It’s well documented that mindful practices such as yoga and meditation can have a profound effect on personal well being. But what happens when the effects of personal practices like these ripple out into the wider world?
“If you’re not grounded in consciousness, you’re bringing the old world with you.” ~ Marianne Williamson
The effect of mindful practices on the individual
By pausing as early on in your day as possible to quiet your chattering mind and connect to the stillness and peace that lies beneath this part of you, you can completely alter your experience of a day. And of course days make weeks, weeks make months, months make years, and years make lifetimes. So that’s one awe-inspiring and magnificent effect on your life.
In what ways can this affect the world around me?
But wait. There’s more! The importance of quieting your mind at the beginning of the day goes far beyond the pleasant, peaceful equilibrium it can create on a personal level.
If you look at yourself from a more creative point of view, from the moment you interact with your household or leave the house in the morning to the moment you close your eyes at night, you are creating waves of effect throughout your day.
This includes nearly everything that you do. Everything. In fact, it is incredibly difficult to do anything at all without causing a ripple-out effect in some way.
It might be the way in which you interact with fellow passengers on your morning commute, your food and consumption choices during your day, the energy and intent you put into your work, the language, tone and content of your communications with friends, colleagues and loved ones. EVERYTHING.
So, if you think about yourself and your thoughts, emotions and behaviours from a ‘cause and effect’ perspective, your internal state of being greatly affects the world around you. I love the above message from Marianne Williamson. Think about it again. “If you’re not grounded in consciousness, you’re bringing the old world with you.”
By 'old world' Marianne is not referring so much to an ancient world but rather to a catastrophic destiny mankind are on route toward if greed, fear and the prioritisation of materialism and eternal economic growth continue to be the order of the day. A 'new world' refers to the reverse; a compassionate and caring society of peaceful contentedness and cooperation.
So, what would it mean to be 'bringing the old world with you'? Well, without putting it too bluntly, if you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem. (I know, bit harsh - sorry.) But the idea is that your thoughts, words and deeds will ultimately be lending themselves toward either loving and kindness or fear, competitiveness and anxiety.
The point she is making is that you cannot be neutral from a cause and effect perspective - unless you do nothing, speak to no one, buy nothing, use nothing, and think nothing.
“Every human thought, word, or deed is based on fear or love. Fear is the energy which contracts, closes down, draws in, hides, hoards, harms. Love is the energy which expands, opens up, sends out, reveals, shares, heals. You have free choice about which of these to select.” Neal Donald Walsch
Many philosophers, psychologists and spiritual texts agree; that every thought, word, action and deed are at their very deepest core rooted in one of two primary motivating emotions: love or fear. Or a simpler example would be the emotions you experience when you want something and emotions you experience when you don't want something.
So, back to the idea that you start your day mindlessly. If this results in you acting on thoughts, ideas and emotions that are at the mercy of your survivalist, hustling, competitive,‘doing’, conditioned, ego driven mind all day, there is almost no doubt that some, if not many of your thoughts, words, actions and deeds will be based, at their deepest route, in fear = OLD WORLD.
However, by beginning to build mindful morning practices that help to quiet your busy thoughts for a few moments at least, you are giving yourself a powerful opportunity to bypass the fear-based, competitive egocentric mind and connect to an alternative portion of yourself. And the way that this peaceful, safe, centred portion of yourself thinks, feels and behaves = NEW WORLD
So, you see, the power you have during those first moments of the day is actually mind-blowing (literally ;). You can rush into ‘doing’ mode, be catapulted into your (aforementioned HIGHLY creative) day in high-motion, volatile, reactive, mode. Or you can plug in, connect to your source, and send out waves of love, support and upliftment in all that you do.
Check out Marianne’s interview with Jono Fisher on The Wake Up Project.
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