To be Consciously Focused can mean a difference in our living healthier and happier lives. If Focus was thought of as a muscle, we can see that it is a muscle we often forget to flex! This blog is to remind us to build and improve our Focus, which is to be Consciously present.
This prevents us from kicking ourselves ‘after’ we have said or done something we wish we hadn’t. Maybe it was after you felt slighted or side-stepped, or maybe you were stressed and in a bad mood and snapped unfairly at someone. Whatever the reaction was, if you are now sitting there getting down on yourself for getting stressed; If you are upset because of actions taken or not taken, that had you acting out of balance of who you know yourself to be, then you were probably not awake, not consciously present in that moment.
In the material of a class I had taken, called Translation, which was presented by the Prosperos School of Ontology, there was an insightful message from Viktor E. Frankl regarding conscious focus and choice. Viktor E. Frankl was a psychiatrist, philosopher, author, but key to our point, he was a Holocaust survivor of a prison camp. After the end of the 2nd World War, Frankl said, “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.”
His statement, about using the power to choose, is a way to consciously exercise your Focus muscle. For some, this is a chance for you to have a reset, allowing you to think about responding mindfully rather than giving into automatic reacting.
We all have ‘HOT’ buttons, meaning a reaction when there is a stimulus that causes our internal alarm bells to go off, thus activating our fight or flight response. These responses are richly filled with reaction. This we have witnessed within ourselves just by remembering our doing or saying something totally unconscious, and then wishing we had not done it. These emotions unleashed, can cause us to feel regret, or to freeze up, or to be aggressive or defensive. Some call it, “just feeling out of control.”
These unconscious responses have been acted upon when you find yourself out of alignment with your core beliefs or have said something you regret.
Muscles' by Osmar Schindler 1907
Focused Consciousness, activated as if flexing a muscle, is the alternative to what has been described above, and can happen in the S p a c e between stimulus and response. Right in the mist of those internal alarm bells going off, and just before a response is activated to fight or flight, in that space you can impact your next action. You can consciously pause, as in taking a deep focused breath, and through your conscious awareness, at that moment separate the coming action from the sensory information. That Space allows you to choose a more appropriate response that encompasses your mental equilibrium and well-being, as well as that of the other involved.
The result empowers you to act or speak from a place of clarity and intention, to be more present in the current moment. In the moment of pause you can reflect, to think and create an alternative outcome. An outcome more present and aligned with who you are and the kind of person you want to be. It has been called a form of being AWAKE.
Awake and conscious to when you are triggered. Conscious to identify a trigger, be it fear, anger, disappointment, hurt, loss… etc., and then to process the sensory information for a new outcome.
I suggest using the techniques Translation and Releasing the Hidden Splendour, two of the techniques taught by the Prosperos, to help you find that - S P A C E - where freedom, growth and power lives.
Self-awareness in this context is that conscious focus for the balance of mind, body, and emotions.
Some would call this a state of emotional intelligence. This is the awakened - S P A C E - where you can pause; identify the reaction; consciously separate the reaction from sensory memory; then supersede and replace that reaction with an action that has you in the moment. You are present, showing up as your authentic self.
Living a more intentional life does not only benefit yourself, but your loved ones, and in your career and in your community. Your power lies in operating from the Now, by you showing up as a more Consciously Focused Awake Being.
When you commit to being awake, you will have space and emotional intelligence to pursue your success.