SGM Nov 2016 Weekly Message Two: “This Spiritual Quality Instantly Releases Fear, Anger, Anxiety, & Stress!”
“This Spiritual Quality Instantly Releases Fear, Anger, Anxiety, & Stress!”
Press the play button or click here (right click + save target as) to download the audio file
“Light-Hearted Amusement”
Press the play button or click here (right click + save target as) to download the audio file
Welcome back to the November 2016 Edition of Spiritual Growth Monthly. I’m Kevin Schoeninger. It’s great to have you with us here at SGM!
“Amusement”
(painting by Monica Augustine)
This month on SGM, we’re exploring how to embody spiritual qualities through meditation. After we use our meditation techniques to relax the body, calm emotions, and quiet the mind, we are in a state of open, clear spacious awareness into which we can invite any spiritual quality we would like to grow in our lives.
As we embody these spiritual qualities in meditation, they become more available to us any moment we need them in real life. They become a reliable part of our baseline state that we can readily call upon in the face of challenges.
This week we focus on a spiritual quality that instantly releases fear, anger, anxiety, and stress.
At first glance, you might not think of this as a spiritual quality. It might seem like more of a diversion and not “serious enough.” And, that is exactly what makes this quality so essential in our spiritual toolkit.
The quality I’m talking about is “Lighthearted Amusement.”
As we witnessed in our recent election cycle, when we take ourselves too seriously, it’s no fun for anyone. When we hold onto our points of view as if our lives depended on them, we create tension, fear, anxiety, stress, anger, and conflict.
That’s not to say that the issues we are so passionate about are not important. In the context of the quality of human life here on earth, they are significant. However, it’s the way we hold onto our points of view that makes all the difference.
When we think that our way is the only way, we not only miss out on the full truth, we also insure suffering and conflict—for ourselves and others.
The truth is that every point of view is partial. It is a slice of reality. It is a perspective that highlights certain details and neglects others. You can look at any situation from infinite viewpoints and arrive at infinitely different conclusions depending upon where you stand.
No one point of view expresses the full truth. Each point of view shows us something and ignores other things.
This point was made crystal clear in this past U.S. election. Those who supported “The Donald” chose to highlight things he represented that reflected their own feelings, values, and experiences, while ignoring some obvious shortcomings. Those who supported Hillary did the same. That’s what we do in elections. We choose those who reflect our dominant viewpoints.
Yet, the primary mistake we all make is when we think that our viewpoint is the “right one” instead of just the one we choose—and we hold on so tightly that we can’t even listen to other perspectives. This is what leads to ugly wars of insults and an inability to work together. Because this was the way we approached our election, it escalated everyone’s fear, anger, anxiety, and stress.
Once again, we have to remind ourselves of a truth–viewpoints are neither right nor wrong. They just highlight certain aspects of reality, while hiding others.
Now, what makes this truth so challenging to remember is that we are so embedded in our points of view that we can’t see them as such. We just think that “the way we see things is the way they are.” That’s our primary mistake. We forget that reality always exceeds our perceptions of it.
Reality offers an infinite number of points to focus on. What we focus on determines our experiences. Which brings us back to the spiritual quality we’re focused on this week—lighthearted amusement.
Lighthearted amusement is important because it frees us from hanging onto our perspectives so tightly. It frees us to take ourselves less seriously. It lifts us out of being so absorbed in our perspectives that we can’t see any other way. It frees us to be more creative, cooperative, and innovative.
Like the image at the top of this message, it elevates us to see life from a higher perspective—with more color, fun, and playfulness. In that spirit of levity, we are freer to see how we can work and play together to heal our world.
It’s been well-documented that laughter is healing. One of the first to discover this was author Norman Cousins who described in “Anatomy of an Illness” how he cured himself of an extremely painful, rare, and life-threatening disease called “ankylosing spondylitis” by watching funny movies.
How could that be?
It could be because laughter and amusement create and stimulate neural networks that feed healing biological responses.
Light-hearted laughter and amusement activate specific DNA potentials that heal, while deactivating genes that make us susceptible to disease. When we are lighthearted, we think differently, we feel differently, we act differently—and our cells respond by opening up and working well together. The body does what it is designed to do, which is heal itself.
And, as we heal ourselves, we become more able to heal our relationships with others.
So, with those thoughts in mind, I welcome you to join me in a meditative experience of lighthearted amusement. Who couldn’t use a little of that right about now?
You can follow along with the guided audio in PART B of the recording above.
Enjoy!
“Lighthearted Amusement”
If you will, please join me in sitting comfortably upright in a quiet private environment. Place the soles of your feet flat on the floor and parallel with each other. Rest your hands, palms cupped in your lap, one resting lightly in the other, with your thumbs touching. Lightly close your eyes and smile.
Focus down into your feet and notice the sensations there. Feel your contact with the ground underneath you. Allow your feet and toes to soften and relax as if they are melting down into the ground. Imagine and feel your feet tingling as if they are being tickled just enough to make you smile and laugh just a little. Enjoy the sensation.
Focus into your palms and fingers and notice the sensations there. Allow your palms and fingers to soften and relax, as if they are melting into each other. Imagine and feel your palms and fingers tingling as if they are being tickled just enough to make you smile and laugh just a little. Enjoy the sensation.
Focus to the top of your head and notice the sensations there. Allow the top of your head to rise up, soften, and relax as if it is opening to the sky above. Imagine and feel the top of your head tingling as it opens even wider to a clear, sunny, blue sky above.
Now, imagine a colorful balloon in the sky just above your head. Imagine it is your favorite color, or a whole bunch of bold, vibrant colors—whatever colors make you smile and feel joyful and happy.
Imagine that you rise up into the balloon. There’s plenty of space for you to float around in this big balloon. As the sun shines through the colorful sides of your balloon, it creates a dance of color in the air around you. Enjoy the vibrant dance of color inside your balloon.
To enhance the dance of color imagine some fun or silly music. What music feels fun to you? Is it circus music or silly music like Merrie Melodies from Looney Toons? Perhaps it’s the thump of a tuba, a Vaudeville tune, or an Irish jig? Imagine your balloon is filled with lighthearted music you enjoy. Smile, and dance along if you like, as you enjoy the lighthearted sounds.
Now, imagine your favorite comedy characters are there in the balloon with you. They could be cartoon characters or characters from a funny sitcom or movie.
Remember that scene with Lucille Ball at the conveyor belt in the candy factory from “I Love Lucy?” Carol Burnett busting out laughing at Tim Conway’s antics on the Carol Burnett show. Or maybe it’s Robin Williams as Mork from Ork on “Mork and Mindy.” “Nanu, Nanu.” Bill Murray reminiscing about caddying for the Dalai Lama in Caddyshack. Elaine Bennis dancing on Seinfeld. Or silly characters from Bugs Bunny, Mickey Mouse, or any of your personal favs, especially ones you loved as a kid. Who makes you smile and laugh?
Imagine that you are with those characters laughing, dancing, making funny faces and silly sounds. You’re all having a grand time in your balloon. . .
Imagine that you are joined in your balloon by anyone or anything else that you want to include in your silly, funny, lighthearted amusement.
Now take all that fun, silly, amusement and sum it up in a color, a feeling, and a phrase. If there’s a phrase that reminds you of this feeling, label your feeling with this phrase to remember it, so you can return to it at any time. If you like, you can just label this feeling “lighthearted amusement” or simply “amusement.” Whenever you think of this word or phrase, you’ll remember the color and feeling of it.
Now imagine that you lightly prick the balloon, so it joyfully bursts, and all that feeling, color, and amusement washes down through the top of your head and down into your whole body, filling and saturating every cell.
Enjoy the sensation of lighthearted amusement in your whole body. Really soak in it and soak it in. Record that feeling, color, and phrase in every cell. Smile.
Now, slowly open your eyes and take in the space around. Feel lighthearted amusement in every cell with your eyes open. Take that feeling of lighthearted amusement with you, so it’s available whenever you need it. Share this feeling with others in whatever ways you feel inspired. Smile.
Well done!