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Where is your focus?

Do you ever catch yourself passing judgment “at first glance” or “judging a book (or a person) by its cover”?

Old phrases, yes. Yet I bring them up to invite you into a new focus practice. Imagine moving through your days, activities, connections with others in this way:

  • Meet
  • Pause to close your eyes to the outer and breathe in to the inner
  • Stay and respond

What does this mean? It means that whatever the outer circumstance, the visual, the situation you are tempted to react to, you do not react. Rather, you pause and shift your focus deeper and respond from here.

Where is your focus only surface level?
How would you respond from a deeper focus?
What are you willing to practice today?

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Shifting Gears

If you have ever ridden a bicycle with 10 or more speeds, you know that “shifting gears” requires the chain to move from one gear to another, guided by the derailleur. Ideally, the chain leaves one gear and moves smoothly to the next. Unfortunately, it doesn’t always work that way. Sometimes the chain skips a gear or slips off entirely. Perhaps you find yourself coasting until you can pull over, put the chain back on the gears, and continue.

What about in life? Every day we “shift gears” many times. Work to home, project to other project, children to spouse, thought to next thought. Often the shifts are smooth. Sometimes, we get derailed.

What do you do when you life derails you?

Do you:

Keep pedaling, hoping your chain will magically fix itself?
Pedal harder and realize you’re going nowhere?

Coast to a stop, pause, fix your chain?

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Expand the Moment

Today’s thought is simple:

Expand the moment.

Whenever life seems especially challenging, you are experiencing tunnel vision, or you feel trapped in limitation and believe your choices go from bad to worse, expand the moment.

Imagine the current, dark, painful moment, however large or small you choose it to be, as outside of yourself and a real thing. Now, draw an imaginary circle around your “moment”. Let that circle begin to grow and grow. Do you see white space between the dark moment and the edge of the circle? As the circle continues to grow, imagine other aspects of your life filling it.

What is also present “now”?
What will you focus on in your next moment?

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How do you regard yourself?

Lately, I’ve invited folks into self-care, self-love, daring to put themselves first in service of the truth that you cannot give away what you do not possess. And I’ve been met with some disbelief, perhaps even disdain. The idea that we are to serve, to give, to do for others runs deep! And today, the word regard showed up in my writing:

Who do you hold in high regard?
What puts a person in that category for you?
Do you have high regard for someone who ignores their own well-being for the sake of others?

How about you? Do your actions tell people:

I value YOU and I do not value ME?
Do you hold yourself in high regard?
What if you did?

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Practice Beholding

Today’s thought is an invitation. The next time you find yourself faced with something or someone that upsets you, doesn’t meet your desires, triggers your “I want to fix this” gene, try this:

Practice Beholding

It’s simple. Whatever “it” is, step back far enough to behold it as you would witness a sunset or behold the painting of a great master. Nothing in you would ever try to change the sunset or the painting, true? You would receive it for what it is and allow its beauty to touch you deeply. So again I say, when you are triggered:

Behold the situation – Behold the person

Free of any desire or impulse to change or control, just be with it.

What do you notice IN YOU now?