Chill Out, Cultivate Peace? No one has ever described me as laid back. I am a Type A personality, and there is not much I can do to change my inherent characteristics. If you can’t chill out on demand, you are not alone. Enter helpful practices.
Daily meditation (contemplative prayer) has changed my life. The longer I practice, the more grounded and centered I am. The more I can let go of expectations and my intense need for control. (PS: those of us with childhood trauma issues are much more likely to “need” to control everything. At its root, it makes us feel safe).
Meditation usually means I close my eyes and tune into the Creator of the Universe. You can tune into whatever higher benevolent force works for you. It also might be that I sit and pet the cat – slowly and only thinking about the sensations of petting the cat and watching my cat enjoy it. It might mean taking a walk (no cell phones allowed!).
The point is to get into a space where you aren’t trying to think. It doesn’t mean I don’t think; it means welcoming thoughts, observing them, but not getting caught up in them. We are human; thoughts like to fill space. The key is not to jump into them.
While I have limited skills at calming myself down when I get triggered (I work at it with my practices), the practices of self-compassion and radical acceptance have shortened the time between feeling revved up and achieving serenity.
“There is scientific evidence that people who score high on a standard measure of happiness solve … more insight puzzles than people who feel angry or upset. Even fleeting feelings of delight can lead to dramatic increases in creativity. … The drowsy brain is unwound and disorganized, open to all sorts of unconventional ideas. The right hemisphere is also usually active. It recommends staying in bed for a while before you get up to rush. “We do some of our best thinking when we’re half asleep,” said Mark Beeman and John Kounios.”1
“Why is a relaxed state of mind so important for creative insights? When our minds are at ease – when those alpha waves are rippling through the brain – we’re more likely to direct the spotlight of attention inward toward that stream of remote associations emanating from the right hemisphere. In contrast, when we are diligently focused, our attention tends to be directed outward toward the details of the problems we’re trying to solve. While this pattern of attention is necessary when solving problems analytically, it actually prevents us from detecting the connections that lead to insights.”2
Because positive moods help us to relax, we focus less on the troubling world and more and more on these remote associations.
How does one achieve these positive emotions on the spot? Well, we aren’t in total control of our moods. I know some people purport to be and claim to be able to teach you how to do that, but I’m suspicious that they are actually suppressing feelings that need to come to the light of day for us to be whole and healed and hence more likely to tap into our own authentic creativity.
Here is what I do:
1. I welcome whatever mood I’m in (that I may secretly wish I was not in!) and send love and compassion to the spot in my body where the uncomfortable or difficult mood/feeling is most potent. See post #3 Your Pandora’s Box of Difficult and Unwanted Emotions
2. As an enneagram one – my higher place is serenity. I manufacture the feeling of serenity, all the while not banishing anything that is going on inside me. Here are the Enneagram Type higher places (or virtues as author Christopher Heuertz calls them):
1- Serenity
2- Humility
3- Authenticity
4- Equanimity
5- Non-Attachment
6- Courage
7- Sobriety
8- Innocence
9- Action
3. I let go of any feelings or urgency to change my mood. I let ease and caring, and love flow in. This seems to ease the unchill tightness.
4. And then I start doing stuff.
What practices do you use to free up your mind and emotions to receive seedbop inspiration?
Photo by Dingzeyu Li on Unsplash
1&2 Jonah Lehrer, Imagine: How Creativity Works pgs 31,32
