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Beginning Again: Staying Focused and Balanced With Daily Practices
As we begin another year, we have an opportunity to change a pattern most of us share. We find a new practice--breath, or exercise, or chanting, or meditation--and do it for a while. Then we forget about it, usually in about two weeks! Why is this? It seems that part of our humanness is to do things because someone says they will be good for us. We are trained to think this way by parents, teachers, and bosses. We have forgotten to determine what we truly want, so we get distracted from the practice. And we procrastinate. To maintain focus and stop procrastinating, it helps to figure out what really works for you. For example, I have noticed that whatever daily practices I do must meet several requirements, or I stop doing them. My practices must: * Calm and quiet me * Bring me pleasure * Help me shift my energy and feel balanced * Affect both body and spirit * Help me feel open-hearted, luminous, and connected If something takes too much time or is too complicated to learn, it stresses rather than calms me, so I stop doing it. Another key way of getting into focus and balance has to do, really, with paying attention. Any time you are sitting too long, or thrown off balance by a conversation, or stuck, it's important to find ways to: * Clear your mind * Get out of your head and into your heart * Return to your body * Connect with spirit A third aspect of staying focused is to choose only a few practices to do each day. If you have too many, you'll get overwhelmed. You might try using one to release and clear, one to fill, and one to connect beyond yourself. The particulars are not as important as the repetition when you are trying to keep yourself in balance. Working with just a few practices, we imprint them; habituate to them; and then can experience unfolding and deepening. As we keep repeating, there are many methods of shifting energy. Everyone has to find her own practices, and find what works. The key is to do something! Five minutes of Qigong. A short, mind-clearing walk. Intense exercise on your lunch break. Yoga fire-breath. Toning or singing as you drive. Lying on the earth and breathing in resonance. Working With Distractions, Knowing and Being Another part of focus and balance has to do with what we really need to know--the stuff of the mind, information, and data--and what we need to be-the focus of the heart. The cultural trance is pervasive: governments, the stock market, NGOs, universities, and businesses pour out reports, analysis, data, and more data. Everyone can post social media updates, videos, and blogs. Westerners are in constant information overload. And, unfortunately, "we become, neurologically, what we think." There's a strange polarization emerging. Some of us are information and analysis junkies. Others of us are ostriches, metaphorically hiding our heads in the sand by avoiding "news," social media, or "facts" as much as possible. For the politically active, burnout and discouragement feed avoidance. Curiosity is wonderful, but one thing leads to another. We've all had the experience of falling into a pit of online shopping, Twitter posts, gaming, or YouTube videos before we discover that three or six hours have gone by. When our intent is clear, we can make choices more easily. Here are questions to ask, every day, to control distraction and focus on choosing what we need to know: * Do I need this information for any reason? * How will this information feed me? (Feeding might be entertaining, or energy-shifting, or fear-engendering, or distracting, or overwhelming; knowing your intent helps you choose what to feed.) * What else might I be doing, right now? * In this moment, will I feel happier if I stick with my intent, or cut loose? * How will this information or activity help me on my life path? Help me stay in balance? Help me stay focused, or not? * Do I need to do this right now (in the middle of a class or being with my family) or can it wait till I have space to explore new stuff? Changing a Habit The most practical method for changing a habit/distraction is to choose just one that you want to change. Then focus on just that one. Try to find different ways of doing things that will shake up the habit, and be a little silly as well. Here's what I mean. Say you spend too much time on the computer at home. Try opening your computer while you are brushing your teeth, and scan your email while brushing. This is time-limited, goofy, and makes you stop so you won't drool! Our intent underlies and feeds everything: reflecting on intent guides what we do, and don't do, during the day. When we know our intent, we can figure out what practices and habits will serve. The rhythms that take us back into balance will follow. What's important is to pay attention to what works for you, and do it! Writer Sandy Scull tells us, "...When habit no longer distracts, we begin to sense the rhythm of things. Like a song rooting into the earth, patient that one day it will break ground and enchant the light...." Overload and Open-Heartedness Having an open heart--knowing what is happening, facing it with equanimity, and paying attention to what we can and cannot attend to--is a viable and rewarding way of being in the world. Having an open heart helps with our intent, with balance, and with focus: we may no longer need the details of the latest invasion or famine; instead, we may hold those people and places in our hearts. In these times of great change, repairing and strengthening the web of interconnections that holds us together may be the essential intent. Silence helps. Shifting perception and energy helps. Having intent and sticking with it helps. Beauty helps. Being connected with all beings helps. Gratitude to all of you, whether we've met or not, for your commitment to shift your consciousness. For your passion to learn your path and make a difference in the world. For returning to hope each day. May we all feel connected and supported by each other!
 Meg Beeler/Earth Caretakers Copyright � 2014 | 
