REMEMBER. . .

The theme of memories comes to mind this month, in honor of Memorial Day. Sometimes when we look back on our lives and remember – it can bring up painful feelings or memories; regret, guilt, sadness, missed opportunities, loss of friends and family and even wistfulness that it isn't as good as it was back then.....

If we define ourselves with these past feelings and memories we will feel the same past regret, guilt, sadness, missed opportunities, loss of friends and family, and wistfulness – in other words we suffer - again. When you remember an event do find yourself getting just as worked up as if it happened only yesterday? Do you look for memeories to validate your sadness, anxiety, etc.? Do you anticipate future events that also validate your sadness, hopelessness, anxiety, anger, etc.? Thinking and defining ourselves based on our past experiences, feelings, and emotions, keeps us in our past (or future) and out of our present. The present is what is real - and oops - it is always changing to the next present and the next. We can check out our emotions each moment and watch them change into the next moment. Being present does not allow for anything to attach to it - space is opened up as each moment goes on to the next present moment and the next. The present is a flow of ever changing moments.

When we do not live in the present we are out of balance. During your day begin to take notice what you are thinking about. Notice the times you are either thinking of something that happened in the past or what you will be doing in the future. Your body responds to these thoughts - so listen to your body as well. When you are thinking your past and future thoughts how did your body respond? Did you feel sensations, did you cry, laugh, did your heart ache, your stomach feel sick.....? Your body becomes a container holding on to the responses to your thoughts so that you actually carry around those past and future thoughts, becoming one with them. When this happens, and it happens to all of us, we now begin to define ourselves from the past or future. Over time our thoughts take up space preventing a free flowing of our life energy. We become out of balance

Being out of balance effects all areas of our lives; behavioral, physical, emotional and spiritual. One aspect of ourselves can not be effected without the other, we are holistic beings. Daily we are bombarded with more to process, if we are also continuing to process our past this can become overwhelming.

But we can restore balance in our lives. Being creative, I believe, is the first, middle and last steps to take in order to do so. Participating in the arts helps us to re-connect all parts of ourselves with our Life Force. The arts take us out of the past or future and pull us magically into the present. As Burnell Yow! says, “Art isn't just some guy's name.”

So in honor of Memorial Day try some of these creative suggestions:

Listen to music, really listen for each instrument, close your eyes and feel it.
OR
Drum with others in a community drumming circle and feel the entrainment and powerful beat
AND
Move your body to its inner rhythms – move like no one is watching!
AND
Draw a squiggle on your paper and just keep drawing – don't think – lay down colors and feel them.
THEN
Write a poem about your creative experiences capturing how you felt in the moment.
NOW
Sit back and reflect on your creative endeavors feel your connection to joy.


Create something every week, every day!