After 18 months of mindfulness I thought I would re-cap on where I started and where I am now.
Initially, I was suffering from travel stress anxiety. This was crippling me and I was headed towards a dark place. Very dark.
Today, I can work / perform to a very high level with zero stress. I can think with extreme clarity and traveling is actually enjoyable again on my motorbike and I still have the car.
There are three states of consciousness, awake, dreaming, deep sleep and a fourth one which may be referred to as pure consciousness. After a short mindfulness session I can now enter the fourth state at will. Which is nice. The fourth state is 3-4 times more restful than sleep. In the fourth state the imagination is unhindered and creativity bursts through. It is quite something to experience.
In this fourth state, I gave my blog some thought and decided to write this post about kindness. Nothing is planned and I am not going to edit this. In my other posts I mentioned that we ought to try and love everyone. This is hard, at least for me. The answer to a question I never asked is 'kindness'.
First of all, charge yourself up with 'kindness'. In a mindful state breathe in and out and as you do imagine that you are breathing in or soaking up 'kindness' and on the out breath releasing the kindness back into the universe. I imagined this being similar to waves on the shore as I sat on the water line. I didn't attempt to absorb all the water, I jut allowed myself to get wet.
Secondly, be on the alert for other people extending 'kindness' to you. In accepting this kindness with grace you now have more than enough to start extending 'kindness' to others. Be aware that others may only have a thimble full of 'kindness' whereas us mindful folk have access to an infinite amount and as we start freely dispensing it our thimble will grow into a bucket. Well, why not?
I imagine this 'kindness' as a wave of positive (vibrational) energy and I visualise it as the sea. Thus, I view the 'kindness' as both gentle and powerful. I doubt it would take many of us to change the world with this one technique.
Regardless, in attempting to be kind, I rapidly notice when I am not being kind. This is important because until you are aware of something you cannot change it. I am also more sensitive to when others are being kind. Not even 24 hours have passed since the 'kindness' idea / theory was downloaded into my head during my ten minutes of fourth state consciousness. I am amazed at how kind my coworkers are and how unkind I am. Who knew? They did, probably. I am sarcastic with a truly brutal sense of humour. I thought I was witty and amusing.
Today, riding home on my motorbike a woman pulled out, very dramatically, in front of me. I braked sharply then simply matched speed with her. Within a minute, I used the power of the motorbike to accelerate passed her. She quite violently shook her fist at me as I passed. I had no emotional reaction to her antics and thought no ill will toward her. Where I would have struggled to show her any love, showing her kindness was easy. I was also being a little selfish. Why would I want to interact, in any way whatsoever, with such a highly agitated young lady?
18 months ago, I would have reacted far differently. I would have panicked. Before my travel stress anxiety I would have reacted with aggression. Kindness is a far better approach. I remain calm and relaxed and she has free will to do as she pleases, within reason.
Kindness comes from a place of relaxed and assured power. It comes from the human being within us all. We need to exercise our humanity as often as we are able. It is good for ourselves and probably beneficial to the world at large.
To the high performers out there who haven't time for mindfulness, meditation, fourth states and kindness. You won't be operating at anywhere near your potential without these ages old tools.
To those who think kindness comes from weakness, may be it does but be warned, mine doesn't.
I am not sure if that last sentence is kind or not. I include it because it may save someone from experiencing an unexpected event. I include it to encourage those who despise 'hippy' nonsense to realise a truth, this stuff is thousands of years old and hippies were mostly about drugs and sex.
Emily Fletcher is someone to research if you want to learn how to do what it is I do. I really cannot be bothered to teach you how to do it but she really enjoys teaching this stuff. I like doing what I like doing and this is it.
I hope that last paragraph came across as kind. Being kind does not mean that you become a slave to everyone else. You do exactly what it is you do. You simply interact with others in a kind manner. There is plenty of room to also be courteous and polite.
You all take care and let us see if I can be consistently kind enough for those close to me to notice.
