Today’s meditation focuses on restoring balance and how we can become more self-aware. Throughout our days, we tend to repeat the same activities without thinking much about them. At some point though, we become aware of these habits, and later, we may even become self-aware, wondering why these habits are part of our lives and deciding whether they benefit us. Our entire journey together over these three weeks is one that will lead us to greater self-understanding.
Day 8 – Restoring Balance
“Your visions will become clear only when you can look into your own heart. Who looks outside, dreams; who looks inside, awakes.” ~ Carl Gustav Jung
OUR CENTERING THOUGHT:
With awareness, I create healthy habits.
OUR SANSKRIT MANTRA:
Om Kriyam Namah. My actions are aligned with cosmic law.
Journal Questions
Take a moment to reflect on your daily patterns and habits. Which behaviors would you like to change?
How would your life improve if you changed these current patterns and habits?
When you review your habits and routines, what can learn about yourself?
Please use this section to reflect on today’s meditation.
OPRAH WINFREY
Welcome to Day 8. Restoring balance. And the beginning of week two of our 21 day perfect health meditation challenge, I hope you're feeling a sense of well-being, a sense of completing the whole in just this week.
So far, we've learned valuable techniques that help invite balance into our lives. So before we begin today's meditation, Deepak leads us in a discussion about our habits and teaches us, the essential role that the mind plays in sustaining habits.
As we're all busy, we can sometimes do things unconsciously without thinking, and those things then become habits many times our habits aren't in line, but what we say are our goals. But there's so much a part of us we don't even realize that they're standing in the way of what we want.
In today's talk, Deepak explains the vital role that self-awareness plays in changing patterns that no longer serve us, and offers us some simple steps to help make changes so that we can feel, and be, our very best.
Okay, you know the routine now, let's get comfortable, as we listen to Deepak explain how we start to create new ways of thinking to improve our lives, and then we'll meditate together.
DEEPAK CHOPRA
Whenever we have an experience, the mind is in one of three states: unconscious, aware or self-aware. The mind's two main modes of operation, unconscious and aware, are highly developed. When we act in the unconscious mode the brain is able to take care of the body without needing specific detailed instructions, processing the five senses to keep us aware of our inner and outer worlds.
However, in the unconscious state, health and well-being are generally left to chance. And the critical mind-body feedback loop, operates automatically, without any awareness.
Consider this example, if you light your fifth cigarette of the day without thinking, you're doing something unconsciously, which is the mode of operation that underlies habits.
If you see yourself lighting the cigarette, then you are aware. As you light that cigarette, self-awareness can also step in. For instance, in that moment you may ask, what am i getting out of this.
When we begin to ask ourselves questions, reflect on our behaviors, look at the larger picture, and invite the answers to come to us, we may move into the place of self-awareness.
When we are self-aware, we begin to pay attention to the one who is aware? The true-self. And the true-self is where values, meaning, purpose, and answers come from. Self-awareness moves us beyond the old well-worn pathways in the brain that support fixed unconscious habits.
Imagine a situation in which you are angry, in that instance, when you recognize I'm angry, you're having an aware though. But knowing where your anger comes from, invites a component of self-awareness into the situation, allowing you to recognize a pattern of behavior. You realize that old habits, past outbursts for example, likely haven't served you very well, and you begin to take steps to transcend those habitual responses.
Reality shifts, when self-awareness enters, and we start to take control with the help of our spirit.
Becoming self-aware opens the door to lasting change, and empowers us to make the most nourishing choices, in every moment. Before we begin our meditation, let's consider our centering thought:
With awareness I create healthy habits.
With awareness I create healthy habits.
Now let's prepare for our meditation. Make yourself comfortable, and close your eyes.
Begin to be aware of your breath and just breathe. Slowly and deeply.
With each breath, allow yourself to become more at peace.
Now gently introduce the mantra. Repeating it silently to yourself:
OM KRIYAM NAMAH.
OM KRIYAM NAMAH. My actions are aligned with cosmic law.
OM KRIYAM NAMAH.
Whenever you find yourself distracted by thoughts, noises, or physical sensations, simply return your attention to silently repeating the mantra:
OM KRIYAM NAMAH.
Continue with your meditation. I'll remind the time and at the end you'll hear me ring a soft bell.
OM KRIYAM NAMAH.
OM KRIYAM NAMAH.
OM KRIYAM NAMAH.
It's time to release the mantra. Take some time to rest. Inhaling and exhaling slowly.
When you feel ready, you can open your eyes. As you continue with your day, contemplate the centering thought:
With awareness I create healthy habits.
With awareness I create healthy habits.
With awareness I create healthy habits.
Namaste
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