In April I posted a couple of Cultivating the Witness 101 blogs (“Watching Yourself” and “Managing Anger”) in which I described ways to practically apply the spiritual practice of Cultivating the Witness. Once you practice this skill for a while, you begin to see ways in which you can change certain habitual thoughts and reactions. So then, as you witness your thoughts, feelings, and sensations, you can also practice the art of re-framing them.

I’ll share here an example of something I have recently witnessed and then re-framed. Last week when I was visiting my Grandma, I asked her how she coped with the grief after my Grandpa died. I have heard her say this many times (my Grandpa died 17 years ago), but I wanted to hear it again. Even though others disagreed with the way she grieved, it worked for her. As she words it, “You just put it out of your mind – you put your mind on other things and stay very, very busy.” There is definitely something to be said for that attitude, especially when you consider the ancient Indian sutra: The mind becomes that which it dwells upon.

During the last day of that visit with my Grandma, I was witnessing my usual tendency to become overwhelmed with thinking of all the work I have to do when I return home. And right as I witnessed the overwhelm sensation creeping in, I thought of my Grandma’s words, and I immediately re-framed my thoughts. So after witnessing myself thinking, “When I get back to Ashland I have so much to do with launching my new business (Radiance Rising Reiki), and with relatives visiting that week, and with the boys starting school and soccer and…on and on”, I changed my thinking to: “I am so grateful for this opportunity to be very, very busy and to put that grief out of my mind.”

With so much Gratitude for the art of re-framing negative tendencies, I close today’s blog article with a wonderful quote from Be Here Now by Ram Dass: “You are being guided. In fact, the next message you need in the treasure hunt is exactly where you are when you need it. The message may be in the form of a teacher or a lover or an enemy or a pet or a rock or a chemical or a book or a feeling of great despair or a physical illness or the eyes of a person you pass on the street.” I am super grateful that the next message I needed came through my Grandma exactly where I was, sitting with her in the garden.

May all beings know Healing and Peace. 

Om Shanti (Peace), 

Yogini Tejaswini

Photo of Teja’s Grandma’s garden taken by Teja Shankara.