Centering – Week 5 of 40 Days To Personal Revolution
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“At the centre of your being you have the answer; you know who you are and you know what you want” – Lao Tzu
There is a story of a disciple who came to his master to receive his higher ranking as a monk. He entered the temple leaving his shoes and rice bowl outside and inside the master asked his student “On which side of the rice bowl did you place your shoes?”. The student got annoyed and impatient: “Why don’t you ask me about all the enlightenment I am receiving in meditation, my kundalini rising, and my knowledge of God?”. But the Master continued with his simple question about his rice bowl and shoes. The student could not answer. When the Master sent the student away to study for another nine years, the student protested such an outcome for such a small mistake. “This is not a small mistake” replied the Master. “You are not yet living from your centre, because you have no awareness of what is right in front of you. You are not present in your everyday activities, and that is what it means to live meditatively. You must have your feet on the ground.”
We need to come out of our heads and be mindful of what is happening in front of us. We complain about teachers, husbands, wives, parents, children, bosses, lovers… But we create our roles as victims when we say “if only they were different” – keeping ourselves in a place of reactivity.
As Baron Baptiste says: “By saying – ‘I will become centred’ – we become responsible people; we own our lives from the inside.. we don’t have to get caught up in the illusions of our story.”
When our lives are full of drama and crisis they stay distracting and, to an extent, exciting; healthier lives may seem quieter, but in time we may see the beauty of simpler, more centred, grounded pleasure.
There is a lot of cultural discussion about being ‘grounded’. The root of the word ‘ground’ comes from German, Dutch and Danish words meaning Bottom, especially of the sea. Baron Baptiste says:
“To be grounded literally means to be in a deep still place. It means entering down and being fully present, full stable, fully sane.”
Centering is staying grounded, knowing where your rice bowl and shoes are, taking things as they come. One step at a time. Every part of outside life can become a moment of meditative awareness and returning to our centre. We always have a safe place to go.
“This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.” – William Shakespeare
Law 9 – Don’t rush the process
- The greatest benefits come from the small shifts that move us in new directions.
- We like to think ‘don’t rush the process’ means ‘take it easy’, but it is more like ‘don’t rush out of the uncomfortable places, stay and do the work’.
“Have patience with all things, but chiefly have patience with yourself. Do not lose courage in considering your own imperfections, but instantly set about remedying them – every day begins the task anew.” – Saint Francis de Sales
We have a tendency to speed through everything, but change can take time and require patience. Also, if we slip up, it’s easy to be frustrated and give up. However, we might do well to remember that not all ground is lost and stoically get back on the good track we had found.
We tend to want a quick fix, but deep down we know that things that are worth having are worth fighting for. Look at athletes, astronauts, actors, musicians scientists – all train for years to get good at what they do, every one. As Baron Baptiste says:
“Our rushing an pushing past the present moment cause us to miss out. In our efforts to do more and get wherever we want to go faster, we forget that we simply cannot rush the process and still expect to be really successful at anything.”
Law 10 – Be True to Yourself
- Being true to yourself means looking within to discover what you know in your heart to be right and then acting on it.
- In order to follow our inner compass, we have to be willing to go against the status quo
As Ghandi said: “What then is Truth? A difficult question, but I have solved it for myself by saying it is what the voice within tells you.”
This truth within us might be considered sacred. We tend to think of sacred as connected with religion. But as Baron Baptiste says: “The sacred is within us, of us, not out there somewhere. Sacred literally means ‘regarded with reverence’, and ultimately, it is up to us what we chose to revere.”
To stick to our truth we may have to go against the status quo. To go against our peers. To be the first to change. To not care what others think or say or do. This is history of change makers! When we repress our emotions and feelings and energies this may lead to disease. We might do well to practise living in a flow of truth – moving through awkwardness, discomfort and fitting in – to be true and healthy.
Our culture can mislead us that this integrity looks like expensive white yoga clothes and green juices, but that’s not the case at all. Our truth will be very different and colourful for each of us. We know instinctively and respond positively when we find people speaking their truth. It is what we love about most artists, and it doesn’t look like ‘good behaviour’ ‘conformity’ or ‘perfection’. Look at the beauty and truth of work of artists such a Bjork or Banksy and we see our contemporary truth tellers.