Surround Sound Awareness

This present moment exercise, which can be performed almost anywhere, will help you increase your sensory awareness and focus and reduce your stress and anxiety.

Surround Sound Awareness – A Present Moment Listening Exercise.

1) Find a comfortable place to sit, close your eyes and find a gentle rhythm of breathing.
2) Begin to listen to the surrounding sounds and make a mental note of the location of each sound as it grabs your attention. I like to use the face of clock association, i.e. 12, 2, 6, 6, 7, 12, 11.
3) As you go from sound to sound, you will find that some sounds grab your attention more than others. That’s fine. Do not control it at this time.
4) Once you have settled in, begin to search for new more subtle sounds. Search. Listen. Search. Listen.
5) Now pick a sound and try to stay focused on that for as long as you can. If you get distracted, that’s fine. Simply go back to the sound. If you have trouble finding it again. Breath and be patient. You’ll find it again if it’s there. If the sound that is not constant, focus on the space in which you heard it. It can be quite fulfilling to capture a sound you think you have lost.
6) When you feel you are done focusing on that one sound, open yourself up again to the surrounding environment and dance from sound to sound for a minute or two until you feel are filled with the surrounding sounds.
7) You can end and open your eyes or repeat going back and forth from surround sound to a single sound as long as you feel comfortable.

This exercise should not be done while driving or operating any type of equipment.

I enjoy doing this exercise most at crowded coffee shops, the beach and in my favorite chair at home with all the windows open.

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber iwishicouldtellyou.com

See Outside the Box

Stop living in a two-dimensional world. See past the obvious. Broaden your horizons. See outside your box.

This present moment exercise, which can be performed almost anywhere, will help you increase your sensory awareness and focus and reduce your stress and anxiety.

Present Moment Spatial Awareness Exercise.

1) Closes your eyes if you can. If you can’t, focus on something that is within arm’s reach.
2) Find a comfortable breathing pattern. (You may lose focus of this first object while you find a comfortable breathing pattern, but that’s OK.
3) Gently open you eyes and/or begin focusing on something a little bit further away from you.
4) Once you feel you have truly seen that object, focus on something a little bit further away that has caught your eye. Look at it. Watch it. Follow it if it moves.
5) Now focus on something a bit further away.
6) Do this, again and again, until you have reached the horizon or the point at which you can see no further.
7) Once you have reached that point, work your way back to you focusing on different objects along the way.

Once you are good at this, try focusing on different planes, shapes, angles and/or colors.

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber iwishicouldtellyou.com

You Have the Power to Effect Change.

What do Einstein, Gandhi and Jesus have in common? They all understood the power of present moment cause and effect.

“Ask, and you shall receive, seek and you shall find,
knock and the door shall be opened unto you.” – Jesus

What a powerful way to live life! Ask, seek and knock and know you shall receive, find, and have.

Here are my humble impressions of the principles within this profound statement.

Embrace the Knowing
Jesus didn’t say, “hope you shall receive.” He said “shall.” There’s a knowing there, a certainty. Embrace that knowing.

Stay Present/See the Signs
Asking, seeking, knocking, receiving, finding, and doors opening are all present moment activities. Nothing happens outside the present. Stay present to see the signs that lead to what you are asking for.

Take Action/Be the Cause
Einstein said, “Nothing happens until something moves.” You must take action and ask, seek, and knock.

Allow the Effect/”Be the Change”
Karma, cause and effect, is at the heart of all of this.
What you cause effects change. Allow the effect. I love the quote from Gandhi – “Be the change you wish to see in the world.”

Here’s a fun weekly exercise:
1. Write down a short list of things you wish to ask, seek, and knock for during the week. On the top of the piece of paper, write down “I intend to ask, seek and knock for the following things.” Be creative. Have fun. The bigger the better.
2. Carry this list with you and refer to it often.
3. Make a note of your progress toward receiving, find and experiencing the things on your list. Some may take time, maybe years to accomplish, but the process begins by asking.
4. Know. Stay Present. Take Action. Allow.
5. Repeat this process weekly.

You are not limited to simply asking, seeking and knocking. Any present moment action will do. Speak and you shall be heard. Listen and you will hear. Love and you shall be love. Laugh and you shall feel joy. Forgive and you will be peace.

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber iwishicouldtellyou.com i wish i could tell you

Peace Of Mind Is Closer Than You Think.

Sometimes you have to stop! Not to smell the roses but to simply stop.

Recently, I finished a project that took a great deal of time to complete. But after finishing the project, I didn’t feel the normal peace that I usually felt from completing a task. Instead I felt anxious. It was in that moment that I realized I had become attached to the projects momentum. I felt like I had to maintain a heightened sense of productivity.

When I feel the momentum of my past influencing a present moment, I slow down my thoughts by doing a Nomentum Exercise.

A Nomemtum Exercise is any exercise that brings you back to the stillness of the present moment.

Nomemtum* Exercise I

1) Slow down by taking slow, deep relaxing breaths.
2) When you have found a comfortable rhythm of breathing, recite these three sentences. (Take your time, do not rush and remember to breathe.)

There is a space between my thoughts.
In that space, there is stillness.
In that stillness, peace resides.

3) Continue until you feel a sense of peace come over you.

*Nomemtum – the absence of motion, absolute stillness.

Copyright 2007 Rob Gruber iwishicouldtellyou.com i wish i could tell you