Creative Edge Focusing E-Newsletter

Getting A Felt Sense #4:

Finding The "Intuitive Feel" of a Situation

Dr. Kathy McGuire, Director                          Week One

Newcomers, Print and Practice!!!!!
 
This is your Getting A Felt Sense exercise for this four weeks. Print it out, keep it handy, and try it whenever you have time...I will also send a "reminder" copy by email every week...YOU CAN TRY IT IMMEDIATELY WHEN THE EMAIL COMES! a MOMENT TO RELAX AND CHECK INSIDE! 
 
E-Newsletter Archives!!!!
 
This is the first e-newsletter in this new four week cycle, so you haven't missed anything. Within a year, we will cycle through all the exercises again.But,if you want to catch up with previous e-newsletters, you can go to the Creative Edge Focusing Archives. You can access these from the link under Free Resources at Creative Edge Focusing.
Pre-Focusing Practice B. Getting A Felt Sense #4: "Finding the Felt Senses of A Situation"
(from Complete Focusing Instructions) Week One of four weeks of practice

 

Remember, especially at the beginning, time those "1 minute" pauses. You will be amazed at how long a minute is, how seldom we ever pause for a whole minute!!! And it is exactly in the PAUSE that the Creative Edge comes.

    4.  The "Felt Sense," The "Intuitive Feel" of a Situation-Allow 15 to 20 minutes

 
In this exercise, you are going through a first round of Intuitive Focusing, looking for The Creative Edge, the something-new-that-is-more-than-words about an actual situation during the week that felt unfinished.Although you may have gone around and around in your head, trying to find a solution, to figure out what happened that was strange, now you will set aside that left-brain problem solving and consult your "right-brain wisdom, the bodily "intuitive feel" of "that whole thing." First, we use a Relaxation exercise as a way of clearing some space inside for Focusing:

 

---Let's start with The Counting Meditation for initial Relaxation:

 
---First, stretch---and relax, stretch---and relax, stretch---and relax----30 sec.
 
---Now, begin noticing your breathing, just noticing the breath going in---and out---in---and out---30 sec.
 
---Now, on each exhale, count starting with "1" and continuing, on each exhale, until you reach "9"---1---2---3---4---5---6---7---8---9

2 minutes

---If you lose track, just start counting over again with "1". When you get to "9," start over and count to "9" one more time---
                                                                2 minutes

---Spend a few minutes coming to a peaceful place inside, noticing your breathing---

2 minutes

---Now, bring to mind an incident or a situation from the past week which feels unfinished, left behind an uncomfortable or confusing feeling---

2 minutes

---Set aside all your ready-made words or images, and try to get a fresh "intuitive feel" for how you felt in that situation, paying attention to the center of your body, around the heart/chest area---

1 minute

---Try to find some words or an image to describe the "intuitive feel" of it, The Creative Edge before words---

1 minute

---Keep checking until the words or image are just right.

1 minute

---Ask yourself, "What's that about for me?" and wait for a felt sense, an "intuitive feel" that is more than words, to form---

1 minute

---Find some words or an image to capture that "intuitive sense". You are letting your body's Wisdom tell you about the situation, instead of answering with everything you already know.

1 minute

---When you are ready, come slowly back into the room.

 
If you wanted to continue with another round of Focusing, you would simply ask again, "And why is this important to me?", wait to see what comes as an "intuitive feel," look for words or an image that are "just right," checking and resonating until something shifts inside. You can find full Focusing Instructions in Complete Focusing Instructions, p.12-17 or Instant "Ahah!" #1: Focusing --- Find Out What Is Bothering You.

E-SUPPORT AND E-DISCUSSION YAHOO GROUPS!!!!!

 

Creative Edge Focusing (TM) offers two yahoo groups, Creative Edge Practice, a closed, safe group for hands-on Focusing and Listening experiences, and Creative Edge Collaborators, an open group for discussion and networking around projects bringing listening/focusing skills to audiences throughout the world.

 

Find descriptions and links to each group at our join e-support groups link, and you will get a copy of the Complete Focusing Instructions download when you join. Hope to see you in these two unique e-groups, with lots of new capabilities through Yahoo Groups.

 
Dr. McGuire's Blog
 
If you find the Creative Edge Focusing website overwhelming, the blog is a good way to get introduced to various parts of it a little bit at a time.
 
You'll tips, recipes, photos, articles on Individual Difference Measures like the MBTI and Enneagram, Collaborative Edge Sexuality, Intuitive Eating, core concepts of Creative Edge Focusing, collaboration, creativity, and innovation in business, etc.,etc., and you can offer comments in return! These e-newsletters are also reproduced there.

E-Newsletter Archives
 
Past Creative Edge Focusing (TM) e-newsletters are now available in Creative Edge Focusing archive. You could email this link to friends to interest them in this "Email Focusing Course." There is also a link from the website in the menu under Free Resources.
More Help and Support: Online e-group, Audio Tapes, Teachers
 
  Remember, it can be much easier to learn Intuitive Focusing in the company of a Focused Listener. You can learn all about Focusing Listening, and find resources and teachers, at the website for Creative Edge Focusing

 

You will also find this Getting a Felt Sense exercise in the Complete Focusing Instructions download at Creative Edge Focusing, p.12 : B. Getting A Felt Sense #4: "The Felt Sense of a Situation". You get it by joining our e-support group for further support in practicing Listening and Focusing.

 
If you order our Self-Help Package, you can listen on audio CD Intuitive Focusing: Disk One , Track 12, "The Felt Sense of a Situation," with Dr, McGuire's peaceful voice to keep you company -- and help you stay on track!!
 
And many of these exercises are in the Spanish version of the manual, Focusing En Comunidad. Order from our Store Self-Help Manuals, CDs, DVD.
 
Kathy McGuire, Director
About Creative Edge Focusing
Located by Beaver Lake in Rogers, AR, our goal is to support people in the practice of listening/focusing skills, throughout the world, and for personal growth, interpersonal conflict resolution, and creative individual and group problem solving.

Disclaimer: The instructions in Creative Edge Newsletters are offered purely as self-help skills. In providing them, Dr. McGuire is not engaged in rendering psychological, financial, legal, or other professional services. If expert assistance or counseling is needed, the services of a competent professional should be sought.

Creative Edge Focusing (TM)
Dr. Kathy McGuire
Director