Sparked!

When your mind feels frantic or frazzled try sky gazing.

In this episode, Cara explains why this micro-practice opens our mind. You’ll learn how catching a glimpse of the expansive sky is not only settling, it’s downright mind blowing. Furthermore, discover how this simple Tibetan Buddhist practice comes from the tradition of Dzogchen aimed at discovering and continuing in the natural state of being. Not only does sky gazing offer us a glimpse into our natural sense of clarity, this practice also invokes a sense of awe. According to studies at UC Berkeley, experiencing awe expands our perception of time and enhances our sense of wellbeing. When you’re feeling fixed and closed, take a few minutes to blow your mind. Try sky gazing out a window or, better yet, get outside. This micro-practice can be done day or night. Listen until the end for a guided practice.

Sky Gazing Instructions:

Excerpt from On The Verge: Wake up, Show up, and Shine

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Settle into your seat or lie down. Set your timer for at least  2-5 minutes.

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Close your eyes and take three deep breaths.

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Open your eyes and look at the sky. Rest your gaze softly on the wide open sky, not focused on any particular object.

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With each exhalation, allow thoughts, distractions, and emotional tensions to gently release out of you into the vast sky. If a thought comes up, simply focus your attention on your next exhalation and allow the thought to pass.

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Repeat as often as necessary.

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Allow yourself to be absorbed in looking at the sky, resting in the space inside of you, around you, and above you.

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Notice your experience.

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Continue until your timer goes off or, better yet, stay for as long as you like.

Related episodes:

* #50: Stable Mind. Stable Body

* #20: Meet Your Mind

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* For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

* My new course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash

Learn this 15 minute micro-practice and shift into flow—your optimal state of focused attention and effectiveness.

There's a reason the typical TED talk lasts around 15 minutes. Research shows that our focus starts to drift at the 10-15 minute mark of a talk or lecture. In other words, our attention has a shelf life. In this episode Cara offers you a micro-practice, or quick strategy, to make the most of your finite attention span. She explains how to be exponentially more effective by setting a clear goal around a task and then focusing on that task in 15 minute intervals. Doing so, she says, triggers flow.

Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where we are supremely focused and absorbed in what we're doing. When in flow we crank out work, really good work. In a 10-year McKinsey study, top executives reported being five times more productive in flow. In other words, flow can make you 500% more productive.

Try this micro-practice and find more flow at your desk. You’ll be the newly crowned office champion—and it may only take 15 minutes.

Mentions and More

* TED

* TEDx Wilmington

Related episodes:

* #98: The Fierce Urgency of Now

* #81: Get To Know Flow

* #80: Flow State - Learn to Return

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* For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

* My new course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Photo by Andrik Langfield on Unsplash

Learn this 15 minute micro-practice and shift into flow—your optimal state of focused attention and effectiveness.

There's a reason the typical TED talk lasts around 15 minutes. Research shows that our focus starts to drift at the 10-15 minute mark of a talk or lecture. In other words, our attention has a shelf life. In this episode Cara offers you a micro-practice, or quick strategy, to make the most of your finite attention span. She explains how to be exponentially more effective by setting a clear goal around a task and then focusing on that task in 15 minute intervals. Doing so, she says, triggers flow.

Flow is an optimal state of consciousness where we are supremely focused and absorbed in what we're doing. When in flow we crank out work, really good work. In a 10-year McKinsey study, top executives reported being five times more productive in flow. In other words, flow can make you 500% more productive.

Try this micro-practice and find more flow at your desk. You’ll be the newly crowned office champion—and it may only take 15 minutes.

Mentions and More

* TED

* TEDx Wilmington

Related episodes:

* #98: The Fierce Urgency of Now

* #81: Get To Know Flow

* #80: Flow State - Learn to Return

-----------

* For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

* My new course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Cara talks about the fierce urgency of now, how to not miss this moment, and not miss your life.

Tomorrow is today. Do you sense the fierce urgency of now?

Now. It’s elusive and slippery. Now. It’s all we have—and it’s going by fast. Stuck in our head, preoccupied with “he said, she said,” we miss the moment that we’re in. Poof. It’s gone, never to happen again.

How do we show up right now? How do we not miss this moment? These questions and more drive me into my daily body-mind practices. They also drive me to share my insights every day.

When it comes right down to it, most people experience a nagging sense of urgency that their life is flying by. Day, weeks, months seem to slip through our fingers like sand.

How do we put the brakes on this runaway train called life? While I don’t have the magic pill, I have found these practices to be effective.

How To Get On With Your Life

* Get Curious About You– Know your state of being. How do you feel right now? Are you frustrated, excited, content or sad? Name it. Also, become familiar with your patterns, habits and limiting beliefs. What drives you? What makes you say what you say and do what you do? Get to know you better.

* Be Honest– Admit to yourself (out loud and in writing) what is working for you and what is not. If drinking wine every night gives you a headache every morning then stop drinking wine every night (Speaking from experience). You know how great you feel when you get enough sleep. Make sleep a priority by turning off NetFlix an hour earlier. Get underneath your excuses and let the truth sting you.

* Cultivate and Cut – Embrace what is essential to your wellbeing and get rid of the rest (kindly and with compassion). Start small, with the little stuff like the six-dollar coffee or gossiping around the water cooler. Overtime you’ll become more aware of the bigger issues holding you back and will be ready to tackle the big issues.

I’m inspired by this investigation. It drives me to teach. I’m inspired to inspire you to get out of your head and get on with your life because it’s going by fast—really fast.

Mentions and More

* TED Talk - Simon Sinek

* Speech - I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. 

* My new course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Related episodes:

* #95: The Power of Pause

* #61 : Take it. Chuck it. Give it away.

* #31: What Are You Waiting For?

-----------

For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

Get my free app – On The Verge - App Store 

Cara talks about the fierce urgency of now, how to not miss this moment, and not miss your life.

Tomorrow is today. Do you sense the fierce urgency of now?

Now. It’s elusive and slippery. Now. It’s all we have—and it’s going by fast. Stuck in our head, preoccupied with “he said, she said,” we miss the moment that we’re in. Poof. It’s gone, never to happen again.

How do we show up right now? How do we not miss this moment? These questions and more drive me into my daily body-mind practices. They also drive me to share my insights every day.

When it comes right down to it, most people experience a nagging sense of urgency that their life is flying by. Day, weeks, months seem to slip through our fingers like sand.

How do we put the brakes on this runaway train called life? While I don’t have the magic pill, I have found these practices to be effective.

How To Get On With Your Life

* Get Curious About You– Know your state of being. How do you feel right now? Are you frustrated, excited, content or sad? Name it. Also, become familiar with your patterns, habits and limiting beliefs. What drives you? What makes you say what you say and do what you do? Get to know you better.

* Be Honest– Admit to yourself (out loud and in writing) what is working for you and what is not. If drinking wine every night gives you a headache every morning then stop drinking wine every night (Speaking from experience). You know how great you feel when you get enough sleep. Make sleep a priority by turning off NetFlix an hour earlier. Get underneath your excuses and let the truth sting you.

* Cultivate and Cut – Embrace what is essential to your wellbeing and get rid of the rest (kindly and with compassion). Start small, with the little stuff like the six-dollar coffee or gossiping around the water cooler. Overtime you’ll become more aware of the bigger issues holding you back and will be ready to tackle the big issues.

I’m inspired by this investigation. It drives me to teach. I’m inspired to inspire you to get out of your head and get on with your life because it’s going by fast—really fast.

Mentions and More

* TED Talk - Simon Sinek

* Speech - I Have A Dream by Martin Luther King Jr. 

* My new course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Related episodes:

* #95: The Power of Pause

* #61 : Take it. Chuck it. Give it away.

* #31: What Are You Waiting For?

-----------

For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

Get my free app – On The Verge - App Store 

Busyness. Is it your middle name? Find out why time away from routine shows us what we are so busy doing.

Busyness, it's a national addiction. When was the last time you hung out with nothing on your schedule? Are you an obsessive list maker, planner or organizer or forever seeking self improvement?  If so, you may be harboring unconscious and even addictive patterns of behavior resulting in low-level stress or anxiety. Learn how taking an hour or two a week without your phone, lists, plans or self-help schemes can expose your unhelpful patterns and how interrupting them is not only necessary, it's downright liberating.

Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash

Mentions and More

* New course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Related episodes:

* #95: The Power of Pause

* #93: Solitude - Are you getting yours?

* #29: Finding White Space

-----------

For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

Get my free app – On The Verge - App Store 

Busyness. Is it your middle name? Find out why time away from routine shows us what we are so busy doing.

Busyness, it's a national addiction. When was the last time you hung out with nothing on your schedule? Are you an obsessive list maker, planner or organizer or forever seeking self improvement?  If so, you may be harboring unconscious and even addictive patterns of behavior resulting in low-level stress or anxiety. Learn how taking an hour or two a week without your phone, lists, plans or self-help schemes can expose your unhelpful patterns and how interrupting them is not only necessary, it's downright liberating.

Photo by Ronaldo de Oliveira on Unsplash

Mentions and More

* New course on Insight Timer for only $5: 10 Strategies for Living in Flow

Related episodes:

* #95: The Power of Pause

* #93: Solitude - Are you getting yours?

* #29: Finding White Space

-----------

For more on my teachings read  On The Verge: Wake Up, Show Up and Shine 

Get my free app – On The Verge - App Store 

Photo

Say no more often leaves room to say, “HELL YEAH!”

I'm still buzzing from a powerful exercise I (sort of) made up about finding my "hell yeah." It's inspired by the bestseller Tools of Titans in which author Tim Ferriss engages with programmer-philosopher Derek Sivers about saying hell yeah and saying no.

Sivers writes:

"If I’m not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, then I say no. If I feel anything less than “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell Yeah!” — then my answer is no.

When you say no to most things, you leave room in your life to really throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say, “Hell Yeah!” If we're not paying attention, we may also get trapped into saying yes to opportunities that sound just “kinda cool.” 

My process

While still in my pajamas with coffee in hand, I read these provocative words, grabbed pen and journal and got to work.

And the questions flowed out.

What activities, projects, or opportunities did I feel HELL YEAH about? What stuff was just KINDA COOL? What felt flat out MEH? I wanted to know.

First, let’s define my not so sophisticated terminology:

• HELL YEAH! - You're jumping out of your skin with excitement just thinking about a particular activity, project, or opportunity. Doing so makes you quiver — with joy. Life feels big, really big. You feel 50% ready to rock and 50% like you may throw up from nervous anticipation.

• KINDA COOL – You’re not all out HELL YEAH but you’re still sort of intrigued. The activity, project, or opportunity doesn’t feel like a “bad” way of spending your energy nor it is super exciting and awesome. When you think about doing it, there’s not much of a physical response either way. It simply feels KINDA COOL.

• MEH – Defined as uninspiring or unexceptional. Thinking about this activity, project, or opportunity makes you feel flat or lackluster. There’s a sort of dread around it like an, Ugh, really? Do I have to do this again?

Now it's your turn.

What do feel like screaming HELL YEAH! about in your life? What's KINDA COOL and what is downright MEH?

The key to doing this exercise well (and to have it make an impact as it did for me) is to be honest — really honest. To do so you need to drop below the “thinking mind” and notice what physical sensations arise when you imagine yourself in these activities, projects, or opportunities. You'll need to get underneath what you think you "should" feel and uncover what you actually feel.

Making this experience as raw as possible is essential. No one ever needs to see your list. It is for your eyes only so go for it.

In Your HELL YEAH Wake-Up Call you’re going to list it, sense it, name it, and live smarter.

Here we go.

1. List It:

On a blank sheet of lined paper list your professional and personal activities, projects, or opportunities. Put each on a separate line.

2. Sense It:

Read each activity, project, or opportunity out loud. Pause and imagine yourself engaged in it. Notice what you're feeling in your body. Is there excitement, dread or something in between? If you’re not sure what you’re feeling stay with it longer. Get into the experience of being deeply engaged in this experience. Before moving on to the next line continue to step 3.

3. Name It:

Get crystal clear about what you're feeling and name it. Does this activity, project, or opportunity feel HELL YEAH!,

Photo

Say no more often leaves room to say, “HELL YEAH!”

I'm still buzzing from a powerful exercise I (sort of) made up about finding my "hell yeah." It's inspired by the bestseller Tools of Titans in which author Tim Ferriss engages with programmer-philosopher Derek Sivers about saying hell yeah and saying no.

Sivers writes:

"If I’m not saying “HELL YEAH!” about something, then I say no. If I feel anything less than “Wow! That would be amazing! Absolutely! Hell Yeah!” — then my answer is no.

When you say no to most things, you leave room in your life to really throw yourself completely into that rare thing that makes you say, “Hell Yeah!” If we're not paying attention, we may also get trapped into saying yes to opportunities that sound just “kinda cool.” 

My process

While still in my pajamas with coffee in hand, I read these provocative words, grabbed pen and journal and got to work.

And the questions flowed out.

What activities, projects, or opportunities did I feel HELL YEAH about? What stuff was just KINDA COOL? What felt flat out MEH? I wanted to know.

First, let’s define my not so sophisticated terminology:

• HELL YEAH! - You're jumping out of your skin with excitement just thinking about a particular activity, project, or opportunity. Doing so makes you quiver — with joy. Life feels big, really big. You feel 50% ready to rock and 50% like you may throw up from nervous anticipation.

• KINDA COOL – You’re not all out HELL YEAH but you’re still sort of intrigued. The activity, project, or opportunity doesn’t feel like a “bad” way of spending your energy nor it is super exciting and awesome. When you think about doing it, there’s not much of a physical response either way. It simply feels KINDA COOL.

• MEH – Defined as uninspiring or unexceptional. Thinking about this activity, project, or opportunity makes you feel flat or lackluster. There’s a sort of dread around it like an, Ugh, really? Do I have to do this again?

Now it's your turn.

What do feel like screaming HELL YEAH! about in your life? What's KINDA COOL and what is downright MEH?

The key to doing this exercise well (and to have it make an impact as it did for me) is to be honest — really honest. To do so you need to drop below the “thinking mind” and notice what physical sensations arise when you imagine yourself in these activities, projects, or opportunities. You'll need to get underneath what you think you "should" feel and uncover what you actually feel.

Making this experience as raw as possible is essential. No one ever needs to see your list. It is for your eyes only so go for it.

In Your HELL YEAH Wake-Up Call you’re going to list it, sense it, name it, and live smarter.

Here we go.

1. List It:

On a blank sheet of lined paper list your professional and personal activities, projects, or opportunities. Put each on a separate line.

2. Sense It:

Read each activity, project, or opportunity out loud. Pause and imagine yourself engaged in it. Notice what you're feeling in your body. Is there excitement, dread or something in between? If you’re not sure what you’re feeling stay with it longer. Get into the experience of being deeply engaged in this experience. Before moving on to the next line continue to step 3.

3. Name It:

Get crystal clear about what you're feeling and name it. Does this activity, project, or opportunity feel HELL YEAH!,

Photo by Dominik Martin on Unsplash

Power pause. Discover how to up your game and perform your best.

We are starving for stillness and silence in our culture. Doesn’t it seem like there is noise and chaos everywhere? The truth is that the world is not going to slow down and get less noisy simply because you want it to. You have to commit to taking time to pause. I’ve grown to appreciate that pausing truly is golden. Taking breaks settle me in a matter of minutes.

I didn’t always feel this way.

I used to surround myself with noise. I’d fall asleep with the television blaring, have pop music playing in my car and home, and talk, talk, talk until my throat was sore. Now I seek silence every day and I encourage you to do the same.

Balance and Renewal

The power of taking pause is well researched. Not only does pausing promote relaxation, a break from noise and doing also refreshes and reenergizes you for hours. Taking time to just be still and quiet gives your nervous system a chance to regain balance.

Tony Schwartz, best selling author and CEO of The Energy Project, writes, “human beings perform best and are most productive when they alternate between periods of intense focus and intermittent renewal.”

How do you renew during the day?

While it’s easy to say turn off your phone and close your office door, there’s more to pausing than you might think. In fact, there are two types of noise and two types of silence to consider. If you’re really interested in feeling your best and performing your best you’re going to want to understand how to best recover.

Outer Noise

Outer noise is the stuff you hear in your environment: talking, music, machines humming. There’s noise almost everywhere you go these days. Music plays in stores, restaurants, and hotel lobbies. Beeps, gongs, and whistles sound all around us. News is broadcast 24/7.

We are over-stimulated with outer noise. In fact, most of have been conditioned to require constant music and entertainment. There not doubt, Noise has become ingrained in our cultural norms.

Inner Noise

Inner noise is the phenomenon of being in a quiet room yet feeling as though a whole crowd of people are talking to you all at once. It’s the voices in your head continually reminding you to do this or to figure out that. Inner noise is your busy thinking mind in action, continuously bouncing around from one thought to the next and filling your mind with constant chatter.

What should we do about all of this noise? The antidote to noise is… you guessed it... silence!

By the way, there’s Outer and inner Silence too:

Outer Silence

It’s fairly easily to stop the incessant outer noise by finding pockets of outer silence. Turn off the noisemakers such as your laptop or television. Stopping or quieting down the inner noise takes more attention.

Settle your body by stabilizing your nervous system with coherent breathing, mediation, movement and rhythm and your noisy mind will naturally settle down. You can also learn to access inner silence through taking a walk in the woods or playing the piano.

Inner Silence

How do you find inner silence? What practices or activities do you do to really settle down? One of my go-to’s is my Sunday evening bath complete with candles and soothing music

Practice the power pause by scheduling 1-2 minute breaks every hour. Pauses may happen during natural transitions like getting in and out of your car,