Two friends shared two things with me this week that resonated and they allowed me to share them with you. First, my talented friend Heather shared a simple, beautiful channel from her team about the "tennis match" that goes on in the human brain when trying to decide anything. This channel was in response to something I'd forwarded to her re: the angel that sits on one shoulder and the devil that sits on the other, both trying to convince you that their individual and opposing perspectives will surely benefit you. The post I'd sent to her didn't resonate fully, so she sought higher guidance and was rewarded, fully. Here is the channel she shared with me.
A channeled message
received by Heather Braden, July 2023
Greetings dear one. Relax and breathe allowing your body and
your breath to soften. We are here. Allow all the tangles to be present and
allow yourself to soften at the same time. Allow yourself to just let them be.
Think about a tangled necklace and how you very gently rub at the knot. You
might try to gently tease it out, softening the grip of the knot. You do not
yank or pull at it with any vigour, dear one. It is with gentle tenderness that
the knots are released. This is the exact approach that we want you to use with
your mind. Very kindly and gently notice what is going on in there.
You have heard of the analogy of an angel on one shoulder
and the devil on the other. This can feel like truth because you host
conversations in your mind that often take the form of “You should do this!”
“You can’t do that, it is wrong!” And what you might deem there to be a good
side and a bad sided debate taking place. Humans have a love for labelling
things, thoughts included, as good or bad. We have shared with you that
thoughts are simply neutral, and you, with your perceptions and judgments,
apply the charge to the thoughts.
Rather than the implications of a ‘good guy’ and a ‘bad
guy,’ we encourage you to visualize a tennis match going on, with one player or
team on your right shoulder and another on your left. They rally balls, without
stopping and you feel them as they ping back and forth. You may notice one team
scoring several points in a row, and the other becoming aggressive for a
comeback. It can become a very invigorating game indeed.
These balls, as you know, take the form of thoughts. As you
become attached, and begin catching the balls, they turn into beliefs. This
scores a point. Your job, as the human in the middle is to notice the game
being played, and to allow for the rally, but to keep the scoring to a minimum.
See if you can observe the balls being passed and keep your hands free for that
which is important to you.
Let’s pretend that one team has red balls and the other team
scores with blue balls and you are present with arms open and a velcro strip
inside your mind. You can notice how many balls are becoming attached. Imagine
yourself catching and holding every ball during a day-long rally. Can you
imagine just how full the vector board would become, and how exhausted and
distracted you would feel? This is why we encourage you to soften, and just let
the balls bounce on. They are only balls, dear one. You do not need to engage
with them.
When you keep getting hit with a load of tennis balls, it
can indeed become stressful and overwhelming. Especially when you are getting
in their path and attempting to catch them all. Allow the match to play on, dear
one, because it will, and allow yourself to simply observe. Sometimes, you
might remark something like “Woah, this is a really heated match today”, and we
encourage you to breathe deeply. Being aware is wonderful. Trying to catch and
hold onto every flying ball is not. Allow, dear one. Let the balls fly. Let the
match go on because this is what tennis players do.
If you see a ball that appears sparkly and appealing, by all means catch it and take hold of it. Allow yourself to play with it and explore its beauty. You are to be selective. Observe and choose your catches with conscious awareness, for they will determine the flow of your day, and the reality you create. Breathe deeply, and know that, in truth, life is but a game. Enjoy the journey and trust that you have the discernment as to when to jump in and play, and when it is best to be the witness. You are on your path. All our love.
What I love about her guides' response is it encourages neutrality. As humans we look at everything as good or bad. Do more good, do less bad: the recipe for life. While in its simplest form that is helpful, it ignores the source of good and bad, which is not, as most people think, societal norms, or laws/rules, or religion, spirituality or, dare I say, God. Everything is neutral. Every circumstance, occurrence, word, action, thought is neutral until we, individually and collectively, give each of those things meaning. We attach meaning. We choose what meaning to attach to everything and in so doing we create our world and how we feel about that world.
The magical thing about this is that everything, absolutely everything, can be seen as both good and bad, depending on your perspective. At first, that sounds a little insane, perhaps, and a mite bit confusing, and then ... it feels freeing once it is realized that shifting your perspective is all that is needed to turn any circumstance from trouble to blessing. That shift is where miracles are born.
Of course, humans are habituated to see things as good or bad and hide their role in the decision making from themselves making it easy to blame outside circumstances for anything displeasing. And so that is where the second of two things shared with me comes in. My friend Tal sent me a Facebook reel by Dr. Daniel Amen wherein he shares two super simple and helpful tips for priming your brain to look at life more positively. In short:
2) Before bed, review your day and think about what went well that day to prime your brain for the next day while you sleep.
To listen to Dr. Amen describe this process, Click Here.
We are only here, in human form, for a brief time. For me, I'm realizing that it is easier to walk with my fellow humans when I view them and my world with love, compassion, forgiveness, and joy. Both of these shares are helping me to deepen my awareness about how I navigate my mental chatter and my day so I can understand the meaning I am making and its out pictured results in my life. xo
To learn more about Dr. Daniel Amen and his work changing the brain with simple daily practices, visit his website here.
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