Want a Vacation?

So, its summer and it is pseudonymous with the idea of vacationing. What with the price of gas, let alone affording the increasing prices of travel, the idea of taking a week off to go somewhere exciting may now seem a bit depressing. So what's a person to do?

Well, for one, you can plan well and use online travel guides such as the ones at Trusted Tours and Attractions. You could visit a place close by. For instance, if you live in the North East, there are many options. Things to do in New York City are an unending list.

But, aside from the obvious, there is something else you can do - take a mental vacation. Humor me here. If things have piled up and you just can't get away, you can probably find a few minutes and use a technique called revivification - allowing yourself to remember and relive a past vacation. The effects give you a slight lift and a brief vacation that may make the rest of your day go well.

You just begin by closing your eyes (also you may want want to take a few deep breaths and exhales). Think about the idea of a past favorite vacation. Start at the beginning of the trip (whenever and where ever that may be), and begin to recall all the details that you can about what made it so wonderful. Let time do its own thing - if there are moments you want to skip over, well, skip over them. If there are moments you want to play over and over again, do so. See if you can remember what it felt like or even what conversations you had.

For me, I often go back to a vacation I took years ago to Orlando. And though there are many things to do in Orlando, I always go back to being able to ride Space Mountain eleven times in a row at The Magic Kingdom. I can feel the air blowing around me as the ride starts, the exhilaration of letting go and reveling in the physics of motion. Then I think about convincing the ride controller to let me stay on again.

But, after you do this and you still find yourself in the mood to plan a vacation, you might want to sign up for Trusted Tours and Attractions newsletter. They often give incentives for signing up, such as giving away GPS devices and such.

Creating a Better Temperature for Yourself

With the weather fluctuating so much, it is difficult to maintain a comfortable temperature. It seems like the hotter it gets, the hotter tempers grow as well. Patience goes down and everything seems so much harder.

This week's contemplation is all about creating a comfortable place for yourself mentally. When things get hot or even the opposite, too frigid, this little affirmation may give you a few moments to pause and create an inner mental temperature that allows relief.

When you are ready and a have a few moments to yourself, close your eyes, take a deep breath, releasing it when you are ready, and say these words to yourself:

For this moment, I allow myself to go beyond the temperature. I am in a comfortable place where there is peace and calm.

Allow any images that bring comfort to remain in your mind as long as you like, letting go of thoughts of discomfort.

To learn more about how to use the Monday Contemplation, click here.

Reactions are Everything Contemplation

I learned a lot about pain this weekend - physical pain. Don't get me wrong, I have been in pain many times before, but this time I paid a lot of attention to how it made me want to react towards others. Though it was a trivial type of pain, blisters on my toes thanks to new inserts I put in my boots, my feet felt like pins were being jabbed into me with every step. My patience lessened, as did my inner charity towards others. I spent a great deal of time keeping my outer perception calm and not letting my pain be the cause of injury to someone else. That takes so much energy. So, I could not help but think about the people who live with chronic pain on a daily basis. It is one thing to theorize about their pain, but when you have something that causes you great discomfort, you begin to understand the ramifications of managing pain. Life does become so much harder. It permeates everything.

Short of a hypnosis session or two or whatever your pain release pleasure may be, I am not sure a weekly contemplation is going to ebb much of the pain. But, pain or not, how we react to others is very important. We can spread our pain just through attitude or we can chose to work on manging it, not spreading it and perhaps we will find some of it does dissipate, as nothing will be compounded on top of it.

So, for this week's contemplation:

My reactions are my own. I have the strength and the power to control them. When I do this well, I am a better person.

The Body Knows

The Body knows. Okay, maybe the real line is that "the shadow knows," but that's a whole different posting. The body is the thing.

The body holds us together in this reality. It allows us to express ourselves and to communicate. Without it we would be dealing with another reality, so again, let's allow our focus to be bodily. The body is also often a reflection of our inner selves. It has its own language. The body changes expression if you are comfortable or disinterested, even if your words say something else.

But does it tell you the truth?

Look at the study done in 1952 by E. Sh. Ayrapetyants. To make quick work of this, basically the study tested people's response to having pressure applied to their bladders. During this time, they were given a meter to read so that they could see the increase of air pressure their bladders were incurring. Later, without telling the participants, the researchers stopped applying air pressure to the bladders, but the meters continued to read as though the pressure was still happening. Ultimately, the participants all reacted and felt the bodily response of having pressure on their bladder just by seeing the meter results. Pavlovian all the way.

Again, I ask, considering this, does the body always tell the truth?

What this experiment shows is that the body is affected by the past. The participants continued to bodily act as though the same conditions were applied even when the conditions were static. This proves that the body acts on memory. It hangs on and is a faithful mate to the past. So, what the body is really saying is that it reacts to some stimulus that is either happening or affected them greatly in the past.

Sometimes this is for the greater good. We gain muscle memory. Muscle memory helps us to take care of ourselves, especially in the more athletic realms (remembering steps and actions). Even driving becomes a bodily reaction to a past stimulant. We do not have to consciously tell ourselves to depress the gas pedal or the brake.

Then there are the times when the body actions inhibits life. It could be from phobias. Maybe we get into a crowd and our body feels like its suffocating. Even things that provide mental barriers for us, may show through certain bodily actions. Depression for instance, the body acts a certain way, maybe feeling tired or painful.

This is why regression hypnosis can be especially helpful. By regressing to the past moment that is influencing the body reactions, such as found in phobia work or certain uncontrolled responses, the subconscious mind can release the memory, helping to create new reactions in the present. It allows us to explore our mental past and change the past in a way. We can view it with our new eyes of greater experience and offer wisdom to our past selves.

Source: Toward an Integral Methodology for Transpersonal Studies

How to Use the Monday Contemplations

Contemplation - a deep, reflective thought.

To start out the new week, for each week, day, hours, minute and second, we have the opportunity to set our our mind frame for creating a positive tone. Even if we find ourselves drifting away from it, we can return any time we like.

Here is how it works:

• Take a few moments of quiet time and read the Monday contemplation to yourself. If it seems helpful to you or resonates, then feel free to use it. If it does not seem helpful, you might one to try a past Monday contemplation or create one of your own.



• When you are familiar with the words of the contemplation, take a few cleansing breathes and focus on the words.



• Maybe you run them through your mind, quietly saying them to yourself for a little while or maybe it is just the notion that stays with you.



• When it feels like you are focused on it, allow the thoughts to drift across your mind.



• Maybe other thoughts come to mind. Allow those that are not helpful to pass, but for those that do seem helpful, just take note of them. It may give you a clue to something deeper within you that you should address.



• Still focusing on the contemplation, think about how it applies to you.



• Think about why it applies and visualize or think about the idea of a positive you.



• Allow all your thoughts to be positive before you take another deep breath and open your eyes.



• Set a time each day to repeat the process.
  

There are also other ways to utilize the contemplation. These may include:

• Writing about the contemplation and letting the words flow (like free association).



• Creating an artistic piece that is inspired by the contemplation.



• Even talking about it with a friend or love one may be helpful.