In my life of operating various business ventures, I get to enjoy a satisfying mix of attention to detail versus opening up to creation. The different areas in which my business interests operate require very different yet complementary skill sets. Some of those skill sets, however, involve attention in ways that at times can seem counter to what I tend to teach here on Living Intentionally.

A good example of this dichotomy is my work in software. I have a client for which I do software localization in various languages, especially Japanese, Chinese and Korean. A great deal of this work involves testing, and testing is all about focusing on finding problems. For me, this focus on finding problems presents a sometimes amusing counterpoint to Living Intentionally’s mantra of focusing on that which you want so that it can be created.

The apparent contradiction is amusing because over the years I have sometimes found myself swallowed up in the process of finding problems and bringing that into my personal life. This can spill over into any number of areas. Simple things such as having conversations can be fraught with me noticing grammatical errors or wanting to correct incorrect statements. As project deadlines loom (as is currently the case), it can be that I spend so much time focusing on finding and fixing problems that I lose sight of the bigger picture.

Seeing The Forest, Not Just The Trees

Helping me to maintain balance throughout these pressing work deadlines and testing processes is a subtle, simple and amazingly powerful tool. It enables me to maintain great focus on finding and fixing my problems, while at the same time maintaining balance in the outlook of my personal interactions. What might this tool be?

Meditation.

I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t have time to meditate.” You do. It’s important to note that meditation comes in many forms.  Sure, you can sit cross-legged on a bed of nails, chanting and breathing your way to enlightenment over the course of a lifetime, but it need not be so dramatically stereotypical. Meditation can and does take place over nothing more than a few well-focused breaths. As such, whether I’m programming, fiddling with a grumpy server or looking at a problematic business issue, stopping for just a moment to fully experience the Moment has become a powerful ally.

It’s been my personal experience that pretty much all of the answers I’ve ever found to challenging problems have come when I have fully relaxed and let go of my concerns. In relaxing and letting go of anger, resentment and frustration with the problem, I am suddenly able to much more easily see the entire problem domain. This has been incredibly useful when dealing with all manner of issues, ranging from programming algorithms to relationship woes. When you stop fussing about what is and focus on simply Being in the Moment, those elusive answers come to you.

Allowing a few fully focused, relaxing breaths to just Be allows answers to come to you. Many of us make the mistake of reaching out and searching for answers. It’s worth remembering that we live in a 4-dimensional space-time and if the physicists are correct, all that has ever happened and all that will ever happen is already laid out in the 4th dimensional timeline. Finding Truth in the Moment, then, is simply a matter of allowing that information to come to us.

I sometimes call this tapping into the matrix. It sounds rather hocus-pocus and dodgy, but my personal Knowing depends on it. When I fully avail myself to the Breath and am fully engaged in the moment, I can be walking along the platform at the train station and suddenly know that I should stop because a vacant seat will be available on my train right there, regardless of the fact that it’s still rush hour and my train line is notoriously packed.

Instead of getting overwhelmed by the process of noticing what is and reacting to it, try to take regular time-outs of just a few breaths to focus on opening up and allowing yourself to be guided to where you need to “go”, whether that destination is a successfully met deadline for a business deal, a solution to a relationship problem, a parking spot for your car on a busy street or any other scenario you can conjure up. The more you open up to the possibilities that the answers will avail themselves to you, the more you’ll see the the answers come.

We create our reality by the thoughts we think. We can dramatically speed up our successes by opening ourselves up to discovering the Truth that already exists. We don’t need to search for it; it’s already here, much like the missing keys that you left on the bookshelf.

Yes, they were there all along. 😉

2 Comments
  1. Thank you for sharing your wisdom. It always seems so timely…. Sending love to you and yours.

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