Have you ever had those days during the week or month where everything feels “just right”, a sense of peace comes over you and just about everything flows. For a lack of a better word, I call this state of mind “centered”. I’ve always wondered what it is about those days that leave me with a tremendous sense of fulfillment and satisfaction……then, just as easily, because of something I experience, the feeling is gone. I start to feel a little left or right of that center…not quite “there”….not “in the pocket”. I think many of you know what I’m talking about.

Being centered is really a sense of oneness both spiritually and emotionally. It’s an understanding of why things are the way they are, and how we can discover solutions to the problems that grip our lives. Those problems are what constantly tug at us and pull us from our center. Just as easily as there are reasons for why things go wrong, there are also reasons for why things go right.

What I try to use to keep myself centered is something I call “re- enforcements”. It could be a certain book that makes tremendous sense in giving me a positive outlook on my life, or a conversation with a certain friend who together we answer our own questions, and yes, also, a prayer to God or a deceased loved one. I personally get incredible fulfillment from meditation…I try to put aside 15 to 20 minutes a day to relax and focus on what I need to do to help me stay centered. I don’t always succeed, but more times than not I do receive that sense of well-being. It takes work, but the rewards far outweigh the effort. We do have a choice here…it is not all life out of control. It’s surprising how much of that control we give away. It’s a funny thing about life….we do something once and then to succeed we constantly have to keep either doing it or re-learning it. Here’s an example: I can read a chapter of a book that makes total sense and gives a wonderful feeling of peace. Then, because of other things I have to do or distractions,

I find it’s easy to just forget what I have just read. Some people would call this the attention-span….much has been written about how the attention-span of society is becoming shorter and shorter. Perhaps that’s true, but I find if I re-read parts of that chapter I re-discover what it was I got out of it in the first place. Maybe that’s why people re-read the Bible, and other holy books, for that sense of focus and understanding. It’s amazing how many people go to see the same movie more than once….how many people do you know who have gone back to see the movie “Titanic”? Again and again? I guess you don’t become the number one all-time motion picture unless you get repeat watchers. Maybe there are many things we don’t get the first time around…but through repeated experience more is revealed.

So this week if you haven’t already, seek out those things that re- enforce the positive aspects that you want in your life. Don’t feel silly or stupid if you find yourself needing to read them or do them over and over again. Humans are creatures of habit….so why not make them habits that benefit you as a person? The tools are there for us….we just have to learn to use them.

Take the time to love,

Jennifer Avalon
© 1998 Jennifer Avalon