Physician Healer

Issue 37 “It’s all good”

“It’s all good”

I’ve said this phrase on lots of occasions and perhaps many of you have, as well. As we are currently experiencing whatever it is that is happening locally, nationally and globally, I’ve taken some steps back to really look at the meaning of this statement and what it means to me now.

I’ve used, “It’s all good” when I’ve tripped over something on the ground badly and didn’t want anyone to fuss over an embarrassed me. I’ve also used it to lie to myself at times when whatever happened wasn’t ok in order to comfort others and therefore ultimately betraying myself. It’s all to satisfy the egoic brain or mental chatter as mindful business instructor and speaker Srikumar Rao calls it.

With an abundance of temptation all around us to stress over, I have found this saying of immense importance these last 3 to 6 months in order to navigate and thrive in the present culturescape.

Comedian turned personal growth author and speaker Kyle Cease reminds us that the pandemic was just the tip of the iceberg in forcing us to reckon with our old stories. And, as we reach a point of frustration and stuckness we are forced to change, to allow the old patterns of behavior to die off, or else we would not survive let alone thrive. This momentum is picking up speed as the one year has turned into now almost 2.

Spiritual leader and speaker Michael Beckwith calls the universe’s painful push a kensho moment in which something painful pushes us to make that leap and find a new direction in our lives until we are gently pulled by our soul’s passion to do more to fulfill our spirit than what we had been doing.

All this means is that the way we’ve always done things needs a second look. The way we’ve behaved needs a second look. If we’ve always picked up the phone and called someone whenever we’ve been triggered by an external factor, the change would be to just sit with it instead of picking up the phone. On the other hand, if we’ve always been introverted, the change would be to connect with someone.

In the present time with so much turmoil and external change, we feel we are losing control. Yet, we never had control in the first place. It was the egoic illusion that elusively convinced us we did—control our outcome. Many of us have struggled to try to make certain things happen without understanding that sometimes what we want does not further our internal growth but what we end up getting is significantly better than anything we could have envisioned. The challenge lies in our inability to realize it until after much mental torment beforehand.

Many have asked me over the years if living with mindfulness of the present moment is easier now and that I no longer think and behave as a five-sensory human, as Gary Zukav talks about, but as a multisensory human. By having an awareness that there are no coincidences but synchronicities and an awareness that human to human connections are temporary at best as long as energetic alignment and mutual growth of the involved souls are still beneficial, I would qualify as a multisensory human. But, I, like everyone else, am continuing to grow and learn through experience.

I have battles that come to me like everyone else. My egoic mind is as loud as everyone else’s and the only difference is that I have picked up and have been given tools to help me steer the rough waters of terrible storms and survive to tell about them. “Problems” as we like to label things we don’t find pleasant, are not unique to certain individuals. We all have them if we label our experiences that way.

This past week I had to make changes, which I knew ahead of time. However, I expected help so I knew it would be all right and I made specific mental “expectation” plans. Well, comes time for the changes to take place and the help was not forthcoming due to our favorite “external” forces. Was I upset? You bet I was. What was interesting was that my head felt incredibly heavy from the war going on between the ego and the true essence of who I am.

The ego wanted me to believe that I was done in once again, that I was in fact the victim and that I need to think about why these things were happening to me and targeting me. Staying in the present moment and remembering I don’t have control over anything, I kept saying, “Everything is perfect as it is and perfect as they are. I need to get curious and find out what lesson this is supposed to teach me.”

My ego did a comeback and said, “The situation sucks and you know it. This should’ve turned out differently and so you need to find out why this happened because it’s bad and you need to pick up the phone and tell everyone how bad this is. What if this happens again?”

From previous experiences, I have done just that, called a bunch of people and reiterated the same story over and over trying to get approval. Misery loves company. My explanation was that I needed to get it out of my system. What I was actually doing was making a ginormous number of copies of the same complaint which becomes noise and clutter inside. Then, we feel down.

Thinking and acting this way does take a lot of daily consistent practice. Whenever we are hung up on something we believe is a problem, that nags you at a persistent level. I’ve also gotten into a habit of stating out loud something I am feeling but I don’t qualify it with an explanation or a scenario. This is something spiritual author and speaker Eckhart Tolle reinforces a lot. For instance, this weekend when I had to make the changes on my own when I could have used more assistance, my body didn’t feel good listening to that mental chatter. I said out loud, “I feel sad and disappointed.” I did not justify it in any way nor did I create scenarios that would’ve made the situation better. Neither of those behaviors would have altered anything but instead would serve to frustrate me further.

In the last year and mostly in the last several months, I have found it always more favorable to be the observer of all things happening around us that affect us directly or indirectly. Taking on the role of an observer allows us to keep a necessary distance from the action and to be able to use that as a lesson rather than chalking it up to just another series of unfortunate events. Is this easy? Of course not. But, as lawyer turned personal growth author and speaker Robin Sharma always says that true growth happens when we choose to overcome hardship by going through it rather than taking the easy path.

I grew this weekend.

Meditation Reminders

1) Please remember to check last week’s issue for the pictorials on the Meridian points and on previous issues before that to get into a daily practice of breathing exercises, doing Meridian on yourself and using intentional statements.

2) Always remember to get a journal and write down dreams you remember, what you were grateful for today or this week, and what one new thing you learned today and what leap to take tomorrow to propel yourself along in this journey.

3) Remember to savor the process or the journey as it is never about reaching that point but about what you experienced and therefore learned to get there because once you get there, Ego asks, “What’s next?”

Until next time, thank you for reading and may you find that one thing that lights a sparkle in you. If you liked what you read then click the SUBSCRIBE button because it’s free and each issue will automatically get sent into your inbox. And, click SHARE if you know someone who would find the issues helpful. Finally, COMMENT if you have questions or something to share.

With love and gratitude,

Celeste Amaya, MD