Universe

Hello and welcome to the calmcast, a time to feel calm and think clearly. I'm Claire Downham, the queen of calm.

A transformational life coach.

I was a burnt out head teacher who finally made the journey to calm after years of trying, and I want to prevent you from having to do the same. The Calm cast is a series of short explorations, gently guiding you back to your natural state, which is calm and clarity. Just listen like you would listen to music with an open mind and curiosity. There's nothing else to do now. Let's relax into today's episode.

So today I want you to know that you are the universe. It's actually superhero day today, which is a day that I think was created by Marvel to celebrate all their superheroes. So that's why this came to mind really, because I think if we could see our potential, that would change all, all of our experiences of life. If we were focused in on the moments when we shine with the power of the universe, life would be very different for all of us. I think, and trust me, I'm not there yet, not in any way, shape or form am I there. But I have moments I think now of just connecting to my okayness. Like maybe I don't quite feel like I'm connected to the universe or that I am the universe, but I have these moments when I feel okay and feel calm and feel some sense of clarity and flow. And then I have many other moments when I don't. It's. It's something I'm pointing to today that is inside you all the time. And I suspect you're often missing it because you're caught up in your thinking, in your personal thinking that is normal and natural and part of being human. To be in that. I guess we call it ego, don't we? In that egoic sense of self, this idea that I am my thinking. So where, where can we start to see this power that we have? Well, I think the first place is in that awareness of thinking. As soon as you start to notice that you are thinking certain thoughts, you have some awareness that that's bringing about a certain kind of feeling. That's when you can start to connect to something bigger than, than this bag of thoughts trapped inside a physical body. There's some things that are just true for all of us. Even if we are really struggling, even if we're not okay. There are those lucid moments when we connect to the power of the universe. And one of those, I think, is that moment when we, we suddenly notice that our thinking isn't in the moment that it's not in the now that it's somewhere else. And there's an observation of that. And almost I feel like it's a microscopic step backwards into just a different space, into a different feeling that is available to us all the time. It really is. And there are times, probably other times, when you've noticed yourself falling into a place of calm as if it's the most natural thing in the world. But you probably haven't noticed it because one of the things I have become aware of is that if there is. If I'm caught up in some kind of thing thinking like I'm arguing with somebody or I'm caught up in something and then something suddenly brings me into the present moment that might be that I suddenly have to deal with something. Oh, this has happened, I have to deal with this. And suddenly there's a falling into dealing with the crisis, the emergency, the sudden thing that's occurred. And to me that shows us that that's always there. Like if I connect to that power in a sudden moment because something has happened, because my thinking has changed all of a sudden my, my caught up thinking, my angry thinking, whatever it is just passes, it just goes gone. I didn't have to meditate, I didn't have to tap it out, it just went. And I reconnected to my okayness. If you caught my session a few days ago on self development stress management actually, and I got really, really caught up in being quite, I'm going to say frustrated. I wasn't quite angry. I was quite frustrated. I was ranting about people telling other people they need to be doing endless stress management techniques to be okay. And in the, in the, near the end, it's about eight minutes in of the session, I suddenly became aware that I was ranting. I was disconnected because I'm. If I'm ranting about the behavior of stress management people, then I'm disconnected from them and I'm in my ego ranting about them. And I, in the noticing of that, I fell back into calm just like that, just noticed it and it went. And that's really all it takes is awareness. Awareness that our feelings are telling us about our state of mind and awareness that that other place, the, the deeper connection to who we really are, the deeper connection to the universe, to each other, to the flowers and the trees. That energy of life, that universal energy is always there. Really all it takes is a moment, not 10 hours of meditation. Does anybody really do 10 hours of meditation? Probably some people do actually in A Buddhist temple somewhere in Thailand. There probably are people doing 10 hours of meditation. That's all it really takes is a moment, a moment of awareness, a moment of seeing, a moment of letting go. And that, that in that space, in that space of connection to the universe, of seeing that you are the universe, that you are your own superhero. Everything you want that you are looking for, outside of you is available. All the inner guidance, all the peace, all the calm, everything is there. You don't have to do anything to get there. Imagine that. But you don't have to imagine it. It's possible. And I know I often talk about the kind of emergency situations, but there are probably other times when you have fallen just into that space, suddenly felt calm, clarity, suddenly felt okay, suddenly known everything is okay, despite chaos going on around you. I think some people experienced that at the start of lockdown in March 2020. They had a little bit of caught up in, oh my goodness, you know, I can't do all these things. And then they fell into presence. I have my children to school. I have to consider what to do next about my actual finances, not the made up horror story of it. I have to, you know, phone the bank and get a mortgage delay or, you know, there were things to do in the present moment. You know, I, I need to find a way to entertain myself. That isn't what I used to do to entertain my. All those things, we, we were forced almost to just live day to day and I know that wasn't the case for lots of people and I feel deep compassion for those people. Maybe just for today you can just look towards seeing how amazing you are, that you are the power of the universe and that's really who you are. And the only thing ever blocking your connection to that is the thinking you have in the moment. But that passes if you let it. So, yeah, happy superhero day. Just get curious about what's in there and what your potential is. It's the same for all of us. It's amazing.

Thank you so much for listening. There's nothing to do now but bring some awareness to how this is working out in your life. Listen regularly to experience longer and longer periods of calm. This has been the calmcast with Clare Downham, queen of calm. Take care and keep listening.