Newsletter: Fire Walk

This past week weekend I participated in a fire walk ceremony. It is the act of walking barefoot over a bed of hot embers or stones. If you're wondering why I did it, it's because I have made a commitment to take control of my fears and push myself out of my comfort zone. Walking on hot embers is definitely one of them!

As the day went by and the time came closer to the actual fire walk, I was amazed at how busy my mind was. How badly it wanted to protect me from the possibility of burning my feet. It used every single trick in the book to divert my attention. It told me I was wasting my time, I would get burnt, it would hurt for days, I had wasted my money. There was a never ending supply of reasons to avoid getting hurt. To be honest, walking on the embers turned out to be no big deal. The facilitator had prepared us well through meditation, education and practice.

This constant mind chatter made me reflect on how powerful our mind is and how much it wants to guarantee our safety. It evaluates everything around us and makes a quick decision based on past experiences and programming. Remember that the reptilian part of our brain was trained for fight or flight. If we saw a saber tooth tiger we didn't stand there negotiating . We either killed it or ran away. We don't have tigers running after us but modern versions of attack. Past hurts, traumas, fears, judgments, pain, abuse, mental, physical or emotional, environmental stress. These get stored in our subconscious mind (90+%) and creates a program of behavior. Once the pattern gets stored, our mind scans for possible future threats. In some instances this pattern can be useful, but in others it can come in the way of our growth, expansion and even happiness. How do we control this ancient part of our brain that can sabotage us?

1. Observe instead of engage. When you observe you are just noticing what is going on in your mind. You don't jump to conclusions, make assumptions or judgments. You let your mind be quiet and just notice. This simple act of detachment allows you to process what is happening inside of you and release it. If you try to understand the how, what, why of what is happening you will simply engage the mind again. Feeding it fuel that creates analysis paralysis.

2. Engage your heart instead of your mind. Pay attention to what you're feeling instead of what you're thinking. Your heart is 10 times more powerful energetically than your mind is. It taps straight into your soul. When you check into your heart you will hear the truth about what is going on. You will understand from a soul level why the fear,anxiety, doubt, judgment is being triggered. If tapping into feelings is difficult for you, just find the place in your body that feels tight, constricted, tense, heavy etc. and breathe deeply into it. Our cells hold our emotions and you can release it using your breath.

3. Distract yourself. Pay attention to other things around you. When you focus your attention elsewhere you disconnect the synapse in your brain that is linked to that expectation of fear. The more distracted you are, the less that connection will fire.

The more awareness you have of this ancient part of yourself, the easier it will be to break the mold. You might even get tempted to walk on hot embers!

Be well,

Mona

The Akashic Records: Find out your soul's history and plans for this lifetime.