Awareness that we Feel

What are you feeling right now?  happy, sad, calm, afraid, angry, worried, depressed?

(stop reading for a sec, close your eyes and feel.  just Notice what your body is feeling right now…. go)

Were you able to notice some things about how you feel? 
Were you able to Identify which your feelings and name them?

We never STOP feeling, ever.  Even while sound asleep, our body constantly feels. However, we are only AWARE of our feelings when we choose to be (notice them), or when they get big and kinda take over the show ("issues").

The problem is that until we are AWARE of them, we can’t really DO anything with them.  We are powerless.  They control us, we don’t control them.

Doc says: 
"We can only make Decisions about that which we are consciously Aware of."

So, as you go thru your day today NOTICE how you feel. 

Don’t stop what you’re doing… just be aware of your pain, or happiness, heaviness, or lightness, laughter, or wanting to cry.

i can let some anger in, as long as I manage it.
    I have to ensure that it doesn’t control my life, and it doesn’t get to take over my life.   but there does need to be a sense of it.  the knowledge and acceptance of it.
    and the ability to focus it.

the roaring ain’t the problem.  it’s the intention behind the roaring that matters most.  do we Roar to overpower and control others and demand that things go our way, or do we use it instead to POWER ourselves and get our own arses in gear?

big dif.      similar costume.

—

I actually think it’d be best if I let myself feel anger More Often, not less.
    most people are trying to lessen theirs, but not me.

I know the Power and the Awesomeness of using my Anger in wise, focused, passionate ways, that work for me, and everyone in my life… or most everyone.

no matter what we do, some will not be Ok with us.  judgments are cheap and easy to come by.  that’s ok.  it’s even ok if they express their not-ok-ness to us, if done in a respectful and honest manner. 

we need to learn to protect ourselves, emotionally.  That does NOT mean that we go around Afraid, and in fear of getting Hurt, or abandoned, or mis-understood.  It means that we have the Ability to control what hurts us.  we are not victims.

    It is Our Job to Teach Others how to be with us!

true mastery of emotional intelligence is about knowing that others often don’t know, and can therefore lose their grip on themselves, their behavrious and their Mouth, sometimes. 

how do WE deal with Cluelessness?

—

Challenge:

it’s easy to judge and disconnect from those we don’t agree with…
    wanna try something new?  try NOT disconnecting, NO MATTER what.  try making the Connection the point and the goal of the whole relationship.  try not to disconnect, ever, and if you do, re-connect again, quickly and completely.  the connection is called intimacy.

that’s a key…  friendship is about connection.  Family is about connection.  Lovers are about connection.
    Pets are about connection.  Kids are about connection.   Community is about connection.  America is about connection.

perhaps we would be wise to explore this area further, don’t-cha-think?

so, please share with me some of the ways that you have found to stay connected, or to re-connect, with the people you love.

—

on a side note, one of the Coolest things that I have learned in my never-ending quest for EQ, is that simply having the CHOICE to connect, or not, has been so totally FREEing for me, personally.

with my abandonment issues, I believed that I "had" to connect, with everyone, everytime, which is a) impossible, b) incredibly tiring to try to achieve, and c) most painful failing that many times!  so I found that if, instead, I CHOOSE NOT to connect with someone, at any given time, to disconnect with the other people when I believe they are acting badly and/or not feeling safe to me.

I can have boundaries, and I can choose to NOT open my heart to some, while at the same time being Wonderfully and Gloriously OPEN to others !!  ((and feel totally clean and honest doing it))

ha.

most very cool.

Ok, so this weekend, we’re teaching the 5th in our year-long, 6-weekend series on Advanced Relationship Trainings (ART class).

The subjects are:

• Leadership (quiz)
• What Story are you Living? 
• Personal Commitment

Among other things, we’ll all be doing a 15-minute presentation, to be encouraged and critiqued by the group.  We’re striving to become the most amazing people we can, so here goes…

p.s. – I love teaching and I love being a student, too.  We define a good instructor as 70% student/30% teacher.

Giving is all about me.

Loving is all about me.

Being nice is all about me.

Being a good guy is all about me.

it’s all all about me.

I do good things, and I’m nice to people, and I give, and I’m trying to change the world – why? – ‘cause it’s fun.  and it feels good.  and it works, for me.

period.

Hello!  I am Cheryl Montgmery-Nolan.  My adopted spiritual brother Matt invited me to write a Guest Blog – so here I am.

I thought I'd talk about excitement, and how important it is in our lives.  Right now I'm extremely excited because I will be getting on a plane in 2 days and flying from New Zealand to California to visit family and friends I haven't seen in a long while.  And that got me to thinking…

It's funny how just the idea of doing something new, or outside our daily routine, can be a breath of fresh air.  It's just the boost we need to get off our butts and get something accomplished.  My mind is going about a million miles an hour thinking about all the possibilities that lay before me during this trip home.  Now I know it's not possible to do even one-quarter of all the things that I might want to do but it sure is exciting just thinking about it.  I almost feel as if I have awoken from a long sleep.  I feel much more myself than I have in a long time.

So it would be good to remember to do something out of the ordinary, or possibly something we haven't tried before, every now and then.  Because, after all, we have nothing to lose but a little free time, yet we could gain so much from it.

Cheryl
2GetHelp

Choose a feeling. It returns a face and name. Just takes a sec. http://www.6seconds.org/feel/

- Matt

I love to think of nature as an unlimited broadcasting station,
through which God speaks to us every hour, if we only will tune in.

- George Washington Carver

“We live in a culture that is greatly biased against the imagination, because our culture is very materialistic, objective and literal. Our culture lacks soul, and doesn’t know it, although it experiences the consequences. When you don’t know what’s missing, then of course you don’t know what to bring in, even though you feel something is missing.”

“We live in a world that needs more soul, more meaning. We, as conscious beings, have, as our primary responsibility, at this time in human history, the task of bringing soul into the world, or releasing soul into the world. We do this, first of all, in ourselves and in our own personal world; then we do it in our groups, including family; then we do it in our society through our work, relationships and presence there.

- Andrew Schneider

Our Feelings = Our Soul:  Want more soul in your life?  Get in touch with your feelings!

from http://www.HigherAwareness.com

Laughter really is contagious, a new study of the brain finds:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16177354/

“It seems that it’s absolutely true that ‘laugh and the whole world laughs with you,’” said Sophie Scott, a neuroscientist at the University College London.

“We usually encounter positive emotions, such as laughter or cheering, in group situations, whether watching a comedy program with family or a football game with friends,” Scott said. “This response in the brain, automatically priming us to smile or laugh, provides a way or mirroring the behavior of others, something which helps us interact socially. It could play an important role in building strong bonds between individuals in a group.”

that’s why ND works so well in the Group setting.
there is Magic in the group healing process!

It’s not just Laughter that’s contagious, all the Feelings are contagious.  Wanna deal with your anger? Hang around with some people who are doing the same.  Wanna spark your sadness, so you can relieve it and dump it?  Trying being hugged while you (and they) cry together… it’s one of the most intimate experiences there are (and whoa, sex is not required, yay!).

Groups rock!
- Matt