You are an Alchemist

Alchemy is the art of transformation. Down through the centuries people thought it was all about turning lead into gold. We are now understanding that at its heart, it is about turning unconsciousness into consciousness – turning struggle into trust and disconnection into connection and it is happening inside of more and more human beings.

You and I are alchemists. To learn the art of alchemy is to discover you don’t have to be at the mercy of all those uncomfortable thoughts and feelings that show up inside of you – struggle, doubt, endless fixing, obsession, resistance, anger, fear, mistrust, sadness, loneliness, and shame, to name a few.

How is that possible? Imagine having a very difficult day and when you share with a friend what you are feeling, they try to fix you, ignore you, or judge you. How would you feel? You probably wouldn’t feel any better. Now imagine going to a second person and instead of reacting, your friend says that he/she would really like to hear what you are experiencing, and you can feel this friend’s sincerity. As you begin speaking, your friend gives you their full attention, listening in an open and nonjudgmental way. The amazing thing is that after talking for a bit you would likely feel better even though your friend may not have said a word. And that is because you were met with spaciousness and compassion, allowing what you are feeling passes right on through you.

You can learn how to do this inside of yourself. But first you need to see that you usually do the opposite. You have been taught to be with uncomfortable feelings, thoughts and sensations in exactly the way your first friend did. You either ignore what is going on inside of you or you judge it, or you endlessly try to fix it. This may calm you down for a bit, but if you are honest, those same feelings come back again some other time and you get caught again. Most of us have not been taught how to be with our immediate experience, giving it our compassionate attention like the second friend did, so the feelings can move through us like the clouds move through the sky.

Alchemy is learning how to be with what we are experiencing right here, right now. The deepest healing we can know doesn’t come from changing anything. It comes from the ability to see and be with what is happening right now. This is a radically new way to be with ourselves and the amazing thing is – it works! And in this time of so much uncertainty, anxiousness and fear of the unknown, it is more important than ever to discover how to be with exactly what you are experiencing.

A key to developing the art of relating to what we are experiencing rather than from it is developing the muscle of our curiosity. This is not the kind of curiosity our mind is used to – trying to figure things out. This kind of curiosity uses our attention to be curious about what is rather than thinking about it, falling into it, or trying to run away. It is the difference between, “I am so anxious,” and “anxiousness is here.”

Every time we are curious about what is going on right now, we strengthen our awareness. So, I invite you to let go of thinking about life and just notice what is right here, right now as you are reading these words. Pause and listen to the sounds all around you, the music of your life. Or notice a couple of different sensations in your body. Or be intimately connected to the rising and the falling of your breath. Whatever you chose, for a few moments you were actually experiencing life rather than endlessly thinking about it. Or your mind chose to do nothing. And that’s okay. It gives you a chance to see how resistant our minds are.

If this intrigues you, begin to add moments such as these throughout your day. Really taste a bite of your food or hear the early morning sounds outside of your window or feel the water as it cascades down your back in the shower. Little moments such as these sprinkled throughout your day wake you up out of your struggling mind and bring you back into direct contact with life. You can then use your strengthened awareness to be an alchemist with your feelings.

We truly can become alchemists, learning how to meet our struggling shelves with curiosity so that we can be fully awake and connected to ourselves and to life!