Where the Lost come to Find

I got lost on the internet today. It happens to everyone, right?

You get curious about who that actor was in that movie, and then you Google facts about it which leads you to random information on the cast, where they were born and who they married, and all of a sudden your computer is suggesting cheap flights to Finland, because someone was born there, and then you get an email on Groupon about all inclusive resorts and twenty minutes later you find yourself almost buying packing cubes and watching funny fail videos on Youtube, wondering what your life has come to.

Its a rabbit hole in there.

As much as times like these can be fun (or frustrating, depending on your mood) today I found something without actually looking for it.

I've always been extremely curious about Buddhism and Chakras and the culture behind it, and I definitely wanted to look into realigning my energy, my body, and my intentions, incorporating this age-old practice into my own lifestyle.

To be honest, this was more of a rediscovery than a finding; years ago, as a wee teenager, I'd found information on the Third Chakra; The Solar Plexus - also known as Manipura in Sanskrit.

The entire idea of the Solar Plexus Chakra is centered around Identity. It embodies your capability of taking control of your life, and the formation of opinions and beliefs. It's how you make decisions, it's how you create your own independence,

It is the center of You.

As someone who's always had a struggle with their identity, this was a clear place to start finding answers.

While reading up on the role of the Solar Plexus Chakra, I came across the theory that in the event of an imbalance in your Manipura, symptoms will arise. This would include psychological and mental strains like anxiety, depression, and self esteem issues. It could even affect the body in so far as physical ailments like ulcers or indigestion issues. All this to say, it is important to keep ourselves balanced, and aligned.

So I've developed this blog to remind myself, and all of you, of things we can do to maintain our Manipura. Follow me in my interesting adventure down the rabbit hole. :)

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EOTD (Exercise Of The Day)

A little backstory before diving into our exercise: This is something I used to do when I was around 12 to 13 years old, and so incredibly lost on what it was to be an individual person.

What was 'me?' Who was she? How could I differentiate from the thousands, millions of children my age?

I used to assure my parents that if ever I they couldn't recognize me, or if someone was impersonating me, that I had a special birthmark on my arm shaped like a rocket, and a set of freckles on my stomach that looked like a constellation (I was a paranoid child, I know). Its almost as if I didn't know how to trust my family and friends with understanding that I WAS DIFFERENT, because I didn't even understand it myself.

In order to ease the process for everyone, I decided to write myself down in a booklet. I took a yellow Hilroy exercise book and wrote 'About Me' in the subject line, right below my name.

I encourage you all to follow suit! Find a small journal, or a binder, even a loose leaf paper, and title it 'About Me'

Next, fill it with the most inane things, like the following:

What is your favorite Condiment? (mustard)

What are your favorite shoes? (converse)

What is your favorite food? (Pie)

What animal would you want to be? (Bird) 

What is your Patronus? (Buzzard) 

What is your Hogwarts House? (Half Hufflepuff Half Ravenclaw)

It's like those silly Facebook posts that go around, but you create the questions, and you can go as silly or as serious as you want.

What are your activities, your hobbies, your friends, your family; things you love having around you?

The 5 things you'd save in a fire
The 6 things you cant live without
The one memory you will never forget

From there, go a little further; get creative with your questions, and form opinions. Write down things you used to think, and what happened to change your mind. Look into these beautiful gems for further rumination;

If money were no issue, what would you do?
If the world as we knew it changed drastically and fell into an apocalypse, or a dystopian fantasy, what would your plan be? Who would you be?
If you had a million dollars, how would you use it? (I've written this out out many times, and kept a copy of it in my glove compartment, just in case :) )

Make a great balloon debate with you favorite heroes and fictional characters; see who you'd fight for to win; ask yourself why you made that choice.

Ask yourself, every time you make a choice, if that choice reflects who you are. 

And realign.

And whenever you feel lost about who you are, look over your masterpiece, go forth into the world with the tools you need, nestled on that paper and in your mind, and be proud.

Until next time!

R.