Body Presencing™ - Healing the Root of the Matter

“They always say that time changes things, but you actually have to change them yourself.”                                                                                      - Andy Warhol Here we are in the dog days of summer. The children are back to school, the days are getting shorter, the warmth is still with us, and we are happily watching the squirrels run around beginning their journey towards fall and harvesting. These are thoughts and feelings that come to me as September comes around. How about you? I also love this time of year because summer still lingers and I have the beautiful fall to look forward to. I am reminded of the song, “Happiness Runs in a Circular Motion.” Happiness begets happiness, creating a loop of positivity and continued belief in what is possible. We get in the circular motion of happiness, and our thoughts and feelings keep creating that feeling.  The opposite also occurs where we get in a loop of negative or fearful feelings, and th

"People are asking about the good old days. I say, why don ’ t you say the good now days? ”                                                                           - Robert M. Young We could say the four letter word we are dealing with right now is “ heat ” . We have already forgotten how much we couldn ’ t wait for our cold winter to be over. We might even have a little anxiety of another cold winter coming. But right now, we are in the heat of the summer. It is time to go out early in the morning, and to walk later at night. It is time to ride our bikes and go out for ice cream if we are so inclined. The fear of winter is far from our minds right now. How quickly we forget what we want to. On the other hand, how quickly that four letter word, “ fear ” , creeps up on us when something triggers it and it is tied to the past. We are living in the present now, as fully as we are able. Yet, something happens and we immediately get transported to an earlier time and pl

“Education is the most powerful weapon you can use it change the world.”                                                                                             - Nelson Mandela It is September and the older I get, the more I appreciate this month. As I am an empty nester, I find that September is a good time to go on vacation. I don’t have to be concerned about anyone’s school schedule, temperatures are still moderate, and I don’t have to brave the crowds. This is a prelude to say that I don’t like crowds. The more I learn, the more I know that there are certain things in all of us that are difficult to change. The more we work on ourselves, the more there is to work on. Isn’t that the way it is? Much of what gets in our way is not really who we are, but how we have defended ourselves to survive when we were younger.  One of these things that I constantly work on is my tendency to distance myself from others. On the surface it doesn’t look like I do. I have friends,

“If you want to conquer the anxieties of life, live in the moment; live in the breath.” -Amit Ray There are many phases in life. There are phases to the seasons and in nature. And, in every aspect of our lives there are phases. Right now we are in the middle to late phase of summer. The Crepe Myrtle are blooming, and if you haven’t seen crepe myrtle, you are missing something. Take a look at them at your local nursery or look them up on the internet. They are absolutely gorgeous. If we saw them bloom every day, we might begin to take them for granted. Having them take full bloom once a year makes them nearer and dearer to our hearts. Writing about this even reminds me of a friend, who uses words differently than I. In missing her, I am bringing her closer to me by using the word “gorgeous” instead of beautiful; a word I would have used to describe the crepe myrtle. She loves to use the word gorgeous, and I am feeling good using it also. This is one way which helps us to b

 “I don’t know who my grandfather was, I am much more concerned to know what his grandson will be.”                                                                      - Abraham Lincoln Have you ever noticed that we can see things more clearly when we look into the distance than we can when we are right in front of something? It is like, when we are looking right at something up close and personal, the larger details get lost and we can only see very small details. As we look too closely at the blooms of our summer flowers we miss the bee buzzing right next to it, or we miss seeing the cute caterpillar walking beside us.  This is true throughout every aspect of our lives. It is summer and we have already forgotten how we couldn’t wait until the warmer weather came as we had a very cold and long winter. From this distance, we can see more clearly our winter in context of the whole year. And, as we are right in the middle of the heat of summer, we can only see and feel the

“ Happiness is not something you postpone for the future; it is something   you design for the present. ”                                                                           - Jim Rohn         I was taking a walk today, on this beautiful, sunny morning, and I noticed something that I know I am guilty of doing also. Everyone I saw was so into their heads or their music or walking their dog, that I don ’ t think I saw one person looking around and aware of their environment. Has this ever happened with you? Have you been preoccupied with your fitness routine, or your music, or your ipod, or your phone, and so on, that you haven ’ t been aware of what is going on around you? This month, as with the summer months, my blog is dedicated to being aware and living in the present. So far, I have talked about someone that I am working with, and so this week, as I was walking I realized how persistent and present this is for us to be not in the present. Being aware and

“ Your present circumstances don ’ t determine where you can go; they m erely determine where you start. ” -Nido Qubein We are in the heat of the summer in August. For many of us, our children or grandchildren are getting ready to go back to school, and the days are still hot and long. We can feel the warmth in the wind and air around our skin. There is a summer haziness to the horizon, making our visual perception not so clear. Does that not happen to us in life also? Sometimes we just don ’ t see things so clearly. As we are moving together on a journey from the past to the present and into the future, all interwoven, we have taken a look at what holds us back and also what helps us move into the present. I also find that certain emotions hold us back, protect us and keep us from feeling more primal feelings. Guilt is one of those emotions, and anger is another. Without realizing it, we sometimes hide behind anger and/or guilt so we don ’ t have to feel things like sadn

“The finest steel has to go through the hottest fire.” -Richard Nixon July is the month of my birth; just barely. Summer has also always been my favorite time of the year. I love the long days, the warmth of the sun, the lazy times, and the night time bike rides.  I can see the crazy hot days and the endless heat and sweat, or should I say glow? In my perspective, July is a great time of the year. I know people who love the winter and the snow and skiing. I know folks who swear by the beauty in the spring and some who love the coolness and colors of fall. It is all perspective. This perspective also is with absolutely everything. In the heat of the moment with a confrontation we often lose our perspective. We get lost in the moment. That moment we get lost in is not as we say, “in the moment”. When we get lost it is really in the trigger of a “past moment”. We temporarily lose ourselves in an old feeling or desire and in doing so, we get too close. We only see the root of o

“Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or to the future are certainly to miss the present.”                   - John F. Kennedy I have a vision of being out at a pool, keeping cool, letting the sun slightly bake my skin and bathe my body in good old vitamin D; sounds good to me. How much skin do I expose? Do I need to let it all hang out? Do I have some protection? And, if I am a bit shy, maybe I don’t want to wear a small two piece or bikini. What are my boundaries here?  This is such a small thing to be concerned about, but it is something we do concern ourselves with; especially in July. If we think about it, in various ways, we concern ourselves with our boundaries much of the time. How much time should I spend in the sun, how much time should I spend with my children, how much space do I need, how much time alone do I need without getting grouchy, and so on. These are daily questions we concern ourselves with. Other questions we ask are, how do

“People don’t notice whether it’s winter or summer when they are happy.” - Anton Chekhov It is July; my favorite month, and my birth month. It is warm and the days are long and light. We can take walks, ride bikes into the night, lie in the sun and bathe ourselves in warm and refreshing water. We can watch the fireworks, eat snow cones, bar-b-que, and so on.  It is summertime.  It is a time when we dress lighter in cool clothes. We bare ourselves.  Do you find that you consciously and unconsciously keep some of you and your thoughts from others; even the ones you love? Are there places where you don’t bare yourself? Do you keep yourself from enjoying ‘you’ by limiting the amount of fun you are allowed to have? Do you have an allowance of fun? Some of these may seem like silly questions. What I am getting at is how you live more fully, in the present, with joy and love. July is a time I love. It is a fun time for me also. I think back to things that keep us from love and

“Who controls the past controls the future. Who controls the present controls the past.”                    - George Orwell This summer, July through September, I am exploring what we can do in the present to make our lives more fulfilled, happier, and filled with vitality and health. We all want to be and live full and healthy and vital lives. Without health, how can we feel good, have the energy to grow and expand, and be vital humans? This summer I am looking at the middle portion of the Body Presencing Hologram; the moving and being in the present.  This past spring I took a look at how we get stuck on our past, even over generations, and how to move from this place of uncertainty, fear, anxiety, etc. to one where we are able to be here in the present and working on us and our full selves. Here we are, in the heat of July, often the hottest month of the year, for those of us in this middle latitude. And we are heating up! When we feel healthy and full of energy, sum

“ Yesterday ’ s the past, tomorrow ’ s the future, but today ’ s a gift. That ’ s why it is called the present. ” -Bill Keane It is a weird experience for me to be writing about July and the summer as I am actually sitting and looking outside my front picture window of my house out at the snow billowing around my yard. Presently, we are in the middle of a snow storm, I am gazing out at the wind and snow, watching walkers all bundled up, and writing about the hazy, lazy summer. I am writing about the eye of July in March. My work is about being present in ourselves, in our lives, in our bodies, in our souls. It is about being present in relationships, and present to all around us. And I am writing about summer. How many of us do things like this; write about things happening at a later time, think about the future while we are living presently, live in the past while the present is happening in front of us, and so on? The trick for me is to be able to project myself into