Have you considered that what fills you up might also be what is weighing you down? The paradox in all of this is that what you hold onto is often the burden of your own desires, yet letting go and releasing the confines of the burden creates a sacred container within our being. This idea is beyond the conscious mind. Our subconscious and superconscious mind send signals to our conscious mind to lift and release the parts that might weigh you down. Are you listening?
The definitions first:
Conscious- the part of the mind that is aware of and responding to surroundings, awake, logical
Subconscious- the part of the mind which is not fully aware, but influences actions and feelings
Superconscious-the part of the mind that transcends human or normal consciousness
I have made several significant decisions in the past few months to give up habits, a lifestyle, food, and people that were not supporting my evolution as a human. It all started with subtle messages from my subconscious mind and an ongoing curiosity about what the messages might mean. Relying heavily on my intuitive guidance, I remained open and curious to the warbles of wisdom that crept up. Here is the part that is often challenging, the messages that surface are from deep within, your superconscious, your higher self, and are often in conflict with what your conscious mind thinks you should be doing. Remaining open and curious about the messages creates space within your body for non-being.
To understand being and non-being, let us explore a chapter from the Tao:
We join spokes together in a wheel, but it is the center hole that makes the wagon move
We shape clay into a pot, but it is the emptiness inside that holds what we want
We hammer wood for a house, but it is the inner space that makes it livable
We work with being, but non-being is what we use ~Tao Te Ching
The idea is that what is useful comes from what is not. When you look at creating room within your physical being, it is the emptiness within you that holds the power of your expansion.
The alchemy of this can only be found after heeding the call and understanding that the wisdom within the emptiness of your vessel lays the groundwork for your growth. It is the space within the filling and doing that is replaced by the being and emptiness that catalog a richness of experience that we learn by undoing, unlearning, and unraveling the ways we have supported and nurtured, existed within a container that may be holding us back.
The clarity of thought that comes when we don’t seek to fill the space that we filled for so long becomes an inevitable step toward our wholeness.
Ours is a time of continual movement, which often leads to restlessness and the risk of “doing for the sake of doing.” We must resist this temptation by trying “to be” before trying “to do.” ~Pope John Paul II
What have you considered making room for within your being?
After making a conscious choice to thred bare my life by “giving up” what was not serving me any longer, I was continually looking for validation as to why this was a good decision or a bad decision. Our brain often seeks reasons to give up, and you may be looking around every corner for validation that what you have given up, is somehow not giving you what you wanted in the first place. We often don’t see the benefit until we are headlong into life, and the wisdom comes from non-being and non-effort, rather than doing and seeking. Herein lies the transformative/catalyzing point in which the decision to change was simply the tip of the iceberg.
What are you allowing to be born through you, and what are you making capacity for within?
What channels of change are you opening up within you to make room for new thought patterns, freedom from paralyzing fear, and a new way of doing things? You create endless opportunities for change and transformation when you dive in and listen to what is being called forth in your life, and then allow yourself to let it come forth, not by doing, but being.
Every time I have made a choice (often out of desperation) to remove what was not serving me, I have found clarity as my compass as I understandably navigated uncharted territories. I am always amazed that it is the road inward during this time that revealed so many necessary truths that I couldn’t have accessed in the being and seeking of my life.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~H. Jackson Brown’s Jr
How can you get started creating room within you for exploration?
1. Listen – How do you show up in your life? Are you in a hurry, moving from one thing to the next, unaffected by what is happening around you? You may need to slow down and take a moment to listen to your breathing or connect with the wisdom of your inner voice or honor the ache or stubborn pain you embody each day. Take some time to Be Still in your day, and in the Stillness notice and name three things that are in your sight right now. This practice quickly brings you back into the present moment and allows you empty space to surrender into. In the surrender, you come back to the call, and the chance to listen.
You can’t depend on your eyes when your imagination is out of focus ~Mark Twain.
2. Dreams – some of you may dream a lot or very little, pay attention to what you remember. Dreams are doorways into your subconscious mind, and what comes forth in your dreams are often revealing messages to what you should explore in your awake, conscious mind. Focus less on all the details on your dreams, and instead on the few things you do remember, and let it pave a path inward toward what you are making room for.
Man has places in his heart which do not yet exist, and into them enters suffering in order that they may have existence ~Leon Bloy.
3. Curiosity – Follow what is interesting and remain steadfast in your attempt to find all paths toward what you are creating room for within. Read books, journal, listen to podcasts, find people and communities that elevate your interests to catalyze your growth.
But every so often something shatters like ice, and we are in the river of our existence. We are aware. ~Louise Erdrich
4. When in doubt, work it out – Spend time with the ideas asking you for your attention. Let the ideas marinate over you and soak into your being. Let them filter in through the lens of your heart. Commit to your ongoing evolution by taking a step onto the road inward. Your heart knows the way, keep showing up, asking questions, and exploring the depths of your existence; perhaps you might find the gifts of non-being and the emptiness within.
Reminder: the decision to create room within your body is a conscious one, brought forth by subconscious thoughts, meanings, and messages. What follows is time and space within your Superconscious, (higher mind), and access to a way of being and human potential that you can’t create with the conditions in your mind currently.
What you fill yourself up with, is what spills out of you. Create space for your unfoldment for this process brings forth the sacred gifts only found within.
