I am so afraid to jump into Lake Ontario this weekend.
When I was asked to go, I felt an immediate yes! According to the Ice Man, Wim Hof, you can increase your health and overall well being by combining his signature Breathing Exercise before Cold Plunging. Athletes have long used cold water to reduce inflammation by relieving sore and burning muscles. Less inflammation leads to lower stress and improved immune function.
I used to do cold plunges regularly and now I’ve fallen off the wagon a bit.
I am afraid of the pain, the ache, the failure.
I am brave. I am strong. I am courageous.
It was my chant! When everything in my body and everything in my mind was screaming to get out. I had to chant.
I know I can do hard things.
That is why I started doing them in the first place.
Like most things, it definitely did get easier with practice.
There is a reason I haven’t been doing Cold Plunges in the bathtub any more. I realized I don’t like to be uncomfortable. I realized I had been avoiding confrontation and avoiding any negative feelings.
Through the practice of Cold Plunging, Reiki and Yoga, this Spiritual Journey of the self has led me to uncover big traumas and little traumas that I simply chose to ignore.
When you first experience an awakening or a fundamental shift in your life, a moment where you realize that life is so much more or so different from your preconceived notions, you might feel energized, or full of life!
For the record, I feel like I have felt many awakenings each propelling me farther than before. Each time, I feel even more blissful, happy and joyful. I feel in awe of what I have just realized or uncovered.
I used to think that when you awakened to the ‘truth of our existence’ so to speak, that ONE time, that life was now in a constant state of bliss.
Then the spiritual, emotional and physical healing kicks in.
It was as if the universe said to me, you now have the tools, skills and strategies to move forward in life. Without dealing with the past, it catches up with you. Even the smallest thing, a smell, a sound, or a picture could trigger a trauma that set up shop in the body and deep within the mind.
You have memories, and programming in your body and in your mind to behave, think and feel a certain way.
With new information comes the responsibility to put it into practice.
It has taken a lot of time to get where you are. So, it will take some patience to get to where you want to be.
Yes you should live with joy and ease most of the time. That is your divine right: to live your soul’s unique purpose. You came here to do that job, to figure it out and fulfil your unique destiny as part of the greater whole.
As you propel yourself on the Journey of the Authentic Self, it will take effort as well as patience to deprogram habitual behaviours and reactions and upload new responses to your environment. Here, you will enter the unknown or unfamiliar so it might feel hard, or different but know that you are changing for the better. Your Soul’s Purpose will become more clear without that clutter.
You are brave, you are strong, you are courageous!
As you learn to navigate your programming, your thought patterns, your past, your perspective will start to shift as these experiences won’t be so startling or as uncomfortable. It just takes practice.
More and more, you will create positive experiences as you let go of the past to live in the Eternal Now as Joe Dispenza calls it. Many modern day philosophers like Eckhart Tolle speak of living in the now. A concept deeper than just this moment. The Now is timeless, it is infinite. You are limitless when you are in this space. Not living in your past or creating your predictable future.
This is the only moment you have! So pause, breathe, become aware of your surroundings, and close your eyes to reconnect with your inner self. A thought, experience or feeling comes in, good or bad, no judgement, it just is. You acknowledge it and you feel it. Then you release it.
So I felt scared, then I took some breaths, I refocused on the now and I felt grateful.
Then I did this 100+ times since I agreed to plunge into the cold waters of Lake Ontario.
Just like during meditation, I can’t shut off my brain, but I can be aware of it and I can refocus it, because I am in control.
And I choose the Now.
So tomorrow will eventually be here but I can’t predict what will happen, I might even surprise myself. The only thing I can control is how I feel and act RIGHT NOW. With that focus and attention of positive energy, I can influence all my ‘nows.’
I surrender my fear.
I surrender to a Higher Power.
I surrender to the Greater Whole: Oneness.
I surrender to my Authentic Self which is part of the Greater Whole.
I surrender to the Now.
And I feel Grateful.
What are you afraid of? Yours in community,
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