Stop...Pause...Reflect

Yesterday i went to an experimental cinema event, where a whole venue is tuned into a 'secret movie' setting and all of the attendees become part of the setting, engaging with the actors, looking for clues, passwords, characters...and by the end, the movie is screened. i was so impressed by the whole thing. the movie 'A Third Man' was about post war vienna amid black market and police invading the whole of the city which had american french british and russian influences.
In the middle of the post-was vienna setting, my friends and I started our discussion on theatre, cinema and acting. they are taking acting classes and they shared some of the techniques they were learning. an old technique was to start by introspecting and be able to feel one's emotions in order to feel any emotion and be able to act it. a newer technique refutes the latter and stresses on repetition as a means of getting emotions right. and it made me think...is introspection really necessary?
Introspective by nature, i have a need to analyze, explain and understand the big and the small things that happen in my life...it keeps me on top of things, it empowers me at times, it makes me find peace at others, it enrich me and gets me closer to reality. it makes me move forward. but it surely does drain my energy. however, im too scared to side track my feelings, thoughts and emotions. i take it as a sign of denial and weakness.
but through my conversation with my friends, i realized that it might be a sign of immaturity too...that sometimes not introspecting is the right thing to do and the mature way to go about things. the ability to just 'let go', and to let things take their course is the harder way and not the easy way out like i used to think. especially in situations and with people that are not worth all these thoughts and all this time dwelling upon. thoughts are precious. we sometimes spend endless amount of time thinking about crap. training myself to filter my thoughts and choose what to introspect on and not to is the way to go about it i thought...
so my technique is to STOP...PAUSE...REFLECT...stop whenever a thought comes to my mind...pause and assess whether its worth it or its not and evaluate how will me dwelling on that certain thought is going to change things (if any) and then reflect if its really necessary.
most of the times, consciously stopping our chain of thoughts right there prevent so many unneeded negative vibes and frees our thoughts to more useful and productive ones.

furaha xxx

Solace

Recently, i have endured a situation. im not really sure if the terms endured and situation go together. but that is the best i can describe it. i dont really know what it was, how it happened, the things that led to that situation, the outcomes of it, the reasons to it...did i analyse it? oh yes...i've tossed it around countless amount of times in my head. did i reach a conclusion? no i didnt...

did i DO something about it?

that is the real question...and no...i didnt...why? well partly because of an advice of a friend saying:

'You will find that throughout these situations, the only thing you re left with is how you acted and reacted. In the long term, you will find solace in the maturity of your reactions. It will empower you, trust me.'

I guess i ve always underestimated the power of the 'maturity of my actions and reaction', as my friend described it. Often, many different factors play a role in how we respond to different situations. We always end up calling when we know we shouldnt have, we always end up sending emails saying stuff we wished we didnt, we always laugh when we shouldnt, cry when we dont want to, get angry, be too soft, look too emotion(al)/(less)...and we rewind and wish we ve done this or done that. its normal...
or we toughen up and do the 'right' thing, which takes alot of energy and effort from our part. we ll be thinking it over and over and we would still have this tiny bit of doubt if we REALLY are doing the right thing. and eventually what took alot of effort to do, with time, will become the norm and we'll be fine.

but...i ve found a new way of solace. a much easier and quicker one. works like magic! try it... all it takes is to first identify the mature way to act and react. then to be consciously aware of how good u feel for doing the right thing. to channel ur thoughts towards u, and the effects ur reactions and actions are having upon u. channel ur thoughts to that, away from what u really *want* to do. its a matter of focus. because sometimes, even when doing the right thing, we keep thinking of the desired action which drains us either way! so find the strength in u and embrace it. be proud of it. let it empower u. as i trusted my friend, trust me...it will empower u:)

furaha x