We have met the enemy and he is us. ~ Pogo
I have an urgent need to write tonight. There are dozens of matters on my mind and I don’t know which way to go. I apologize in advance if I ramble.
I used the Pogo quote above because I think of it as a truism. (In case you don’t know, Pogo is a comic strip ‘possum.) We are all our own worst enemies at one time or another. Well, I won’t speak for you but I am. I become my enemy when I’m angry or resentful or unforgiving. As I’ve worked through the difficulties that lost love brings, I have found that I often have to stop, center myself, breathe deeply and visualize myself letting go of whatever is causing me pain. Sometimes I go as far as to say, “Breathe in love and peace, breath out anger or jealousy or vengeful thoughts.” Or whatever is causing me to be unhappy. You get the picture. It would be nice if I could do this exercise once or twice and be cured. Unfortunately it doesn’t work that way. I have to get in a comfortable position and really focus for fifteen or twenty minutes. If I’m unusually bad on a given day I have to do it three or four times that day. And often I’ll think the pest is gone and it will crop up again when I least expect it.
Wouldn’t it be wonderful if one person could do this exercise for another who is hurting? But we cannot. And it is so important to get these negative awful poisonous things out. But first we have to know what we are dealing with and that entails taking a good hard look at ourselves. Not so easy to do. Can we breathe out anger if we can’t define it as anger? I think we can. At least enough to feel better temporarily. That’s when I have to breathe in peace and breathe out whatever is making me miserable. As in, I don’t know what it is, I just know I’m miserable.
So, D, this post is for you. And if I could, I would breathe into you all the good things that you need and I would remove all the negatives that are making you sad or angry or miserable or unwell. I wish I could make you well. I can’t. But I can wish you well. And I do.
What we learned here is love tastes bitter when it’s gone. ~ Rob Thomas
Back On My Own 
Oh, I love this exercise you do! It reminds of one I took up while studying Beth Moore’s “Living Beyond Yourself: Exploriing the Fruit of the Spirit.” She taught me about “pouring out, pouring in and pouring forth”. The way that it manifested for me was each morning I would go for a walk and then come back to the house. I would then “pour out” to God – all the things/situations/people that were bothering me, hurting me, making me crazy. As I poured out to Him, I would weed my beds. (I haven’t been as enthusiastic a weeder since!) I would ask Him to take it all. Then, exhausted from pouring all that out (feeling empty of hate, jealousy and those things that made me crazy), I would ask God to pour into me (the empty me) the fruit of the spirit, you know, love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. (None of which come naturally for me.) Then, feeling really intimate with the Lord at that point, having spoken out loud my selfishness and asking Him to take it all, and beleiving that He did, I would ask Him to show me opportunities to pour forth these upon others. To keep my eyes and heart open for the chance to love, have peace, be patient, show kindness, etc…Whew! Just typing that out makes me ask myself, ‘Why am I not still doing this?” Hmmmmm…sorry for the long reply! I keep forgetting whose blog this is. smiley! it is yours and you inspire me! Love you, lady!
LikeLike
Wonderful tip I shall try it.
Yesterday Stephen (LC) made me sit and concentrate on the future I wanted and also to imagine how I felt having someone who I loved and loved me sitting beside me and enjoying that future with me. He asked me where the feeling of love started and how it travelled through my body. It was incredibly calming and uplifting.
LikeLike
You’re welcome. I hope it will work for you. It takes a few times to get the hang of it.
LikeLike
This is a good exersise and it made me think of how to release any anger that we feel. If I need it I will definetly give it a go. Good tips are hard to find so thank you for this one
LikeLike
Hi bye2. I’m chuckling because I recently started to watch Dharma and Greg reruns. I loved it when it was on originally and I still do. Such a funny combination of characters.
i took yoga for a few months several years ago. Yoga is big on breathing and I noticed how it melted away my stress when I really focused. Later when D left, a good friend did what she called breathing prayers. And that is much like what I do now. I even teach my grandchildren to deep breathe when they get over-stimulated. It’s amazing how it calms them. I don’t use words with the children. I just say breath in, breathe out. Try it some time. It might work for you. If not, you’ve not lost anything but a few minutes. I was a skeptic, too, at first.
LikeLike
Dharma from the show dharma and Greg used to do something similar. She used to put all the bad thoughts or feelings in an imaginary bubble and blow the bubble away.
Me I’ve never done such therapy/meditation. For some reason I’m such a skeptic that I never thought of even trying. I just cry it out, and talk about it until I’m all talked out. I like ur way better though Pat. It seems so much more peaceful and relaxing. I wonder if h should stop being so skeptical… Thanks for writing this post Pat.
LikeLike
Thanks, Penny. I have come to depend on this exercise when I need it. I actually was not miserable when I wrote this. I wrote it in the hope that it would be helpful to someone I know and care about.
LikeLike
Oh Pat I get you on this. You know you are right that we can’t do it for anyone else as much as we’d love too! I really think it is about practice for ourselves too and that it will get easier (hope so anyway :)) I love your image of breathing in peace and breathing out anger or whatever – some say if you physically put your hand on your heart area when you are breathing it helps! Hope you feel less miserable soon – and your posts are never rambly (I think I’ve made this word up – that’s twice I’ve used it!)
LikeLike