Pathways

 “Heart to Heart, Soul to Soul”

As people we have a certain way of looking at things.  Based on our background, our cultural history, our families, our education, and much more we have become accustomed to understand things within parameters that make sense to us. At times that means we are truly limiting ourselves and are somewhat “set” in our approaches, actions, and re-actions to the world around us.  This is what I refer to as “mindset” and why I tend to argue against that in favor of “mindflex”.  “Mindflex” allow us to let go beyond what we have limited ourselves to, it allows us to be open-minded, like a blank slate in all we experience.  That may sound like an illusion and yet, it works.  There are plenty of examples of scientists, philosophers, thinkers, and people you may just meet on the street who are able to do that.  We simply understand that our current way of life is based on things that we currently know and have learned to accept as norms if you will.  When we take that as our base we are already flexible if someone presents a new idea, a new species being identifies or a new solution to a challenge we are facing that we had not thought of.  With that “mindflex” we do not disregard any such opportunities, we take those into account and add them to our mind’s library.

We can best see that in children, by the way.  They do not have preconceived ideas until they are being taught.  Their minds are flexible, open to receive high amounts of information without judgment, which leads them to be able to move in various directions trying out different approaches while learning what works best.  At some point, usually when entering kindergarten or school that flexibility is slowly and surely buried by specific teachings designed to guide them to what is accepted.

This all is especially important when we are facing challenging times; times in which all those norms and accepted parameters are challenged.  This can be due to a personal crisis or, as we see right now, global crises.  The first re-action is fear and flight into the comfort zone of what was established and set as acceptable.  Yet, all that is being challenged and it is time to detox the mind and allow it to flex once more.

So, let us try that now and whenever we face an experience or encounter that would “normally” have our set mind act in a pre-determined way.   Try that in your own, safe space right now and engage with the experience.  It all starts with you opening up.

Here are the steps:

• Close your eyes.  Put a blindfold on if you need.  Stop! Stop using the tools trained to see in pre-determined ways. 
• Watch the pre-determined thoughts popping into your mind.  Stop accepting the idea trained to lead you in pre-determined ways that pops into your head without delay. Thank them and release them.  Blank mind equals open mind = flexible response.
• Open our ears.  What do you hear?  Listen.  Push away any thoughts that jump into your mind.  No judgement.  No assumptions. No pre-conceived response.  No baggage while you are listening. 

This is the start to detoxing the mind and flexing the mind to better address any challenge that may appear in your life.  In these days, where one crisis seems to be followed by the next and we are given the change to BE with ourselves, it is the perfect time to turn back to how we were as children and lay to rest the conditioned approaches.  Then we are able to see, hear, listen, and feel the other heart to heart, and the soul to soul  regardless of the color of their hair, hair style, clothes, ethnicity, culture, creed, socio-economic status, gender and …. Whatever else we have been conditioned to block our flexibility and: our hearts. Then we connect from a point of flexibility.  That flexibility is love and an understanding that we are all one.