Homeostasis

Homeostasis is self-regulation, a basic property of all self-organising systems.

Homeostasis is involved in keeping our body temperature steady. When we exercise and overheat,  our body naturally sweats and cools us down , similarly if we get too cold shivering occurs to warm us back up.

These great processes normally all occur below our conscious level as do many so many of our body's activities allowing us time to 'live'.

This is the up side of homeostasis, however there is a downside in that not only does this process keep our physiology in homeostasis I believe it tends to keep our lives in homeostasis and this is one of the main reasons that we find it so difficult to change.

 Habits tend to be really hard to break and this includes habits of our minds.

Understanding  that my mind is wanting to stay ' stuck'  helps me to have patience.

 Helps me cope with the long process of awakening.   Paradoxically it also helps me to stay focused on making small efforts each day to move in the new direction.

One of the great aspects of T'ai Chi is that it ' forces ' us to do things in a new way.

We have to move much more slowly than we normally do, we need to coordinate our movements in new strange ways that challenge us.

Our daily practice slowly changes our perspective, slowly opens us up in new ways. So over time we become more centered , calmer , steadier , more flexible.

And eventually hopefully truly lucid.