Resistance Free Living
The past few months, I decided to conduct an experiment. Remove things from my life that get in the way of connection. It started with a dear friend and student offering this idea of “resistance free” living. How can I live in a way that is congruent with my heart and spirit without creating division within me and around me? Since I stopped watching the news in 2001, that wasn’t necessary. This time I decided to stop all forms of social media. I decided to have faith that our business would be alright and notice with curiosity any changes from within.
I found that instead of picking up my phone, I started staring more out the window, letting my mind be open. I started finding moments of beauty and I would simply take the moment in. It fed me in new ways. I wasn’t trying to figure out how to use this moment to sell something, inspire someone or create. But in simply letting it feed me, I found myself lit up in new ways. My creativity in yoga, writing and problem solving has taken off. I have more energy. I get more done. I love my fellow humans once again! Business is booming… no posts needed. And my 20-year-old decided to ditch socials as well. I’ll take that as a win!
Today I was driving and had a thought. No one is controlling how I feel. Since I haven’t watched the news or social media, no one is telling me what I should think or how I should feel about what’s happening in the world. I am driving to work and the sky looks the same. The car drives just the same. I am still here. I am still me. I am rested, awake and alive. It’s cold, so I put on a hat. I didn’t need the weather channel to tell me that.
I do believe that our nervous systems aren’t meant to handle 24-7 news cycles. In former times it would take months for news to travel from village to village about what was happening and it was too late for us to do anything. In more recent history, we got one hour of news a day. Often from trusted reporters (does anyone else miss Dan Rather and Peter Jennings?), not spin doctors. These days it’s like whack-a-mole. Look here. Look there. Another disaster. Another thing to be upset about. Oh wait and it might snow so go buy EVERYTHING off the shelves so your neighbor has nothing! It’s distracting, exhausting. And, I believe, it is truly unhealthy for our bodies, hearts and minds.
Here’s where all of this lands for me. Everything we consume feeds us in a variety of ways. Sometimes we need a fast to reset and notice how we feel. We need to return to our own baseline. When we do this, it often brings us back to Self. We can hear our own inner knowing. It may be hard to disconnect. You may find you have a little addiction you didn’t know you had to your phone, to feeling bad, to the news and even to Chris Justus. It’s okay if you do! But what if you gave yourself a day, a week or a month to try something new? I promise if there is news you need to know, someone will tell you. And if there is a day or time you need to take action wouldn’t it be better from a well-rested, peace-filled place?
When we give ourselves space to uncover our own inner knowing, it opens us to something. We see that this moment is so very small in the vastness of space and time. Our self-importance deflates. We return to trusting the rhythm of mother nature whose true nature is balance. Inviting in space reminds us this is just one moment in time. Why not spend it in connection with the present moment, with the people around us, enjoying the beauty at hand. Resistance free living is a powerful place to be. Afterall, the most peaceful person in the room is often the most powerful.
