Can’t shut down
QUESTION: Masters, for most of my life feel like I’m over-stimulated yet tired and exhausted. I have constant ringing in my ears and intensive thoughts running through my head. I’m oversensitive to noise. I don’t feel aligned or present to my body. Recently I’ve had 3 hour past life regression session with hypnotherapist – Newtown school practitioner. At the day of session I woke up tired, ringing and thoughts were more intense than usual. I couldn’t go to trance. I was constantly disturbed by the car noise. Therapist said I have ‘strong conscious’ that stops me from connecting. What can I do to connect and come down? Shall I keep trying hypnotherapy again? I can’t meditate either due to racing thoughts. ~Dobri, Poland
ANSWER: You will not be able to go into a hypnotic trance or meditate until you give up control. The symptoms you have reported show you have an intense desire to know everything that is going on and to be able to control the outcome. You insinuate yourself into everything around you. You think you are overly sensitive but you are really being overly nosy, needing to know what is happening, even if it is only that a car is driving down the street.
Most of your difficulty sleeping when something big is about to happen results from your expectations. You have an extreme fear of things when you don’t know how they are going to end. You run over all the possible scenarios and then question the plausibility of your thoughts. You can’t relax and let go because you fear you will miss something.
In order to have the ability to meditate, you must be able to shut down your mind. To you, your mind’s thoughts are the most important aspect of your life. Your ego, based upon your judgment of things, is paramount. To go with the flow, and not get hung up on the revolving door of thoughts in your head, you have to stop looking at everything to judge how it applies to you. Let the world revolve and enter observation mode only.
You are very concerned with how you rate next to everyone else. Why? It is not going to help you understand your existence or relax and clear your head.
Start with meditation. As you place yourself in a quiet place where outside noises do not penetrate, concentrate on the sensations in your body. Can you feel the air going in and out of your lungs? Do this for a while, and if any other thoughts pop up, bring yourself back to your breath. Next, listen for the blood moving through your body. Next, ask a question and listen for an answer.
Be patient; keep trying until you can shut off the outside noise. If you are having trouble, start doing a walking meditation: You walk, and as you stay alert to the possible obstacles under your feet, you will notice the internal noise will lessen and then disappear.