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Every month, Karen will offer her
spiritual insights for "being present"
in all aspects of life, by calling upon the techniques
of her four guiding principles,
MESHE, HESHE, MISON & ORBIT.
MISON and the Moment
MISON (MY-SAHN) is the moment.
In the same way that being
in MESHE (MEE-SHEE) means waking up to the moment,
MISON is the moment.
You can awaken and get reconnected to yourself—MESHE.
And you can awaken and be reconnected to the whole—MISON.
Neither is better, but both are stones that you will
step upon on your path to soulful living.
I spent much of my time the last two weeks, in my
home—and mostly in my bed. I was nursing an old injury
that had flared up and realized very quickly that, if I
was going to heal, I would have to stop everything. A
sharp contrast to the "peek performing" weeks
of the months prior.
For the exception of a few days of light resistance,
I’m proud to report I gave up the fight to stay mobile
and productive pretty easily . But I’d be misleading
you here if I didn’t say that, at first, it was hard
to stop completely and nearly impossible to fully rest.
For the first two days, every time I got still and
began to relax, I would remember something that had to
get done. Refreshed from these first moments of
stillness, I would feel energized and responsive, and up
I would go to execute another task. It was amazing to
see how many things I had created for myself to do.
A month ago, I purchased a long thick record book
with spacious lines and numbered pages for the sole
purpose of having a single place to write down
everything I’d want or need to get done throughout the
year. I have a passion for paper products and I looked
long and hard for just the right carrier of my year-long
lists of things to do.
When I came to the realization that I really was
going to have to slow down, and for a little while at
least, come to a complete stop, I took out that
beautiful green book of mine and committed to writing in
it all that my mind kept reminding me to do, until I had
no more impulses to move or accomplish anything.
The ink rolled out like water over a steep ledge as I
began recording all the tasks that I was not going to
take care of for awhile.
Re-key door. Replace blue bulb. Call printer. Update
press materials. Schedule AV meeting. Reread postscript.
Order book set. Follow up with WLT. Find Sandy’s
address. Make new files. Etcetera. etcetera, etcetera.
I started early in the morning and wherever I could
get comfortable in my home, I brought a pen and the long
green record book with me. It was late into the night
before it happened, but eventually, after a full day of
recording, there was nothing else to write down.
The shift in my physical body was noticeable, when
for the first time since my injury flared up, I actually
found rest.
I woke up the next morning after a full night of
sleep. I realized, I had not slept a full night in many
weeks. I turned off the phone lines the night before and
relished waking from my own body clock. After waking, I
went back to sleep for another few hours. When I woke
again, I did nothing. No thinking. Nothing. I just lay
there.
Emotions came and went and I let them all pass
through. Soon, the desire for food brought me to the
kitchen. A desire to eat what I prepared, brought me to
the table. And the desire to leave the house clean
returned me to the kitchen, plates in hand. And the day
seemed to move like this—effortlessly and from
something within me.
After bathing and putting on my favorite monkey
pajamas, I went to the living room and sat on the couch.
In my home, the couch is like a window seat to the
garden. A small waterfall attracts turtle doves, and the
bougainvillea attracts hummingbirds. Jasmine is in full
bloom, and potted pansies wave lightly when the breezes
blow by.
I took it all in.
And then... the site of my feet propped up on the
ottoman brought as much serenity and stillness as the
garden did....
It was MISON.
I was in MISON, and I knew exactly why my back was
hurting, my body restricted, my calendar had had to be
cleared....
MISON means waking up to the big picture of
everything going on in your life and realizing that where
you are holds an energy of grace and healing, from
which you can nourish your soul without comment,
judgment or concern. It is a gift from the moment
that brings with it a place card telling you where to
sit at the banquet. It says, you go sit over there, and
don’t worry, it is the perfect place for you to be.
ORBIT (OR-BIT) is the pattern that stands between
ourselves and the moment. It can be an endless cycle of
stuff sent to consume and limit us, while creating ever
active happening. ORBIT is the opposite of rest. Its
nature is constant movement.
My life was full and productive leading up to my
injury relapse, but it was also out of balance. It had
no pauses, only activity.
I invite you to insert your own pauses into your life
this month. Don’t wait for a physical injury, accident
or illness to stop and regain your balance. And don’t
think you need to spend two weeks there like I had to,
either.
Pick a day. Or a few hours from a day. Maybe go away for a
weekend. Say, "No," to the impulse
to be distracted from the moment. Write down everything
your mind is telling you to do. Everything it is telling
you is bad for you. Everything it is wanting to have
changed. Write it all down until you have nothing else
to write, and then stop. Sit. Take it in. See what
happens. And report back. All of you. Any of you. Share
your stories. How hard it was, but how you kept it
up. How easy it was and how you are hooked now! How odd
it was. How like childhood. Like art. Like nature.
After that, once you have a new way of looking at
your day, add in little things that will bring you to
this place. Add in more music to take away your
thoughts. More movement, to quiet the mind. More nature
to be dwarfed by. More stillness—if only moments.
Remember, MISON is found in a single moment, and it
only takes a handful of moments to change the quality of
your life.
© Copyright 2001 Karen Deborah
Farris.
Read
Karen's Current "Being Present" Column
Read
Karen's Past Columns:
March
2001 - "The MESHE Concept - A Path to Soulful
Living"
Karen Deborah Farris is a successful counselor, healer, and bodyworker. For more than fifteen years she has taught extensive workshops based on MESHE, HESHE, MISON & ORBIT as well as many other self-discovery topics.
Farris began developing her integrated bodywork and counseling techniques in 1984 under the tutelage of many prominent doctors and healers throughout the United States.
Her education into the spiritual and physical aspects of the human experience served as the foundation for her own private practice and the development of a new philosophy. She combined her techniques into four guiding principles, which she shares in her book,
MESHE, HESHE, MISON & ORBIT: What My Grandmother Taught Me About the Universe. She is currently touring with a companion workshop series, where she creates an interactive environment demonstrating the material from her book with tangible, life altering effects. In these workshops, individuals discover a deepening of their relationship to self, others and the world around them.
Through individual counseling and group workshops, she has taught her results-oriented programs to many different types of people
including those confined to mental institutions, substance and food abusers, and generally, people in life transitions, struggling with intimate relationships, or who lack direction in their lives. Karen lives happily with her husband in Southern California.
Visit www.MESHE.com.
For more
information, contact Karen at: info@MESHE.com
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