
It takes effort to notice when old narratives creep up and sing the jaunty tune you’ve heard so many times before.
We can’t change something we are not aware of. So catching these records on repeat and stopping them mid-song has become a daily sport I enjoy practicing.
It’s simple.
Notice the thought you want to change as it forms like a soft cloud in your mind. When you hear it, thank yourself for having awareness, and choose a different thought. That’s it!
The trick is to do it each time, over and over until the new, more expansive thought becomes the more dominant one.
Our brains are the coolest. They can learn new tricks and cling to them as though they’ve always known how to do them. We can train ourselves to do something new with consistency and change our entire experience on this Earth.
I know I want to have the best kind. So, I hope this helps you to have a better one too. If you ask me, all chains are meant to be broken.
