Tai Chi and Inner Peace

Yesterday I attended the Richmond Hill Chinese Community Church Family Event. My Tai Chi instructor invited me to participate in the many activities and festivities. Besides the many foods and games available at no cost, my favorite activity was the Line Dancing Activity and the Tai Chi/Chi Kung.

I am a novice at Tai Chi. I started participating and learning about it at my gym about 3 months ago. In the '48 forms' there is a specific move that really grounds me. You watch your hand move from one side of your body, across your body to the other side and then watch the other hand move in the same pattern. You do this 4 times. In the space of the 10 seconds it takes to perform those moves, I am totally present. I am focussed, relaxed, at peace and calm. Everytime I perform those moves, I feel a sense of Inner Peace.

The Queen

A few months ago, my coach dubbed me the 'Queen of not Leaving myself enough Time'. She was right. I was always finding myself rushing from one thing to the next. Trying to get one more thing done on my to do list before leaving for the next activity or appointment.

Since coming back from my vacation in Israel, I have really been relaxed. Fortunately or unfortunately, I have been waking up at 5:30 - 6:00 am and that has left me lots of time to get my work done in the morning before starting with clients. I find that I am relaxed, have enough time to get everything done that I intend to and am really enjoying this easy-going time. I am committed to making this a full-time experience!

The Value of Money

Yesterday I gave my son 8 Israeli coins to go buy himself a snack. Not being familiar with the coins here in Israel, they seemed to me like 8 canadian nickels. After giving him the coins, I began to figure out in my head the value of what I had just given him. I realized then that I had not given him 40 cents but had just given him $8!!!!!.

It was really interesting to me to see that when I didn't realize the value of the coins, I had no emotional reaction to giving him the money. But when I made money 'mean' something, I right away felt a tension inside of me that reflected the thought: "That wasn't 40 cents he's going to spend, but rather $8....and that's a lot of money!!!"

This further validates what Ekhart Tolle said in his book "The New Earth", on the Oprah show, about the impact of labelling things in our lives. When I didn't label the value of the coins, I felt relaxed and peaceful, yet once I labeled the value of the coins I felt tense. The coins never changed nor did it's value....only my perception of the coins changed.