Sacred Self Healing Arts

I’m guessing by this title you thought I was going to talk about checking facts on the pandemic or politicians or anything else flying around media right now. However, I want to talk about the process of understanding “the truth”, beginning with ourselves. There is a popular meme floating around the internet that reads,

Have you ever done this? I know I have, and the stories can be quite creative and elaborate. Usually they are founded in some fact, but mostly fiction.

Our thoughts are incredibly powerful. Learning to control them is a discipline, no different than eating a healthy diet and exercising. Just like we are advised to not believe everything we hear or read, the same goes for believing every thought that passes through the mind. This is an important discipline to practice and understand when learning how to regulate our emotions. If we believe every thought that travels through the mind, without pausing to question the thought’s validity, our emotions will take us for a ride!

If you are resonating with this and are concerned that you are a lost cause, I want to offer some hope. I’ve been practicing meditation, mostly unsuccessfully, for many years. I realize this doesn’t sound very hopeful but I want to be as honest as possible. It’s not always an easy process. Becoming still enough to hear our own inner world takes practice and sitting with our thoughts can be painful at times. But, it’s worth it! I suggest starting with baby steps. Perhaps 5 minutes a day in complete silence; no phones, music, tv or other people. When the 5 minutes is up, take some time to reflect on your thoughts. It’s not about stopping the thinking mind from thinking, rather learning about what your mind perseverates on. Then, fact check it! Is it true? Where did the thoughts come from? Are they driven by fears? Insecurities? Could the inner narrative be adjusted to match what you know to be rooted in truth? Are your thoughts hurting your own feelings, unnecessarily? The start to a better understanding of yourself is done by spending quality time with you. YOU are worth it!