G.R.A.C.E.

G.R.A.C.E:
Grounded - push from center through legs to ground
Relaxed - assess all tension, tense and let it go
Aware - Focus on breathing, you are here, right now and moving forward.
Centered - My center 2 fingers below my belly button, this is where I am , this is who I am, this is where all movement starts.
Energy - I am aware of energy throughout my body, is it balanced, how do I feel moving around being aware of this energy.

Breathing

When I breathe in and out it doesn't do anything special to my state of mind, balance, movement towards center, movement from center, stress reduction, anxiety reduction, depression reduction, or sanity.

But when I breath in and out fully present in a state of mind of moving towards a grounded, centered, aware, state it moves me closer to who I am.

Is this true? no, because if I were to breath in and out now, centered or not, aware or not; it may help, it may not. I think the point of being present is to not only know what you are doing and what is happening but to also know who you are, how you feel, what you feel, and move closer to the why; breathing, may or may not help you get closer to that but it is good for you, good for the mind, and is better then doing nothing at all.

Some tools from my Daily routine

Over the last few years there are a number of techniques I have implemented into my daily routine that have helped me with anxiety, productivity, and overall sanity. I keep track of these in Microsoft Outlook and maintain them mostly every day.

Daily Devotional

I want to fill my life with the Lord’s word and stay in it but I find it very hard to keep a Bible on me and when I do I find myself going numb to having it and not making the time to read it. My solution, I added a daily task in outlook to read a daily devotion http://www.lhm.org/dailydevotions.asp and to read a daily bible verse at http://www.biblegateway.com
This has helped me stay active in the word and helps me to make it a part of my life.

Daily reminder

This is simply a task with a list of things to be cognizant about all the time. The items are simple:

• Remember to smile
• Remember to affirm your day (you have an affirmation note category)
• Remember, God's grace is enough and you don't have to worry about this world, just love the people in it.
• Remember, you can always go somewhere else to work for a while if you can't concentrate.

I also have items specific to work, twitter, etc. I read this daily so I try to keep it down to about 4 or 5 items and I update it every day adding new reminders and removing things that have already become habits. This list becomes useful to keep me centered and give me inspiration for Twitter and the Blog.

Gratitude Journal

Every day I write 5 things I am grateful for. This was a practice suggested by my good friend (and big Sis in Christ) Tara Rodden Robinson. This helps me to stay positive, focus on God’s will for me, and it has helped me to remember that even things that have seemed unpleasant in the past have always resulted in good for me.

Daily Affirmation

Every day I write a few words in a note in Outlook affirming what wild success for the day would look like. I close my eyes and imagine myself at the end of the day and I write about how wonderful it is to have experienced what ever joyful thing I envision at the time. I don’t believe for a second that positive thoughts like this make anything happen but I do believe that it keeps me focused, outcome based, and helps me to think in terms of present action towards future goals.

Finding center in chaos

Is it possible to work in chaos? To find peace while you here the sound of people talking, the sounds of construction, or with the sound of children in the background? Is it possible to be calm, collected and have a mind like water state when it seems like the world is trying to pull your mind away at all times?

Read the below, then try visualizing it with your eyes closed:

Picture a hurricane. The winds are blowing at break neck speeds taking debris into the air, blowing over trees, flipping cars, and sending waves crashing upon ships and buildings at the shore. Now pictures standing in that wind; you can barely stand let alone keep a calm peaceful center as the wind roars deep into your being through your fragile ears.

Now step into the eye of that hurricane. The roar of the wind is still there and the chaos is still in sight but here you are standing in it's center.

Finding your center is similar. You are still in the middle of the chaos but you are not sucked into it. You are a casual observer of the chaos while you yourself remain at peace.

Practicing love

Riding my bike brings me to center. Can this be duplicated by any physical activity? No, not for me, not int he same way. Riding my bike is something I love to do; I have been riding since I was about 9 more or less continuously throughout the years. I get on the bike and it feels like an extension of my body and it feels good.

why does this bring me to center? Because I love it and that will never change. By practicing something I love it gives me a reference point to what love feels like and if I continuously practice feeling myself expressing love, I can stay in that place more often.

How I find Center

I find my center in photography. I shoot with a Sony Alpha a700. Why Sony? Because I had a bunch of memory sticks already and wanted to save a dime. Do I regret my purchase? Absolutely not! I love my Sony and am going to be getting the a900 in August (hopefully, if my budget holds up).

How do I find center taking pictures? The easiest way to explain it is because this is where I am naturally present. When I am taking pictures I am focused and only thinking about taking pictures.

How did I find out that photography brings me back to center? Through practice. I tried different things, walking, exercise, reading but thoughts came in. I realized that when taking pictures it captured my natural focus.

How do I use photography to find center when I am not taking pictures? I think about how I feel when I take pictures and try to capture that same focus. This is why it is called practice; I practice center while taking pictures, doing other things I try to obtain the same state.

Here are some samples. You can find more at http://www.unvoicedvisions.com

How do I know I am centered?

Am I present in the here and now or am I lost in thought?
Am I focused on the current or am I focused on the past or future?
Am I here, right now, looking through new eyes as if I opened them for the first time or am I working off or preconceived notions.
Am I quietly listening for God's will or am I forging my own path?

If I feel like I am swerving to the left, right, up, or down away from God's will I am not centered. If I am lost in thought intead of attentive to what I am doing, I am not centered.

If I am so focused on what I am doing I notice nothing else around me, I am not centered.

To be centered means to be clear, current, and present.

Pumped! but not centered

At work today I had another experience of an energy surge triggered by completing some very large outcomes. The whole way home I felt great and energized and ready to move forward with a lot of different things. I was energized, adrenalized and excited but was I centered? No.
I received another divine tap on the shoulder and realized that I was not in a good state. My mind was racing with possibility and when I really focused my awareness on my body I realized I was in fact a little nauseated. The super adrenaline rush of finishing projects might have felt good but it wasn't conducive to mind like water. I acted fast:

• Quick Mind sweep:
• Install office
• Download photos off camera
• Process Inbox
• Install Monitor
• Homework
• Blog Post (I didn't complete this one in order because waiting for office to install was the perfect time to do my blog post).

I felt reasonably clear and engaged in some meditation. I performed Eric Maisel's 6 breath, 6 thought centering exercise.

1. (I am completely) (Stopping)
2. (I expect) (Nothing)
3. (I am ready) (For anything) – This entry is actually, define your work so I defined the state I wanted to be in.
4. (I embrace)(this moment)
5. (I trust)(my resources)
6. (I return)(with strength)

Once finishing this, I felt good. I felt calm but still full of energy but now the energy came with focus. It was a channeled stream rather than a torrent. I then chose to follow y intuition when it came to my mind sweep, I did the first thing that came to mind, I got the monitor and hooked it up, started to install office (which is taking a while because I had to redownload from the Microsoft site), and worked on this post. I still have a few other things to do, including ones i had captured previously but the cool thing about being centered is I can choose next actions and move forward towards outcomes without concious thought, I am following my intuition.

Does this mean I don't need thought? No, I am still going to process the rest of my list and process through my inbox but now I am much more clear and current and can trust that the actions I choose are the right actions to take.