Openness

It's been quite a while - funny how life likes its own way sometimes, isn't it? When I go through these gaps in my writing, or my exercising, or my housework, or my practice, or any other thing along my Witchy little path, I always think to myself, "Why?" These are all important to me - they give me pleasure (or at least some type of satisfaction), and it serves a purpose in my life. Why do I just slip sometimes?

Well, first off is complacency. You know - you're cruising along, doing well at something, making a good habit that you're feeling good about. And then, for a perfectly valid reason, you take a day off. You're ill. Something truly unexpected and/or urgent comes up. The weather is throwing wind and rain and occasional debris at you. It's one day. You've got this! You can get right back into it after one day, no problem. And this is true. You can. But... do you always?

No. Because the internal judge starts mouthing off, and you make yourself feel bad about "failing." As 8,000 books, columns, blog, and speakers have told us, each one of us tends to be his or her own harshest judge. Man, that feels like crap. The more you yell at yourself and put yourself down, the more resistance you build within yourself. As you approach (insert desired action here), the more you have to fight yourself to do it. Your stomach knots up. Your muscles clench. You get that achy feeling in your head. You can feel your blood pressure rising, and, if you asked them, your veins and arteries would be trying either close right up or explode. In fact, you can work yourself into a full blown illness (and I'm only thinking physical here - I'm not even touching the wacked out mental and emotional effects you can produce. Nor will I. See someone for that.) with symptoms and everything. So, you know, it's easier and easier to justify not doing what you really, truly, deeply, madly (no! not that song!) wanted to do, and you feel better. Until you start to feel even worse about blowing off something you know you have to do.

Yeah, this is an extreme description, but most of us have been that far at least once. (If you haven't, don't judge. No, seriously. Don't waste your time. We'll all do that for ourselves much more thoroughly than you could ever manage. Trust us. We're experts.) But how do I keep that from becoming a habit? How do you? (Seriously - I'm always open for more tips. How do you?)

I've talked about grounding, centering, and shielding, and some of their uses.This is another one. These techniques aren't the only things available, either. One of the easiest is prayer. Yeah, I said it. Call it devotions, or mindfulness, or energy work, or tapping into the universal consciousness, or the Eightfold Path, or whatever you want. Trust me. It all comes down to the same thing. You are opening yourself to something more than just yourself. Sometimes you're sharing this with other people, sometimes you're not.

It doesn't have to be complicated. It can be. It... what's that? You only know one way to pray? (You didn't have nuns around when you were going to grade school, did you?) I do the centering and grounding and shielding, and then I just open my senses. (All of them. Even the ones most people don't count.) I feel my connection with whatever is near me, or whoever is near me. (No, this doesn't negate the shielding. I'm open, not stupid.) I draw strength from the earth and the sky. Sometimes I connect with a particular Goddess or God - sometimes I don't. If I have a specific need, I voice it. (Sometimes there's a whole ritual with candles, and specific colors, and incense involved. Sometimes not.) Many times, I'm just resting in that connection.  Sometimes I'll use particular readings or verses. Sometimes I'll make something up. Sometimes I'll sing. Sometimes I'll shut the hell up. I take just a few seconds when I'm awake, or about to eat, and just feel my joy in my life. Sometimes I decide I really need to talk to someone. Usually it's a friend. Sometimes it isn't. Sometimes I read runes or Tarot cards. Sometimes I don't need a recognizable answer.

You don't believe in a god? So what? You believe in something. (Every atheist I know believes in something. Just not a god.) Is there a better time to tap into your intuition, or the collective unconscious, or hit the treadmill until the endorphins kick in? Trust me again. The effect is the same.

We aren't just thinking about our own small piece of the world. We become more than what we are. We learn about each other, and the world, and ourselves. Compassion is easier. Love flows more freely. Generosity grows. Forgiveness happens. Hope lives on.