Move slowly,
Breathe deeply,
Focus broadly,
With compassion for all.
I was meditating last night on,
Or asking for rather,
Principles for life.
For a peaceful,
Calm,
Harmonious existence,
Both with myself and with the world.
Because I realised something about myself.
Through my martial arts practice,
Through my chess game,
Through my study of counselling,
Spirituality,
I'm not really looking for techniques,
Or hacks,
Or little things to do.
I'm looking for broad concepts,
For principles,
For things to apply that will contain the technique,
That will contain the hack.
And then I'm like,
What does that mean for life,
For relationships,
And what's the minimum amount that I could sort of put this in,
As a way to be able to recite to myself,
To be able to practice,
To be able to hold on to,
As more or less like a mantra,
And also to teach.
And I think the broadest sense for someone like me is,
Slow down.
I've shared it elsewhere,
But I moved out of home early,
16.
I was fleeing,
And that has caused me to hold on to a lot of anxiety,
And to move with a sort of erratic energy,
And not at all to be slow.
So the first step would be to move slowly.
And I was going to just stick with that,
It's like,
Okay,
Move slow,
Speak slow,
Act slow.
But that's not enough,
Because we need to get physical.
That's just a mental concept.
It's like,
We're tracking the idea of slowing down.
Cool.
But how can we slow down,
And how can we connect to the physical body that also is holding on to all of this tension?
We breathe deeply,
Move slow,
Breathe deeply.
The body keeps the score,
And by slowing the mind down,
And breathing deeply,
We help it to release.
Okay.
But what about focus broadly?
Well,
This is the idea that you can get very focused on a specific problem,
And not see the forest for the trees.
So if we have this idea of focusing broadly,
It reminds us to extend our vision,
To not just be so focused on the specific problem,
On the anxiety,
On the issue,
On the embarrassment,
On the feeling,
On the stuff that's arising.
We can focus on that with our attention,
To deal with problems,
To process what's manifesting in the moment.
But let's maintain a broad awareness on everything.
We're moving slowly.
We're speaking slowly.
We're acting slowly.
We're breathing deeply.
We're releasing that tension,
And we've got a broad focus,
So we're not getting caught up in the moment,
In the thing.
The problem isn't the problem.
It's the way you're dealing with the problem,
Right?
And we deal with the problem by moving slowly,
Breathing deeply,
And focusing broadly,
To see it in context.
And the final part,
Compassion for all.
We want to hold compassion for all,
For ourself,
And for the world,
And for everything in it.
The deeper I connect,
The more truly I believe that I want everyone in the world to be free of ill will,
To be free of suffering,
To be full of loving kindness,
And to be happy.
This applies to me,
To my family,
To people from the past,
To people that I don't know,
And even to people that have caused me wrong,
To people that I would consider their beliefs,
Their actions,
Their presence to be a net negative on the world.
And there's not many people that fit into that category,
But we all come across people in our that have wronged us,
Either directly,
Or through their actions,
More broadly speaking.
Or perhaps their opinions,
Their beliefs are in direct conflict with our identities.
But regardless,
And even with them,
I still want to hold compassion.
I'm compassionate to that person's state and their plight.
The most basic example of this is if someone is angry with me,
I've got two choices.
You know,
I could arc up and be anger and respond back similarly,
Or I can be compassionate for the fact that that person has lost themself in their own anger.
That person is struggling and suffering.
And whilst I'm not going to allow myself to be,
You know,
A victim,
To be taken advantage of,
I'm still going to have compassion for that person.
And I would love for that person to be free of ill will,
To be free of suffering,
To be full of loving kindness,
And to be happy.
So these are the principles that I'm playing with,
Working with,
And I'm sure they will adapt and change and grow over time.
But a way for a peaceful,
Calm,
Resonant existence in myself and in the world,
I'm working on the principles of moving slowly,
Breathing deeply,
Focusing broadly,
With compassion for all.
And I encourage you to take that into your life and to see how it works with you,
And to potentially hold on to it almost like a mantra,
Almost like an inner guide.
You know,
You're saying to yourself,
Going through that list,
Move slow,
Breathe deep,
Focus broad with compassion.
And you're checking into yourself,
Am I moving slowly?
Or am I rushing?
Am I breathing deeply?
Or am I shallow?
Am I focusing broad?
Or am I very specific right now?
How am I feeling about myself and about the people I'm interacting with,
In person and online?
Am I holding a space of compassion or contempt?
And just making adjustments because awareness of our inner state is the way to heal,
Is the way to grow,
Is the way to stay in peace.
Move slow,
Breathe deep,
Focus broad,
With compassion for all.
Move slow,
Breathe deep,
Focus broad,
With compassion for all.
