| "How might your life have been different if there had | | | | ago in a guided visualization we were asked to |
| been a place for you?...A place of women to help you | | | | envision in great detail an idyllic room or scene that |
| find and trust the ancient flow already there within | | | | dwelt inside us. As I recall it was in our head, although it |
| yourself...waiting to be released..." | | | | could be in our heart or any other area we desire. |
| - Judith Duerk | | | | Eckhart Tolle offers a simple suggestion for moving |
| Lately I have been thinking about centering a lot. The | | | | our attention from our usual external emphasis to an |
| maze of midlife can be very challenging to navigate as | | | | internal one. He invites us to bring our attention first to |
| so much is transforming within us. The circuitry rewiring | | | | our hands, and feel the energy in them. Then to do the |
| that's taking place affects every system in our bodies. | | | | same with our feet, then with other parts of our body. |
| It doesn't stop at changes in menstrual cycles, low | | | | In this way we feel the aliveness that lives inside us. |
| energy, energy surges, passionate, strong emotions, or | | | | This is our spirit. |
| changes in sleep patterns. Our very spirit is affected. | | | | Another way to center is by using a Budhist smiling |
| I've written often about my philosophy of midlife - that | | | | meditation. We start by sitting in meditative pose with a |
| it is the internal journey that is the important one - not | | | | smile on our faces. We continue to imagine other parts |
| the outward manifestations of change. (Although I don't | | | | of our body smiling, until even our liver smiles. This |
| deny that the outward complexities can certainly be | | | | brings a connection with our center, and with it joy. |
| challenging). The journey that begins roughly in our late | | | | I believe that the key to centering lies in slowing |
| 30's does not stop when we become menopausal. | | | | ourselves down. Breathing deeply has that effect. |
| We are different and our priorities reflect that. | | | | Even one deep breath can bring us to the place |
| When we are experiencing uncertainty and perhaps | | | | where stillness lies. Having the desire, some simple |
| even chaos in any or all parts of our lives, there's really | | | | tools, and the commitment to go towards our center |
| nowhere to go but inward, toward our center...toward | | | | on a regular basis changes the quality of our lives. It |
| that part of us where stillness lies. We can picture our | | | | also helps everyone else on the planet. |
| center as an actual place if that makes it easier. Years | | | | |