From suffering to joy - Listening to your heart

Video of Origami in Motion - Schaumburg Public Library - Summer 2019 
This was poetry for me - understanding our ability that we can go from suffering to a state of joy!

“There is something wonderfully bold and liberating about saying yes to our entire imperfect and messy life.”
― Tara Brach

Joy lies in the fight, in the attempt, in the suffering involved, not in the victory itself
 - Mahatma Gandhi 

We all have one thing that makes us suffer – a person we dislike at work, a health problem, financial issues . . . It seems very hard to let go of that one issue. We fritter away other opportunities to live life fully.  The technical word for this behavior is “ruminate”.  Negative ruminative thinking refers to our repeated thoughts about threatening or unpleasant such as upcoming exams and stressful events in the past or our future.

The research is extremely consistent. People who ruminate are much more likely to develop problems with depression and anxiety, and those problems are hard to overcome for someone who fails to change ruminative thought patterns 

Over the past few months, I have chosen to spend my Saturdays away from Facebook and my laptop (Gasp!).  I realize more that, our human brain was designed for handling conflict, solve problems and collaborate with others – often giving us a choice over the fight or flee part of the brain.  I spend time pondering on a handful of powerful questions as I do my daily routines of laundry, weekly errands and action plan for the coming week – I call it -  “Reflection with focus and awareness”

I take time to reflect on my worries, anxieties and failures and accept them. As a result, I am more easily able to tap feelings love, joy and peace by letting go sadness, frustration or anxiety.
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Are you curious about the questions I ask myself? Set a 5- or 15-minute timer and start writing. Don’t edit it or redraft it – just let your thoughts and feelings flow. An alternate plan is to share your thoughts and feelings with a trusted friend who is a good listener. Some of my friends do share their reflections with their pet dog! <3

1. What do you most want to change about your life?
 
2. How have you tried to change this before?
 
3. What have you attempted in the past that didn't work?
 
4. Why do you think it didn't work?
 
5. On a scale of 0-10, how important is it for you to achieve change?
 
That’s it! Just writing answers to these questions often gives me insights.  Later in the day, I follow this with another 10-15 minutes of action plans. I have a “solution-based” approach that minimizes anxiety and promotes acceptance and creativity.  Want to know more about that approach? Send me your scribbles, thoughts and reflections and I will send you a summary of the tools I use.

Did you like this exercise? Check out the story of Guan Shi Ying, the Goddess of Compassion and Mercy.  All of us are interconnected and the more we do to reduce the sufferings of others, the less we suffer.

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