Posted on January 26, 2011 by Karen Waters
TAKING CARE OF YOUR SPIRIT IN 2011
This is the 2nd in a series of articles on making 2011 your Best Year Ever!
The first article focused on the Creative Process and generating new ideas. Often, what we find next is that we get so many great ideas that we get distracted and overwhelmed or even frustrated because we still feel that we aren’t going anywhere.
The next step then, is to bring balance into our creative process and figure out which of our many ideas are the right one (s) for us.   The greatest tool for this is our Spirit/Intuition. We all have it within us, but we don’t usually slow down enough to access it.  By accessing our internal intuition or wisdom, we tap into Spirit and this enables us to receive guidance from a higher power.
Ways to Tap into Your Spirit
1.     Stop ‘doing’ and become aware of your body and take some deep breaths. Not only does this get us out of our brain chatter, but it is also so good for our bodies. When we breathe in consciously and deeply, we take in more oxygen which gives a boost to our organs like the heart and lungs and also to our brains.
2.     Meditation is a great way to quiet your mind.  When you ‘quiet’ yourself and give yourself some ‘space’, you allow your Spirit to renew itself and make itself known to you.  You can think of this as conscious breathing.  Meditation is a very simple but effective technique to tune into Spirit but also to quiet your mind when you are feeling anxious. When we give our minds a break, this enables us to access resourceful ideas.
One very simple technique is to slow your breathing down to 6-10 breaths per minute.  To keep it interesting enough to retain our focus on the breathing, inhale for 3 counts and exhale for 5 counts.  It’s a good idea to put a timer on for 15 minutes so that you don’t need to concern yourself with keeping track of time.  You’d be amazed at what ideas and inspirations come to you with a daily practice of only 15 minutes per day.
3.     Being Present – In reality our brains can only focus on one thing at a time, so by consciously doing only one thing at a time and focusing on that one thing in the mental state of being present (in your body, focusing on the task) we are also able to access Spirit & intuition.  Be here now.  All we really ever have is the present moment, so make 2011 the year that you learn how to slow down and enjoy your life one moment at a time.
4.     Nature – Spend some time in nature.  In addition to breathing more fresh air and maybe getting some exercise, we are opening up our senses and tuning in to smells, sounds, sights
Remember, intuition/spirit balances out the creative ideas that our brain come up with.  By using one or several of the above ideas (alone or combined), we can tune into which of the great ideas we came up with are the right ones for us and we can increase and expand on our connection with Spirit, thereby creating more balance, peace and happiness in our lives.
The next article focuses on taking action to make 2011 your Best Year Ever!
NOTE: To help you make 2011 your best year ever, I am offering a Special Coaching Package to the first 4 people who take me up on my offer.
Karen Waters, MBA
Life Coach, Spiritual Coach, Business Coach and Healer