The chirping of a smoke detector greeted me as I got out of bed this morning. I ignored it, strolled downstairs to get my coffee and then sat down to meditate. The chirping seemed to increase. Exasperated I got up, found a new battery, grabbed a chair and replaced the battery, but not before I was tempted to silence the detector permanently. For many of us the proliferation of "alerts" in our business lives might numb us to their importance, but we ignore them at our own peril and risk missing a meeting, a phone call or a flight. Some of the "alerts" in our bodies offer the same annoyance, but, if dealt with, allow us to deal with situations before they become major problems. The challenge is our society would have us block our natural alerts leading to much larger life problems.
We now have the capacity to block feelings of pain, guilt, anxiety, loneliness, stress and many others. In some extreme cases necessity demands that people are relieved of these symptoms. Yet for many of us these are the "alerts" our body sends when something is not normal and needs to be attended to. For example anxiety, for me, has become a great alert when I am attempting something I've not tried before. Rather than ignore it, I pay attention to what I'm anxious about and draw on other strengths to channel the anxious energy so that my work is better. If I were to ignore the anxiety, it might take over. The same occurs when I'm feeling stressed. I use the alert to help locate the source of the stress and choose what I can do (since most of my stress is caused from a feeling of lack of control).
All of us live with alerts that our bodies and minds offer us when something is out of balance. What are your alerts? Are they consistent? Rather than ignoring them or finding ways to dull them, try listening to them and seeing what they are telling you. Alerts are there for a reason. Dealt with properly, they can help us get back into balance.
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