I don’t know about you, but I am always finding ways to quie
t my extremely busy brain. I’ll try pretty much anything, except maybe one of those isolation chamber water tank thingies. I think I would go berserk in one of those!
There is one tarot card that speaks to how you can quiet your mind in every single moment, and it is often times is one of the most mis-understood cards in the whole deck…
The Hanged Man
Now, I want you to just look at this image for a moment. What do you see?
Well, we can see that this poor guy is tied by his one foot to a tree, and it looks like his hands like he is trapped there, for some unknown reason.
But look at his face. Does he looked stressed? Not even a little bit. Even his body looks relaxed, like his free foot just resting there. And what is with that weird-assed halo thing around his head?
One word.
Enlightenment.
But, Lisa, you’re are probably saying to me. Are you insane?! The guy is TRAPPED for GAWD’S SAKE!
He is and he isn’t.
The only place that ISN’T trapped is in his mind. And this is where the three keys of finding peace in our chaotic world comes in.
The Hanged Man is all about surrendering and letting go to what is. No matter how trapped you feel in your busy harried life, you always have a choice: stay caught up in the stress and busyness of life, or let go and allow what is and just BE.
And what is this practice called? You guessed it: Mindfulness.
Now, yes there is much bally-hoo out in the world about mindfulness, Oprah tweets about it, Russell Brand talks in nothing but a towel about it, but truly the research around mindfulness cannot be ignored. It creates calm waters in your nervous system AND your brain, IN SPITE OF any and all stress and chaos surrounding you!
So, how can you achieve The Hanged Man level of peaceful contentment and enlightenment?
- Meditation: You didn’t think I wasn’t going to mention the overused “M” word did you? Well, I’m totally gonna. Meditation is the NUMBER ONE best thing you can do for your brain, your body, and your life. AND it is the easiest and most difficult thing you can do to help you stay present and more calm in your life. I
think what kept me from meditation, or at least doing it very sporadically all these years is because I thought I was sucking at it. The thing is, you don’t have to try to stop your thoughts, cuz that’s ain’t never gonna happen… like, ever. The idea is not to get attached to them as they float on by your consciousness. So, get comfortable either sitting or lying down, and then just pay your full attention to your breath. That’s. It. And when thoughts come, and they totally will, you just watch them without any judgement or interest. Kind of like a floaty in the air going by you outside, if you started to obsess about every floaty that went by your field of view, you’d go nuts. Don’t do that with your thoughts either while focusing on your breath. “Oh, there I go… thinking. Back to the breath.” Over and over and over again. Basically this is meditation…. failing and sucking at it over and over. And with practice, you will have longer and longer periods of that delicious feeling of a still mind. It’s awesome. - Mindfulness in everyday activities: Okay, so you’re driving your kid to soccer practice… again.. and you’re stuck in traffic… again. Here is a great time to practice key number 2. Immediately shift all of your attention to your physical body, mainly your hands and feet. Really focus how your hands feel on the wheel and how your feet feel on the floor and pedals of your car. Keep your attention on these physical feelings, and also your breath too, as an added bonus. You can also move to your butt in the seat, or your back against it as well. And this doesn’t mean you won’t feel frustrated and stress, but it will not engage your fight or flight system as deeply, and you will eventually not get as triggered by things like traffic, or just driving kids to and fro.
- Mindfulness eating: Oh man, this is a biggie for me personally. I am an inhaler, which means I eat ridiculously fast. I work in the film industry from time to time, and have done for almost 20 years. The first decade I worked a lot more, and my job I don’t really get a real lunch break and work for around 15 hours or more a day. So, I had to get into this habit of eating and entire dinner sized meal in about 8 minutes. I’m totally not even kidding. This has stayed with me, and I eat like a maniac. But more problematic is the mindless chip eating. Oy. I can go through a GIANT Costco size chip bag in minutes. Mindful eating is much like mindful daily activities. You are paying attention to only the food and your eating it. You are paying attention to how the fork feels in your hand, and how the food feels in your mouth. You are breathing gently and savouring every bite. I’m not gonna lie, I hate this one. I just can’t do it. But, I will keep trying!
There are a couple of fantastic books I want to recommend to you if you are interested in learning more about this topic:
Full Catastrophe Living by Jon Kabat-Zin Ph.D
This is a fantastic book for anybody, but particularly if you have some chronic pain, illness or stress in your life. It outlines the 8-week program on Mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) program.
Mindfulness: An Eight-week plan for finding peace in a frantic world.
This is an excellent layman’s book with a TON of research supporting the awesomeness of a mindfulness practice.
Highly recommend!
I am in a course right now through a non-profit called Global Grassroots, they are a US based organization that offers support and healing for post trauma women around the world, and the first module is all about mindfulness. My main “assignment” for this three months is to have a daily seven minute meditation practice. Seven minutes. That’s it. I’ll admit, I don’t always get to do it, but when I do, I always feel better, and it gets easier to slide into that state each time I do it.
What about you? Do you have a mindfulness practice? If you do, share in the comments below what it looks like, so we can all learn from each other!
Have the Best. Day. E-V-E-R.
