It’s simple advice.
Just be here now.
Don’t think.
Don’t imagine anything.
Just be here now.
And yet…
It’s incredibly difficult, is it not?
Look at how most people live.
It’s ALL about distractions.
It’s as if the entire world is designed simply to distract us from what’s happening right now.
Thinking is simply the first (and most common) technique for bypassing the now.
There’s also sex and porn.
Netflix, HBO and Disney and their bottomless chests of distractertainment.
Shopping (hey, I bet that pair of shoes, that book or the inflatable pink butt plug will make you happy 🙄).
Smart phones and social media. (Social media is an interesting one. It distracts and offers fun and entertainment… while also making most of us feel like we’re not something enough. Not rich enough. Not smart enough. Not funny enough. Blah blah blah.)
Oh, and what about the news? Whether we’re talking about mainstream news channels or all the conspiracy BS on dark and dank Telegram chat groups, it’s all the same thing:
DISTRACTION.
From what?
You tell me 🤔
What are we running from?
What is so horrible about right now?
What exactly is the problem here and is it even worth investing the time to fix it?
I’ll tell you:
The problem is nervous system dysregulation.
That’s a big, fancy, sciency word for all kinds of stuff that average people deal with every single day:
Not feeling safe, relaxed and calm as you move through your day (anxiety).
Not feeling alive (depression).
Not feeling happy.
Not feeling fulfilled.
Insecurity.
Imposter syndrome.
Chronic procrastination.
But it’s not just mental or emotional stuff because hey, everything. is. connected.
It’s also digestive problems, insomnia, lack of energy or chronic tiredness and so much more.
Think about it.
Why do we distract?
Because we’re trying to avoid what we’re currently thinking and feeling.
That’s all it really is.
We might think it’s because we don’t have enough money or enough good looks and enough inflatable butt plugs…
…but really it’s simply how we think and feel about those things.
It’s not the things themselves that are problem (the lack of money etc). It’s our reaction to those things.
The catch is…
Distracting ourselves from our uncomfortable or painful reactions to things isn’t the answer.
That just perpetuates the problem.
When you turn off the TV or come down from the high of purchasing those shoes, who are you?
More tired and poorer than you were before… but other than that, you’re the same person with the same uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that you’re trying to avoid.
So what are we to do?
You can meditate and journal and life coach all you want… but in my experience, the commonly-used tools only scratch the surface of this stuff… and in some cases, they end up being just another distraction (yes, that includes meditation 🤯).
That’s where nervous system work comes in.
Learning to work with your fight-or-flight response.
Discharging old, incomplete survival responses.
Cultivating a deep and profound sense of safety within your nervous system.
Using movement to scale up embodiment, neuroplasticity and more healthy ways of relating to yourself.
There’s where Rageheart comes in.
It’s a crash course in how to work with your nervous system.
There are no big fancy magic tricks that will fix your nervous system immediately.
In fact, you might be tempted to quit because you think it’s “too slow” (just like scales on the piano or guitar are “too slow”).
But if you give it time and practice the tools consistently over time, you might discover what I discovered more than 3 years ago:
In all my years wandering through the dark, dusty halls of meditation, life coaching, talk therapy, journaling, gratitude lists, breathwork and more, THIS – nervous system work – was what I’d been searching for all along.
Start working with your nervous system today (it’s free to start):
Already a member and feeling the impulse to be here now, even if it’s damn uncomfortable? Hit the “Sign In” link on the page above and get now-ing.
Cheers,
John Wood