The Gift and Power of Your Full, Undivided Presence
http://www.refresher.com/mindfulnetwork/articlelive/articles/734/1/The-Gift-and-Power-of-Your-Full-Undivided-Presence/Page1.html
Jamie Walters
Jamie Walters is an inspired 'creative inquirist', transformation guide, inspiration catalyst, and "prophet of an emerging new economy of intelligent, caring, cutting edge entrepreneurs.She is the founder of Ivy Sea, Inc., author of Big Vision, Small Business the handbook for conscious SOHO/Solo enterprise published by Berrett-Koehler — and Leading at the Visionary Edge (forthcoming from ICFAI University Press). She is also the creatrix of Ivy Sea Online.
Jamie integrates her professional / business experience with her energy, shamanic, and Indigenous Wisdom training, to help individuals and organizations cultivate vision, intuition, creativity, and other innate and unique gifts, and apply them in the workplace and other areas of life.
This liberation of this innate 'genius' supports skillful communication, transformation, conscious business,and a meaningful, purpose-aligned way of being and working.
Visit Ivy Sea Online.
By Jamie Walters
Published on 11/23/2010
Whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of the year, and however you observe or celebrate them, there is a choice between deeper meaning and enjoyment, and stress, pressure, and consumption-focus. One powerful gift that we can offer to others is the gift of our full presence -- being fully present with and for another. Deeply listening, looking for and receiving the very best within them, and being open-hearted and kind.
Full Undivided Presence
Some experiences and interactions stay with you; even those that seem quite modest or small.
As I was sitting in a local park several years ago, enjoying the unusual late-November sunshine in San Francisco, a 30-something fellow on an adjacent bench suddenly started speaking of his growing frustration with the stress of the holiday. His comments, and the heartfulness of them, haved stayed with me.
He told me that he really enjoyed Thanksgiving, because it was about getting together with family and friends, enjoying one another's company and conversation, and having fun preparing and sharing a meal. He then continued on, saying "I've really started to hate Christmas, with its emphasis on corporate marketing, consuming, and 'never enough'."
He said, that while he enjoyed Thanksgiving, he almost immediately started to feel stress about the demands and expectations attached to Christmas. He had more to say, but the gist was that one holiday focused on togetherness, giving and sharing; while another focused on buying, consuming, and 'never enough.'
At around the same time, Pope Benedict, speaking in Rome, had decried the fervent consumerism of the season and how it has for too long overshadowed the deeper meaning of the season.
The same is true -- perhaps even moreso -- now.
Whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of the year, and however you observe or celebrate them, there is a choice between deeper meaning and enjoyment, and stress, pressure, and consumption-focus.
One powerful gift that we can offer to others is the gift of our full presence -- being fully present with and for another. Deeply listening, looking for and receiving the very best within them, and being open-hearted and kind.
Very often we're scattered, stressed and truly not present at all. Even though our body might be in the same room, our hearts and minds are elsewhere.
So the gift of full presence can be an amazing gift! When we're fully present, we connect with the sacred within ourselves and reflect that to another, honoring their sacredness. If someone has prepared a meal, we're present to it, savoring it, honoring the time and effort that it's taken, and the gift to us that it is. If someone shares a story, we listen fully, receiving that part of them, and honoring them by seeing and hearing them.
Try it -- give the gift of presence this holiday season. Slow down, and follow the timeless wisdom to 'be where you are' and be there fully.
It's a practice -- particularly in our time and culture where everything is reduced to rapid sound-bites and Tweets. And given the busy 'multi-tasker' and fragmented attention that is the norm for many of us, it's a challenging practice.
Yet the gift of it is beyond measure. Full presence is a rich gift, indeed, and one that feels fantastic to give!
____________________________
Five Practices for Cultivating Joy & Easing Conflict
For many people, holidays are rich with the possibility for joy and connection, as well as increased expectations, stress, franticness, and potential conflict. We can increase the former and decrease the latter, though, with a few simple intra- and interpersonal communication strategies.
Read the full article at Ivy Sea Online - Five Practices for Cultivating Joy and Easing Conflict
As I was sitting in a local park several years ago, enjoying the unusual late-November sunshine in San Francisco, a 30-something fellow on an adjacent bench suddenly started speaking of his growing frustration with the stress of the holiday. His comments, and the heartfulness of them, haved stayed with me.
He told me that he really enjoyed Thanksgiving, because it was about getting together with family and friends, enjoying one another's company and conversation, and having fun preparing and sharing a meal. He then continued on, saying "I've really started to hate Christmas, with its emphasis on corporate marketing, consuming, and 'never enough'."
He said, that while he enjoyed Thanksgiving, he almost immediately started to feel stress about the demands and expectations attached to Christmas. He had more to say, but the gist was that one holiday focused on togetherness, giving and sharing; while another focused on buying, consuming, and 'never enough.'
At around the same time, Pope Benedict, speaking in Rome, had decried the fervent consumerism of the season and how it has for too long overshadowed the deeper meaning of the season.
The same is true -- perhaps even moreso -- now.
Whatever holidays you celebrate at this time of the year, and however you observe or celebrate them, there is a choice between deeper meaning and enjoyment, and stress, pressure, and consumption-focus.
One powerful gift that we can offer to others is the gift of our full presence -- being fully present with and for another. Deeply listening, looking for and receiving the very best within them, and being open-hearted and kind.
Very often we're scattered, stressed and truly not present at all. Even though our body might be in the same room, our hearts and minds are elsewhere.
So the gift of full presence can be an amazing gift! When we're fully present, we connect with the sacred within ourselves and reflect that to another, honoring their sacredness. If someone has prepared a meal, we're present to it, savoring it, honoring the time and effort that it's taken, and the gift to us that it is. If someone shares a story, we listen fully, receiving that part of them, and honoring them by seeing and hearing them.
Try it -- give the gift of presence this holiday season. Slow down, and follow the timeless wisdom to 'be where you are' and be there fully.
It's a practice -- particularly in our time and culture where everything is reduced to rapid sound-bites and Tweets. And given the busy 'multi-tasker' and fragmented attention that is the norm for many of us, it's a challenging practice.
Yet the gift of it is beyond measure. Full presence is a rich gift, indeed, and one that feels fantastic to give!
____________________________
Five Practices for Cultivating Joy & Easing Conflict
For many people, holidays are rich with the possibility for joy and connection, as well as increased expectations, stress, franticness, and potential conflict. We can increase the former and decrease the latter, though, with a few simple intra- and interpersonal communication strategies.
Read the full article at Ivy Sea Online - Five Practices for Cultivating Joy and Easing Conflict