Imagine a spotlight on you…
Do you love it?
Do you cringe?
It seems challenging these days for so many of us to put ourselves into the spotlight. And I do not mean the big out in the world spotlight where we are seen by other people, I mean the spotlight in our own, private world where it is just on you.
How much time in a day do you spend noticing YOU?
Our days are full with distractions: family, friends, people at work, schedules, phones and the internet, of course. Some of these are pretty obvious. However there are also subtle distractions: reading, watching TV, learning something new, cooking and hobbies, to name a few.
A distraction takes you out of the spotlight. The focus is on someone or something outside of yourself. There is some self-forgetting and even though the activity or interaction may be enjoyable in the moment, it can be followed by an empty feeling afterwards.
That empty feeling can be uncomfortable and therefore, it often gets masked by moving yourself right back into being busy, active and diverting the attention off yourself.
What does it take to bring the focus back to you? To notice yourself within all the activities? To be aware of yourself and notice all feelings and all sensations within your body, allowing them to be there without judgment?
What would change in your life if you could just rest in yourself more often, for small periods and be ok with the up and downs, the questions, the frustrations, the joy and peace?
Just even reading that last sentence, do you find yourself going down a notch on the anxiety or busyness scale?
I found a great little practice in Anne Lamont’s book Bird By Bird that you can adapt to bring the spotlight back to you.
Anne Lamont talks about being overwhelmed by the number of subject matters you can write about. She suggests imagining a tiny picture frame 1”x 1” in size and to notice only what this small aperture reveals and then write a single paragraph about it.
Translating this into your life, can you create short vignettes of you being the star in your life? Being the mover and shaker?
Take 2 minutes to sit quietly and create a short re-run of a scene from your day. An example may be: see yourself choosing what you wanted to wear that morning. Can you slow down the reel and feel how you felt then: rushed, on purpose, clear, muddled, unaware, disheartened, excited?
Notice that out of whatever you felt at the time, you made a decision to pick certain clothes: for work, exercise, comfort, practicality or the last thing that was clean. See yourself putting the clothes on and again, notice how you felt as a result of that.
Open your eyes and notice feeling more grounded and present to YOU.
So often in life, we rush from one thing to the next. We forget that we make decisions on everything: conscious or unconscious, deliberate or by default.
When we are always focused on the next person or the next thing, it is easy to lose the connection to ourselves, to stop seeing ourselves as the center of our Personal Universe.
Putting the spotlight on yourself, allowing yourself to see yourself as you are in any given moment, re-establishes and strengthens your connection to yourself and brings more consciousness, alignment and fulfillment into everything you do choose to engage in.
The end result? More peace and joy.
Sounds good to you?
Let me know in your comments below how this topic resonates with you.
If you find some challenges in creating this change in perspective for yourself, let’s have a conversation and explore how I can support you in making this happen. Go here to book a free 30-Minute Discovery Call with me.