I was watching a TED Talk about self-transformation, happiness and inner peace by Jo Pang, and he recalled the following ancient story from Thailand.
A group of monks were asked to move a very large buddha statue made of clay. As they were moving it, one of the pieces of clay happened to fall off revealing a piece of gold underneath. The group of monks later found out that the entire statue was made of rich gold.
This story is an analogy used to explain self-transformation and obtaining personal-well being. Throughout our lives, we pile on layers of clay that we use to protect ourselves from external judgment, opinions and mental attacks. Meanwhile, we forget that underneath it all is our true self – our gold.
We forget that the clay we’re wearing is only mere remnants we created to mold into society and everything we believe to be true to ourselves. Only, it’s in doing so that we lose access to the compassion, love and self-actualization that we are. We lose not only the relationship with ourselves, but with others as well.
In a world where we’re constantly bombarded with thoughts and an endless cycle of responses to ourselves like “if only,” or “I should,” or “I can’t,” we lose sight of everything we are and everything we have to contribute.
So in this post, I thought I would share some insight as to how we can get in touch with our hidden ‘gold’, and close the gap between thinking there is something between us and our happiness.
Let’s get into it!
When we practice mindfulness through meditation, our brain develops its capability to be mindful and compassionate, which is why it’s a practice and not a philosophy.
We have to practice being mindful of our state, emotions and feelings and one way to do so is by using the Reset Zone App. These one minute videos feature some truly incredible Rz Experts that help us become conscious of what brings us away from our inner peace and happiness.
When we observe and become aware of how we can change our thoughts using the Reset Zone App, we become present to the moment and learn how to notice why we’re feeling a certain way, so we can create space to choose a different response.
Another great type of practice in order to create space and gain insight as to what we choose to let go of is mindful exercise such as yoga and walking in nature.
When I participated in a yoga class led by the creator of Reset Zone’s App. Heather Skoll, I noticed I began to become a lot more familiar with who I am and the thoughts I was having. Deep breathing and mindful walking in nature can allow our thoughts and emotions to go without getting all caught up in them.
We start to see our true nature and get a glimpse of what it means to just be.
We discover the peace, compassion, and joy of our true nature, which through mindful exercise, like one of Heather’s classes, effectively aligns our connectedness, aliveness and deep contentment with life.
Combining awareness, using the Reset Zone App, and mindful exercise like yoga or walking out in nature, is key to self-transformation. That brings us back to the “gold” that we are before we’re ever told who we should be.
I’ve learned that every moment is an opportunity to practice. There’s tools like the Reset Zone App out there that can help you practice being mindful in the moment now, as well as, when we’re cut off on the 407.
When we do so and practice combining the mindset to awaken our inner peace, we gain the wisdom to see emotions like anger and their physical counterparts such as: tightness, clenched fists and reactive impulses that arise from it.
When we practice using the necessary tools and knowledge out there, we bridge the gap between the awareness to observe what’s happening and the wisdom to know how to choose what’s happening.
Anxiety, fear, worry and sadness all have the tendency to be destructive habits and dispositions. As the Buddha once said, “Our lives are shaped by our mind, for we become what we think” With practices like yoga and Apps like Reset Zone that help you see the truth about our emotions we can choose to see the gold within us and choose to practice finding inner peace and happiness upon us.
To you and your success always,
Matt Wilks Guest Blogger for Reset Zone
Reset Zone is a self-help tool for mood improvement.
Reset Zone is not a health care provider and does not provide medical advice. Results may vary.