Surviving in an Off-Kilter World

There's no denying that there's alot going on these days, every day, in the world. and it's pretty easy to get off kilter. Our nervous systems weren't meant to handle the incessant flow of media imagery, techdom, and especially when so much of it conveys the fear-based elements of Life on the Planet Today.

If you feel off-kilter sometimes, there are a number of tools you can use to get back to the place of equanimity...here's my short list of favorites.

1. Gratitude
Practicing gratitude is one of the fastest ways to bring life back into perspective. It is so easy to get lost in what we'd like, what we're working for, what we want for ourselves, our loved ones, our families, friends, communities. But it's easy to get caught up in what isn't. Gratitude brings us back.

Favorite Gratitude exercise: write down 50 things you are grateful for, every day, 40 days. This exercise is so immediately transforming that even after the first few days you'll feel better. 40 days helps integrate these thought patterns as habits.

2. Breathing
When we are feeling afraid, emotional, resistant, stressed, overworked, under-rested or angry, our breathing is constricted. To counteract it, a few deep long breaths can do amazing things. When we are too frazzled to even know what we are feeling, breathing deeply can bring us back. When we are dwelling in the future or the past, breathing deep can bring us to the present. It is our life force and yet we forget and neglect it.

Favorite Breathing exercise: place your hands lightly on the sides of your tummy just under the rib cage. Breathe in very slowly and deeply through the nose and feel as the tummy (actually the diaphragm) expands. Breathe in as much as you possibly can, and then in the same slow deep manner, exhale through the nose and feel as the tummy (actually the diaphragm) relaxes from the expansion and even sucks in a little. Keep breathing this way for 3-11 minutes.

3. Practice Kindness
Go out of your way to be nice, kind, compassionate. Do a good deed - but do one every hour, not just every day. Kindness is a practice that takes alot of practice. We all think we are kind until we get frazzled, stressed, or unhappy about something. But can we be even kinder?

Some favorite ways to be kind: find something nice to say to each person you speak with (even if you see them more than once a day). Praise people and watch how they stand taller. Do something nice for someone who is not expecting it. Read to children. Go to bed when you are tired.

4. Meditate and Pray
Prayer and meditation are so healthy that scientists have been studying the effects for years. The ability to silence the ever-talkative mind is so refreshing that many who practice deep meditation need not sleep as long. Prayer, whether thoughts, specific passages, or mantras, is a powerful methodology to bring the mind to stillness and connect with God. And yet how often do we forget! In times of stress, duress, fear and when the world around you seems terribly off-kilter, make time to meditate and pray.

We are bombarded with fear, everywhere we turn it is coming at us (because it sells!) but fear seriously sets the nervous system off-kilter, and affects the immune system's ability to protect us. We need rest, sleep, water, exercise and we need to work with our minds so that we are at ease, peaceful, counteracting fear from a place of strength, dignity, grace, so that we can do so much more than just survive, so we can thrive, prosper and serve.

Blessings.
- Darshan

© 2009 Darshan F Jessop