A state of relaxed focus

Full disclosure to readers of this blog: I am well-known for helping other people to relax but I am not especially good at relaxing myself. Since the winter, I have had monthly sessions with my friend Kathleen at Action Hypnosis. She does an amazing job at putting me into a state of completely relaxed focus.

It's true that I cannot hire Kathleen to follow me around to keep me relaxed and it is also true that quite often I need to be able to relax, focus and DO something. These are two of the reasons people quite often use to keep from doing something that will allow them to relax. It's not practical if it is not instantly transferable.

Here are three reasons it is always both practical and transferable:

1) Every state we create in ourselves is the product of choices about intention and attention. Making the choices gives us more flexibility and reliability in making them again in new contexts. (You have to practice if you want to play - even if what you want to "play" is a state of relaxed focus).

2) Every state of relaxation is an opportunity to make progress somewhere we are stuck. Eurekas and AHAs love relaxation and are allergic to needy, desperate people. If you relax, they will come. Especially while you think you are not thinking at all.

3) It's important to have strong experiential markers of the difference between who we are when we are relaxed and who we are when we are stressed out. We only get those markers by relaxing intentionally and noticing how we do it.

It's a sunny Saturday afternoon. Relax. It's the best way to get things done.

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