Holding patterns

 

 

A holding pattern means that an airplane is on a specific holding course before landing. To sum up. At least that’s what I read, because I'm definitely not a pilot.

So, I have no idea how the words came to me and kept repeating at the back of my mind for a week or so: “Holding patterns.”, “You are on a holding pattern.” I felt growing tiredness, lack of interest in the things I had been raging about before, and I couldn’t listen to my ‘recently listened’ list on Spotify anymore. So I Googled the words that had been yelled at me and sure enough, the wise Web dictionary stated my missing one-sentence explanation for the feelings of it.

A holding pattern is “a state of waiting or suspended activity or progress.” [merriam-webster]. While ‘holding patterns‘ could mean different things to different people, for me that meant being stuck on the things that worked for me a month ago and still trying to implement them to a new month and new energies.

You know, every day is different for you, every month certainly is different, as are years. We have to change according to them. That's what my holding pattern was about. I’m sure I, and others, have multiple similar patterns that might be outdated but go unnoticed.

All the things that worked well, fine and super in January, and I got tons of energy from, started latently pulling me backwards. Weeks went by, until I was so tired and over-emotional, still running on my January feelings in the middle of February, that only a full stop: a sit-down and a meditation could break. And I released my former patterns, and started focusing on new ones. A blank page. Or as Taylor would say: a Blank Space. Either way, they are both very creative.

As we become more mindful and focused in our lives and the energies around us, it’s easier to spot any imbalances. I'm still learning to be mindful and I don’t think the process ever ends. It wouldn't have been a huge disaster if I’d kept my blinds on for this. But as I felt a growing disconnection with all the tasks I had been doing in the past four weeks, I really set myself up to energetically brighter and more focused days and weeks ahead by visiting Ground Zero. Well, until the next shake to change things around. But hopefully that will be with the flow of life, not holding onto what has happened and trying to carry it into the future.

I hope this makes sense to you somehow. Of course, you will take it as only you would and shape it to your own life. I have loved, and related to, this Heraclitus quote: “The only thing that is consistent is change.”

To all my amazing and dear friends who are stuck in their beloved patterns and actually really enjoying them, Heraclitus is right. In the end, change is inevitable, and if we can get over that fact, it becomes easier to change things up constantly in our lives. Welcome new people, new energy, new clothes, new music, new places, new books, new things to look forward to, new destinations, new plans, new surroundings, new things to focus on, and accept them gladly. I decided, kind of intuitively that at least every few weeks, I'll start looking for old patterns or feelings that should go. Especially now as we’re entering spring, which is all about awakening and renewing. What a perfect time.

By Johanna

A Letter - January

Loving Kindness Meditation

 >>Loving Kindness Meditation with Johanna - Soundcloud <<

Did you know that by thinking negatively about someone or something is only increasing your own stress and your own negativity? Your formerly positive energy will begin to be replaced by negative flow, and it will consume you faster than positivity ever would. So why would you ever want to be the reason you are feeling negative things? You wouldn’t. 

For some reason, it's negativity that resonates fast, and focusing on positivity seems like hard work sometimes. 


In the past two years I've leaned in to a more mindful and respectful way of facing others. I also changed the way I think about people. That includes the people I don’t personally know, but might recognize from, for example, the media. I have practiced this by placing a real thought behind it. To practice living loving kind, is to make it happen. That’s it.

Especially for me, year 2015 was a tremendous shake and a wake up for this method again, because I really at times struggled with connections with the people I care about, to the point of total break-offs, without getting too specific. And only because I hadn’t practiced “loving kindness” in my day to day, but more like pushing through my own way and sitting too much on my ego. Only by returning back to kinder ways of thinking, doing this meditation for example, I started to make these connections work again. I again released the thought of always being right and doing things just my way. Last year was a teaching one for me, and thankfully I did learn.


Everyone can relate to this. There isn’t a person on this planet who hasn’t thought negatively about someone or placed some sort of opinions about celebrities which they seem to know from the gossip news. You know, on that mark, the media does make a person look a certain way by discarding other aspects of their personalities. And there is nothing to add to that. When someone is in the eye of the gossipy lens and people feel or say negative things for it, I feel bad. At the end of the day, we’re all the same, and we’re all vulnerable at times. 


The same goes for the people in our lives. I know people who get easily upset or who don't ever step in another person’s shoes so to say, and start lashing out, which always underlines the same thing: ‘I am right. What they are saying or doing is wrong, and because I’m currently sitting on my ego, everyone should live and think just like I do.’ I've been like this so many times in my life that I can’t keep count. But nowadays, it's hard for me to listen to people’s loud egos. Sometimes I feel like I should have a sticker on my forehead that says: Live and let live. 


And then there are the people who have it amazingly together. The ones who are so patient with themselves and everyone else, and who won’t say one bad thing about anyone, including themselves. I'm in awe of them. I just recently met one person who is like this. The energy they have around them is welcoming, lacking any negativity.
 
If someone is thinking that they don't need to ever change, fantastic, and good for them. Something like living kind has to be a full-on mental shift and it takes many fall outs. However, the results are remarkable: more patience, deeper relationships and more mindfulness. 

Even if it’s tuning your thoughts back every day to ‘how am I feeling about this and that?’ and ‘how should I really react to this person, and not add more negativity in this situation?’, I assure you guys, you will start to gain these great mindful tools once you start this practice.

I wish that you are going to try this Loving-kindness meditation with me. And I have to say, I don't usually like to meditate, because I think I'm too "on the go" of a person to focus through all the thoughts that pile up and clutter the mind with the basic practice of silent meditation. But I will try to implement that in my life this year. However, I do like Loving-kindness, because it gives your mind these tasks to do through the meditation, so I think it's both fun and heart-opening as well as helpful for focusing. 
 Namaste! 






By: Johanna

Declutter Your Living Space For The New Year

Do you know the type of people who are obsessed with owning every little thing which they hold on to, or the people who have very little of belongings but are slighty more zen, because they are free from all the repressed energy and mind-cluttering objects and ownings? I do know both types of those people and, as it is horrible to admit to myself, I am both.
I can be the worst procrastinator in the world when it comes to owning stuff and sorting them out. Everybody is to a point, I'm sure. And as I am spending the New Year's Eve in my fortress of tears amongst my old property and saved bills from 2013, I have serious work to do before the year has ended! Here's hoping that in 2016 I've learned to throw out the things I don't need anymore slightly faster.

   FENG SHUI IT UP: AIR AND LIGHT

Open the windows often and let the fresh oxygen in. You will sleep better in a more cooler bedroom, and in the mornings let the bedroom have some new air. Have air-purifying plants around. Natural light and air is vitally important in Feng Shui.

 

MAKE SPACE FOR NEW

 

Get rid of everything you don't actually need. Try not to just fill empty space with something less worthy. Toss out the gifts you never wanted in the first place. An emptier living space will make you a more imaginative and structured person. Feng shui is all about "what you want in life you have to create space for it". Space will allow movement and energy of Chi. If there are no space, there are nowhere to grow, and no room for anything new.

RETHINK YOUR ART 

The energy of your bedroom mirror your health and well-being, and Chi works subtly but powerfully. Try to avoid paintings or pictures of agressivity or destructiveness as they create anxiety instead of calmness. The best art at least for your bedroom would be soft, relaxing and pleasant.

 DECORATE WITH DELIGHT

After clearing out your spaces, decorate with purpose. Decorating jammed spaces are meaningless from a Feng Shui viewpoint. Beautify your surroundings with the things you absolutely love and want to look at every day and remember to leave space for ether. Decorate each room accordingly: bedroom with relaxed deco, kitchen with something fresh and green, and the office with innovation and with the things that will put you in a working mode.

 By: Johanna