Focusing Tip #987 – “I go too fast to do Focusing”

Can you go too fast to do Focusing? Read on…

A Reader writes:

I think the reason Focusing is hard for me that I’m so fast! I go in my body and the word “scared” comes right away, and then I don’t know where to go from there. I feel scared and that’s just how it is.

Dear Reader:

Good for you for asking, because I do have some ideas for you about where you can go from there!
 
Going in your body was a good start, and letting the word “scared” come was a great next step. Nothing about that is too fast… yet.
 
Now we need to add a few more steps. If I were sitting with you, I’d say this:
 
“OK, good, you got the word ‘scared’. Now take that word back into your body where the feeling is, and check with the feeling if the word ‘scared’ says it well.”
 
Doing this will take a bit of time, so it will naturally slow you down. Body feelings are almost always slower than thoughts… so let it take some time.
 
You’re not trying to make something happen. It’s already there. If you know you feel scared, then there will be a body feeling.
 
It might be like a tightness in your chest, or a gripping in your stomach, or… something else. “Scared” can feel a lot of ways. Once you can sense how it feels in your body, you are a big step closer to being able to have a relationship with the scared part of you.
 
The next step would be to say to it, “Hello, I know you’re there… and I sense you are scared.”
 
Something amazing has happened! You are in closer contact with your feelings, and yet you are not so scared. Something in you is scared. You’re its listener.