Inner Change

When we chose to focus on inner change, we are recognising that making the world a better place has to involve improving how we interact with the world. There is often a lot of possibility for change here, and a lot more than we initially would imagine. To get a more grounded and wider perspective may take some time. But maybe we can sense that how we act, and who we feel ourselves to be, are not aspects of ourselves written in stone. We are not as limited or as out of our control as we may imagine.

Unravelling the Ravel

To get to a place where we can influence our lives we have to take an inquisitive stance and dive into the fabric of our persona. To find the authority of becoming the change we wish to see, takes time, patience and persistence.

The Act of a Lifetime

Behind every action we can see there was a flow of small acts that led up to the physical act. There is a saying "Sow an act reap a habit; sow a habit and reap a character; sow a character and reap a destiny." It's not known who said that. But it rings true, but where did this chain begin? Not with the act. Before the act there would have been a thought, an intention, an impulse, a response or reaction. In our daily life much of this goes unnoticed, and it's influence often only noticed once it becomes an act, habit or character trait.

So hopefully we're developing an interest in getting to know ourselves better. The first step in getting to know ourselves better must be some type of reflection. Can we stop what we are doing and notice our body?

What shape is your body in right now?.

• Are you tense?
• Can you relax your eyes, jaw and shoulders?
• What are you holding?
• Is something weighing you down?

Touching the Ephemeral

Emotions, thoughts and feelings are experienced internally, they are a personal experience, which can only be perceived by others in the way we look or act. Where is a thought when it is happening? We can be bothered by some feeling or emotion, but actually where is it? How can we examine it?

Also they are relatively short lived; they are ephemeral. Sometimes we only notice them once they are long gone, and only their impact is felt. So we need something relatively concrete and permanent to get in touch with this personal and ephemeral experience.

Tuning into our thoughts and feelings in our bodies is a great way to get to know our experience directly. They can be felt in the body in the moment, and we can also be intimate with the trace or taste they leave behind. So we can utilise our body awareness to develop a direct relationship with our thoughts and feelings. The goal is to use our body as a way to better get to know what is happening.

Once we better know our thoughts and emotions we are better able to recognise the origins of the whole flow; from pre-thought (impulse and intention), through to act (thought, word and deed), up to destiny (habit and character).

The real benefit comes in seeing that this is not who I am, but who I am being now. This too can, and probably will change. We are developing the glimmer of the possibility to take authority for our change.

The next step is to develop this further through Mindfulness.