I am Kay, Welcome to this week’s podcast. I hope you have been enjoying them and have gotten some tools to make this crazy ride easier.
Sometimes I have clear vision about what I am going to write about, and sometimes like this week, it produces itself based on experiences I am having. This is a week that things had been stacking on themselves, one upon the other.
While out, it didn’t take long for me to be triggered; It was as if the energies were colliding or running into one another. I turned into a parking lot and had to dodge several cars as no one was in a mood to stop or give grace.
I think of our collective energy as electricity; I was experiencing the kind that makes your hair stand up.
It is a bit pushy, agitated, and anxious. One of the reasons I developed practices like these is that with use over time it makes the hard easier and the easy richer. It allows me to be present quicker. This week I needed a dose of my own truths.
A caveat, is that had I listened to my intuition, it would have been simpler. I went with my logical mind, not my intuition, not the voice that said go here instead. So, I also drove into it so to speak.
When I need to shift my perception or state of being; One technique is to remember that though emotion may be running through me, I am not the emotion. I am not what I am feeling, this way I give the feeling room to flow through me, and space to recognize it as separate from me. I am reaching for observer space. I am not this, I am experiencing this. Sometimes, the act of observation is enough, because small changes in my actions or perceptions can provide big shift.
When doing the exercise just mentioned, once recognize myself as the observer; I am going to pause and do a check in.
How deep am I in this experience? For instance, is my pulse beginning to race, am I becoming agitated, am I agitated, am I barely maintaining my decorum, or do I have some self-control left; Am I flying high and racing around or am I heat one moment from an explosion. Depending upon where I fall on this self-check-in determines my approach. That and how much time I have in the moment.
So, based on my state of mind, do I need to pause longer, and reset through an action like breath, dance, music, walking mediation, or something else? If for whatever reason I can’t do that now, then I do a mini center action now to get me through this moment.
A mini center might look like a simple pause, and a few breaths, or maybe I can close my eyes to disconnect and feel my feet, imagining myself as a tree with deep roots, seeing those roots growing from my feet and calves and holding me grounded, then opening my eyes and coming back to the moment.
You are asking yourself two things, how deeply is the effect within me, and how best to unravel or disconnect from its power over in the moment. As mentioned, my state of being, determines my approach. If I am in racing mind, worried or angry for instance pausing gives space to recalibrate myself. I am often attempting to pause my mind, and short circuit any mind loop that may be running. I speak about pausing in terms of pausing the loop or route I am in mentally. For it is in our minds that the stories we tell ourselves live and thrive, if you have a tendency toward over analysis or over thinking than mind loops may begin.
An AI search summarizes mind loops as follows: “Mind loops, or thought loops, occur when the mind gets stuck in a cycle of repetitive, often negative, thoughts. This happens because the brain, in its attempt to process information and resolve problems, can sometimes get stuck in a loop, especially when emotions are involved or when facing unresolved issues. These loops can be triggered by stress, anxiety, or unresolved emotional experiences”
When I recognize I am in a mind loop, I obverse myself. What is my mind telling me, what is the loop. How is my body doing, it is tense; and based on that I utilize a tool to shift the pattern, sometimes I might use several tools, depending on my state. My goal is to get my state of mind to slow, my presence to calm and if the shorter exercises are not working then I might need to disconnect and dive back into my own essence. For me this is where my calm resides; this is ultimately where home is, where my essence resides, no matter the outer world.
For those of you wondering this took a beat to do, yet with a little practice you can develop your inward sense of home and calm. Perhaps it is what the mystics are talking about when they are speaking about finding solace through the storm. A practice that makes hard easier and the beautiful more so. Imagine the possibility of connecting through your internal eyes to touch the still point within. The point unaffected by the chaos and disruption, the point that is calm no matter the storm, a place you can journey to on your own once you make friends with it. I have always found this is more experiential than intellectual.
So here is an offering when time and space allow. This is an exercise to discover more of your essence. Please don’t participate until you can Be present.
Let’s begin...start by placing your feet on the ground. Take a few moments close your eyes and breath in deep all the way to your toes to the count of 3 or 4, then pause for 3 or 4, and breathe out slowly to 3 or 4. You are going to do this several repetitions. We are going to do six now at your pace. Feel or see yourself growing a root to the center of Earth like a tree or see tenacles shoot from your hips to core then feel yourself solid, grounded to the land.
Now imagine yourself at the entrance of trail head to the forest, does the trail head have a name, pause for a moment and see your surroundings. Do you see the owl, on the trail head sign, the owl is going to go with you, as you begin walking along the trail. It is as if you know the destination you are walking too, as if you have walked here before, and it’s one of your favorite places, a place filled with sunshine and beauty, the light radiates through the trees touching your face, and you turn towards it, letting the light bathe you in its essence. The light feels good on your face refreshing. Set a boundary that only those of good and safe intention toward you may greet you here.
Are you close to the ocean, a mountain, a meadow, perhaps a stream? Does the breeze have a texture, a chill or is does it carry the spray of the ocean? Are there any other animals or people there to greet you.
This feels good to you, as the sun radiates its shine and this breeze brings calm to your senses, as it carries away any the stress and anxiety. It feels good here and you can relax for a moment, as you imagine yourself lying against a tree or on the ground, as you sit in this now space, feel the safety of it, feel the presence of something powerful and benevolent, feel it wish you well, perhaps it even has something to share with you or say, bask in this presence for a moment. Does it want to give you something?
Now thank it, and appreciate the beauty of this special place one more time, and turn around see Owl waiting patiently for you to begin walking back out of the forest to where the trail head began; the two of you journey together as you walk back owl on your shoulder or flying gently beside you, as you walk, you express gratitude for the gifts received and you Thank owl for coming with you.
As you reach the trail head, thank the forest for this time and the gifts received, breath in through your mouth down to your toes, move your fingers slowly, and gradually open your eyes, and become present. Look around at your surroundings, feel your divinity, feel your calm, feel your frequency, your individual tone in its purity.
You can do this journey to yourself anytime you need. It is a practice to remember your essence no matter appearances.
Namaste’
Copyright L. Kay Smith © 2025, used with permission.
