Accelerating The Choice-Making Process

Sometimes life presents you with what seem like major choices and it throws you in a tizzy, perhaps even a full scale panic, so what to do?

Well in fact your subconscious mind already knows exactly what to do, knows exactly how to choose and has actually already made the choice. All that’s required is for you now to get in touch with your subconscious mind, so your local everyday self can get to know what your deeper universal self already knows.

It’s a beautiful process when you let go into it – a journey of discovery rather than feeling as if you’re rudely, uncomfortably impaled on the horns of a dilemma.

And what makes it even more beautiful is the existence of a wee Taoist trick to trigger the connection to the subconscious where the choice has been made so you can find out what it is.

Now according to those wily Taoist sages of old, it’s the energy in your gall bladder of all things that enables your subconscious to make its choices and when you stimulate the gall bladder energy in a particular way, it enables you to see straight into your subconscious, or rather causes the latter to throw a light on what it’s chosen for you, so you can see it clearly.

To affect such a result, press in with 4 ounces (110 grams) directly above the pupil of each eye on the forehead just above the line of the eyebrows, where you’ll find small indentations in the bone.

Imagine your fingertips are poker-hot and your forehead is like cold butter straight from the fridge and the heat is melting the bone to allow your fingers to seem as if they’re penetrating the actual bone. Let this go on for a minute or so.

This opens the points that connect you to your subconscious.

You may not feel anything much except a deeper sense of relaxation, but in that more relaxed state, ask your subconscious to reveal your choice to you, say, ‘Subconscious of mine, reveal my choice to me now,’ then wait – do nothing, think nothing and wait, in fact carry on doing whatever you were doing and forget all about it, then a few minutes later, check back in by becoming silent and still and if I’m not mistaken you’ll see the choice lit up like a neon sign or a scene from a movie, or however your mind relays messages to you.

The ancient Taoists referred to this dynamic as riding the dragon and tiger, though more precisely it means the tiger in you riding the dragon in you. Meaning you, with all your conflicting drives and passions ride the serpentine flow of chi snaking its way like a tide of water, unstoppable and irresistible, this wave of sublime motion carrying you and your story on to the next chapter, in order that your drives may be at least somewhat satisfied, acquiescing to it all the while and allowing it to carry you without getting in its way too much.

And of course you burst into action but only when required, just like a tiger in full repose yet also fully alert, that's been patiently waiting to burst into action, yet not wasting any energy anticipating or rehearsing, simply confident and primed to make the best moves whenever required – and then to return immediately to a state of repose wasting no energy on replaying or remaining in a heightened state once the action has been performed.

The dragon refers to the life-force constantly coursing through your lower abdomen both from front to back and back to front simultaneously. The idea is to surrender to its power within and discern the direction it wants you to take via a series of internal nudges or impulses.

The tiger refers to the fire or passion in your heart which combusts to produce an explosion of force similar to a domestic cat in repose suddenly darting for a mouse about the house and then returning to repose as soon as its mission is complete.

So while this will not instantly clarify what needs to be done next, how it needs to be done, and how much energy is required for it to be done well, it will provide a metaphorical template to be deployed perhaps as part of your daily meditation routine, which if practiced or attended to each day will swiftly imbue you automatically with a sense of balance in terms of when to withdraw and when to advance.

You'll find that just like the real thing, a tiger doesn't need constant exercise to stay fit, so you've no need to fear it succumbing too much to entropy for lack of use so to speak.

The dragon on the other hand isn't exactly short of fire itself, for as you know if you've ever encountered one in an argument, they breathe fire. Hence most of the time is safe to rely on for getting most things that need doing done.

So, if you picture yourself as a tiger riding the back of a huge dragon, you sitting comfortably in your heart, the dragon you're riding in your belly, you'll find yourself getting far more balanced in the equation between drawing things unto you and going out to grab them, without even having to think about it.

You might see this as a hidden tool for achieving balance in your life.

I wish you the merriest day in which you find yourself inundated by magnificent surprises that confirm you are fully able to trust yourself, your choices and your life.

And enjoy the ride – it's the most important thing to do.

Love, Barefoot