It's been a long while since I've blogged here. Why is that? I have lots of good intentions but they never seem to translate into action.
I just returned from a wonderful 2 day writers conference held by Northern Colorado Writers. I attended many informative and interesting sessions.
Among them was Laurie Macomber's Writing for the Web. Laurie gave us an amazing, almost overwhelming, amount of information about how to write meaningful and useful copy for our websites and also about blogging.
One thing she said stuck with me. If you are going to blog, it must be almost every day or at a minimum once a week. Whoa!! Wait a minute.....who has time to do that? Then I paused. Why am I balking at doing what I love to do once a day or even a couple of times a week? I love to write so what's up with that?
I needed to get honest with myself. What exactly is holding me back? Is it plain old procrastination? Not really, I'm usually a "get it done" kind of person. Is it fear? No, I'm not afraid to put my writing or my thoughts out there for all to see. Is it a lack of inspiration or ideas? No, definitely not. I'm overflowing with them. Then what?
I examined further what happens to me as I go along through the thought process of what to write and I discovered something.....I want to be profound! I want to say something earth shattering, I want to give my readers and Aha! moment, I want what I write to be meaningful and lingering. What a load of b.......t!
Then I had a revelation....Blogs aren't about being profound. Blogs are your ultimate stream of consciousness stuff just arranged better so others aren't left scratching their heads. BLOGS ARE ORDINARY.
That's the thing that was standing in my way. I just couldn't stomach the idea that my writing, and my ideas, might be ordinary. Who wants to be ordinary? We all want to be special don't we?
So now I'm cringing at myself. I need to get real. I need to get down to earth. I need to eat some humble pie.
If you are still reading and wondering where this is all going, then you are not alone. So am I. What next for my blog? What next for my writing? And most importantly, what next for my ego?
Watch this space.......
Showing posts with label now. Show all posts
Showing posts with label now. Show all posts
Monday, April 2, 2012
Monday, June 6, 2011
Clue #2 - How do I feel right now?
I used to believe that I was a slave to my feelings. I thought I had to feel a certain way before I could get things done. I would put off taking action on many items in my life because I didn't feel "right" or I was unhappy or depressed or out of sorts.
While I understand that sometimes actions and feelings work together for optimum results, I also know today that getting things done, solving my problems and taking actions that are beneficial to my life are not necessarily dependent on how I feel at the time.
The one big question I have always had about operating from the immediate moment is "But what if the now is really uncomfortable?" What I really want to ask is "How do I do now when now - quite frankly - sucks?"
The one big answer that comes to me however when I ask that, also comes in the form of a question. "But how do you know if now really sucks or if you just FEEL it does?"
The crux of the matter relies on whether or not I believe that I have any power whatsoever over my feelings or if I believe that I must just ride out the tide of my emotions without a paddle or a sail or, for that matter, a compass. This is what I used to believe. Then someone set me straight.
They told me that I was in charge, that I had the power to decide and choose what feelings I felt and what emotions I expressed. I heard things like "fake it until you make it" and "this too shall pass" and I began to understand that just as I can treat a physical wound with ointments, bandages and antiseptic, so I can tend to my emotions and heal them through acknowledging my power to do so and using the amazing power of my mind and spirit to turn them around.
Sometimes this is quick, almost instant and sometimes it takes a while. The long, slow process unfolds as I apply these techniques but a process it is and it works.
Clue #2 then to staying and operating in the now, is to recognize that we have power over our own emotions and can make choices around them. Abraham Lincoln famously said that "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." Lincoln suffered from chronic depression all his adult life and so his words are especially poignant and......believable. They seem to suggest a man who researched his own ability to heal himself and put it into action. If he can do it and lead a country, then perhaps there is hope for you and me?!!
Another factor to ask ourselves regarding the influence we allow our emotions to have over us is whether or not we are really feeling those feelings right now or if we have dragged them into the present from the past or the future.
If I get mad with someone and keep that anger alive by playing the wrongdoing over and over again in my mind thus creating a resentment, I know that I am dragging it along with me into my every moment. Instead, I might choose to let it lie in the past by refusing to replay the scenario and letting it rest in peace.
On the other hand, if I speculate about potential disasters that might occur in the future, I can do the same thing with my fear and anxiety and suck them into my present when nothing has yet happened!
Are your feelings holding you back in the present moment? Are you choosing to feel angry, resentful, vengeful or just generally p......ed off?!! Or do you, like Abraham Lincoln, choose to be as happy as you want to be? Do you believe you are in charge of your emotions or are you a slave to them?
Examining what we are feeling right now and whether that feeling belongs in the present, the past or the future can help us to operate in the moment from a level of comfort and peace and give us choices we never even dreamed of!
I do not believe anymore that I need to be a victim of my own feelings. I know that this is an area of my life where I am truly powerful and....in charge! What about you?
While I understand that sometimes actions and feelings work together for optimum results, I also know today that getting things done, solving my problems and taking actions that are beneficial to my life are not necessarily dependent on how I feel at the time.
The one big question I have always had about operating from the immediate moment is "But what if the now is really uncomfortable?" What I really want to ask is "How do I do now when now - quite frankly - sucks?"
The one big answer that comes to me however when I ask that, also comes in the form of a question. "But how do you know if now really sucks or if you just FEEL it does?"
The crux of the matter relies on whether or not I believe that I have any power whatsoever over my feelings or if I believe that I must just ride out the tide of my emotions without a paddle or a sail or, for that matter, a compass. This is what I used to believe. Then someone set me straight.
They told me that I was in charge, that I had the power to decide and choose what feelings I felt and what emotions I expressed. I heard things like "fake it until you make it" and "this too shall pass" and I began to understand that just as I can treat a physical wound with ointments, bandages and antiseptic, so I can tend to my emotions and heal them through acknowledging my power to do so and using the amazing power of my mind and spirit to turn them around.
Sometimes this is quick, almost instant and sometimes it takes a while. The long, slow process unfolds as I apply these techniques but a process it is and it works.
Clue #2 then to staying and operating in the now, is to recognize that we have power over our own emotions and can make choices around them. Abraham Lincoln famously said that "Most folks are as happy as they make up their minds to be." Lincoln suffered from chronic depression all his adult life and so his words are especially poignant and......believable. They seem to suggest a man who researched his own ability to heal himself and put it into action. If he can do it and lead a country, then perhaps there is hope for you and me?!!
Another factor to ask ourselves regarding the influence we allow our emotions to have over us is whether or not we are really feeling those feelings right now or if we have dragged them into the present from the past or the future.
If I get mad with someone and keep that anger alive by playing the wrongdoing over and over again in my mind thus creating a resentment, I know that I am dragging it along with me into my every moment. Instead, I might choose to let it lie in the past by refusing to replay the scenario and letting it rest in peace.
On the other hand, if I speculate about potential disasters that might occur in the future, I can do the same thing with my fear and anxiety and suck them into my present when nothing has yet happened!
Are your feelings holding you back in the present moment? Are you choosing to feel angry, resentful, vengeful or just generally p......ed off?!! Or do you, like Abraham Lincoln, choose to be as happy as you want to be? Do you believe you are in charge of your emotions or are you a slave to them?
Examining what we are feeling right now and whether that feeling belongs in the present, the past or the future can help us to operate in the moment from a level of comfort and peace and give us choices we never even dreamed of!
I do not believe anymore that I need to be a victim of my own feelings. I know that this is an area of my life where I am truly powerful and....in charge! What about you?
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Now Factor
The answers to the most perplexing dilemmas usually come, it seems, in unexpected ways - quite out of left field, from outside the box, a bolt from the blue. Maybe that's why they strike and stay. Maybe that's what is meant to happen.....
A while ago an event occurred in my life. It was a repetitive situation, one that I had struggled with before many times. Each time, instead of the experience shedding more light on what to do and how to respond, I felt an increasing confusion as to how to respond and a heavier burden of sorrow. What to do? How to handle this? Instructions please. A How To manual for getting on top of this thing is what I needed.
This time I responded ...... exactly the same. I did the one thing I knew from past experience worked - I removed myself - but the feelings were just the same. I sat for a moment and waited. I don't know what I was waiting for but something much greater than me did, and it delivered.
Without ceremony, that unexpected thing happened, that out-of-left-field, outside-of-the-box, bolt-from-the-blue (and all those other weary cliches) event. A thought appeared in my mind.
Now this wasn't a thought that I put there. I know that for sure. It was far too profound for my basic mind. It was planted. It was downloaded by the Universe completely formed so that I could not ignore it, nor twist it into something it wasn't, nor tear it apart with analysis. It just was.
It said, "What just happened is now in the past."
I was stunned. I examined the thought as if it was emblazoned in lights across a neon billboard. Immediately the vast implications of this statement began to unfold in front of me. If what happened was now in the past why did I need to be experiencing it right now? Could I truly leave it in the past? How would I do that? Did that mean that I had a choice with this thing? Was it really that simple?
The effect of that moment is still with me. That's what this blog is about. How do I examine a thought that simple and.....that big? Probably only through rambling around the issues it raises.
I could do it alone in a journal but I decided not. I'm willing to share.....if you are willing to listen and maybe respond.
The rest of my life is NOW and I have a choice to make it so.
A while ago an event occurred in my life. It was a repetitive situation, one that I had struggled with before many times. Each time, instead of the experience shedding more light on what to do and how to respond, I felt an increasing confusion as to how to respond and a heavier burden of sorrow. What to do? How to handle this? Instructions please. A How To manual for getting on top of this thing is what I needed.
This time I responded ...... exactly the same. I did the one thing I knew from past experience worked - I removed myself - but the feelings were just the same. I sat for a moment and waited. I don't know what I was waiting for but something much greater than me did, and it delivered.
Without ceremony, that unexpected thing happened, that out-of-left-field, outside-of-the-box, bolt-from-the-blue (and all those other weary cliches) event. A thought appeared in my mind.
Now this wasn't a thought that I put there. I know that for sure. It was far too profound for my basic mind. It was planted. It was downloaded by the Universe completely formed so that I could not ignore it, nor twist it into something it wasn't, nor tear it apart with analysis. It just was.
It said, "What just happened is now in the past."
I was stunned. I examined the thought as if it was emblazoned in lights across a neon billboard. Immediately the vast implications of this statement began to unfold in front of me. If what happened was now in the past why did I need to be experiencing it right now? Could I truly leave it in the past? How would I do that? Did that mean that I had a choice with this thing? Was it really that simple?
The effect of that moment is still with me. That's what this blog is about. How do I examine a thought that simple and.....that big? Probably only through rambling around the issues it raises.
I could do it alone in a journal but I decided not. I'm willing to share.....if you are willing to listen and maybe respond.
The rest of my life is NOW and I have a choice to make it so.
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