Sensations are Stories

Drop the story, feel the sensations

As I'm learning to let go of the narrative of the circumstances themselves, and just focus on the responses that are being generated within - I'm noticing that our body is constantly and subconsciously responding to our environment from moment to moment.

Any time we are faced by a new circumstance or a trigger is re-surfaced, a range of sensations can be observed in our body. The next time you're in a new circumstance, Notice this. Observe the sensations that arise.

In the case of triggers, the sensations that come up feel emotionally painful. These sensations in our body remind our brain of a past time when we experienced a similar sense of fear. At the time, when we were younger, we might have dismissed them not knowing how to respond to them, not knowing how to take it.

As we progress towards our emotional growth as adults, we need to reclaim our responsibility of tending to our emotional needs. One of these responsibilities being, shifting our relationship with our triggers.

Our triggers are reminders of a past that felt difficult. As children, our triggers might have felt like an emotional block that we couldn't get over. It felt like life and death. That's why we cried or threw tantrums.

As adults, we are brave enough to move past these triggers - to stand in our stillness when l everything around us feels like it's falling apart, and it feels like everything is ending from within.

Similarly, when we open ourselves to perceive chance, despite being unable to see ahead, we learn to intuitively navigate towards the next step. Especially when it seems like there's nothing to look forward to.

A Practise:

Each change begins with a conscious decision. Decide that you're willing to commit to this emotional growth, and most importantly - that you're willing to go through the growing pains.

The next time you experience a trigger, notice the sensations that arise. Practise not creating a narrative of these sensations. Our brain might want to make sense of this story and relay a narrative for this. Reserve these impulses and continue being present with the uncomfortable sensations.

In my experience, once witnessed, these responses mellow in a while. Give yourself the time and space. Remember to breathe. Ground into your body. Feel your fingers, your chest, the area below the armpits, your back.

Focus on something other than giving a time limit for this process. It hinders the shift.

I won't promise that this path is easy. Because it's not. It's rocky and undulated, and you're going to fall many times. You won't even know if you're going to get back up again. I can't even promise visible tangible results for a long time. To this date, I haven't understood the point of this journey.

But I promise that it's gonna make you stand steady in yourself. Above everything, to believe in yourself even when no one does. You even stay grounded in the unknown. This is a commitment to yourself. To break free.