I woke this morning to the most magical sunrise. It fact it was not the sunrise itself that was so magical but the clouds, in the way that they reflected and dispersed hues of orange, yellow and red stretching into silver lined clouds beyond. And seeing them melting into the infinite blue sky beyond that really struck me.
It’s incredibly inspiring looking outside myself and being absorbed into nature and the world around rather than being absorbed in my own thinking; my own needs and desires. I think it’s called being fully associated, or really in the moment!
And this morning I did that as I went for a run. It was a truly magical, connecting and enthralling experience. I found myself running through deserted woodland, with the dew rising slowly and effortlessly from the green foliage around. I’m feeling soft branches and leaves brushing my skin and the intense heat of the sun my forehead. And I notice I am thinking of nothing and feeling everything. And then as I become aware of the droplets of sweat beginning to fall from my forehead I notice myself saying ‘this really is beautiful’! A big grin spreads across my face.
This I believe, is what life is about – experiencing the depths of our emotions, experiencing the here and now and perhaps more than anything, experiencing energy.
A couple of apparently profound thoughts came to me today while running and later sitting on the beach. And one of those was about this concept of energy or flow.
I remember thinking to myself a long time ago about ‘flow’. A state of flow was something I really aspired to experience on a regular basis, in fact all the time. I became consciously aware of creating a state of flow myself and noticing when I was not in that state so that I could adjust my thinking, physiology and language patterns in order that I could get back into flow.
I think it is this, our ability to manage our state, change state and create a state that is really the difference that makes a difference in our experience of life, in our ability to be happy and to be, do and have anything we really want.
The only reason we do anything is for a feeling…
As humans we are emotion, or feeling driven creatures. We do things to gain pleasure and avoid pain, and often both are motivating factors at the same time.
There are three ways primary ways we create emotions. Firstly, we create emotion by what we focus on. So if you focus on something you want to have in your life you will have one emotional reaction, and if you focus on something you don’t want you have a different emotional reaction. Focus, whether thinking internally in our minds or looking outside of ourselves creates emotion or feelings.
Physiologically, or moving our body also creates emotion… if you slouch now in your chair and don’t move you create one emotion. And now as you sit up and smile and take a deep breath you will create another emotion. We really can profoundly affect our experience in the here and now simply by moving out body. Motion creates emotion!
And finally our language, the words that we say to ourselves, also creates emotion. Just think of the difference in your experience if you say to yourself “I feel fine” or “I feel great”.
These are the three core components that create the emotions we feel on a day-to-day basis, and indeed from moment to moment. Language, physiology and focus.
How are you creating energy?
And in mastering and modelling the difference makes the difference in creating different states that you want in your life, you can become master of your emotions.
“What we see and hear is what we think about what we think about is what we feel. What we feel influences reactions. Reactions become habits and is habits that determine our destiny.” Bob Grass
So I wonder what it is you will be paying attention to today. And I also wonder how you will be using your inherent ability to change the way you are using your body, your language and your focus of attention to create new experiences and the states that you want to experience moment by moment….
