Break Your Chains

Look around during your everyday routine. Look, nothing is different. You are probably thinking about memories of certain things around you.

Memories and emotions control how you react. Take that away. Do not look at things with emotions. Just observe. Observe people as they walk by, observe the noises. Are you being controlled, are you going with the flow? Does this routine feel right? Is this how you want to be?

Do you feel like you are gaining anything from this?

Does this in different situations through out your life. It is easy to do, but the results are interesting, and I bet they can cause a great change in you.


When I try this, I feel trapped. I feel confined, like I am doing what is being told, and not even questioning it.



Please post how you react.

funny you should mention this, today i was in london (i dont go there often) and as i was moving from place to place, observing the people etc. i saw a building (beautifully designed) and slowed my pace a little, as soon as i did that i had the heavy, negative feeling of being one of the cattle going to the slaughterhouse that isnt going at the same pace as the rest and takes a moment to look up at the sky.
like the world was saying:
"yes theres beauty, but its none of your business, keep walking"

and even though the sheep metaphor is thrown around alot on ATS i think its different to feel it on such a base level when you're not even in an emotional mindset.


edit: spelling

[edit on 27-1-2010 by james420]

What you refer to when people make memory associations is called tangential reveries. Aboriginal people do not engage in this type of thought pattern by and large. People who live within nature must by necessity live in the moment lest they step on poisonous snakes, miss a hunting opportunity etc. This is the gap between so called "modern man" and aboriginal peoples. This is also why they are so perceptive and seemingly notice everything goin on around them in the natural world while we "moderns" seem oblivious. Alternately, aboriginals are completely lost in civilisation.
I have practiced aboriginal skills for about 20 years and have at least gotten a glimpse of their life ways. We have lost much in our trade off for comfort and security, particularly our understanding and appreciation of nature. This is why I believe industrial society is headed for disaster since nature is considered either a resource or a nuisance. If we don't re-establish our natural connection we will doom ourselves as a species.
I hope this is within the realm of your thread, I wasn't trying to derail it.

I wanted to add that the particular skill that broadened my perception of nature was animal tracking. Anyone wanting to study animal tracking will be immersed in ways of opening the senses as well as using your intuition. I highly recommend it to any nature enthusiast. You don't have to feel like a stranger when you walk in the woods, there are schools that teach aboriginal skills all over the US.


[edit on 27-1-2010 by Asktheanimals]

Sounds like a practice similar to "present moment awareness."

A type of meditation where I expand my awareness as far out around me as I can. All the while removing my thoughts, emotions and judgments about what I am witnessing. I focus on the here and now. The very moment is a singularity of it's own. Perceiving the very energy of all things around me.

It's something I practice when I can. Our hectic lifestyles is often foisted on us by our culture which creates numerous distractions. We do allow it ourselves. We become so desensitized to so much of our existence and the world around us that we miss the true glory of our existence and just being.

It's quite refreshing!!

Nice post!!!


[edit on 27-1-2010 by Emptiness Dancing]

im in college and do this many times a day. its interesting to watch masses of students rushing to class and cramming for tests " because its what theyre supposed to do." college is supposed to expand your thinking and be of higher learning, but its easy to use the higher learning label to your advantage and educate students how you wish, unless your in an interesting situation and are already aware of other realities. so yea, i take notice of the herd mentality a couple times a day, and wonder how many others notice it at the same time :/

reply to post by Phlynx


Do this on a daily basis, keeping a somewhat slower,more attentive ,and I can all but guarentee you that you won't feel trapped, confined, or controlled for very long. If you make it your life then those feelings should eventually go away.


For reasons I won't go into, starting as a young child up through high school about all I did was observe. I didn't really get involved with people and their "cliques". When I did start getting involved with society, I was amazed at how well I could read people and see through to their motives. Not to sound big headed or anything, but I felt "above" them.


I used to live my life based largely on my emotions and I didn't get very far so now I am much more pragmatic and businesslike. I'm not a total ogre, I still have feelings but I just don't base my life around them anymore and things just seem to work out better.

I learned a long time ago the importance of selective memories. I just don't see the use of keeping around in my head the hurtful , non-productive things I've done in my life. Every situation that I am in, I take what I can learn from it, the positive , the productive , the good. If there is anything that is even remotly negative, I try to find something in it that I can learn from, and then I discard it. It's kind of hard to explain how I do it, I just do it. But I can tell you that the longer I do it , the less likely that it is that I do anything negative or hurtful. I'm not perfect, I'm not a saint, but as long as I keep "selecting " my memories , I'm getting to be a better person.

As far as feeling controlled, when I was a teenager, I made a vow to myself that I would always keep a little part of me [I call it my gypsy] that would NEVER grow up , NEVER conform, and NEVER let me lose my sense of self. It's a vow that I've kept so far and I intend to keep till the day I die. Maybe it's that gypsy inside me that has made it easy for me to live the way I live.

I am a mature, productive member of society, that because of what I do for a living, consults with the mayor and town council of the town I live in on various issues at least once a month. I have a steady, level head and try to have a positive demeaner every day. But that little gypsy inside me keeps me grounded. Keeps me young. And most importantly, keeps me from being a sheep.



Peace