Feeling aligned

I am feeling really good, inspired and energised lately, so the following question came to my mind:

Is this what it feels like to feel aligned?

So, I observed my thoughts and feelings more intensively over the last weeks. Sitting here right now writing this, I realise ‘Yes, that’s it, this is what feeling aligned means to me.’ These last two words, however, are critical, as you will experience a feeling of alignment differently than me. Nevertheless, I want to share my perspective on this feeling, as I’ve been able to experience it in such a positive and life-changing way.

I noticed that thoughts are simply the children of my emotions, meaning I’m in a positive mood and emotion, so my thoughts tend to be more positive. However, it also works the other way round, being in a negative mood means I’ve been thinking more negative thoughts. Now here’s the problem of this vicious circle. Let’s turn it around. If I have negative thoughts, a negative emotion is very likely to follow, and again it also works for my positive thoughts inducing positive emotions. So, here’s what I’m saying:

Be aware of your thoughts. They are the children of your emotions.

I happily noticed that I hold the power to shift this happening, that I can decide to think positively, that I can do mind and body work to allow this shift to happen. And I made it happen and I still do every day. Over the last years, I observed my thoughts, I observed my feelings, I questioned them, I tracked them back, I simply allowed myself to truly feel myself without avoiding, without fearing, without ignoring.

You hold the power to make this shift happen.

I understand more and more, how important it is to give things time. Because time is a good revealer of what’s really true.

Time is a good revealer of what’s really true.

What I mean is, if something bugs me, if someone makes a comment that triggers me, if I feel angry, sad or confused, I don’t instantly react anymore (there are exceptions of course, I’m just a human being). I give my best to let this feeling run through me and to give it time to rest. When this feeling really settles somewhere within me, I can still react, but if it doesn’t settle, then why react, right? Because my reaction would have required my energy and the more I think about it, the more stupid it is to instantly react to things.

Be aware of your energy.

Another thought that sticks around with me is that I truly believe that things happen for a reason. So, if something unpleasant happens in my life, I really try my best these days to remind myself that there must be a good reason for this, that this is a sign of the universe that something even better is just waiting for me around the corner. So, I decided to stop feeding these fires, that drain me, that I cannot change anyways, and to rather focus on the things that I can change and that I can feed with love instead.

Stop feeding the fire. Feed love instead.

And yes, probably the most important topic for most of us, myself included, is letting go. I  let go of being right; rather I remind myself that my reality is not the same as someone else’s, so the term ‘being right’ doesn’t appear reasonable anymore. It is always a matter of perspective. That’s it. Don’t hold on to thoughts, emotions, things, people, opinions; they change, they evolve, they flow, they develop, but they never stand still, so I decided to let go of being right and instead to bring my attention to what comes afterwards. Also, and I know it’s ironic, but most of the time when I cannot let go, it is definitely time to let go. Maybe you can resonate.

Let go of being right.

The topic of letting go brings me to my beloved topic ‘Alignment’. Because I perceived that if it’s aligned with me, whatever it is, a job, money, a partner, a guy, a friend, it will stay. It will f***-ing stay. It’s all about trust. When I trust life, when I trust the universe, when I understand that I am a connected human being and not on my own in this beautiful world that I live in, then the universe conspires to bring me joy, lightness, happiness and alignment. In a feeling of trust, I don’t have to grip to people or things, I don’t have to control anything, I can simply let go and trust that with letting go, my life will start shifting to the better.

If it’s aligned, it’ll stay.

When I’m feeling aligned, I talk about a feeling of greatness & inspiration. I feel strong and energised. In a state of alignment I trust that everything will come to me when the time is right and when I’m ready to receive it. When feeling aligned, I feel the power within me that I am the creator of my dreams and my dream life.

You are the creator of your dream life.

I feel so blessed that as a result of my alignment and faith, I published my first eBook ‘Feel Understand Heal #1 – Reveal your true self.’ In this eBook I help you start your inner journey to reveal your true self. I want the expression ‘Be Yourself’ to be the guideline for your life, because you can only be truly happy, when you know who you really are.

Living a life in full alignment and happiness is the commitment we, I, you should give ourselves, don’t you think so?

Yours, Nina

 

 

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Reveal your true self

Inspired and based on Patanjalis’ Yogasutra by Ralph Skuban

Reveal your true self by ‘vairagya’

I chose this topic as part of my yoga exams presentation. Whilst dealing with the Yogasutra in more detail, I realised just how much of a code of practice this book is for life. At least for me. This blog post is inspired by the book and Ralph Skuban, however, it only reflects my way of approaching the topic and is written in my own words.

The word ‘vairagya’/letting go is one of the most important words and statements in Patanjalis’ Yogasutra. Whilst it appears more than once, I focus on chapter 1, verses 12-16.

However, my starting point lies in chapter 2, verses 3-4, where it’s said that we humans suffer, because we don’t know, who or what we really are. Also referred to as ‘spiritual blindness’ or ‘avidya’.

If we are now conscious and mindful enough, we will probably seek getting out of this suffering and spiritual blindness with the objective to reach inner freedom. For me, this means being, who we really are.

Start walking as to reveal your true self. 

In the Yogasutra, this is a higher level of ‘vairagya’, it is ‘paravairagya’, a complete detachment of everything.

Where to start

I would recommend to start at the beginning, just like Patanjalis does in chapter 1, verses 1-11. He states to dedicate yourself to yoga, to self-realisation. Yoga is basically a way to heal, it means healing to the grounds of our being, through a process of cleansing.

One way to cleanse is by calming down and quieting our thoughts and mental patterns, which are continuously changing and evolving, making it even more difficult to quiet them. The stillness of our thoughts is referred to as ‘chitta vrittis nirodhah’. And once they become still, we will be at rest, feel peaceful and find inner peace.

How to find inner peace

In chapter 1, verses 12-16, there are some insights on how we can quiet our mind, and the most important finding for me is that we need to understand that we are NOT our thoughts, that we are NOT our emotions and that we are NOT our memories. We mustn’t identify with our thoughts, if we want to quiet our mind and reveal our true self.

Also, it’s beneficial to establish a ‘practice/abyhasa’ like a regular meditation and yoga practice, and most importantly we need to cultivate an inner attitude of letting go.

Vairagya

By practicing ‘abyhasa’ and ‘vairagya’, we will be led into stillness and hence closer and closer to our true self. With the help of letting go (‘vairagya’), we can find our inner light, our true essence again and we will start shining our (moon)light again, that has been hidden and covered with dust for a long enough time. We can begin to walk the way to our true self.

I love the image of a crystal here. We all are a crystal, but over time, our crystal, our true self, may begin to dust based on wrong identifications or at least identifications that we didn’t really question and hence accepted. The good news is we can start blowing off the dust, today, right here, right now. We are free to dissolve beliefs and limitations, that don’t serve as any longer, and we can create and absorb beliefs that well serve us. By dissolving our old beliefs, we approach our true essence of being, slowly, but surely.

We understand that our happiness does not depend on external factors, but only on what’s within us. We will break out of the prison that we built ourselves, we will break up accepted dogmas, we will free ourselves from living the life that others want us to live and will develop back into our true essence.

Yes, this is somehow rebellion, we rebel to get our lives back and to live the life we really want to live. However, that’s good rebellion, if you ask me.

Let go

To summarise, Patanjalis biggest calling is to practice letting go.

• Accept what you cannot change.
• Forgive as if it never happened.
• Do not judge everything.
• Let go of what is hurting you.

Imagine a full glass of water. Only by letting go and emptying your water glass, you can create space for new, beautiful things that make you lighter, freer and happier.

For me the most beautiful effect of ‘vairagya’ is that I will be able to love and serve even more, as I develop more empathy for others, more strength to support others and I gain clarity for my life.

A matter close to my heart

This is a topic close to my heart due to my personal experience. Through yoga and my travels to Latin America, I became more mindful and conscious about me and my life, hence I started to reflect and question the existing.

Knots were bursting and I started going my way to reveal my true self. I began blowing off the dust of my crystal and gradually saw parts of my true self again, my inner light that I had somehow forgotten. Out of sight, out of mind.

I’m still in the process of dedusting my crystal, but knowing that I’ve already broken open a few chains and limitations, makes me feel so happy and free that I would always walk this way again.

Yours, Nina