2024-01-04 - Focusing And Getting Clear ======================================= These are two similar processes that i have found helpful for dealing with complex personal problems. The problems may be complex, but the process is fairly simple. Focusing ======== 1. Clear a space ---------------- How are you? What's between you and feeling fine? Don't answer; let what comes in your body do the answering. Don't go into anything. Greet each concern that comes. Put each side for a while, next to you. Except for that, are you fine? 2. Felt sense ------------- Pick one problem to focus on. Don't go into the problem. What do you sense in your body when you recall the whole of that problem? Sense all of that, the sense of the whole thing, the murky discomfort or the unclear body-sense of it. 3. Get a handle --------------- What is the quality of the felt sense? What one word, phrase, or image comes out of this felt sense? What quality-word would fit better? 4. Resonate ----------- Go back and forth between the word (or image) and the felt sense. If they match, have the sensation of matching several times. If the felt sense changes, follow it with your attention. When you get a perfect match, the words (images) being just right for this feeling, let yourself feel that for a minute. 5. Ask ------ What is it about the whole problem, that makes me so _____? When stuck, ask questions: * What is the worst of this feeling? * What's really so bad about this? * What does it need? * What should happen? Don't answer; wait for the feeling to stir and give you an answer. What would it feel like if it was all OK? Let the body answer: What is in the way of that? 6. Receive ---------- Welcome what came. Be glad it spoke. It is only one step on this problem, not the last. Now that you know where it is, you can leave it and come back to it later. Protect it from critical voices that interrupt. Does your body want another round of focusing, or is this a good stopping place? Based on Focusing by Eugene Gendling Getting Clear ============= This is a 4-step exercise to be done when you are feeling uncomfortable, emotionally upset, pressuring yourself to make a decision, or any time you wish to get more deeply in touch with yourself. 1. Ask yourself a question which confronts or examines the feelings you are experiencing. * What am i telling myself right now? * What is the truth for me about _____? * What am i feeling right now? 2. Answer yourself with the very first words that come into your mind, without censoring anything. 3. Acknowledge yourself, each time you answer, by saying "Thank you!" to yourself for sharing these feelings. Then repeat these steps again, and again--until you finally arrive at an answer which sheds the light of clear understanding upon your situation. You'll know when it happens because you will suddenly feel better, clearer, more aware of your feelings and attitudes, and more aware of your options. 4. Share your discovery with someone else, within a day or two. Even if you have to call or write somebody, it is important to share your feelings and your insight with someone you are close to. This finalizes the whole process. This exercise is so simple--yet so powerful! It brings to the surface all the feelings which we are experiencing on deep levels that we don't allow ourselves to examine consciously because they're not 'nice' feelings. Once they surface, and once we accept them, they lose their power. It is important not to reject these feelings--by rejecting them, we are giving them power to run our lives. Based on Tantra For The West by Marcus Allan tags: health,self-help Tags ==== health self-help