Finding Center
Life is better when lived from a centered place. But what does this mean? To me, being centered means being in balance and finding harmony. It is returning to an original place deep inside.
Emotions can be very difficult to deal with and can be very disruptive. Of course, as human beings, emotions are natural, and it’s important to be able to make space for our feelings, and to develop our emotional intelligence. But being centered entails dealing with our emotions differently. If we are centered, we can be present and spacious with our emotions, without being consumed or overwhelmed by them. We acknowledge them, and allow them to be there, but we speak and respond from a different place.
In Daoism and Qigong philosophy, centeredness means unifying our mind, body, and spirit. When we are scattered and lost in our thoughts, our physical and spiritual energy, called Qi, dissipates. We identify and attach to our different thought patterns and impulses, and in doing so, we forget who we really are. We forget an innate presence of being.
Being centered means dropping down and out of the mental rat race. It means bringing our attention and awareness back into the body. It means tracking and being present with our hearts, our breath, and the energetic sense of our physical being.
Centeredness, in this sense, means both empathy and clarity.
In the feeling state of our center, we cannot help but feel compassion and sensitivity toward ourselves, life, and others. This is different than being overrun by disturbing emotions and being reactive. Rather, this is an abiding sense of presence that reminds us of “what truly matters” (not coincidentally, the tag line for Woven Wings).
Simultaneously, centeredness means clarity. It means objectivity, and neutrality: seeing life for how it truly is. There is a certain detachment which comes along with this. And that is the detachment that allows us to perceive and take action in an impartial and uncompromising manner.
There is a tension, of course, between empathy and clarity. One is the expression of ultimate feeling and the other is by and large unfeeling. This points to something mystical about centeredness, which is that it is paradoxical. In our journey toward centeredness, for example in meditation or another spiritual practice, there is not something tangible we can grab onto. Certainly, we might feel a certain deepening, or a type of feeling state, which indicates to us that we have arrived. But if we try to define the nature of that center, we will only be left with a mystery. We will have to describe it in terms of contradictions and paradoxes, because that is its very nature.
In this way, centeredness in its deeper level is about our journey home. It is the window that connects us in our mundane lives to the spiritual mystery from which we are born.
It is an unnameable place, but a place from which good things emerge. It is a well for us to return to: one that can nurture and comfort us, and help us make the decisions required of us as leaders.
And centeredness is about leadership, not just personal spirituality. Centeredness is a state of being that takes us to our edges with greater capacity. Centeredness allows us to resolve conflict and connect with others. It inspires others to take up their center as well. Centeredness is a leadership quality, and an expression of an integrated, whole, successful person.
Are you ready to take this journey to stand in and live from your center? I invite you to try this little exercise today. Find a place where you can sit, stand, or even lie down quietly for a few minutes, and close your eyes. Draw your awareness inside. Allow your awareness to travel down into your body. Disengage from your thoughts, and follow your physical sensations and your breath. Breathe into the space inside. Soften your chest. Notice what you witness and perceive. Feel the universe drawing into your being. Feel the flow of energy from the outside in, and inside out. If you like, place your hands on your belly or your chest. Relax. Feel your feet, butt, or body on the floor. Notice what you witness. Notice what you notice. Observe, be present, perceive. After a few minutes - 3, 5, 35 - and when you are ready, open your eyes.
There is nothing the world needs more than more of us living from our center. Grounding consciousness. Making conscious choices. Sign up for an initial visioning session with me today and start your journey. From center to center, my respect and best wishes,
Gabe