February 2008
     Sent 2/21/2008

Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter
By Darla Arni

Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter is a free monthly, or whenever Darla can get it out, publication for clients, friends and subscribers who want to be more creative, energetic and productive in their life and work. © 2008 Darla Arni

**************************************************************************
In This Issue:
     The Art of Being Still
     Quote of the Month
     Mensa Moment

**************************************************************************

The Art of Being Still

Growing up it was common place for my mother and my brother Don to frequently stay up late and watch science fiction movies. I wanted to, but since I was so much younger and not much of a night owl, they were the only two that regularly explored the world of blobs, zombies, aliens, and Godzilla type creatures in black and white on our only television. One outer space thriller I caught at least part of as a child was, “The Day the Earth Stood Still”. The movie, made in 1951, involves a flying saucer landing in Washington, D.C. with a humanoid alien and a robot that have come to warn the people of Earth that if they do not stop their frenzy of war, nuclear power and impatience they will be destroyed. In their attempt to get humans to listen, they shut down Earth’s power for half an hour to show they mean business. Over the years I forgot most of the plot but the act of shutting down the world has always fascinated me. Many times in my life of activities, responsibilities, and sensory overload I wish I could just shut down the world for a couple of hours and take a break from the race. Have you ever felt that way? If we could all agree to stop the madness of competition and ego-centric driven motives and make a pact to scale it down a bit we would all benefit. But getting millions of people to agree on a time and place for that is quite unlikely, so we come back to the one thing we can control, ourselves.

If you can’t stop the outside world you do have the choice of stopping your thoughts, because that’s where starts. In researching for this newsletter I Googled ‘be still’ and found blogs full of people who are afraid to be alone with their thoughts or afraid to learn how to be alone with their thoughts! We are a nation of people who equate busy with productivity and success. Where does that lead us? Straight into a state of perpetual motion without even knowing why or where we are headed. I am one of those people who bought into that equation for a while, but now it is clear to me that it’s not who I am.

The answer is, learn the Art of Being Still. I know it is scary, uncharted territory but if you give it a chance I guarantee it will bring clarity of purpose, focused productivity and peace to your work and relationships. I like the term Being Still because it applies to both our physical and mental capacities.

Being Still-the mind
It will be much harder and much more important for you to learn to be still mentally than physically, because all action starts with a thought. Begin by choosing a time and place that is good for you and turn off everything electronic there are no distractions. Find a comfortable position and practice being mentally still for at least 5 minutes. Do not watch the clock or set a timer, this is approximate, if you go over, great! As thoughts and to-do lists come into your head, let them go and refocus on peace and nothingness. It might help to pretend you are floating on a lake or pool and your ears are partly submerged so you can’t hear or sense the world around you. I like to visually pull my sight inside so I am seeing the inside of my eyelids with colors that change like my own personal lava lamp. Try this at least once a day for a week and when you are ready, increase your time. The result will be calmness, clarity and a feeling that you can handle whatever comes your way.

Can being still for 5 minutes a day actually change your life? Yes, because every positive action we take makes a difference just like every negative action makes a difference. As an artist I crave the creative recharging I can only find in solitude and find myself getting quite angry and resentful inside if I am deprived of that mental downtime. The same applies to the man who works in an office with activity and deadlines who dreams of a vacation by himself, or the teacher who feels mentally and physically drained after being ‘on’ all day and attentive to her students, or the parent who begins to resent spending more time shuttling her kids around in the car than she does nurturing herself. Do not wait until you reach the breaking point, do not wait until you can find the time to take a week’s vacation, do not wait until the children are grown; feed your soul everyday through the Art of Being Still.

As you try this and take the 5 minute challenge, email me your thoughts, feelings, and results. Our individual observations and experiences might be of help to others in their quest for their true self. Next month we will look at the physical component of Being Still and how the myth of multitasking influences our expectations.

**************************************************************************
QUOTE OF THE MONTH

“I shut my eyes in order to see”

                      -Paul Gauguin, Post-Impressionist artist

*************************************************************************

MENSA MOMENT

The maximum length of a postal package is 30 inches. How can you mail an iron bar that measures 40 inches in length without bending it?

Last Month’s Answer: Place the newspaper page under a closed door. Each person steps on one end of the page so that they cannot touch each other without opening the door. To open the door, they would have to step off of the paper.

This must have been a hard one because I had very few answers submitted.  Because of that I also entered the names of people who had an alternate answer that met the criteria. Congratulations to Stephanie Pistel for being our winner!

**************************************************************************

You may contact Darla with your comments or questions. There is no fee for Sharing Creative Energy and we welcome new subscribers.

To unsubscribe, to change your address, or to add someone, e-mail Darla. This e-mail list will never be sold or shared.

This publication is copyrighted but we encourage sharing it with proper permission and attribution and if our copyright is included.
*********************************************************************
Darla Arni is a Professional Speaker, Consultant and Author of Sharing Creative Energy at Home, Life Compass for Women, and the Sharing Creative Energy Newsletter.

Sharing Creative Energy
e-mail Darla
660.529.2969 voice
660.815.7262 cell

Home | About Darla | Energizing Presentations | Darla's Store | Clients/Testimonials | Video | Contact Darla | Sharing Creative Energy E-Newsletter | Links | E-Newsletter Sign Up