The momentum of everyday living has a significant impact on our lives. Momentum can be defined as the energy, speed, and movement of a body in motion. Think of a flywheel on an old steam engine or exercise bike, or an oil tanker slowing down to a stop.
There are many self-help books on the positive benefits of creating, building or boosting momentum. We need momentum in our lives to overcome inertia, get us up in the morning, and drive us forward during the day. On the one hand, we need momentum to get things done, make changes, and improve our lives and the world around us. On the other hand, too much momentum can bring unwanted instability, noise, and stress into our lives.
Like the spinning plates of the skilled circus performer, too many responsibilities and not enough time add unwanted momentum. Our contemporary lives are complex, dynamic, and busy. It’s almost as if time sped up as the clock speed of the microprocessors that we use to run our lives has increased. Depending on life stage, many of us have had to juggle:
- Working with one main job or a portfolio of different jobs and projects.
- Childcare and home education.
- Carer responsibilities for elderly members of our family.
- Managing personal finances, shopping, cooking, cleaning, and maintaining our home.
- Fitting in a healthy social life, keeping fit, and a bit of relaxing leisure time.
All this activity gets blown around in our thoughts and emotions like particles in a vigorously shaken-up snow globe. In the background, this turbulence can make us feel emotionally unsettled, a bit adrift, and that our life seems to be flashing by in a busy whirlwind of activity. This causes us to become anxious and stressed, forgetful, and sometimes overwhelmed by the demands upon us.
So how can mindfulness help?
- Acknowledging what is going on for us, mentally and emotionally, as well as the demands, needs, and expectations of others that we take on.
- Becoming more aware of how all this momentum manifests in our body: in tightness and tension, in our posture, or in our general health and well-being.
- Allowing the feelings and emotions that are around to speak their truth; listening with openness and self-compassion to what these useful inner resources are telling us.
- Bringing care, kindness, and self-compassion to ourselves
- Using awareness of our body and breath.
- Allowing all the noise and agitation to begin to settle – like particles floating down to rest in a snow globe that’s placed on a stable surface.
- Knowing that we are not our thoughts or emotions.
- Finding a point of stillness at the centre of the storm and making that our home and sanctuary within our body.
- Meeting whatever comes our way with peace and calm, rather than from a place of noise and agitation.
- Acknowledging and acting as skilfully as we can with whatever arises in our experience.
- Then returning to the peace and calm that rests in the background of our experience.
It’s so easy to get caught up in the momentum of life and miss out on the wonder of being fully alive in each moment. We become tangled in the noise and content of activities, demands, and expectations, many of which we impose on ourselves. Using the analogy of the snow globe, we are not the particles that swish around, but the aware conscious space in which they move in and out of our experience. The spiritual teacher and author Ram Dass said, “It is important to expect nothing, to take every experience, including the negative ones, as merely steps on the path, and to proceed.”
Suggested weekly practice
- Notice the difference between the momentum in your life that is manageable, and when it starts to become stressful. Like a dial going into the red zone. Are you taking on too much? Can you say no to some demands?
- Watch how unwanted momentum and noise manifest in your body through tightness, tension, or posture.
- Set the intention to begin the day from a point of stillness, peace, and calm and return to it as often as you can.
Guidance
Find somewhere undisturbed and sit in a comfortable, dignified, and upright posture, where you can remain alert and aware. There are two guided practices for this session. You can close your eyes, or lower your gaze while the meditations play.
- Play the first settling practice, then read through the session content, which you can print off if that helps.
- Then play the second practice to acknowledge the unwanted momentum that’s around and to find some stillness away from the movement and noise.
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