I had the pleasure last week to listen to author Noel Levine speak and although I took many lessons and received much enjoyment from his conversational style…the message that stuck with me the most came about while he was explaining how to just let go and RELAX into meditation to eliminate the mind chatter that we can receive while trying to meditate.   Now this in and of itself is a great reminder for those of us who find meditation helpful, but occasionally challenging because we have trouble turning off this chatter;  I appreciated the reminder to just “relax into” my meditation instead of force it.   But I took something else from his suggestion… I immediately used his “relax into it” suggestion to another issue that I had been having.  For the last couple of months, I have been having quite a bit of pain due to a minor medical condition and I felt that his words “relax into it” were meant exactly for me and what I have been going through.  I begin to envision the area that I was having some pain in, took a few breaths and as I slowly let them out I allowed them to sink or “relax” into that pain.  I immediately began to feel some relief.    I then also realized that I had been focusing on and holding onto that pain up until that moment.  You know keeping thoughts of “when is it going to stop?”  “Will it ever stop?”  “When will the relief come?”   And because of the nature of those questions…I repeatedly reinforced that it was an issue in my life because I was focusing on it. 

I then remembered a quote that I heard Wayne Dyer share once that said “what we embrace strengthens us and what we fight weakens us.”  I had been fighting my pain, I had been complaining about it, focusing on it and giving it more power than it deserved.  I now realized that I needed to embrace or “relax into it”; knowing that it wouldn’t be a part of my life forever and it too would come to pass. 

You know pain is just one area where we can “relax into” something to make it better.  What are some areas in your life that you would benefit from “relaxing into?”  Your job, relationships, parenting, and loving yourself are just the tip of the iceberg.  Fighting instead of embracing and “relaxing into” these examples just gives these areas more power and with more power they just make our lives frustrating and more difficult.  If we relax into our issues, we are able to minimize or diffuse their hold on us.  We are then able to more fluidly move through them and on with our lives which in turn will help us eventually work through what has us troubled.  Where are you having some resistance in your life?  Relax into it and see what happens…