Distractions

When you are trying to make changes in your life you need your whole self present.  Distractions cause us to scatter, to not be fully present.  

As we move throughout our day, our mind will travel back to things that have happened earlier in the day.  Something might trigger a past memory.  We might think about an upcoming meeting.  What we are having for dinner.  Our upcoming week.

Be cognizant of these moments.  Check yourself and your feelings within your body.  Have you left a piece of your consciousness in the past?  Have you left a piece of yourself in the future?  Take note of why you might have (fear, anxiety, excitement, joy) and call the piece back to yourself.  

Practice mindfulness and meditation.  In The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle says that during meditation no one should be able to sneak up on you.  Whoa, I have so far to go with meditation.  I close my eyes and my spirit is off to some distant land.  I thoroughly rock as journeying, out of body experiences, astral projections, etc...  I SUCK at meditation.  Let's rephrase that, I am enjoying expanding my skills in meditation.  There, so much better!

Try this:

Close your eyes.  Searching around and within your body, find your center of balance.  It might be in your feet, your stomach, your head, above you, behind you.  If it feels right to you, bring that center of balance closer to your heart, navel, or pelvic area.  Some days, it might feel right to bring that center of balance to your heart.  Others, it may feel right to bring it to your solar plexus.  Follow your own intuition.  Now take note of how present you are in the moment.  Call out to the parts of yourself from the past and the future that are ready to come back and bring them to your center of balance.  If you have time and the desire, travel to those pieces and bring them back to the hear and now.  For instance, I recall visualizing the hike I am taking this upcoming weekend and feeling excited and longing for it to be now.  I take my consciousness forward to that hike.  Gathering myself to myself, I give thanks for that excitement and travel back to now.  More whole.  More present.  With more power to help craft the live I intend.  

With more power to direct my will.