Choose life... or a cup of tea

What are the biggest decisions in your life? Your mobile phone tariff? The best route to get to work this morning? Probably not. Probably the biggest decisions in your life are the ones about who you are, the way you treat other people, who your partner is, and what you are doing with your life; but big or small we make choices all the time. Minute to minute, second to second, we are reviewing options and discarding some in favour of others. Some of this process is unconscious, represented in our dreams and day dreams; some is subconscious, as a result of our conditioning in childhood or our response to the messages in our cultures; some is made by our conscious minds (or at least appears to be). As common as choosing is, it is equally common to feel that we don't have a choice in something; that we are trapped. Very  often, illness, or a persistent condition such as muscular pain, makes us feel trapped.

Jeffrey Yuen, a Taoist master and acupuncture teacher, is erudite (and generally mind-blowing) in his explanation of how disease, or dis-ease, is a failure to adapt to change. At the bottom of it all, the choices we make are based on the most important things of all, who we are and why we are here. Change challenges us at this deep level even when the change is effecting something seemingly trivial or mundane. It is therefore unsurprising that we are so resistant to it! Our work and our lifestyle represent Us, and We are damn important people. We have worked hard, paid our dues, faced, and overcome hardships of all kinds to be where we are today. We deserve to… be loved unconditionally, make tons of money, live forever, etc.

When we have achieved the symbol of who and why we are, we justifiably want to hold on to that winning situation; and then… something changes. We grow older and our bodies can't do what they used to, we grow apart from friends and possibly even spouses, or they move the bloody road-works on the A406, again. And how does that make us feel? Scared, angry, sad, confused, shocked, nervous, manic, depressed, or all of the above. 

When I treat Repetitive Strain Injury (RSI) and clients ask me "what can I do to make it better" I (helpfully) say "stop doing the action that's causing it". This hardly ever goes down well. In response I usually hear ,"I can't afford to leave my I.T. job", or, "playing piano gives me too much joy" or "xyz". There will almost certainly be elements of truth to the statements made to justify continuing the activity that is causing harm but if "xyz" is leading to a physical disorder then I suggest that spirit, mind and body are not all in agreement!

So why when we are adults do we think we know it all? We are so certain about our abilities and our knowledge that, even when the evidence of our own bodies contradicts us, we refuse to let go of our certainties. In Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) there is a saying that the "map is not the territory". The 'map' refers to the model of the world we have built inside our heads. This model includes an image of ourselves. We may be bold and dashing, beautiful and talented, villainous and despised, or some combination of all these utterly contradictory archetypes. Our image of ourselves may even occasionally coincide with other people's images of us! But this 'map' is not the whole truth. It is a series of beliefs that we have built to make sense to ourselves of our environments and the things that happen to us.

Lao Tzu, one of the original Taoist philosophers is credited with the quote, "When I let go of what I am, I become what I might be". Hippy drivel? Possibly, but when we learnt new things as children we did exactly that. We let go of pre-conditioned understanding and abilities and gained deeper insights and more powerful abilities. And, in areas that we enjoyed and were well-educated in, we did it instinctively and without (too much!) resistance.

The Tao Te Ching is a seminal  text of Taoism. The philosophy found in this text takes shape in Tai Chi Chuan, an ancient martial art and health practice, not least the concepts of flexibility and 'the path of least resistance'. When fighting a Tai Chi practitioner who is attempting to remain unmoved by an opponent, will relax and 'sink' as fully as possible rather than 'holding on for dear life'!

Taking as a metaphor I am suggesting we can stick to our values, goals and priorities by relaxing and remaining flexible. Difficulties arise when we mistake our jobs or the other things that make us feel fulfilled, successful and happy as the end and not the means. Change will almost certainly occur around these means but other means are always available, provided free of charge by the cosmos (this is definitely hippy drivel but I also believe it to be true).

What follows is a reworking of a meditation/energy work from the Barefoot Doctor in Barefoot Doctor's Handbook for the Urban Warrior: Spiritual Survival Guide (I strongly suggest you buy the original too!).

• Sitting quietly and comfortably (full lotus NOT necessary!) become aware of the rise and fall of your breath.
• Observe your thoughts as they come and go. Keep returning to an awareness of your breath until you feel it coming and going 'unhitched' and regular.
• Now bring you mind to your tummy. Feel the tummy fall with the out breath and rise with the in breath.

• Become aware of a point about 2 fingers below and 2 fingers inside your body. This is your lower tan tien or hara (Chinese or Japanese).

• Imagine plugging in a petrol pump filled with energy into this point. Watch the litres pile up with every in-breath (don't worry it's free). When you are brimming with energy simply return to the breath and enjoy the warm glow for a minute or two.
• Now bring your mind to the centre of your chest
• Imagine the happiest day of your life. Allow the smile you are now wearing to spread to your heart centre - a big golden smile getting  bigger with every in breath.
• When you are wrapped in your golden smile and feel as happy as you want to then return to your breath.
• Now gently bring to mind your goal for the upcoming day/week/lifetime. Be as gratuitous as you want!

• When you have the goal in mind visualise yourself after having achieved it. See how you are standing/sitting. How do you feel? Whereabouts in your body is that feeling? How do you smell? Form as multi-sensory and 3D an image as you can. 

• Bring to mind a symbol, picture or any other kind of thought bubble that represents your 3D image.

Please note - the cosmos is much better equipped to deliver to you when you don't try to control others. As such concentrating on how you feel and look will deliver much better results than just imagining yourself with Scarlett Johansson/ Ryan Reynolds.  Likewise symbols are how our higher intelligence communicates with us, the cosmos does better with symbols than rational left-brain specifics.

• Hold your symbol in mind, now infuse it with your golden smile until it's humming. Finally, fill it with the petrol from your lower tan tien and watch it rocket out of the top of your head to be received with love by an abundant cosmos.
• Sit and wait patiently for all you have asked for to be delivered direct to your lap.