That you are here is indication there is something for you to create, be and do. With every new idea your life becomes a canvass to be filled. There is nothing to complete because life is always in motion, life is always evolving and you are always growing. Nothing you have done so far was the end only the first in the series of steps waiting for more to be added to form that which you will become. Worry not that all the education, jobs, activities, or creations do not seem to go together for they will all mesh together as the collective ingredients in what you will create, be and do in the future.

Wednesday, July 7, 2010

Getting Down to Focusing

Good Day to all from my Skycastle in Germany where the weather is absolutely georgous and I need an assistant. I am busy, busy busy and It's better than being board.

I have been thinking about this aspect of being focused to achieve balance and it's all coming together. Like I said on the last article to maintain balance in Yoga poses you must keep your focus on a point, if you let your mind wander you will loose your balance. It is the same for the Gymist or Ballet dancer who needs to Spot or they loose their balance and become dizzy. The runner focuses on a point to acheive a steady focused rhythm, the tennis player focuses on a point (the ball) to hit it. The Photographer needs to focus the lens, lest she take a photo that is out of focus. And focusing on your central message when writing.

Which brings me to my central message; staying focused on one thing at a time brings balance thus making visualizing much easier.
The following are six steps to the process of focusing for you to practice. We must learn to focus, to gain balance, thus to visualize with greater focus and clarity.


Clearing a Space

What I will ask you to do will be silent, just to yourself. Take a moment just to relax . . . All right – now, inside you, I would like you to pay attention inwardly, in your body, perhaps in your stomach or chest. Now see what comes there when you ask, "What do I want? What is the main thing for me right now?" Sense within your body. Let the answers come slowly from this sensing. When some concern comes, DO NOT GO INSIDE IT. Stand back, say "Yes, that’s there. I can feel that, there." Let there be a little space between you and that. Then ask what else you feel. Wait again, and sense. Usually there are several things.

Felt Sense

From among what came, select one personal desire to focus on. DO NOT GO INSIDE IT. Stand back from it. Of course, there are many parts to that one thing you are thinking about – too many to think of each one alone. But you can feel all of these things together. Pay attention there where you usually feel things, and in there you can get a sense of what all of the desire feels like. Let yourself feel the unclear sense of all of that.

Handle

What is the quality of this unclear felt sense? Let a word, a phrase, or an image come up from the felt sense itself. It might be a quality-word, like light, joyous, scary, exciting, magical, fulfilling or a phrase, or an image. Stay with the quality of the felt sense till something fits it just right.

Resonating

Go back and forth between the felt sense and the word (phrase, or image). Check how they resonate with each other. See if there is a little bodily signal that lets you know there is a fit. To do it, you have to have the felt sense there again, as well as the word. Let the felt sense change, if it does, and also the word or picture, until they feel just right in capturing the quality of the felt sense.

Asking

Now ask: what is it, about this whole desire, that makes it something you want. Make sure the quality is sensed again, freshly, vividly (not just remembered from before). When it is here again, tap it, touch it, be with it, asking, "What makes the whole desire so ______?" Or you ask, "What is in this sense?"

If you get a quick answer without a shift in the felt sense, just let that kind of answer go by. Return your attention to your body and freshly find the felt sense again. Then ask it again.

Be with the felt sense till something comes along with a shift, a slight "give" or release.

Receiving

Receive whatever comes with a shift in a friendly way. Stay with it a while, even if it is only a slight release. Whatever comes, this is only one shift; there will be others. You will probably continue after a little while, but stay here for a few moments.


Practice these steps to help you get in touch with the desire with the most priority; to discover what is most important to you, right now, to focus on. Then begin visualizing it.

Be Well
Love Michelle



What follows is a largely edited excerpt from The Focusing Manual, chapter four of Focusing.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Visualization and Focus

Good Day from my Skycastle in Germany. I hope that all of you are doing well and visualizing your desires. I got out of alignment a few weeks back and it took some refocusing to bring myself back into alignment. Somehow we have this tendency to revert to old ways, thinking they are easier. However, its not so much that old ways are easier it's that it's easier to fall back to old ways. Adjusting or changing our way of thinking/believing takes some time to become instilled within us or become our habit. When new and better ways of thinking finally become our habit then old habits are not turned to; as in the past. My trip to the States knocked me out of the routine that I had been practicing, therefore my body responded with becoming ill. Our bodies tell us whats going on with our thoughts. I am well and back into my routine of meditating, doing yoga and taking care of my body. More importantly I am taking care of my thoughts.

One of the things that has occurred over the last month or two is that I got into the habit of chasing several rabbits. An ancient proverb says; If you chase two rabbits you catch none. Meaning if you are trying to focus on to many things at once you get so split that you get out of alignment and you do not manifest anything specific. You are telling the Universe you want this, that, this and that. You put something out there, snatch it back and then put another thing out there and again snatch it back. Focus is an important factor. When I was doing Yoga this morning I was reminded that Yoga tells you that you must focus on a point, in front of you, to remain balanced. It says that if your mind or focus is wandering you become out of balance. To hold a Yoga pose you must focus on a point in order to balance. As soon as your focus leaves the point you fall out of balance.

I realized that my original focus or intention was to teach and practice visualization. To guide other's in learning Visualization to manifest a desired experience. I had gotten off into many other areas of Law of Attraction and was focusing on too many things. Not that what I have done so far, in my work, was pointless or worthless. It has served well. However, the rabbit I desire to chase is Visualization.

Something that came to me on the treadmill this morning was that fear is within us because we believe something or someone else is in control of what happens to us. Therefore we fear the possibility of that something or someone will harm our sense of well-being in some way. When we realize that we are the master of our Universe then we will no longer feel fear. Knowing that you are the one that manifests your experience can be soothing because you know you are the one in control. You are the one making the decisions. With your thoughts/focus you manifest your experience.
In my focusing on so many things I began to feel fearful. There was so much going on and I lost sight that I was in control, I manifest what I desire and all of these projects are attended to by choice. I have decided to come back to my original focus of specializing in visualization.


So, for the most part, I am going to be talking about visualizing what we desire. Seeing in our mind, or third eye, what we desire as our life experience.

To bring a vibrant image into your mind you must think about all the aspects of the experience you desire and bring them together.
Collect the ingredients that make up the experience you desire; such as the colors, the smells, the sounds, the textures, and the feelings. How does your body feel in the condition you desire? How does your heart feel in the relationship you desire? How does your nervous system feel in the abundant condition you desire.

When you read a book and get completely drawn into the story and you feel the character and the surroundings you are visualizing. When you are sure you can smell the meal the character, in a story, lays down on the table you are visualizing. When you feel yourself relating the character so deeply that you almost believe it is you that is having the character's experience. And when someone, in the real world, speaks to you while you are so involved in a story you are reading and you don't hear them it's because you are completely involved in the visualization of the moment the author is describing. This is visualization!

So when you are designing your visualization you are writing the story of the experience you wish to have.
Write your story, with every single detail that you can think of, as if it were already your experience.

I.E. As Michelle stood in the front yard taking in the red, gold and bronze fall leaves on the tree, she turned towards the house in response to the delicious smell of the catfish frying in the kitchen and the wind blew her hair into her face tickling her nose and she sneezed.

In this description, Michelle, at this very moment saw the colors of the fall leaves, smelled the catfish in the air, felt the wind on her skin and the hair on her nose and had a response; the sneeze.

This is how you write your story for your visualization. Write it as present tense, include all the senses and describe responses until you can feel yourself having the experience. It's call Make Believe.

Get your head in the clouds and dream. Dream of all the joyous experiences you wish to have and allow yourself to soar into the dreaminess of the clouds

Spend time every day dreaming. At least 20 minutes a day and then write down what you dreamed about.

Until next time, Happy Dreaming

Be Well
Love Michelle