Day 12 – Welcoming Change Is Natural [Oprah and Deepak Chopra Teachings]

Getting Unstuck – Creating a Limitless Life – Oprah and Deepak Chopra 21 Day Meditation Experience

 

These are amazing notes – not transcripts –  from Deepak and Oprah’s meditation challenge, Getting Unstuck, Creating a Limitless Life, written by DoinTheGratefulDance .  I have enjoyed several of the meditation series Oprah and Deepak Chopra have shared.  I am not affiliated with them – just a grateful listener too and wanted to share these wonderful notes.    I couldn’t have done a better job!  Thanks for sharing these notes!

 

Day 12 – “Welcoming Change Is Natural”

“Being fully present is being awake to the movement and creation of life, being alive to the process of life itself.” – Pema Chodron

 

Message of the Day:  

My life is dynamic because I welcome change”

 

Sanskrit Mantra:  

“Ahrah Kahrah (sounds like it’s spelled)
I invoke the creativity of the universe in my life”

 

Oprah says….

We often hear that change is the nature of life but yet we resist change.  The ultimate irony is that we fear and avoid change and painful times but they are often the very moments that help us become who we are meant to be.

Oprah quotes Author, Anais Nin, ‘And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom’.  Resisting and avoiding change can shrink us into a life of inertia but when, as difficult as it may be, we embrace and trust change, we become unstuck.

She asks us to take a moment and think back to a time that we feared a big change.  What was going on at that time with us?  Sleepless nights? Heart pounding? Overwhelmed?  Anxious? On-edge? Paralyzed by fear of the unknown and of what the change would bring?    Whatever it was – we lived through it and everything ended up fine – maybe even better, in fact we may see it as being one of the best things that ever happened to us.    She asks us to consider this…rather than fear change, embrace it and lean in to it, welcome it as a constant and the essence of living a dynamic life.

Deepak says….

Being stuck is stagnation.  Inertia takes the place of alertness, lightness, openness and optimism – dynamism.   He says that living our days in a hectic way, duties, demands and deadlines may feel dynamic bit it’s not – it tends to stifle dynamism because we’re fatigued and worn out.  He describes dynamism as an inner state of awareness, effervescence, being fresh, vibrant and alive.    Creative living and dynamism (inner) achieves more through awareness than constant activity (outer).   He gives the example of studying all night for an exam and taking it when we’re dead tired as opposed to being rested, refreshed with an alert mind.  Which works better?

The simple truth that makes most people uncomfortable is that life is dynamic and constantly changing.  Often without even realizing it, we find ourselves resisting change because we fear the unknown but by resisting change, we stifle our creativity, live a constricted existence and are no longer living in the moment.

Reversely, there is wisdom in change.  Wise people want a life that unfolds naturally every day but it requires self-knowledge.  Deepak says that inside all of us are two opposing forces – one that favors change and one that fears it.

• First we need to recognize this in ourselves
• We need to gently encourage the force that favors change
• Thoughtfully address the force that fears change
• Strive to live in the present moment
• Don’t allow our daily experiences to grow stale – seek what is fresh and new.  Every day.
• Say yes more than we say no
• Foster courage so that it becomes a habit

Dynamism is in the present moment and when we live it, we’ll be joyful and look forward to change every day.

Repeat to myself,

“My life is dynamic because I welcome change
My life is dynamic because I welcome change”

Listen to some relaxing music, breathe slowly and deeply,  become more and more relaxed, and meditate for about 10 minutes using the Sanskrit mantra – w

“Ahrah Kahrah” (sounds like it’s spelled) “I invoke the creativity of the universe in my life”  

Deepak says the mantra “awakens the energy of creativity, transformation and materialization. These primordial sounds stirred the forces of creativity into action.”

“Ahrah Kahrah
Ahrah Kahrah
Ahrah Kahrah”

Continue meditating  for about 10 minutes and then release the mantra.  Concentrate on the centering thought:   being fulfilled and being who you want to be and repeating:

“My life is dynamic because I welcome change
My life is dynamic because I welcome change”

 

Reflections on Day 12, write about it…

• The best way we can welcome change is to not resist it but be in charge of the change.  Decide on 2 healthy changes I can start making today (switch to healthy, organic foods, sign up for yoga, take a class or learn something new – a foreign language? – something that challenges mentally).

• List 2-3 things that put me in an undesirable mental state – fatigue, worry, anxiety, boredom, dullness or a bad mood and describe ways I can eliminate the cause of these feelings – maybe avoiding those I only pretend to like, reduce repetitive tasks or find a way to make them less so, stop paying attention to negativity in news, and other stories.  (Avoid negativity as much as I can – in and around me.)
• Become proactive about my mental state and look for ways I can become engaged, rested, alert, energized and interested. Write about practical steps to do this, i.e. find time to play every day, laugh more – seek to surround myself with fun, interesting and stimulating people?)

 

Oprah lessons  written by by DoinTheGratefulDance