Susan Quirke

A question for you to feel into... What is the most important thing in your life you know you need to act on right now?
 

You may remember from your meditation training four powerful words that are jewels of the practice: Establish Being, Perform Action.

The Sanskrit term for this is: योगस्थः कुरु कर्माणि - yogasthaḥ kuru karmāṇi. 

 

Establish Being (meditate), Perform Action (bring ourselves fully into the world). Dancing in and out of these states daily is what generates integration, and awakens deeper states of awareness. Our meditation practice supports us to be more ourselves, in the world.

Every single time we meditate, we become more rooted and established in the essence of our being. From that place, the invitation is to bring all that we are into the world through the actions we feel called to take. 

So, a short invitation for you this week. What is the most important thing in your life that you know in your heart you need to tend to right now?

When you sit with that question, what action arises? What is one action you could take this week to honour what truly matters to you?

Notice what feels right in your heart, your body, your being. It may feel a little uncomfortable or even scary, but often that is a sign you are moving in a meaningful direction. Growth and expansion rarely live inside our comfort zone.

I invite you to honour what matters most to you this week. Take the action you know you need to. For your life, for your joy, for your wellbeing. For you.

 

A note on overthinking...

The mind is such a fascinating thing. It can solve problems brilliantly, create beauty and art, imagine possibilities, and help us navigate the practicalities of day to day life.

But when the mind becomes overstimulated or stressed, it can also become relentless. We can find ourselves caught in cycles of overthinking that carry a restless, mentally busy quality to them. It can look like repeatedly analysing situations, worrying about the future, constantly trying to predict outcomes, replaying old conversations, looping in indecision, or endlessly mentally problem solving. Over time, it can begin to feel mentally exhausting, almost like becoming trapped within the constant activity of our own mind.

What I find beautiful is that our meditation practice does not ask us to fight the mind or force it into silence. Our practice is deeply sophisticated and, at its heart, an act of love for the mind. The mantra (mind-vehicle), gently draws our awareness inward toward the source of thought itself, into Being. And in that process, the mind is given the opportunity to settle naturally into quieter more coherent states, much like mud settling to the bottom of a glass of water when left undisturbed.

There is such wisdom in that. Meditation offers us deep surrender, letting go, acceptance, gently allowing ourselves to be where we are without resistance. From that place, we can begin creating the conditions in which the nervous system and mind can naturally reorganise, recalibrate, and restore themselves, which they do remarkably intelligently when given the space and the right conditions to do so.

I remember when I first learned to meditate, one of the biggest shifts over the years of practice was not that my thoughts disappeared, but that I no longer felt completely entangled in every thought. There was more space around them. And in that space came perspective. And more calm. Sometimes even humour, when you can witness the thoughts playing out in real time. You can observe your thoughts from a deeper place of awareness within you. These deeper states of awareness are accessed in meditation.

A friend of mine who meditates rang me the other day and when I asked him how he was he said, “I am witnessing some seriously crazy ass, gnarly thoughts in my mind right now. Everything and everyone is irritating me,” and then he just started roaring laughing at the whole thing. We both had a good laugh, as this is the beauty of awareness. The moment we can observe or witness our thoughts, we begin to realise that we are not our thoughts, because there is already a deeper part of us aware of them. A sense of spaciousness begins to emerge around the activity of the mind.

Over time this can be incredibly liberating. We become less entangled in patterns of overthinking, less pulled into every passing mental storm. And this shift happens very naturally through consistent meditation. It is not something we force. It arises spontaneously as a byproduct of the practice.

This is important, especially in a world that constantly pulls our attention outward and keeps the mind stimulated almost every waking moment. The mind was never designed to absorb this level of information continuously without consequence.

And so... know that our meditation technique gently interrupts cycles of overthinking. We still think, of course. We still plan and reflect and discern. But the mind becomes a tool we use rather than a place we are trapped inside.

And what a relief that can be.

 

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