When the economy isn’t the greatest, jobs are harder both to find and to hold on to, and we’re living in a culture of limitation and fear, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of hoarding.\u00a0 Even if we are very frugal and careful about what we bring into our homes, we may have a difficult time of letting go of things that no longer serve us.\u00a0 We may have a hard time spending our hard-earned money, which means that our money can’t serve us either.\u00a0 Sometimes, because we’re stressed out, we revert to old patterns of behavior and old ways of thinking, which brings up old pains and fears we thought we’d dealt with already.<\/p>\n
In America, July means fireworks and barbecues, celebrating our nation’s independence from the British Empire.\u00a0 Independence on an individual level is also important to us.\u00a0 This is a month to liberate ourselves from the chains of our past, and from our fears concerning the future.<\/p>\n
This month’s meditation will help us feel safe enough to let go of the baggage that holds us back and weighs us down.<\/p>\n
To begin, take twenty two deep breaths, or as many as it takes for you to relax.\u00a0 Inhale \u201cI am peaceful,\u201d and exhale \u201cI release.\u201d\u00a0 While you inhale, thinking \u201cI am peaceful,\u201d imagine that you are pulling into your body a soothing light that fills up every cell, calming and relaxing you.\u00a0 While you exhale, imagine all the fear, tension, anger, doubts, and stress gathers into a dark ball of heaviness that you push out with your breath as you think the words, \u201cI release.\u201d<\/p>\n
In your mind’s eye, imagine you are in a single room.\u00a0 Everything you own is in the room with you.\u00a0 All your clothes, books, movies, appliances, electronics, games, office supplies, food, all your garbage that you have not yet released, and every cent you currently claim all sits in piles around you and beneath you.\u00a0 The room really isn’t big enough to hold all this stuff.\u00a0 In fact, it’s so full, there’s not much room for air.<\/p>\n
You need air more than you need stuff.\u00a0 Air is peace.\u00a0 Air is clarity.\u00a0 The more air you have in your room, the more room you have to move around in, to stretch your stiff limbs.\u00a0 You need space to rearrange the most important things, and to inspire you with ideas for a better, more fulfilled life.<\/p>\n
Let’s look around for ways you can make space.<\/p>\n
Wow, look at all that food!\u00a0 How much food do you need to keep in your kitchen?\u00a0 Enough to feed yourself and your family for a week or two.\u00a0 How many weeks could you feed yourself and your family with the amount of food in your kitchen right now?\u00a0 Let’s toss out the food that’s already gone bad.\u00a0 Let’s donate the food you don’t even like or rarely eat.\u00a0 Challenge yourself to put off grocery shopping as long as you can by getting creative with the food that you’ve stored up.<\/p>\n
There’s a little more breathing room in here.<\/p>\n
Look at another pile, and think about how you can make it smaller.\u00a0 For every item in your room, ask yourself if you need it more than you need the space it’s taking up.\u00a0 Ask each item if it belongs to you or if it needs you to bless someone else with it.<\/p>\n
Open the door to your room and push out all but your very favorite and most needed belongings.\u00a0 Arrange those belongings in a way that pleases you.\u00a0 This room is the altar of your life.\u00a0 Your belongings are both decorations and tools.\u00a0 Make this space sacred and peaceful.\u00a0 Take a good look around at what really matters to you.\u00a0 Breathe in this peace, and when you are ready, open your eyes and look around your home for the baggage you are ready to release.\u00a0 Repeat this meditation daily if you need to to help you make space in your life for what matters most to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When the economy isn’t the greatest, jobs are harder both to find and to hold on to, and we’re living in a culture of limitation and fear, it’s easy to fall into a pattern of hoarding.\u00a0 Even if we are very frugal and careful about what we bring into our homes, we may have a difficult time of letting go of things that no longer serve us.\u00a0 We may have a hard time spending our hard-earned money, which means that our money can’t serve us either.\u00a0 Sometimes, because we’re stressed out, we revert to old patterns of behavior and old ways of thinking, which brings up old pains and fears we thought we’d dealt with already. In America, July means fireworks and barbecues, celebrating our nation’s independence from the British Empire.\u00a0 Independence on an individual level is also important to us.\u00a0 This is a month to liberate ourselves from the chains of our past, and from our fears concerning the future. This month’s meditation will help us feel safe enough to let go of the baggage that holds us back and weighs us down. To begin, take twenty two deep breaths, or as many as it takes for you to relax.\u00a0 Inhale \u201cI am peaceful,\u201d and exhale \u201cI release.\u201d\u00a0 While you inhale, thinking \u201cI am peaceful,\u201d imagine that you are pulling into your body a soothing light that fills up every cell, calming and relaxing you.\u00a0 While you exhale, imagine all the fear, tension, anger, doubts, and stress gathers into a dark ball of heaviness that you push out with your breath as you think the words, \u201cI release.\u201d In your mind’s eye, imagine you are in a single room.\u00a0 Everything you own is in the room with you.\u00a0 All your clothes, books, movies, appliances, electronics, games, office supplies, food, all your garbage that you have not yet released, and every cent you currently claim all sits in piles around you and beneath you.\u00a0 The room really isn’t big enough to hold all this stuff.\u00a0 In fact, it’s so full, there’s not much room for air. You need air more than you need stuff.\u00a0 Air is peace.\u00a0 Air is clarity.\u00a0 The more air you have in your room, the more room you have to move around in, to stretch your stiff limbs.\u00a0 You need space to rearrange the most important things, and to inspire you with ideas for a better, more fulfilled life. Let’s look around for ways you can make space. Wow, look at all that food!\u00a0 How much food do you need to keep in your kitchen?\u00a0 Enough to feed yourself and your family for a week or two.\u00a0 How many weeks could you feed yourself and your family with the amount of food in your kitchen right now?\u00a0 Let’s toss out the food that’s already gone bad.\u00a0 Let’s donate the food you don’t even like or rarely eat.\u00a0 Challenge yourself to put off grocery shopping as long as you can by getting creative with the food that you’ve stored up. There’s a little more breathing room in here. Look at another pile, and think about how you can make it smaller.\u00a0 For every item in your room, ask yourself if you need it more than you need the space it’s taking up.\u00a0 Ask each item if it belongs to you or if it needs you to bless someone else with it. Open the door to your room and push out all but your very favorite and most needed belongings.\u00a0 Arrange those belongings in a way that pleases you.\u00a0 This room is the altar of your life.\u00a0 Your belongings are both decorations and tools.\u00a0 Make this space sacred and peaceful.\u00a0 Take a good look around at what really matters to you.\u00a0 Breathe in this peace, and when you are ready, open your eyes and look around your home for the baggage you are ready to release.\u00a0 Repeat this meditation daily if you need to to help you make space in your life for what matters most to you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":178,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6881","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/178"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6881"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6881\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6881"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6881"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/paganpages.org\/emagazine\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6881"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}