“The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it.”

What brings you in to therapy?  What story are you telling yourself?  Have you considered the mind/body connection in relation to that story?  Could you say it is a mind/body conflict that’s driving you to seek help?

You may, in a sense, be under siege by your own mind.  Your mind may have created a sort of abyss, making up a story or case against your “self.”  Accompanying feelings may then arise in the body as a physical reaction, fueling the negative thoughts and deepening the abyss.

The mind creates the abyss, the heart crosses it.

— Sri Nisargadatta Maharaj

But if you remember, as you face the abyss, to let go of the thoughts in the mind and ask: “Where am I feeling this in my body?” you can be saved from falling in to the abyss.  With practice, the mind/body connection can be more quickly acknowledged, calming the physical reaction (body) and helping you to safely cross over the abyss, back into peace of mind.

I like to phrase the process in short as “losing your mind and coming to you senses.”

A problem story accentuates the negative and eliminates the positive, and through that process the abyss is created by your mind.  With the help of a collaborator — focusing on your strengths, reconnecting with the lovable parts of yourself which you have hidden away or forgotten — the heart is empowered to help the mind and body reunite.

Through this practice of acknowledging the mind/body connection and more quickly crossing the abyss between the two, we are able to minimize the problem story. In exchange we accentuate the stronger, more positive aspects of our story, feeling more at ease in the body, with better access to the love that lives in all of us!