Friday, July 27, 2007

Don't Let Negative Thoughts Find a Place to Stay

There are five weeks left until I leave my safe job to start my own business. Up until the last month or so I've been very much living in faith. Trusting that even though not everything will work out as I hope it will ultimately work out for the best. However, fear has crept in a bit more deeply and I'm finding it challenging to trust as fully that if I take a leap I will fly, not fall.

I must remember that the fears are natural, especially since I have my first child due in October. The key is that I must view the fears as passing thoughts that serve a protective function to motivate me to not take expected outcomes for granted, but the fears need not define me. I tend to believe my thoughts. I think because I'm having a thought or feeling it must be true. The fact is that thoughts and feelings only define me if I choose to let them. Today I will give more credence to the positive thoughts rather than the negative ones.

Thursday, July 26, 2007

R.A.I.N.

In meditation class last night the teacher, Tara Brach focused on an acronym that is useful, RAIN.

It is intended to be used when we're suffering.

R = Recognize
Pause and recognize that you are experiencing suffering

A = Allow
Accept and allow the suffering without judgment

I = Investigate
Ask yourself why you are experiencing the suffering. What is going on? Is the situation itself causing your suffering or is there a larger source of suffering impacting other aspects of your life? This is to be done without judgment. It is simply about what is.

N = No identity
We acknowledge that what we are experiencing is not a reflection of who we are. It does not define us. It is not our persona; it does not make up our identity.

This is useful to me because I get caught up in fears about a new business I am starting and those fears generate negative thoughts. I tend to believe those negative thoughts. RAIN gives me a framework to look at myself and my thoughts from the third person, "Look at Dave giving energy to his fears and getting stuck in negative thoughts. He does this all the time even though his experiences prove that 99.9% of the things he worries about never happen. The negative thoughts are not real and he does not need to identify with them."


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