* Finding your Middle Ground – What Gets in the Way?

I write about finding that place of connection, contentment and peace in the highs and lows of life. I call it your Middle Ground. When you can spend time in this space and connect inwards,  life comes into balance.   My journey, and this blog, is to explore finding how to come from this place all the time….. This morning I woke up asking myself “What gets in the way?”.

There are several things that come to mind – the busyness and speed of our lives; how we are caught up in external expectations and the stress from work, economic circumstances and family relationships…..all the things we have no control over but we feel are controlling us.

However, the bottom line is that it is our mind and our thoughts that gets in the way. Our thinking creates our reality. Its how we interpret what is happening that makes us feel stressed and anxious.

Just because we aren’t in control, or aren’t getting what we want, it doesn’t make it bad.

What if everything was neutral?

Right now its snowing heavily – this is the umpteenth snow storm this winter! I could make a judgement here and start ranting about how unfair it is. How the roads aren’t cleared quickly enough. I could complain about the number of snow days at school and how children are going to be left behind. I could moan about the driveway that we will need to clear if we are going to be able to get out. I could start to panic about global warming!

I could post this and ask people to join in with how awful this …. and create more judgments, negativity and charged emotions.

Our thinking creates our reality, and it impacts others too, especially when we tap into our human fears and basic needs to be in control, be heard and belong.

Do we want to contribute to peace and good will in the world or encourage the opposite? Our thinking, our words and our actions will determine this.

The neutral fact is that it is snowing.

I could also create positive feelings and energy around it, by saying how beautiful it looks. Its a fairy wonderland out there. How often do we get to simply be with mother nature in her winter finest? Its a lesson on letting go and enjoying having no place to go. Its the opportunity to open a good book and snuggle in. The pups adore going out in it. They play and burrow and try to catch the snow flakes. Children are excited because this is the perfect snowman making kind of snow. Each snow flake is huge and wondrous!

When we are able to step back and be the observer rather than the judge, we are able to create our own reality … and in doing so impact those around us, and the world….

Its time to start shoveling. I recognize that I am pretty neutral about it now!