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Put on your ROBE!

bathRobeWhat ROBE, you ask? The ROBE of intention for living this day or completing this task, the ROBE of your life.

Perhaps this sounds silly and unnecessary. “Really, now. I wake up, get out of bed, and get going with my day, don’t you?” Well, yes, if we are blessed with yet another day on this planet, each of us does that. Today’s tidbit asks you to consider how you take those first steps of your day or approach the next activity and invites you to “don your ROBE” in the process:

(R)elax (O)pen (B)elieve (E)nergize

First, Relax. Loosen the tight grip on plans or fear, anxiety or even, for the moment, excitement. Open. From your relaxed being, open to possibility, to what is present right now in your awareness. Review what lies in front of you and (re)commit to your engagement. Then, Believe. Feel the assurance of “Yes, I Can!” or “Yes, this is what I am meant to be part of today.” Finally, Energize it. Channel your energy into what lies ahead. Focus the gift of your life energy on whatever it is that you are choosing to participate in. Don your ROBE, then go! Don’t forget to pause and review the impact of your ROBE when you’re through.

How will your ROBE support you today?
What beauty does your ROBE reveal?

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Come back!

Recently I wrote about practicing full presence in this activity or in this conversation. Especially when we are in relationship with another human being, whether that is a one-on-one connection or as a member of the audience at a speaking or performance event, the gift of full presence is kind, appropriate and energetically supportive. Do we give it 100% of the time? I for one, and, I suspect, most of us, cannot answer that in the affirmative. Even if it is our intention to be fully present in a given moment, it isn’t easy! Our minds wander into yesterday or tomorrow. Our body sends us messages and we stray into our own personal space of need. Our emotions act up with boredom or reactivity, and we follow their lead. When it is your intention to give full presence and you wander, I encourage you to learn the skill of coming back. You will need it!

Imagine you are in an auditorium filled with people and you’ve come to listen to a friend speak. You begin to stray …

  1. INTENTION: Notice the part of you that committed to being present, the voice inside that says, “Come back!”
  2. DISCERN: Now put yourself up there on that stage, experiencing your audience members drifting off. What do you need? Maybe you want to see a visual clue that folks are paying attention (smiles, sitting up straight…). Maybe you want to hear their reaction to your words (Yes! Ah ha!…)
  3. GIVE: Channel that to the speaker. Give your undivided attention, your presence.

Will you stray again? Probably! Can you come back … again? Of course! Know that you you can practice coming back everywhere – with your children, friends, coworkers, clients, even with yourself!

What is the impact of full presence?
What is “coming back” over and over worth?

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Be here now …

hummingbird

Not a new idea … certainly not. Yet, most of us need reminding. Me? I need to be reminded every day – multiple times per day!

This is the only moment we have.
This moment.
This breath.
Now.

Be here. Be with the task in front of you, the person you are with. Be here.

Does this mean we don’t plan for the future?

No. Visioning the future and making plans is definitely part of co-creating our lives! Co-creating, however, requires that we release the tight grip on those plans and live fully the current moment.

Why? 

Have you noticed how quickly things change? The weather can go from sunshine to lightning in an instant – totally transforming the landscape and, if you are wise, the round of golf you thought you would play today! Think about technology – how our children don’t even know what a cassette tape or typewriter of rotary phone is! By the time the future arrives, our choices about how to be in that future moment may have changed so dramatically that any plans we set in motion last year, last month, even last week may be irrelevant or even unwise.

The only moment we have to live is this one. And this one. And this one. If we spend each moment planning for tomorrow, we just might miss our lives. As I’ve been writing this with the thought of you reading it “in the future”, I have paused frequently to look up. And in those pauses, I’ve witnessed several hummingbird visits to the feeder. Each visit lasts only seconds. Without the pauses, I would have missed so much!

Today, consider adding a bit of balance to your day. Set aside some time for planning, considering what you’d like to do, where you’d like to go, what lies ahead. Then, return to now. Breathe into the moment you are living now, the task you are doing now. Balance action and forward movement with pausing to listen, to become aware of what is happening in and around you now. Notice what shows up when your mind takes a break.

What magic is revealed in your pauses?
What is really here NOW?

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Time to remember …

Perhaps you have considered that you are a complex being, not simply a “person”. Maybe not. Yet, think about this. Each of us has a physical body, a mind or intellectual body. Each of us is an emotional being  – has an emotional body. We have a spirit, a personality, an energetic body. Finally, many of us believe that we come into this world with a soul, the essence of Life itself as yet another aspect of our being.

Here’s the catch. Many of us focus on a subset of our wholeness and try to ignore the rest. For some, that means we develop our intellectual body and hope the emotional stays quiet. Others listen only to their emotions and react to life from this center of knowing. There are also persons who have latched on to a spiritual journey and focus solely on its pursuit leaving their human nature to chance. Often the impact of this way of “partial living” is illness, unhappiness, depression, a nagging sense that something is missing in life.

What parts of you are disconnected?
Is it time for you to re-member?

If you know that you ignore your physical body, just expect it to show up and “perform” as you put all of your energy into your work, consider gifting it with good food and modest movement. If, instead, you ignore your spirit, never thinking about what is truly important to you, never pausing to sense delight in your life, take a break – maybe a short vacation. Nurture your playful inner self. If your emotions are the part of you most ignored (until they blow up at the nearest innocent bystander), your task may be to find time to pause with a trusted friend or family member or perhaps a journal where you can notice and write about what’s in your emotional space with total confidentiality.

Re-membering ourselves takes time and dedication. It is the work of every day in small amounts. It is the journey toward wholeness, self-honoring, ease.

How will you commit to re-membering today?

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Keep your eye on the ball!

This past weekend I played softball for the first time in 45 years! What’s really amazing about that is: after my hubby found me a glove and played catch to warm me up, I proceeded to go to right field and … get this … CATCH the only two fly balls that came my way! Really, I did! I also made contact with the ball at the plate – twice! While the team would have been better off if I’d let myself get walked, I actually hit the ball and ran! Crazy amazing!

And … like most everything in life, a lesson can be found. Here’s today’s lesson:

Keep your eye on the ball!

Whether the ball is a softball, a hardball, a task, a goal, a dream … focus is important. On the softball diamond, looking at the ground while in pursuit of the ball or looking ahead to where you’ll throw it before securing that fly ball in the glove is a recipe for failure.

Our dreams, especially the big ones, may not be in our mind 100% of the time, with every daily task and interaction. Yet, daily reminders, daily visioning, daily focus on the dream in order to discern today’s step forward will help insure the dream’s unfolding.

What dream are you moving toward?
What helps you “keep your eye on the ball”?
What step will you take today?