Hello, we hope you feel enlivened, rested and ready for Day 2 – You Are Not Your Stuff.
Now we all have our stuff, our issues and our conditioning, but we’re not really taught how to handle it in a healthy manner, which can result in us either feeling overwhelmed by it or suppressing it. Neither is ideal! So today we’re going to share a really simple way to move through your stuff, so that it can stop running the show and make more space for your spirit.
Click on the video below, or scroll down for the text if your internet isn’t playing ball.
The first thing to notice for this module is that you are not your stuff. You have stuff, yes, but you are not it. In fact, your stuff is what gets in the way of who you really are.
A good example of this is when Jade came back home while she was at university and due to rejigging the house she had to sleep in the living room. Which she was not too pleased about, and proceeded to turn the living room into a bedroom and spread all her stuff (perfume, shoes, clothes, you name it) out.
Now, I was not too happy about this, and collared her in the garden one day until she could see that not only was she not her physical stuff, but she also wasn’t her emotional stuff. Her stuff were like nasty clothes getting in the way of who she was, and could be taken off to make more space for her spirit.
The stuff that is caught up in your system will be stuff that you have been unable to process, usually because you were young, unsupported, or had a lot going on and felt overwhelmed. Stuff comes up when you are in a place to address it. I’m not suggesting that it feels nice when it does, but if you can give it your focus and tenderness, it will go a long way to softening the issue.
Everything does what it says on the packet, and feelings just want to be felt. We spend a lot of energy avoiding addressing things, and we all have our different ways of doing that. I get crazily tired for example, so now I know that when I get this feeling, there is something I’m avoiding.
The easiest way to tell if you’ve got some stuff is that you start having a reaction. Maybe you get angry, or upset, or annoyed – if you’re having a reaction then you’ve got some stuff! Now this stuff isn’t you, but you can do something about it.
The first thing we like to do when we’ve got something coming up is to get really into it! To have a bit of a rant, like “he really did do it! Can you believe it! It was awful!” to juice it up.
Once you’ve juiced it up (or maybe it’s so live for you that you don’t need to), see where you feel it. Maybe it’s in your chest, or your hips, or your stomach.
Let’s say what you were feeling was sadness and that it sat on your chest (as sadness often does), start to feel it, and then bring your tender attention to it, as if were a sad child that needed comfort from an adult.
This might feel uncomfortable to start with, but nothing gets better by being ignored, so tenderly and compassionately stay with what you’re feeling for as long as you can. It’s a part of you that didn’t get what it needed at the time, and has come back now to be tenderly received so that it can go.
So today, gently and tenderly bring your stuff to you. Sit with it. See what it has to say and let it move on when it’s ready.
Sending you love and tenderness until tomorrow,
Avanti and Jade
