Saying Goodbye to Self-Criticism, Fear and Doubt |
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By: Ruth Hadikin Posted: 2010-01-12 07:09:10 |
| Self-criticism, fear and doubt. Don't they sound like the 'ghosts of Christmas past'?They should. They are either about the past or the future. None have their roots in the present moment.Earlier this week I shared an article from OSHO on the 'Inner Critic" (see link below). I read it three times to allow the profound wisdom to really sink in. I invite you to click on the link now and do the same - reading slowly.The demands of everyday living lead us to dwell in 'psychological' time rather than 'real' time. This means that our attention is continuously called to the past, reflecting or reviewing something, or the future, planning or rehearsing something. Very rarely is our attention actually present, focused in the here and now.This is the root cause of our stress. We spend most of our time trying to control and manage things which are not here and now. Now THAT is impossible. If we spend 90% of our time attempting the impossible no wonder we feel stressed!The more we can bring our attention present into the here and now, the less stress we will experience.Can you remember the last time you were so focused on whatever you were doing that you lost all track of time? Did you notice a sense of calmness during that time?In the present moment the 'to do' list melts away. Along with it self-criticism, fear and doubt begin to fade too as we realise that there is only one thing to do right now, and that is whatever we are doing!Often when we are doing something our attention is divided as our mind wanders to the myriad of 'things we have to do next' or 'things we didn't get right last time'. Begin 'presencing' by bringing your full attention to whatever you are doing right now.Presencing takes practice. It takes mindfulness, patience, persistence and skill. When we first begin we can feel very frustrated as we realise just how much our grasshopper minds actually do leap back and forth between past and future.Eventually, with practice, everything settles and it becomes easier to keep our awareness in the present moment.And relax...The ability to keep 'returning' is a simple skill that we can develop with practice. Once we have taken the time to develop this skill, we will have an extremely valuable tool at our disposal, that effectively protects us from the ill-effects of stress, and exposes 'self-criticism, fear and doubt' as the imposters that they truly are! |
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