Why can it be useful for any human being? There is inner knowledge in our bodies and minds, and focusing gives us access to it. Focusing as a psychotherapeutic process has the power to give you clarity on what you feel or want, obtain new insights, and even stimulate changes or healing emotional trauma. Checking in with your non-explicit systems, you can process stuck things. Also, focusing is good for transforming inner critics, nurturing a sense of self-worth, and being fully present as yourself.
How to master the art of focusing and get all the benefits? Read on to find out.
Step one. Get Rid Of All The Distractions
The human mind struggles with a focus on three distinctive ways:· disturbing thoughts;
· constantly focusing on future achievements instead of just working;
· frustration caused by lack of time.
How to get rid of disturbing thoughts? The brain, in broad terms, only can focus on one thing at a time. The aim is to choose the right thought among thousands of other ones we have in our minds. To reach the inner capacity, one has to focus on something neutral like any subject in interior or exterior around him.
How to solve the problem connected with focusing on the future? Instead of striving towards the new and better find your inner power and constructively work at each moment. It’s much more useful to concentrate on the things to be done now, than on future goals. That will allow functioning as well as a human already is. You may be surprised when you find out that such a state of mind is enough for happiness and achievements.
What to do with the last item on the list? The truth is time is eaten up by little must-dos and must-haves. The key to having more time is making a “not to do” list. Focus on one thing and try to do it well. It’s needed to direct attention inwards if you want to find a long-term focus and move life in the right direction. This way, you will get genuine contentment and satisfaction with who you are.
Step 2. Felt Sense
Concentrate on your body and its feelings. Bring your attention to your throat, chest, stomach, and other body parts one by one. Find out, are you comfortable in your body or not. Send your breath to uncomfortable areas and observe it. Ask yourself, what’s up right now and what is on your mind that needs to be looked at. Wait until something comes up. It can be issues connected to the job, relationships, health, etc. You have to put these thoughts on one side and keep looking for other problems inside your mind. It is essential to note, that you shouldn’t answer with your brain’s analysis. Just wait silently for the feeling to come to your body, this is known as the “Felt Sense.” The right feeling should be bright and offensive, your body has to “confirm” this reaction completely.Step 3: Handle And Resonating
Now it’s time to ask yourself what exactly is it about those things that made them stand out for you and find words to describe your feelings. At this stage, you test ideas with unusual parts of yourself and come to the understanding that your body has inner knowledge and can point in the right direction at any moment of your life. Once you’ve realized that something unlocks itself, you can carry on.Step 4. Asking
The next step to relief is asking yourself: “ Why is it so hard to feel things that came up?”. This way you take yourself into a “stuckness” area and hold on until some kind of shift happens by itself. Ask yourself whether you are comfortable in the pit of your stomach or other body parts you concentrate on. That’s where a problem starts.Step 5. Receiving
You contact an energy pattern in a body and turn on a felt sense. Go into the problem area and boldly deal with it through your senses and inner knowledge. Be sure that you’ll find something new in your awareness that wasn’t available before. Don’t forget, that the Focusing process is one of listening to what comes in the body, rather than suggesting or telling the body anything.It’s crucial to notice that people have different body types. And abilities to come inside and connect with inner knowledge differ too. One may need a minute to concentrate, and another needs ten or more minutes in silence to get what we call “felt sense”.
Conclusion
The person and the body create one system. Many doctors will prove that it’s possible to know everything about the person looking at his body. Experts can easily see a great deal even from the individual’s walk or posture. It happens because every part of the body is 100% involved in living. So our bodies have their wisdom and idea of what’s going on. Focusing helps to contact that inner knowledge on a body level and solve different psychological problems.This self-guided practice helps to understand your emotions. Most of our energy is always in our heads all the time. But thinking through emotions is not an effective instrument to understand it. It’s a body where human beings hold their emotional experience. That’s why an embodied practice of focusing is so impactful. Focusing can be viewed not only as a practice but also as a whole philosophy. It has the potential to change every sphere of our lives and society in general.