• I started with my morning meditation, which includes scriptures and other good, inspirational books, journaling, and prayer.
• I found some of my favorite music, went down into my basement, and I danced. I got my blood pumping in a way that’s fun for me—not force, just free fun.
• I gave my husband a really big hug and thought of all the reasons I am grateful to have him in my life.

By finding all the reasons that I could have energy today, I also found reasons that I could feel excited about the day–even with all the things on my to-do list– without needing to feel tired or overwhelmed about it.

It’s so cool how that works, isn’t it?

To some it may seem like it could be coincidence or a “fluke thing,” but I’m going to tell you why it works. Basically, it’s because our brains are cool! Our brains are programmed to only see the things we look for.  According to Darren Hardy in the Compound Effect:

“We are bombarded with billions of sensory bites of information each day. To keep ourselves from going insane, we ignore 99.9 percent of them, only really seeing, hearing, or experiencing those upon which our mind focuses.”

And thank goodness!! Think about it, if we had to notice and process every single piece of information that came our way, we would be overwhelmed with information! There are sights, sounds, smells, and life going on around us all the time! There’s always something coming at us and wanting our attention, so our brains are wired to ignore a lot of things. I don’t have to notice every time I need to take a breath, I don’t need to tell my body how to move. My brain does that habitually, and it also shuts out information habitually. Yours does too!

• If you’re a parent and you’ve ever been in a room full of kids making all kinds of noise and the only sound you notice is your own child’s cry, it’s because you’ve been trained to only listen for the noises that you need to hear.
• If you’ve ever bought a new car or learned a new word and suddenly you notice them everywhere, was it a serendipitous coincidence that all of a sudden everyone has learned the word or bought the car? I mean, maybe—but most likely, it’s just you didn’t notice it before; it wasn’t in your awareness.

Incredible, right?!

Just imagine! if we understand just this little piece about how our brains work, we could program it to notice more of the things we want to see!

Which brings up another important point: do you know what you want to see?

If we could know for sure what we value–things that are virtuous, lovely, praiseworthy, of good report, perhaps–then we can choose to see those things.
When I woke up this morning, I could have chosen to focus on all I had to do. I could have chosen to focus on all the reasons why I deserved to be tired; I could have focused on the fog on my brain, I could have focused on my eyes being heavy—and, to be honest, Sometimes I DO! Today, however, I didn’t want to. So I chose to focus on reasons to be excited and to have energy, and it really made all the difference.
How do you want to feel today? What if you could choose to live the life that you value every single day?
 

The post The Power of Awareness: How to attract more of what you want first appeared on Cary MacArthur.

The post The Power of Awareness: How to attract more of what you want appeared first on Cary MacArthur.

That’s why I’m always surprised at how much I enjoy scuba diving and snorkeling.

Life under the sea is breathtaking! There are so many brilliant colors, so many creative forms of life! Unlike the waviness of ocean surface, everything under the water feels so calm and peaceful. It’s a whole new world.
Still, every time we take a trip to the beach, I have to ask myself this serious question: “Do I really want to go Snorkeling?”  It’s Dave’s favorite thing, and it makes him happy when I go with him. For this reason, I usually make the decision to go—at least once. Seriously, though, I have a mini anxiety attack every time.
First, I have to acclimate to the water temperature—it’s always cold after laying in the hot sun (my favorite beach activity.) Next comes trying to keep my balance in the waves as I slip the clumsy fins on my feet. I always try to do it by myself, but indefinitely, Dave ends up lending a shoulder of support after he’s all geared up and anxious to go. Then, there’s the snorkel and mask…I once learned how to masterfully adjust and clear my mask during scuba certification class, but that was 20 years ago. I always just end up knowing my mask will be slightly foggy, and there will almost always be a small pool of water to keep my eyes feeling salty.

After what seems like forever, I am finally ready to swim out to where the fish are. The waves splash all around me. My eyes haven’t quiet adjusted to be able to see clearly, and I try not to feel claustrophobic from wondering if the murky water will find its way into my snorkel. But then, just as I have talked myself into turning back, something quick and colorful catches my attention . Suddenly my focus turns from all the scary discomfort, and I become entranced by the magic. The chaos and anxiety disappear, and I fall in love with everything I see.

It reminds me of life sometimes. With so much chaos, so many demands, so many places to go and people to see, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by life. However, when I am able to focus on each moment and notice the beautiful magic that is happening all around me, the anxiety goes away and I am mesmerized by my life.

Being present isn’t always easy, yet every time I let myself take a breath and enjoy right now, I am glad I did  

The post To Snorkel or not to Snorkel: the power of being present first appeared on Cary MacArthur.

The post To Snorkel or not to Snorkel: the power of being present appeared first on Cary MacArthur.