TO DO

Here are a couple of simple, short practices to help you root your imagery work in the waking reality. Choose one practice and stay with it for 21 days. Then pause for 7 days and pick up the same practice for another two months or shift to a different one. Additionally, you can write your insights, perceptions, and remarks in a special notebook.

 

REFERENCES:

AM – Andrew Morrish

BB – Bonnie Buckner

COL – Colette Aboulker – Muscat

CS – Catherine Shainberg

As you are coming home, and taking off your shoes and your jacket, set an intention that all the business of your work, all the buzz of the meetings, all the noise of the street, stay with your outer clothing by the exit to your house. And as you enter your home, you put on the slippers of peace, clarity, and openness.

When taking a shower, feel and see the water flowing down your body, washing away all that you don’t need, all that burdens you and troubles you. See the water entering your body and cleaning your body from within. Come out of the shower clean and refreshed.

When washing the dishes, imagine you are washing your inside. Wash and polish until you see yourself squeaky clean.

While cleaning your house, set an intention that the home of your body is cleaned.

When you want to step into the new, open the doors intentionally. When is the first thing that you see when you cross the threshold?

When you want to leave things behind you, close the doors intentionally. See, feel, and know that the thing is done.

Choose one habit you want to change. Instead of forbidding yourself to engage with it, simply pause for one minute before going your habitual way. What do you choose to do after the pause?

Every day, take a couple of minutes of sitting still. During this time, choose one sense and pay attention to it, e.g. hearing. What is the loudest sound you hear? What is the quietest sound you hear? What is the furthest sound you hear? What is the closest sound you hear? What can you hear in front of you, to your back, to your left, to your right, below you and above you? What can you hear all around you? Now listen to the silences in between the sounds, what happens?

As you are living your day, pay attention to the sensations in your body. Be present to everything that is arising within you. Pay attention when your body expands and when it contracts, when it lights up and when it goes dark, when it heats up and when it cools down. How can this awareness help you make choices in your life?

Notice what happens in your body when you have an intuition about something. Pay attention to the unique sensations: where in the body you feel them, how do you feel them, how do you see them. Follow your intuition or decide not to follow it, informing your body about your experiment. Verify: if you intuition was right, mark it in your notebook with a red pen.

On a piece of paper, write down a name of the quality you want to bring into your life. In the evening, place it under a glass of clear water. In the morning, drink the water slowly, observing all the physical sensations of the water flowing down into your body. Repeat for 21 days, and then take a 7 days pause. Repeat for 3 months in total. What develops in you?

Commit to seeing the good in every situation in your life. Name the challenge and address it. Speak to the good.

Before a meal, take a moment to notice how it looks, smells, feels, sounds. Acknowledge its texture. Find your own way of silently or aloud expressing gratitude for the gifts on your plate. How does such a meal taste?

Find clear places at home for: eating, sleeping, comforting, working, moving. What happens when you do?

Find clear times for: eating, sleeping, comforting, working, moving. What happens when you do?

Observe your breathing. See feel when your breathing flows in its own rhythm. See feel when your breathing changes: becomes shallower or deeper, quicker or slower. Notice in which situations it happens. Allow the space for the breathing to return to its own rhythm, when it does, what changes?

Choose for one month to serve peace. Choose your words and actions wisely, giving priority to the ones that contribute to peace. Do it for 21 days. What changes around you? What shifts within you when you do?

Enter into a new space, take a quick look, and then close your eyes. With your eyes closed, describe the space to yourself. Then open your eyes and see how well you could describe the space to yourself. What have you missed, what have you noticed?

The next time you are having a conversation, listen to the other person speaking, and notice words or phrases they repeat. What kind of a dream do they tell? Is there a necessity to it? How could your presence offer a different perspective?

The next time you are talking to someone, observe yourself speaking. Notice words, phrases, expressions that you repeat. What kind of a dream is it? Is there a necessity to it?

Choose a spot somewhere in nature, and sit there for 5 minutes per day, at the same hour, every day. What do you notice? What do you hear, smell, touch, taste, see? What changes? 

Change your spot. What is different?

Choose a stone, a tree, a plant, a pile of soil to sit with. Observe it closely and notice their unique signature. Draw it. Close your eyes and listen to their being. See what arises within you. What do you learn from this meeting?

Place the centre of your attention in your heart. Observe the world through this perspective. What changes? The following day, choose to stay in your heart or shift to another place.

Notice a rhythm in which you are moving throughout the day. Hear it in relation to other rhythms of people, animals, plants, and minerals. What are you tuned to? Is your rhythm balanced? If not, what do you need to change? Notice how it shifts in response to other rhythms. Sing it to yourself.

Choose a piece of music that you like. Listen to it and follow one instrument. The following day, listen to the next instrument. Keep bringing various instruments to the foreground. What’s different about the way you hear the song now?

The next time you see your partner, find five new details about them. What changes if you see them through the lens of the new?

The next time your partner annoys you, remember the moment you fell in love with them. Returning to this place of love, how do you see your partner now? What happens to the annoyance?

In an encounter, speak to things that bring you joy. See how it changes the interaction with your partner.

In an encounter, speak to things that brought you joy. See how it changes the interaction with your partner.

When feeling ungrounded, sit five minutes a day on the earth.

When feeling ungrounded, put your hands in the ground and feel the soil under your fingers. 

When feeling ungrounded, re-pot your plants, attend to your garden. 

When feeling ungrounded, pay attention to how your feet touch the earth when walking, standing and sitting.

When feeling ungrounded, notice the weight of your body.

When feeling ungrounded, slow down and pay attention to every minute sensation.

When feeling ungrounded, sit against a trunk of a tree and breathe with a tree.

Look around your home, and see if there are any necessities to be addressed. Is there anything that is broken: can you repair it? If not, can you replace it? What can you do to address this immediate necessity? And, is there a deeper necessity to be addressed? Where does this present situation originate? Is there something in the way you go about things that calls for your attention? Is there an old pattern raising its head? Catch it, face it and transform it.

Ask your body which herbs do I need today. If you can, go into your garden and choose the herbs intuitively. You can go into a tea shop or browse through your cupboard with tea. Compose the herbs into a tea. Smell it. Touch it. Hear the sound they make in your fingers. See their unique constellation. Make the tea and experience it with all your senses. Feel all the sensations of holding a cup of tea in your hands. When drinking, pay attention to every sip of the tea travelling down your body. Notice how it makes you feel, and how you see yourself now.