Hey there! Last time I shared a bit about how I apply Saucha in my daily life regarding the food I choose to feed my body. In this last post on Saucha, I’ll talk about how thoughts can fuel the mind.
Earlier, I mentioned that sometimes I get a song stuck in my head. Sometimes I know how it got there, and other times, it’s harder to pin point the source. That sound track just keeps playing over and over, often the same part of a song. Sometimes, the only way to get it out, is to replace it with something else.
Just like those songs that get stuck in our heads, thoughts can get stuck. Sometimes they are thoughts about things we are worried will happen, sometimes they are thoughts about things that have already happened and were upsetting to us or made us feel sad or uncomfortable. You may have heard, in a yoga class or somewhere else, “where the attention goes, the energy flows.” Those thoughts that keep circling in our brain can take up a lot of our energy. If I’m worried about something that might happen, the worry itself serves no purpose other than to exhaust me and stress me out. If I use that worry to make a plan for how I will handle the situation – may be even write down, I find it easier to stop that thought from looping continuously.
If thoughts or memories of things that have hurt or upset me in the past keep coming up, it can be a little more difficult. I could make a plan for how to handle it if it happens again. I could also think about what came of the situation. What did I learn from it? How have I grown from it? In what ways am I stronger and better? As I said, this can be more difficult depending on the situation, but it can be a way to process through that thought loop and then shut it off, at least for a while. Journaling about thoughts, just dumping everything on paper for a few minutes, and then sitting quietly, focused on the breath or the sensations in the body can help shut off that loop for longer and longer periods.
Journaling and meditation can be a great way to clear out the “gunk”, helping us to discover and focus on what really matters to us.
I hope you have enjoyed these posts about my understanding of Saucha and how I apply it in my daily life. Next time, I will introduce the second Niyama, Santosha, contentment.