Page 50 - Taming Your Gremlin A Surprisingly Simple Method for Getting Out of Your Own Way (Rick Carson)_Neat

level of cool, calm, collected contentment regardless of circumstances than
for your happiness to be dependent on trying to change them.

Your gremlin would have you believe that you will be content and
satisfied when you get your ducks in a row, never telling you that your idea

of a straight line may not remotely resemble what the universe has in mind.
And God only knows what the universe has in mind.

It’s swell to have goals. Achieving them can enhance your pleasure, but
on this “ducks in a row” thing, how about a reality check? Even if you get
the little dickens to line up in a neat, dutiful row for a spell, they won’t stay
that way for any length of time. When it comes to “once and for all,”

you will never get your ducks in a row.

Look around you. As a full-fledged participant observer in this game of
life, you must have noticed that where your circumstances are concerned, if
all is going badly, it will get better. And if all is going along quite well, it
will take a turn for the worse. Such is human existence. It’s so. You and I
can stamp our feet and complain about it, but it’s so. And given it’s so,
doesn’t it make sense to put at least as much effort into mastering your
inner ability to maintain and restore your balance as you put into controlling

your external circumstances? Are you really willing to sample contentment
and satisfaction only on those rare occasions when the props and players in
your life form themselves into configurations that please you? Centering
and the ability to restore your balance swiftly are important skills to have.
So here’s another method for doing so.

NOW I AM AWARE

Another method of centering yourself is to play a simple game called “Now
I Am Aware.” Going slowly, simply focus your awareness on one aspect

after another of your here and now experience. Take the time to really
notice whatever you bring into your field of awareness, be it a sound, a