I learned a Sanskrit term many years ago which seems ever more important in the world we see reflected back to us today. The word “Sat” means “Truth” and the word “Nam” means “Name.” The phrase translates to something like “Truth is my Name” or “I am Truth.”
In yoga or meditation, this is often used as a mantra while performing that exercise. However, I’ve found it beneficial to use throughout my day. Silently whispering “Sat Nam” or “I am Truth” helps me to become aware of the areas in my life where I am not living my truth.
For example, I have been telling myself and others for many years that my intention is to become a full-time writer, teacher and coach. Yet until late last year, I didn’t commit myself to that process. I came up with a multitude of excuses why I couldn’t set aside the time to work on my dreams.
Yes, I have a full-time job, a wife, a daughter and all the other life situations that seemingly steal away my time. But I was not being honest with myself about where my time was going. I was spending far too much time watching TV, surfing the internet or social media and then telling myself that I was doing that because after all of my other life obligations, I really only had 30 minutes here or an hour there and it wasn’t enough time to really sit down and write.
This was a rationalization…a rational lie that I was telling myself. Because once I made a decision, a commitment to myself and my future, the time became available. I found that I could consciously choose to give my time to my job and family, take care of the tasks that daily life requires AND still have time to write. It didn’t mean that I deprived myself of the pleasure of watching TV occasionally. It means I found a balance to it.
After I made a commitment to myself, I found that if I sat down to watch TV when I had a message to write about, I just couldn’t enjoy it and in feeling the discomfort and knowing what it was, I would turn off the TV and sit down to write.
My mind still came up with excuses not to pursue my dreams, but instead of allowing it to distract me for long, I would become conscious of what the excuse was. It could be that I simply felt scared to be extending myself out of my comfort zone. When I felt that, I faced those fears and processed the emotional energy instead of allowing it to stop me from moving forward.
I will say that before I learned to feel my feelings and understand them, I could never do this. It also took me some time in working with my coach many years ago to not only learn how to feel my feelings, but also to clear away the massive noise of emotional energies which kept me stuck in the same realities over and over. In clearing those away, I am more easily able to discern what I’m feeling, tune into it and move through it.
A great tool I share with all of my clients is a CD Stephen Cope released almost 20 years ago called, “Yoga for Emotional Flow.” He has some great exercises on it to teach the listener how to feel those big emotions and move through them. It is of course available for download these days.
Many people today are seeking more truth, more integrity and more peace in their lives. I encourage you to use the exercise of repeating either “Sat Nam” or “I am Truth” or “Truth is my name.”
If you have any forms of the rational lies you’re telling yourself, like I was, expect to see those start to bubble to the surface. It may start to create inner conflicts within you when you are heading in a different direction than your Higher Self has in mind.
It may show up as you telling someone about your real dream and they pointing out the ways in which you aren’t following your dream. This is a normal occurrence and if you’re unaware of what’s happening, you may become angry or hurt that they’re not supporting you. When what is really happening is that the inner conflict you have been avoiding is now happening in your outer world. It takes a high degree of awareness to understand what is happening when it happens and to not feel hurt or misunderstood. If you feel this, again, just feel what you’re feeling and move through it. No one else can tell you what you feel or if it’s valid or not. If you feel it, it’s valid for you.
In whatever way it shows up, embrace it and use the opportunity to move through the emotions you may be feeling so you can move beyond them to take the next step towards your dream.
Then, keep using the “Sat Nam” mantra in whatever form you use it to move through any of the obstacles that seem to prevent you from realizing your dream.
The more you become Truth in your personal world, the clearer it will become to you when others are not living their Truth. It will also help you feel compassion for where they are on their life journey, instead of judgment. Judgment is a feeling which hurts you more than it does them. What you feel affects your life and what they feel affects them.
If this is something that works for you, share it with others so they may also benefit from it.
Namaste,
Jeff
Jeff Scholl is a Certified Spiritual Life Coach through Holistic Learning Centers and a Board Certified Holistic Health Practitioner through the American Association of Drugless Practitioners.
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