Serenity Now

Have you ever watched the Seinfeld episode where Frank Costanza practiced a saying to help him deal with stress in life?  You probably remember it as "serenity now".  In this episode, every time Frank would get stressed about something, he would raise his hands in the air and shout this phrase.  Frank even got Kramer doing this and actually had Lloyd Braun doing it until he ended up in the mental institution.

Even though Lloyd Braun kept telling Jerry and others that saying serenity now was not helping anything, they kept doing it.  He tried to tell them that it was just bottling things up inside and one day they would crack under the pressure.  Of course, no one listened and they just kept saying the phrase.

In the end, it shows that Kramer after practicing "serenity now" just finally had taken too much in his life and he cracked.  The next thing we see in this episode is that he is smashing all the computers that George had stored in his apartment.

We act the same way in our lives.  We try to say "serenity now" through all types of methods such as positive thinking, praying, meditation, alternative new age practices, drinking, drugs and whatever else you can name here.  Some of these things might be considered good things, but in many ways if they are done without a true mind body connection, it is just shouting into the wind.


Instead, if we practiced mindfulness where we really got in touch with who we were, what made us tick and how all the experiences of our life brought us to this moment, then we would be much better off.  Acting as if our mind and body are not physically impacted by the events of our day is acting like the moon doesn't exist.  The events of our day and the events of our life impact our body in very real and physical ways.

Saying positive thoughts or doing all these other things may help numb you from what you are feeling, but the stress and trauma is still robbing energy and power from your life.  If you don't deal with stress and you don't deal with trauma, it will deal with you.  You may think you have escaped it for many years, but at some point it will catch up with you.

Go ahead and practice mindfulness in your life because it is a good thing.  However, just don't settle for the frilly moments in life where you continue to numb yourself.  Go in and discover all that there is within you, finding a way to take back your power from experiences that hold you captive.  This is not just a mind based practice.  It is a mind based practice that is grounded within the body.

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 Blog Post And Images (c) 6/22/12 Don Shetterly - use and reprint by permission only http://www.donshetterly.com You are welcomed to share the link to this blog post, but ask for for permission before reprinting this article. Thanks!
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