Focusing Tip #432
“I am sensing what it is wanting for me or for others or for the world…”
Ann writes:
This week I’d like to share with you an insight that I received from my dear friend and colleague Barbara McGavin, last month when we were teaching the Treasure Maps to the Soul retreat in the UK. It’s already been changing my Focusing process and maybe it can change yours.
There’s a moment in Focusing when we turn toward what we are experiencing and begin to offer deep empathy for what IT is feeling. The tight place in the chest may be feeling scared. The heaviness in the heart may be feeling bereft. The harsh critical voice is surely feeling worried – about something.
After we receive what it is feeling, we invite a sense of what it is not wanting. A lot can come from this. Perhaps it is not wanting you to be rejected, or not wanting you to be alone. Whatever comes, you would let it know you hear it. And already that might bring a change.
After not wanting, we can begin to sense what it is wanting. Here is where the new piece comes. Rather than just sensing what it is wanting for me, Barbara suggests that we sense what it is wanting for me or for others or for the world.
We are not essentially selfish creatures – although there is nothing wrong with being for ourselves or on our own side. It seems that, if we make room, we often discover that what is wanted is not just for ourselves. We naturally, spontaneously, want good for others and for the world. This bubbles up from inside and never has to be forced. We just allow it to come.