If you feel closed off, protected, or withdrawn, you can physically change this feeling in yourself. You can bring more awareness into your life by purposefully opening yourself up to the world. This can be done in stages and through many steps. It is important to know that when we are withholding ourselves, what we are really doing is trying to protect ourselves. So to substantiate this feeling, we look at the world as a place that is fundamentally hard or that is against us in some way. We have to stop seeing life, people, or anything that we are involved with as hard to deal with or as a struggle.
Anything that feels hard to us is in some small way becomes incorporated into how we feel on a daily basis. Anytime we think, “this is hard,” we instinctively protect ourselves. And of course what feels hard to us at the time may become even more so. If we change our outlook of seeing or perceiving something as hard, and instead open up to the experience, it will be different to us. We must not automatically respond as we always do, but rather initialize that openness toward what feels hard. Another thing we can do is to see ourselves as open, seeing ourselves at ease and okay in life. If we see ourselves as struggling in any way, then that is what life is to us. If we see our future as hard, then life will again feel this way. We must be open at all times towards life, ourselves, and everything around us.
Something else we tend to do is prejudge ourselves. We judge ourselves by assuming what our behaviors will be, and therefore trap ourselves into a way of being. We are not open, nor are we open to receiving anything. If we stop seeing ourselves in a certain way, then we can be anything at all times. We can be open, we can receive, and we can move forward in life. There is no need to protect ourselves. Protecting, or the idea of it, is fear based. We are assuming by stereotyping ourselves and what is around us. We fear because we assume. We judge because we are afraid. Letting go of fear also keeps us open. If we stop being afraid of life, of those around us, circumstances, or events, then there is no need for protection. We can never fully protect ourselves from any and all circumstances. Therefore, to assume what may be is unrealistic and not beneficial to us. We are only constricting our growth and hindering our happiness when we withhold ourselves because we fear what may be.
To find immersion in life, think about being open. Open up your heart, your mind, and your emotions to everything around you. Physically let go of the restraint, the withholding, and let yourself just be and relax into life. Mentally tell yourself that you are what you need to be, should be, and are completely capable in this moment. How we perceive ourselves, the world, and what happens around us is reflected in how we feel.
To stop feeling so separate, create space in how you perceive. Open the space up to feel life and believe that there is nothing to protect yourself from. Life as it is is okay, nothing is out to get you or harm you. Life is benevolent; it is us who hold the fear and then hide from life. Life is a constant circulation of events, moments, and occurrences, that is all. We are part of this whether we withhold ourselves from it or not. It is up to us how much of life we experience and how much we let slip by. Envision yourself as open; see yourself as ready and capable. Believe that life is easy and not hard. See all of this and life will become easier for you; you will feel more involved and a part of life. When we let go of fear, the view of life as hard, and any judgment, we open ourselves up to living life as we are meant to.