NINA LOCKWOOD

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  • Home
  • About
    • The Happy Fan Club
  • Offerings
    • Redesign Your Life 2.0
    • Get Creative
    • Personal Coaching
  • Creativity Conversations
  • LET'S CONNECT!
  • Blog
    • Live Free Your Way
    • Seeing Things Differently
    • Mistaking Assumptions for Truth
    • How Humor Keeps Us Sane
    • Know Thyself
    • Peach Pie for Breakfast
    • Explore Experience Express
    • Should You Be Downshifting?
    • Stop the Hustle!
    • Do Your Habits Serve or Sabotage
    • Settle Down? Down Where?
    • What Lights You Up?
    • Saying Yes When Your Mind Says No
    • Independence From What?
    • Letting Ourselves Off the Hook
    • Letting Go of Assumptions
    • Is Kindness Allowed?
    • How to Throw a Wrench in the Works
    • Happiness
    • Daring to be Lighthearted
    • What Happens When You See Things Differently
    • Find Delight in Everyday Life
    • Are You Saying What Needs to Be Said
    • Is Your Life in Alignment
    • Are You Trapped by Your Past
    • Can You Love Your Life
    • The Hallmark of Creativity
    • Out Of Ideas?
    • Waking Up to a New World
    • Are You a Possibilitarian?
    • Want to Love Your Life?
    • Is Creativity Necessary
    • What's Stopping You?
    • An Unexpected Discovery
    • Free Your Mind
    • Is Your Creative Genius Hiding
    • Empty Headed or Clear Minded?
    • Is Stress Really Necessary?
    • Will Creativity Improve Your Life?
    • Is Creativity In Your Future?
    • Replace Fear With Love
    • How to Get Out of Your Own Way
    • Just Take A Moment
    • You Don't Have To - You Get To
    • The Good News About Being Stuck
    • Interested in Inner Freedom?
    • Are You a Hoarder?
    • What Remains
    • Co-vid 19 Free Pass to the Roller Coaster
    • Grace Under Pressure
    • Now is the Time To Notice
    • Hanging With the Wrong Crowd
    • Make Your Life Simpler
    • What Could Be Different For You
    • Everything is a Miracle
    • Do You Have A Negativity Bias
    • Are You Really Seeing Or Just Assuming?
    • Happiness and Resilience
    • Wherever You Go, There You Are
    • Is Stress Making You Sick?
    • What I Wish My Humans Knew
    • Looking Backwards
    • Daring to Change Course
    • Lost in Thought or Taking Action?
    • Still Can't Focus?
    • Do Your Thoughts Get Dark and Gloomy?
    • Can't Focus?
    • An Instant Formula for New Ideas
    • Talk Yourself Out of Another Great Idea?
    • Is Your Busyness Keeping You From Getting Things Done?
    • What's that Feeling In the Pit of My Stomach?
    • How Cool is This?
    • How to Make Your New Year Happier
    • Why Be Open To Life?
    • Simple Ways to Transform Your Life
    • Get Clarity and Confidence
    • Are You Driven by Fear or Love?
    • The Number One Way to Keep Your Vision Alive and Well
    • Why Stop Trying to Figure it Out?
    • What Are You Trying to Prove?
    • Do Your Goals Reflect Your Hearts Desire
    • Why My Cat is My Spiritual Teacher
    • Surviving the Holidays
    • 3 Convincing Reasons
    • 3 Secrets to Enjoying the Holidays
    • 5 Quick Steps to Get Your Mojo Back
    • 3 Ways to Keep Your Energy High
    • 5 Reasons to Do Good
    • Pain Relief for the Soul
    • Tired of Living by the Rules? Go Rogue!
    • What? You've Made a Mess? Excellent!
    • Why You Need to Be Inspired Now
    • Change Your Life in Just 48 Hours?
    • The Cure For Mental Overload
    • 5 Infallible Ways to Stay Inspired
  • Newsletter

Saying Yes When Your Mind Says No

7/9/2021

1 Comment

 
Picture

​There are some things in life we just can't avoid: cavities, a bad meal at a restaurant, our cat throws up on the rug, flat tires, things that go wrong with our bodies. 

Both our evolutionary biases and our conditioning have provided us with built-in triggers that cause us to resist anything that ranges from uncomfortable to life threatening.

But if you're familiar with the phrase, "anything you resist, persists" you'll remember what it's like to argue with reality and how much energy that takes from you.

Yesterday I had a medical procedure that involved getting four injections into the fingers of one hand. And yes, it hurt! Still does, but I've been practising a kind of meditation that involves saying yes rather no.

It's similar to a meditation practice where you simply watch your thoughts coming and going. No resistance, no judgment, just watching.

That doesn't in any way mean I actually _want_ to experience pain and the awkwardness of not using my hand (the dominant one). But there's relief in just surrendering to it and finding a way to work with it.

It's a lot less work!

This one-handed experience is neither good nor bad; it's just what's happening in the moment. So rather than feeling sorry for myself, I've been being "active" by taking care of myself, resting, allowing others to help me when I need it, and not making a bigger deal of it than it actually is.

And I've limited my sharing of this experience with anyone else. What's the point of telling everyone? Am I looking for sympathy or encouragement to keep resisting? 

Sometimes our minds just go on for a little too long resisting what feels unpleasant. Why is this happening? Why is it happening to me? What does this mean for my future? And on and on the imagination goes, trying to determine the meaning or the consequences.

Certainly this has been true for me. But what I've discovered is that my mental energy can always be better spent on allowing the experience to move through and pass along rather than logjamming the flow of whatever life is doing.

And that goes for everything else as well, not just physical conditions. Any event (or even any thought) that triggers resistance can benefit from a second opinion from our wiser selves. 

Saying no keeps us stuck in what's happening in the moment, and doesn't give us any wiggle room to finding a solution or a way to adapt and move on. That "something deeper" within all of us, whether you call it wisdom or inner knowing or anything else, is exquisitely tuned into the flow of life and the energy moving through us on every level: physical, mental, emotional and spiritual.

So when I tune in to that inner wisdom, and choose to listen to what it's telling me rather than listen to my habitual, fear-based thinking, I can relax and be curious, without fighting, complaining or making anything or anyone the enemy.

More often than not, the pain or frustration or whatever negative emotions have come into play subsides, and I can simply do what makes sense in the moment. 

And interestingly, I find the help or the answer I need to take me to the next step forward, out and through whatever I've been resisting. It may not happen according to my preferred time line, but something kind and caring shows up just when I need it.
1 Comment
Constance Sarget
7/11/2021 08:56:20 am

I strongly identified with this post. A great reminder when the contrarian part of my being surfaces. Awareness of my inner resistance was heightened by the Love In Action groups I attended with you and replaced by loving peaceful thoughts.. Thank you for your generous and loving spirit Nina. Sending good vibes only xoxo Connie

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