Centering - De-Centering Practice

Just for today, the invitation is to experiment with our conversation dynamics and notice the results.

Do we have the clear self-awareness to notice if we tend to "center ourselves"... bringing the conversation back to our experience... our opinions... our perspective... our needs... our personal story? Or do we tend to "de-center ourselves"... holding back, minimizing ourselves, disappearing, putting ourself on the 'shelf,' or making everyone else more important?

If we do have that level of self-awareness, then as an experiment, we could explore and practice the opposite of our tendency... our habit... our default.

If we tend to center ourselves, or people tend to center us, can we make a little more room? Can we shift from our perspective and move awareness toward their experience? Listen longer. Ask another question. Resist the urge to bring the conversation back to us.

If we usually de-center ourselves, can we step forward a little? Speak and share what we actually think or feel. Allow ourselves to take up some appropriate space.

In this process... there's nothing to fix... nothing to be judgmental about... nothing to grade. We're just noticing and taking in what could potentially be valuable information.

What happens in our mind and body? What thinks and feels uncomfortable? What becomes easier? How do other people respond? What do we learn about the way we habitually enter our interactions... and how do we leave them?

Or, going a little deeper, did we authentically appear at all... or did our default way of relating insert itself into a moment that was actually calling for something different?

The lesson I have learned through the wisdom of others is that I cannot adjust or change what I don't notice... what I lack personal awareness of. Self can't get out of the way of self if we're not aware of what self is doing.

一We Are the Practice Itself