Feeling Mediocre? It may be time for a spit-wash!

Mindfulness Talk:

This past week, I once again won Mom of the Year (sarcastic, I assure you).  As I sat in my PJ’s bumming out with sad music, my mind started ticking through my year and noticing a definite trend: mediocracy.   Sigh.  

They may not have been able to find the perfect mood mix on Spotify, but yoga philosophers of old certainly understood these moments of feeling flawed.  They called it avidya.  These moments where we hear our inner critic picking away at our wholeness.  These evenings we go to bed feeling less-than.  

But when we are in these moments of avidya, what if we try a different image?  Instead of picturing ourselves as chipped and inadequate, yoga philosophy gently urges us to picture ourselves as a little dulled, a bit dusty, a little sooty from some recent fires.  Our uniquely shiny self is under there, still a perfectly whole gem.  We’re just a little faint at the moment. 

One benefit of using this image is that dust is temporary.  It’s here and it’s on you, but it isn’t you. The dust and soot is just the remnants of a decision, or habit, or pattern that is currently dulling us a bit.  We don’t have to fear turning on the light and revealing our cracked self, because that’s not what the light reveals.  The light simply reveals the dust in the air, the dust that has settled on your perfectly whole self.     

And there is a way to spit-wash!  Mental health practices like prayer, meditation, yoga, counseling… exist to help us turn on the light and blow off the soot.  They help us until we don’t need the light anymore, because our own internal light starts shining through again.  (Until the next time that shit settles and we once again get a little dull and dusty.)    

So next time you are in a moment of avidya, try self-compassion instead of self-criticism.  Turn on the light and see that dust! See your perfectly, uniquely whole self underneath. And see yourself as worthy of a good spit-wash.   

Until next time,

Laura 

Meditation:

Finding Present Meditation: Find a snow-globe or a glitter bottle. Or try this glitter fall video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mb3ji6fvzEk

Watch and breathe.

Continue with this meditation, or begin the mindfulness meditation.

Mindfulness Meditation: Imagine yourself walking in gently falling dust. Like gently falling snow, it is beginning to stick to you. But that’s ok. It happens sometimes. Just notice it. Acknowledge it.

As you walk through the gently falling dust, a thought or feeling or image may arise. If it does, just keep walking but notice it. Acknowledge it. Give it it’s time to be noticed. But don’t allow it to linger. Encourage it to float up and away.

Keep walking through the gently falling dust. Another thought or feeling or image may arise. If it does, acknowledge it. Then encourage it to float up and away.

After a while, begin to notice that the dust has slowly, very slowly ended. You still have dust that has settled on you, but no new dust is coming down. It’s time to slow yourself down. Time to stop walking. Time to stand still or sit down. Notice the dust that has settled on you. Acknowledge it.

Notice now that you are beginning to glow through the dust. The glow that is you is warm and true. Every inhale makes the glow that is you a bit warmer. Every exhale is makes the glow even warmer. Slowly, by using your warming inhales and exhales, your glow begins to melt and shed some of the dust. A bit more dust slides off.

Feel the glow that is you. Feel yourself beginning to shine up a bit.

Closing Routine: When you are ready, rub your fingers and take three cleansing breaths. Or find a closing routine that works for you.