In today’s meditation class at Terra Sky, I talked about shifting the balance from a lower mind dominated life to a heart centered life. I used the analogy of a wild horse. The horse is our lower mind and it’s used to being wild and having free reign of where it will go how it will make us feel. Mindfulness and meditation are the heart and higher mind building a corral around the horse. As we practice meditation and become more engaged in the direction our life, the corral gets smaller and smaller.
When we begin to discipline the lower mind and choose where ‘we’ want it to go, we create a safe space for heart/spirit to open and begin flowing. The energy of heart/spirit has room to move in our lives. Our own spiritual self and higher mind now influences what we choose to think and where we allow our thoughts to go.
We become empowered to shift the balance from a reactive mind dominated life to a heart centered life.
The difference I feel between these two experiences in my life is:
Mind Dominated
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- fearful
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- anxious
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- unfulfilled, needy
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- discontent, angry
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- greedy
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- judgmental of self and others
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- jealous, fear of lack
- tight, closed, suspicious
Heart Centered
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- open, smiling
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- trusting self and life
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- feeling of ease, flowing
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- gentleness, compassion for self and others
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- generosity
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- accepting, neutral
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- connected to life
- free
What are some of the ways you experience the difference?
I invited my class to notice what they were experiencing every day for one week and to see if they could make the distinction between having a mind dominated experience or a heart centered one.
If you’d like to try this with us, designate certain times throughout the day, for example, before each meal and at bedtime. Take a moment to just notice what you are thinking in that moment and the feelings that are being created by your thoughts. Which category do your feelings fall into? Mind dominated or heart centered?