Faith Venture

Balance, focus, awareness, relaxation

“Try easy.” Have you ever attended a seminar led by one of those self-help, motivation, time management speakers? The first one I ever heard was in the late 70s. This was his mantra.

Yesterday I wrote about focus. Last night as I was teaching Tree Pose (see picture, it’s not me) to some new people at Yoga class, I thought about the paradoxes. New people will be trying so hard to balance. They think it’s very hard to do. They try hard. Where is the foot? Where are the hands? Stare at my spot.

And I was reminded. You have to relax.

Still the mind as you focus on your spot. Use your mind to scan your body (awareness) looking for places where you are holding tension. Release the tension. Make sure your breathing is easy and normal. Count breaths (that’s how you know how long to hold the pose). The key to balance is focus with awareness of your body and relax into the pose.

Sometimes we try so hard that we just cannot succeed. We actually lose focus by trying so hard to focus.

By the way, you don’t have to have the shape of the model in that picture to successfully hold Tree Pose. We have shall we say “larger” men and women who can hold Tree for 10-15 breaths in my class. I have actually learned to hold the pose focusing on my stable spot all the while using peripheral vision to watch all the people in class so that I can go to someone and help if necessary. But I have to achieve the relaxed awareness state of mind.

Try relaxing your mind and body and discover that your focus and attention on the task at hand improves.

I almost always write these meditations just before I go to the gym for a workout. I run and practice some Yoga strengthening poses. Before all that, I begin the day with some reading and meditation.

So, I hit both the Spiritual “gym” and the physical gym most every day. I dislike the days at conferences when I wind up with days that begin with 7 am breakfasts and end at 10:30 or later after dinner. Well, to be honest, I like the interaction. But it upsets my routines. I didn’t even pack my workout clothes last week. That meant that I could pack everything I needed for 3.5 days in a backpack. But it’s hard to squeeze in the workouts.

My last post discussed strengthening your Spiritual gifts. Reading in Hebrews 12 over the past few days, I was struck by two physical conditioning metaphors within just a few verses.

In verse 1, the writer says, “let us run with perseverance the race that is set before us.” Then in verse 12, “Therefore lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees.”

These are references to athletic events. We are to strengthen our souls as well as our bodies. We do that through the practice of Spiritual Disciplines. Discipline meaning training and instruction for responsible living.

Just as our muscles don’t get toned without regular work outs, so our souls also need regular workouts.

“You are what you repeatedly do. Excellence, therefore, is not an act but a habit.” The Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote that 350 years before Jesus.

I started thinking about this thought in relation to Spiritual practices. Part of the idea of learning the different practices (study, prayer, meditation, service, celebration, worship and so forth) is to bring them into your life and make the practice of them a habit. Something you do regularly without stopping to wonder what you do next.

One of my small groups has been studying the letter to the Hebrews. That writer is most concerned about people who join the fellowship and then gradually slip away. The Willow Creek Association conducted a massive research project (we live in the scientific age, after all) that discovered that people get themselves out of the spiritual doldrums through developing an intentional Spiritual practice–most often beginning with immersing themselves in the study of the Word.

The writer of Hebrews said, “Do not, therefore, abandon that confidence of yours; it brings a great reward. For you need endurance, so that when you have done the will of God, you may receive what was promised.”

What habits have you slipped into this year, so far? Have you begun getting up a little earlier so that you can read and meditate? Have you been intentional looking for ways to serve? Is it time to develop a new habit?

I think Aristotle assumed that we would develop good habits that lead to excellence. I keep working on mine.

Structure is very important to how I live. I organize myself around it. That’s why I appreciate the Spiritual Disciplines (or Spiritual Practices). That’s why I practice rising early every morning and encourage others to do the same.

I often discuss structure in the life of kids. Beginning from just days old, kids need structure. They need to know boundaries. They need to know “yes” from “no”. They need a certain regularity. My daughter is a therapist who works with kids. She deals with the result of lack of structure many times a day.

Here is another TED Talk. Chris Anderson, the founder of the TED Talks, calls them “Ideas worth sharing.” I agree, so I’m sharing this talk from Colin Powell, “Kids Need Structure.” He’s the retired Army general and former US Secretary of State. He rose from rebellious kid to the top of his profession. Worth 10 minutes of your time. And if it causes you to help a kid grow, then it’s priceless.

What makes you happy? Big house? Expensive car? Large income? In the United States we have achieved this. Yet, there seems to be worry, fear, anxiety–everything but happiness.

Ancient wisdom taught that we are best when we live in the moment. We neither fret over what we did yesterday, nor worry about what may happen tomorrow.

Athletes report that when they are in “The Zone” they are exceedingly happy. When their entire focus is on the next  play, on just the moment, neither replaying the last play or thinking three plays ahead. They are just at one with the game, teammates, competitors and the game flows.

Jesus taught (see Matthew 6 for example) that we should not worry. It does us no good. I can’t think of anyone else I’ve ever read about who lived as much in the moment as Jesus.

I am trained in science and the scientific method. I have no conflict within me about science and religion. I do not thing they are separate spheres, either. But often they study different things. I also believe the ancients were scientists, too. They observed, thought about it, observed some more, and wrote what they learned.

But they didn’t have iPhones and a ubiquitous connection called the Internet with the Web to study things. Matt Killingsworth did. He set up a study with many thousands of people checking in with their iPhones so that he could study what people were doing when they were happy or unhappy at the moment.

He defined focus on the present and mind-wandering as the two variables to study. He found a significant correlation between mind wandering and unhappiness–or the other way around, a correlation of focus on the moment to happiness.

Ah, science, always there to prove ancient wisdom is correct.

I picked this up on a TED Talk. Here is his presentation:

Matt Killingsworth Be Happier Stay in the Moment