Daily Living Rituals of a Spiritual Journey - step 5
Daily Living Rituals of a Spiritual Journey step 5
training the senses
I have often felt like I am being dragged around by the compulsions of my senses. My taste buds tell me what to eat and drink with my sense of smell putting in its two cents. My eyes are looking for either stimulation or calm depending on their mood. My ears are dictating what noise I move toward or away from, while my sense of touch is choosing textures of clothes and objects to make contact with. All this seems fine on a surface level, but is it really serving me?
Whether it is the food we eat, the books we read, the entertainment we watch and listen to, we are being pushed and pulled by the dictatorship of rigid likes and dislikes. So wouldn’t this mean that we are being manipulated by our past experiences and sensory stimulation?
I HATE BEING MANIPULATED!
Just because I am being manipulated by parts of my physical self does not make this any better.
In our human form, we are what we consume. Not just through our mouths, but our eyes and ears. And even more, our minds.
Have you ever eaten something and thought afterward, or even during, why am I eating this? This is not what my body needs, or even, this is harming me, can seem like a distant thought that is not able to take the reigns of control.
This brings me to the fifth tool for releasing our current conditioning - training the senses. To free ourselves from the conditioning of the sense we must learn to shift our likes and dislikes FREELY depending on current situations, such as choosing what to eat by what our body needs rather than what our taste buds demand.
This is not easy for me, and I have to actively and intentionally work on it every day.
Our mind eats via the senses. What are you feeding your mind?
I can tell you this question has made me very uncomfortable and I have felt very vulnerable while taking a closer look at my consumption habits.
For instance, over seven years ago I stopped watching the news. I had been challenged by some mentors to take a closer look at what I was being fed while I watched, and to notice how this information was affecting my body and my mind through thoughts and emotions. I did not like what I noticed. When I stopped I noticed that my aggression and anxiety lessened. What I was watching was directly feeding my judgments. It is not that I don’t care about what is going on, I just take a more serious stance as to what I am letting in along with from where. I go to more trusted sources and ask questions of those around me that I trust, then I still filter this information through my intuition and inner wisdom,
I have done the same for the shows I watch, removing violence, which has directly impacted my sleep, personal relationships, and my overall attitude towards the world around me.
We become what our senses take in. What are you becoming? What do you WANT to become?
Brightest of blessings,
Dawn xo
Dawn Elgin | Conscious Empowerment Coach & Awakening Light