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How
to Feel Better Fast!
By Keith Varnum
Would you like to spend as much time as
possible feeling good? Happy? Contented?
The ancient shamans have a secret
practice that can help you maximize your pleasure in life—and minimize
your pain. Interested?
The shamans advise: “Welcome
discomfort!”
They’ve got to be kidding!
No, they’re not kidding. The ancient
ones are quite serious. Or shall I use another word other than serious?
Because the effectiveness of “Welcoming discomfort!” depends on NOT
taking the discomfort seriously!
Life in the 3rd Dimension
Here on Earth in the 3rd dimension,
we’re engaged in a dance of duality, a ballet of opposites, a play of
polarity. For every quality in our world, there exists an equal and
opposite quality. Light and dark. Up and down. Forward and backward.
To create form out of pure formless
energy, we construct this 3-dimensional world by believing in duality.
Otherwise, we’d only be able to experience a world of oneness,
sameness—pure energy, essence, spirit. And in order to experience any
one quality in form, the reverse quality has to also be created in form.
For one quality to exist—to come into existence, to be in existence—the
opposite of that quality has to also exist.
So Where Does the Fun Come In?
The key to moving through life in our
everyday world as easily, gracefully and pleasurably as possible is to
be able to fully experience both sides of all qualities easily,
gracefully and pleasurably. In other words, the shaman secret is an
approach that keeps us from getting stuck in feeling the “undesirable”
aspects of life any longer than necessary.
The shamans offer a practice that
allows us to fully experience problems, loss, fear, anger, sadness or
pain as efficiently as possible. If we approach the unpreferred
qualities in life in a way that makes them easier to fully experience,
we can move through them as fast as possible. And spend more of our time
with the goodies in life.
Shortcut to Happiness
“The way to happiness is through the
world, not around it,” one of my teachers is fond of saying. I know of
no one who has been able to avoid the unpleasant events and feelings of
life. So if we can’t have a universe without so-called “nasty”
situations and emotions, we can at least learn how to deal with those
conditions in the most effective and pleasurable way!
The Shaman Secret
The shaman way is to “welcome the
discomfort” in life. Invite the uncomfortable, undesirable, unpreferred
qualities of life. Tellingly, the dictionary definition of “undesirable”
is “unattractive, disagreeable, unwelcome, uninvited.” So, the solution
is to make these qualities as attractive and agreeable as possible—so
that we can actually welcome, invite and, therefore, fully experience
each quality.
When a person chooses to fully
experience a quality, event or feeling, the quality goes full circle,
full cycle—and dissolves, disappears.
When you give the energy of a situation or feeling the space—the
acceptance—to fully express itself, the uncomfortable feeling is
complete, done, fulfilled. You’re free of it. It’s over, gone,
kaput. You can move on to focus on the more fun aspects of life!
How Do I Welcome Pain?
Good question! By choosing to not
approach the situation or feeling as “pain.” Frame the condition with a
“feel-able” label—that is, a label you’re more willing to experience.
Choose a generic, neutral, uncharged label.
For example, name your “fear”
“sensation”, “energy” or “vibration.” You might even be able to
experience the “energy formerly known as fear” as “rush” , “adrenaline”
or “intensity.”
Or call your “problem” or “crisis” a
“challenge” or “situation” or even an “adventure!” Who wants to deal
with a problem or crisis? Too heavy. Too serious. Too overwhelming. Too
much! When I ran my natural foods business, I insisted my employees use
the word “situation,” because it was much easier to deal with fifty
people coming into my office each day announcing “We have a situation!”
than proclaiming “We have a problem!”
Or that person you avoid because he or
she is so “difficult.” Would it be more fun if you invited the
“adventure” of intuitively dealing with this “challenging” person?
Fear is Excitement?
Yes! The actual energy we feel in our
bodies that we usually call “fear” is the exactly the same energy as we
call “excitement!” What creates the difference in our experience of the
feeling is our attitude toward the feeling, our approach to the emotion,
the way we hold that quality in our consciousness.
When we change the way we label or name
“uncomfortable” states, the more approachable the condition is for us to
feel, the easier it is for us to experience it—and therefore, the faster
we move through the state to another condition that is more enjoyable.
So, if we approach undesirable states
like crisis, loss, grief or anger with labels that are more easily
feel-able—like situation, sensation, energy, vibration—we will be more
willing and able to fully experience those states and move through them
more quickly and gracefully.
Holding our situations, and the
feelings about the situations, within a neutral, generic framework—like
experience, quality or condition—we’ll be more willing to open to fully
experiencing these situations and emotions. When we don’t define or name
the situations or feelings with a "negative" label, we don’t resist
experiencing them fully.
Ride the Realization
You can also use the realization that
“Oh, this is the way I set up my life. I create problems, loss, poverty,
sadness and pain so that I am able to experience solutions, gain,
abundance, joy, and pleasure. I’m willing to approach these states as
‘experiences’ or ‘sensations’ in order to move through them as quickly
as possible to get to the other side.” On the other side of fully
experiencing any aspect of life is always greater intuition and
clarity—which, in turn, leads immediately to more peace and happiness.
What Are You Waiting For?
Welcome disruption! Invite discomfort!
And you will move faster through the challenging aspects of life and
into adventure and ease.
Or shall I say, “Welcome the energy
formerly known as disruption!” “Invite the sensation you used to call
discomfort.” Or better yet, “Welcome rearrangement! Invite transition!”
And be ready to enjoy life more fully
than ever before! |
