Having Trouble Focusing? Feeling Scattered? Have Many Interests and Talents?
Feel like a kid in the candy store of life? So many things you COULD do? So many possibilities? So many choices?
Do you have many talents and interests? So many that it can sometimes be a bit overwhelming and frustrating?
You might want to try “Chunking Up!” and Surfing it…
I got a great email today from Transformation Nation member Ari. This guy is doing some really good, profound, deep work and I LOVE hearing from him as well as all of you budding Jedi Mind Masters out there.
He was responding to yesterday’s Post, Dealing With Change. His question and reflection on change and the challenge of being a “creative” with multiple interests and passions is sheer “GOLD”. I have a feeling a lot of you can relate to it.
Being a being with multiple interests myself, this used to drive me crazy! I could focus intensely for a while on something but invariably the level of interest and attention would eventually kind of run out…
And something new would grab my attention. Then I’d go deep with that.
- My first big thing was nature,
- Which led me to a fascination (as a 4th grader) with everything Native American.
- Then it was the Revolutionary War,
- Then it was, learning to play the guitar well enough to write the songs I wanted to write,
- And of course writing songs
- Then it was my fascination with world religions
- Then it was healing my body and my heart/soul,
- Then it was storytelling and kid performing,
- Then it was African drumming
- Then learning the Irish Tin Whistle
- Then it was hypnosis and NLP,
- Then it was learning how to paint in a way that made me happy,
- Then it was developing my anxiety relief programs, and pretty much helping people with all kinds of challenges with NLP and hypnosis, Weight Loss, Habit Control, Shyness,
Of course a lot of this has been going on at the same time in various ways. And when I set one thing down for a while and turned my attention and focus elsewhere, I noticed I would often return refreshed and even more creative. And all these areas of interest were often combining and re-combining in ways that when I kind of relaxed into it and “surfed” it, constantly surprise and delight me.
I also noticed that when I tried to “force” a focus because it would “make more money”. It pretty much always bit me in the butt.
So I’m a big advocate of following the natural “flow” of your interests and passions. And checking in frequently for “congruence”.
Chances are if you are here at HonestHypnosis.com you are probably a bit like my friend Ari and myself… I’d like to invite you to join the conversation…
Here’s his letter:
Mark,
I wanted to explore a little more with you regarding the way I handle change. You and I had talked once about my frustration with having so many different interests (creative, exercise, etc.) that I did not feel that I could be good at any one of them.
In other words, I felt unfocused.
You said that the process of exploring all of them was, in and of itself, a valid reason to be alive, a valid purpose for a life.
I think at the core of my resistance to what you said (there is a part of me that still wants a specialized focus) is trouble coping with change on my part.
If I interpret all of my various interests (guitar, singing, running, photography, yoga, church, farming, etc.) in a positive light, I simply give myself options of what I can do when I happen to have some free time on my hands.
But as it is, I interpret it negatively, as though I have a poor ability to focus, a low work ethic, etc., and that is why I can’t go very far in any one thing. I feel out of control somehow.
Ari
Here is my reply (which is to Ari and all of you as well as my own unconcious mind):
Hey Ari, (Oh man of many talents and interests…)
My profoundest advice is this: Chunk Up and Learn to SURF it.
In fact watch some surfers on youtube or wherever.
Always adjusting and often falling… each wave different from the last…
Each interest is a wave. Ride the one you’re on until it dissipates or you feel drawn to the next one…
Ultimately the waves flow out in circles and then bounce or reverberate back… so you can ride them again and again… in different directions…
It’s all one energy.
Creative.
Divine.
The ancient Toltecs believed that when we die we return our bubble of awareness to the “Source of all things”, “God”, “All that Is”, whatever you want to call it, ENHANCED by our experiences and the memories of a lifetime.
This is our purpose for having the life force given to us… to expand God… To be God’s eyes, ears, sense receptors “on the ground” “in the field” so to speak… and to learn, grow, seek to understand, expand, deepen, discover…
So stop judging yourself for multiple interests. Your creativitiy and interest in many things is what The Universe/God wants you to be doing… Start enjoying the adventure knowing you will someday present it as a gift to your Creator…
If finding a focus is a MUST, then try this:
Chunk up enough so that all of the things you love to do
are sweetly nestled under a single cohesive umbrella…
Chunking up is going from specific to general. For example:
Toyota Corolla ==> Passenger Car ==>Motor Vehicle ==>TRANSPORTATION.
For me, when I chunked up on what my music and my NLP / Hypnosis / Painting / Storytelling / Entrepreneurism all had in common…. I got creativity, making a positive difference in the world and helping other people to learn, heal, expand, develop, grow…. and when I chunked up on THAT, I got “Transformation”
(of course hypnosis is quite literally “Trance Formation”. And Music causes us to transform our state as well and can cause a deep trance…)
So Today’s Mind Mastery Transformation Tip for ALL of you FABULOUS, creative, talented, passionate, curious, action taking “TRANSFORMING bubbles of awareness” out there who have many interests is “Chunk up!” and start surfing all of your many interests without having to “force” any one of them be the “One thing”. Go into what they all have in common. What is it about these interests that nourish an literally Interests you? Are they areas where you can command some mastery? Are they areas of interest because you happen to be good at them? Or are you good at them because you are interested in them?
Your “One Thing” will be something that INCLUDES all the best of what you are and do and are interested and passionate about.
So tawk to me Ari and all you other folks out there. I find your thoughts Fascinating… I love being a part of your TRANSFORMATION!
Be gentle with yourselves and have fun while you play with this idea today…
Chunk UP and Surf the Waves of Interest…
Mark
p.s. Oh BTW… the Surf’s UP ALL the time! :o)
p.p.s. A big Transformation Nation welcome to Joshua!
p.p.p.s. To Contact me click here
p.p.p.ps. BTW candy is BAD for you. Life is GOOD for you. Just sayin’
photo credit: Copyright: pavsie / 123RF Stock Photo
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