Finding the Opposite
Observing a discomfort in the body is the first step to finding the opposite...and choosing to feel something different
breathing in, i notice tension
breathing out, I notice a lightness
breathing in, i notice i am alive
breathing out, i notice i am at rest
breathing in, i observe the universe within
breathing out, i share my love with you
Why might it be useful to find the opposite?
How often are you aware of what you feel…your feelings and sensations held on the inside of your body or mind?
Ever lay awake at night unable to fall asleep? Maybe your mind is wandering or worrying, maybe your legs feel restless. It’s uncomfortable, isn’t it?
Can you make a general list of discomforts you have noticed feeling in your body or mind over the last week or two?
These discomforts may include butterflies in the belly, tension in the mind, racing thoughts, exhaustion at your core, some form of aching or fear inside…
The ability to observe discomforts you experience at any given moment will allow you to then…find the opposite…such as…
Observe anxious sensations or thoughts? Go to the opposite…feelings or thoughts of calm, peace, contentment. Then allow for these new (opposite) sensations to come forth inside your body. (With practice, you’ll know how they feel and where they like to live in your body.)
When we can find the opposite, we have the ability to change our experience, our discomfort into something entirely different, thus…
We hold the potential to change absolutely everything from feelings, sensations, and thoughts…to outcomes.
Identifying opposites you can experience daily…
Asleep - Awake
Hot - Cold
Dry - Wet
Hungry - Full
Anxious - Peaceful
Sad - Happy
Irritated - Content
Angry - Grateful
Noisy - Silent
Moving - Still
Alert - Resting
And periodically or seasonally…
Fire - Ice
Earth - Water
Winter - Summer
Spring - Fall
How are you understanding yourself?
To understand yourself, you train your awareness to focus on how you are feeling in body and mind at any given moment.
You train yourself to be the observer, the knower, the seer of all that lives within your very personal universe.
Once you know how you feel, you know what you need and want.
When you know how you feel, you know what you need to do next.
Interoception
Interoception is a noticing of sensations that originate inside the body, such as your heartbeat, the expansion of your lungs when you inhale, and hunger in your belly (for food) and heart (for love).
An interoceptive awareness may also include noticing your hands trembling and your face growing to a heated red when you are about to give a presentation or have a difficult conversation.
When we train ourselves toward interoceptive awareness, we are able to observe what’s going on inside and make internal changes when necessary (go to the opposite).
Those changes that are needed can often be done by identifying how we would rather be feeling, sensing, or thinking…and that’s usually the opposite of an uncomfortable feeling, sensation, or thought we are having in any given moment.
A personal example…
As a child and teenager I was very shy, and the thought of having to talk or read in class was incredibly painful. Sensations included shortness of breath (or a tightness in my chest), a bright red-hot face, trembling in my body (especially my hands). I’m pretty sure I received an “F” one quarter in Spanish because I refused to speak out loud…it was just way too scary…uncomfortable.
Then I had to take a public speaking class my freshman year in college. And something changed completely.
I somehow became aware of the uncomfortable sensations of speaking in class before the sensations would happen, as well as a (sensational) knowledge of the desire to change what I felt in order to give a presentation in front of the class. (It’s also worth saying, there weren’t any bullies in this college class, unlike the halls and classrooms of high school).
I would go on to ace my presentations and this class because I was aware of the physical discomforts of anxiety, speaking in front of a class…and I could go to and allow the opposite…
Before the presentations I would allow myself to experience my face not turning red, holding calm on the inside through a very slow breath, and I would steady my hands…I would create the opposite sensations in my body and move myself into a beautiful result.
This is a possible skill for all of us to master!
To gain interoceptive awareness
Turn down the noise.
Allow an experience of Silence…Stillness…through the noise and chaos.
Befriend your breath and body…ask your Spirit, your core Self…How do I feel in this moment and where do I feel it? How would I rather feel?
Understand what each positive emotion, feeling, sensation, thought feels like and where they exist in the body…and allow yourself to shift to this opposite.
This is a practice, a skill to develop. It takes patience and time.
Final thoughts…practicing intention
The next time you notice yourself feeling one of your sensations or thoughts of discomfort (from that list you made earlier!), determine the opposite of that sensation or thought…and allow it to be so, allow yourself to make that your new feeling, sensation, or thought.
Yes, it sounds easy here…but again, it takes practice. And the first step is becoming aware of how you actually feel in any given moment.
A practice that’s so worth it!
(So worth it that several years ago I was walking myself into a conference room to give my annual presentation to a group of ~250 individuals…and much to my surprise, this time the room was about 10 times bigger and filled with 1,400 individuals, a massive stage, and two large screens on either side of the podium where I was to speak! After a quick gasp for air and a brief moment of panic, I went to my opposites of calm, with steady breath and hands…and aced another presentation! But this was only possible because I had years of experience finding and going to the opposite.)
Notice…Observe…Become Aware…
Stay or Change…
All of this is within your power!
Give interoception a try and I’ll be with you for a interoceptive awareness practice on the Moving into Spirit Podcast on Friday!
Until then…much love to you in this beautiful, happy New Year!
xoxo Michelle
