We all know grooves are formed by repeatedly going over something in the same place time after time after time. Whether it’s a groove on a road from common traffic, a riverbed from the push of pressing waters, or what I’ll be focusing on here, neural pathways in our brains.
Perhaps you’ve heard of the term “Samskara”, which comes from two Sanskrit word roots that mean “to flow together”. Basically, Samskara is symbolic representations of the neurological grooves that form over time the more and more that you choose to do something. And every time you choose to do something, whether you are aware of it or not, it becomes more difficult not to choose that thing the next time you are faced with the choice. Good for working towards positive goals, bad for addictions, right? BINGO.
This is technically how it all works. Intention and follow-through are half the equation when faced with personal change and so many of us let some mere negative self-talk steer us away from even starting, that we never even know how far we could get or how good we might feel afterward. But do we even have a choice? After which point do the grooves become so deep, so embedded that they truly do affect our free will? Perhaps this is why some of us never take the first step, to begin with. But that is a whole other article in and of itself we’ll save for a later time…
I know one of my biggest issues when it comes to not getting things done is that I never start. And in making THAT choice over and over I have come to find out that I’ve mastered the art of procrastination. This has resulted in many hours of self-reflection and shadow work to raise my self-esteem and regain my own trust that I won’t make promises that I don’t plan on following through on like I’ve done so many times before. And it took simply learning that something was controlling me for my stubborn ass to say, “Oh hell no!” and start learning how to smooth out these not so positive grooves I have going on.
It all comes down to the choices you make, and when you are aware of Samskaras, you can give yourself the power to actually overcome them and make it work for you in your favor. The simple yet seemingly near-impossible task is to simply stop choosing. Get to a point of neutrality about or around whatever it is that has this control or power over you. It’s not so much about reacting to your emotions as it is acknowledging them, accepting them, and allowing them to freely flow by as they were meant to do. It is only when we grasp and pull and hang onto our emotions do they cause us pain, confusion, etc.
If you are trying to master an art or talent, then this is obviously a good thing when deep grooves have been formed. This is proof of hard work, dedication, and practice and these are the types of grooves you most likely want to keep around. Use this simple observation and a new way of looking at it to approach the so-called “bad” grooves. This helps the ego to let go and to stop judging. If you have been trying to quit smoking for 20 years to no avail, then that is a perfect example of a really deep “groove” or Samskara that has formed within the brain and has now manifested as a “bad habit”.
There has to be a deeper, more important groove formed to encompass your attention and dedication away from continuing to contribute to the “smoking groove” and this usually comes in the form of a life-threatening health scare from your doctor, an ultimatum from your spouse or just a strong inner will to finally change. All are equally effective and aid us in attaining the neutrality that we need to have towards the “bad” groove.
When we are born, we are for the most part a clean slate. We come into the world with our Soul essence of who’ve we’ve been along with our blueprint of what we have planned to accomplish while we've incarnated here on Earth this time around. However, we risk influencing both our very own Souls and our soul plans the second we make a choice; and being a human being, we are inevitably faced with choices seemingly almost every other moment of our conscious and perhaps even unconscious lives.
So, in my humble opinion, one would be wise to take a few moments to work on re-training the mind and figure out where you are forming your grooves and to see if they are best serving you in your life. If not, perhaps look into creating new grooves, or maybe do like what’s her name who went and got an old one back. LOL Hey, whatever works for you! 🙂
If you are interested in learning more about Samskara and just want to read a bad-ass book that will seriously help you out in many ways if you’re looking to grow mentally, spiritually and emotionally, I highly recommend Deepak Chopra’s, The Book of Secrets: Unlocking the Hidden Dimensions of Your Life.
Tamara Rant is a Co-Editor/Writer for CLN as well as a Licensed Reiki Master, heart-centered Graphic Designer and a progressive voice in social media activism & awareness. She is an avid lover of all things Quantum Physics and Spirituality. Connect with Tamara by visiting Prana Paws/Healing Hearts Reiki or go to RantDesignMedia.com
Tamara posts new original articles to CLN every Saturday.
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This article was originally created and published by Conscious Life News and is published here under a Creative Commons license with attribution to Tamara Rant and ConsciousLifeNews.com. It may be re-posted freely with proper attribution, author bio, and this Copyright/Creative Commons statement.
