Mind Tools & Inspirations: Checking the weather
Like raindrops on a window how you feel colors and shapes what you see.
Becoming aware of how you feel gives you information. In this 2.5-minute experience you bring your awareness to how you feel—to your internal “weather”.
TRY THIS…
Take a moment to consider how you feel right now.
Close your eyes and let your attention settle.
Bring your attention to your body. Notice how your body feels. Perhaps your body feels relaxed —or tense. Perhaps your body feels comfortable–or uncomfortable. Perhaps your body feels rested–or tired. Invite your own word that expresses how your body feels now to come to mind.
Bring your attention to your emotions. Notice how you feel. Perhaps you feel peaceful —or upset. Perhaps you feel safe—or threatened. Perhaps you feel confident—or uncertain. Invite a word that expresses you feel now to show up.
Becoming aware of how you feel gives you information. You get to know your internal “weather” . You begin to operate from awareness of how you feel and how those feelings may influence your actions and choices.
Play with these ideas and create your own way of checking in with your personal “weather”.
If you would like to be guided, play this short audio.
WHY DO THIS?
How you feel influences your perceptions and your actions.
Feelings help keep you alive. Fear motivates you to move away from danger. Attraction motivates you to seek rewards. Pain motivates you to stop doing the thing that hurts.
Even though body constantly sends information about what it is feeling to your brain, your mind can be oblivious. Your attention can be elsewhere. But your actions are still influenced by how you feel.
Noticing how you feel lets you recognize and consider the messages your body is sending.
Developing the ability and habit of checking in with yourself regularly nurtures a mind-body partnership.
Mind Tools & Inspirations are experiences for busy, smart, curious people to help you operate your human system.
To access the full set of Mind Tools visit https://substack.com/@yogamindtools
I add a new experience every week.
Kindly,
Carrie
Carrie Heeter, PhD
Yoga Mind Tools
Photo credit: Vuong Nguyen from pixabay.com
Thanks for your comment, Tom! I too find it can be surprising and useful, waiting to see what word shows up to describe how I am feeling now.
This was really insightful today. I’ve been feeling a bit off this morning and was mostly just trying to ignore it. An email arrived asking me to check the weather, so I listened and followed along. When asked to think of a word I was immediately hit with something that gave me pause because I didn’t expect it. Giving myself the chance to allow the unwanted word and associated feelings time, it gave me a second to realize that this was the source of my feeling “off” today. I took a few minutes to breathe and contemplate how to go about adjusting my thinking to give myself relief. And, while it’s not magic and there are some lingering feelings there, overall I feel better now. Thanks :)