isness

mixed media creation from my art journal

“Emotional intelligence begins when you feel what you feel without labels or evaluation.” ~Deepak Chopra

I’ve noticed what I feel from the place of observation helps me choose both where I put my energy and how I respond. If I notice that being near something or someone makes my body feel constricted or makes my heart hurt, rather than making up a story about it and making it someone’s fault that I feel bad, I can just choose to move away and move towards something that feels better.

Just tuning into the sheer feeling without the need to make it something other than what it is seems to take the power out of it and frees me up to choose more joy. I’ve noticed when I tune into my feelings, my mind isn’t busy thinking about things that have nothing to do with the present moment.

When I’m playing with my kids and allowing the feeling of joy to surface, looking up at the night sky and getting lost in the twinkling beauty of the stars or sharing the luxury of ecstatic abandon with a lover, I am not thinking, I am just being.

Being, or awareness, seems to lead to more being in the moment and more wholeness whereas thinking seems to split me apart. My mind can go into many directions at one time like tributaries in a stream that trickle down to the nothing or might eventually end up in the ocean.

My awareness doesn’t lead me to the ocean. It is the ocean.

As I sit here typing this, it makes me realize that my awareness is the one who watches all this unfolding and chooses. Right now, I am choosing to focus on finishing this rather than clicking on one of the other browser windows that is open.

I’m also noticing that it’s nearly impossible to describe isness. It just IS. No labels. No evaluations. Just feelings and choices. Just being.