Watching Wimbledon and seeing players face each other over a low net and short distance to focus on the ball barrelling toward them at 100mph and them so focussed on how to return it!  I would be too distracted by my lack of ability.  Maybe I might think I could do something however I would be inclined to hang back -a very poor strategy on such a slippery surface!

These professional tennis players are able to have a relaxed focus on a very small green or yellow ball, to read its flight, it spin and its curve.  They are able in that acute state of focus to not only hit it back but often execute the most amazing strokes and winners.

This is their job.

My job is to focus on the important things in my life and bring forth that which is within.

What I often find is that because I haven’t slowed down long enough to truly evaluate what they are – the important things, I am trying to do everything!  As a result good focus gets spread over too many things and I don’t manage any of them well.  Sometimes disastrously!

Imagine if I changed what I did and refined what I was seeking to support as important; my relationships, my key contributors, my writing.  Imagine if I focused my efforts on a few things done well what might be seen to occur.  My focus is not necessarily the issue, rather it is how tense I get trying to do too much and then start picking holes in the things that aren’t working!

If I prioritised a few good things and put my efforts to outcomes for those with focus, imagine what I might achieve!  This blog would have multiple entries, the mess would rarely be seen as my focus would be on the pearls, I would achieve.

Now when those moments happen; such as in Wimbledon and the ball kicks a strange way due to the summer hardness of the ground under that overplayed surface, or the ball is called out when it is in and it distracts from the purpose at hand, or the crowd chooses that moment to heckle loudly in a particularly irksome way, my focus would be so intently on my success that I would be unlikely to be distracted.  My heart would be so committed to my goal that even if I lost this round I would be able to store my pearls that were learnt from this effort for my next encounter and hence progress my ambitions.
This is the nature of focus that I seek!

I had an “ah ha!”  this morning at 6.08am, one of those blinding moments of clarity that strike in the quiet moments of our lives.

I have been too busy dealing with the ’sand’ in my life to collect the pearls!

Pearls are the transformation of the resistance and irritation we may feel about being stuck, being too busy, missing out or not moving toward what we want.  They are the the kernels of truth that let us see the situation without the heat of our emotions in the blinding light of how things really are.  They are the priceless treasures of our learning and let us re find the path to move forward again.

Sand, in comparison, is the filler in life, the telephone, the email, the voice mail, the clock, meetings and ALL the ’shoulds’, musts and have tos.  They are the bits of life that flood toward us and may overwhelm us  in their numbers and their demands when our purpose or direction is unclear.

HOWEVER they are not the main course and need to fit in around it rather than distract us.  The analogy is that it is like filling up on the junk food that fills our eyes and taste buds with longing but starves our brains, muscles and vitality.

Fill your life with the maincourse, work out what it is that you have most energy to create, something that is positive, and start to move towards it.

Along the way you may be distracted by the sand and don’t be disappointed, pause to collect the pearls and know you will never again need to go there in just that way.  You have freed yourself of some pattern of behaviour.  Your pearl necklace will hope fully become a pearl jacket and a pearl coat and a pearl avalanche.

I am off to record my latest pearl experience in my Pearl Diary.  A personal account to cheer me in my dark moments where I can’t see well and to bouy me up when I need reminding of my movement.

Good Morning!

Life is a feast for those with the attitude.  The riches of life are apparently at their fingertips.  And for the rest of us, we have an aspiration to feast but haven’t quite worked out how to get there yet!

We want what we want in life, to be fulfilled in a relationship, a career, children, friends and family.  Maybe we feel we want to create a legacy or contribute some defining act of service to the community to which we feel we belong .   This is what matters!

This is another word for goals.  Goals however can have willpower attached – or not.  What matters is defined by what we are willing to put our energy into.  What we will strive for and as such we empower with our will.

Working out What Matters is vital to your success.  It can be a moving feast, it doesn’t have to be fixed in stone, however to arrive at something new we must have a reference point – What Matters and the application of our Will.

Good Feasting!