Moving Toward Wholeness

Settle into the Sensations of Life

Would you like to restore your spirit and save your soul, right here and right now? Here’s an idea: Turn off your computer. Turn away from the news of the day. Bury your phone beneath a pile of pillows in the farthest reaches of the house, for at least a little while.

Settle down and settle in, perhaps on the floor or in bed or even in your favorite easy chair. Exhale deeply and turn your gaze inward. Notice the gentle drumming of your heart. Watch the wave-like rise and fall of your breath. Shift out of doing mode for just a little while, and enjoy the possibility of settling into a deep state of being.

Pay attention and be amazed, as the poet Mary Oliver advised. You have a body. You have a heart. You have tender thoughts and emotions. You care, you love, you are.

Rest in the sensations of being alive. Maybe move a little bit from time to time, stretching here and there when the spirit moves you. While you do this, know you are resting in the sensations of being alive. Be aware of your awareness, and be amazed by that, too.

After a little while, you’ll likely feel the urge to rise up again. You’ll return to the world of action feeling a little clearer, a little shinier, a little more you. Not much has to happen, it turns out, to reconnect to that shining space within that reminds us who we really are.