How Often Do YOU Re-Center Yourself?
When asked the question “How often do you re-center yourself?”, it appears most people would respond with their own question, “What are you talking about?” Re-centering ourselves is just not something we think about, nor were we ever taught about its value to our life. The fact is, we’re ALL constantly re-centering ourselves but doing it subconsciously, meaning, we’re unaware of how it’s impacting our life in the moment. This also means that we’re missing the opportunity to utilize it as the powerful life tool it can represent in our life. Wowzer!
Why is re-centering ourselves important? Now, more than ever, we get pulled, pushed, cajoled, influenced, forced, inspired, dumped on, and sometimes encouraged in a gazillion different directions each day. We’re constantly sorting through the input minutia with subconscious analysis to discard the fluff and retain what’s worthy. Everything we hear, see, read, and observe provides information we need to sort to determine if it can benefit who we are and what we believe, or possibly have a negative impact. I’m talking about character trait development here, one of the most important ways our life is defined. That’s precisely why consistently re-centering ourselves is so important.
Research on re-centering took me all over the place. When I organized what I had learned, it appeared to be what I can only refer to as “softball” approaches. The methods for re-centering consistently suggested focusing on things like mindful breathing, meditation, nature walks, journaling, yoga, listening to music, creative expression (drawing, painting, or playing an instrument), digital detox (taking a break from screens and social media), physical exercise, and grounding techniques (it’s a thing, look it up). I support ALL of these suggestions but refer to them as “softballs” because they’re so obvious and we’ve already either contemplated them or are actively utilizing them as a personal re-centering technique.
I wondered if there might not be something out there that wasn’t so obvious, so I “deep thought pondered” for a spell. I considered things that worked well for me in my quest to re-center, that I hadn’t consciously acknowledged. Here’s what I came up with. Attending church each week is probably the number one place that I utilize to re-center and build positive character traits. It doesn’t seem to be tied to any specific religion as much as surrounding myself with people who are all sharing a common goal. Re-centering also occurs for me each week as I attend my Rotary Club meeting. Belonging to any group also promotes a level of trust based on commonality of purpose.
I pondered some more and came to realize that I feel like the luckiest man in the world when I consider all the people that I consider a friend. That group of friends has shaped me into the person I am today. I’ve had deep and thoughtful conversations with people I trust which have allowed me to re-center and improve the character traits that define me. That made me wonder why we don’t have a curriculum in our K-12 education that teaches us about friendships and positive relationships and how we can utilize them to stay centered. What a wonderful world this would be if we did. Together, we could likely eradicate all the loneliness in the world.
Reading is another powerful technique to re-center ourselves. True stories of people who’ve overcome adversity and challenges provide encouragement and inspire us to improve ourselves. Articles, podcasts, and videos are similar “high impact” sources that can help us focus on who we are and who we want to be. Choosing what we read, watch, or listen to is extremely important. One of the best strategies to find what’s best for each of us is to ask the people we admire most what works for them. The majority of books, articles, podcasts, and videos that have had a huge positive impact on my life were all suggested to me by someone I trusted and admired (Thank you if you’re one of those people).
Soooo…what about YOU! Are you willing to spend some time right now pondering the benefits of re-centering yourself on a regular and consistent basis? Are you currently utilizing any of the more than a dozen strategies I mentioned in this article? All I can promise is that if you’re willing to invest in re-centering yourself on a consistent and regular basis, your life will improve just going through the process. You’ll most likely experience an amplification of its benefits when you go from the subconscious re-centering that you’ve been doing to the conscious re-centering with intent and purpose. So get busy re-centering. Remember, the greatest investment a person can make is an investment they make in themselves. Hey…I Believe In YOU! GiddyUp!