Author: Ryan Klette

I think a sense of space and capacity are our some most valuable resources Before you turn on the world, make sure  you are ready. I had this thought after an hour or so of ‘readying’ myself this morning. I started the day with a little movement, writing and sitting and noticed even then, an apprehension to turn my phone on. I knew that in doing so the world would come flooding in. 

Turns out  I was ready enough because I was able to maintain the state I cultivated in my quiet time. When I noticed myself becoming tight and tense, it was easy enough to take a short time out and remember the reference I created at the beginning of the day.

Ready to me means uncluttered, open and receptive to life as it is.

Guiding principle: In order to maintain a ready state I need to notice how my system responds to the world coming in as I move through my day. Could it be more exciting that we get to choose a response to life that is new and unconditioned by paying attention in a certain way ?

It takes a lot because there is a momentum behind us. When I stop, I sometimes feel I am too far gone so why on earth would I stop if it means facing up to the direction I am headed. Continuing on whatever track I am on feels easier.

Stopping means I would need to do something different, dopamine is hitting from all sides. Stopping means I’ll lose the buzz of those neuro-chemicals. From this this point of view there simply very little that makes sense about stopping.

Rather go and get to some other point where all this matters less, maybe at the end of the day when I am reminiscing about what a busy day I had.

But what if stopping didn’t  mean change.  That I could  stop  anywhere and say to myself, whatever interesting behaviour I am in the midst of, that  somehow it’s all ok.  Slow down a little,  invite curiosity and pay attention without the weight of needing  or wanting to find a more perfect person at the other end of it.

Instead, oh here I am. Isn’t that interesting. Gravitating in this or that direction, being distracted, emotional or frustrated  in some way,  pleasure seeking or avoiding, doesn’t matter. It’s all food for consciousness.  And to me more interesting that anything, as I am less afraid of the content so it goes  that I am less afraid of the stop because I know  I am  bound to face the momentum of the past and there is space inside  to hold it all. But and this is a big but, a little bit at a time. When I push myself to look too hard at the content of my thoughts, feelings and sensations it’s easy to become overwhelmed, despondent and uninterested. Gentle awareness works best.

Sometimes it really is ok to leave the world exactly as it is and rest in the awareness that never changes. There is too much too enjoy!

It feels like an especially important week to keep up my practice. I’ve been seeing how inexplicably we are connected to the greater whole. I’ve had a lot going on in my body, much of it because of what we are going through as a (South Africa) nation. It sometimes feels almost impossible to stay in the body. But I keep seeing that every time I do there is chance for more peace because all these currents are temporary and in continual change. Energy rises and falls. My clinging to anything in this rise and fall becomes my suffering. Let go the little voice in my heart tells me.

And stay with it for any length of time and there will be a relaxation, even if very small. But that’s all it takes sometimes, just giving ourselves a little relief tipping the scales in the direction of regulation and balance. A moment of being still and just being with the body exactly as it is. what now ? and now ? what next ? experiencing the sensation directly. Allowing, accepting, breathing, resourcing. It all passes. As Loch Kelly likes to say, Unhook from the mind and let your attention drop into the body. We must unhook because the mind gets in the way. It is storied by its very nature. We need to relax the story we have about the world and our life in it so we can allow the energies in the body some breathing space. Given time, the body comes to rest.

Key: Receive the condition of the body, the heart and the mind just as it is. Although it can feel very personal, is it really ? how much did you choose to think, feel or act in that way ? are you in control of the next thought you have or the next emotion you experience ? what does it feel like if very little of this is personal ? An important choice I see is our ability to bring our awareness to our condition with kindness. From there change is natural, we are in the currents of effortless evolution both collectively and individually. Effort of course is needed but absent of force. Flow.