I have been fortunate to be a vendor at a few regattas and in doing so I realized explaining the snow globe may help define Power With Presence purpose.
I love the imagery it offers, one I hope Power With Presence programs will empower rowers to experience. The experience of sensing the world unfolding around us and in us, moment by moment, all the while remaining steady, balanced, and at peace.
The image may be what we all wish our experience to be, but reality often feels much different. More often than not, our experience is one of feeling pushed around by what is unfolding outside and inside of us. Feeling out of control, more like a bystander than a participant in our own life, reacting from a place of overwhelm rather than responding from a grounded stable place. Our real experience is far from the image.
The image is more in line with the below quote:
“Peace. It does not mean to be in a place where there is no noise, trouble or hard work. It means to be in the midst of those things and still be calm in your heart.”-Author Unkonwn
Doesn’t that sound lovely! Who wouldn’t want that. Seems impossible or rare. But what if there was a way to have that peace, experience the image we see in the snow globe. One of the first ways may be to notice if we conflate peace with control, when everything is the way we think it should be and we are the one’s making it that way. Our “peace” gets flipped on its end when something unexpected happens. We become unsteady, flailing about, feeling pushed around, reacting. Realizing we are not in control, but desperately wanting to be, we put our attention, time and energy into blaming, fixing, grasping to get back to our perceived “peace”.
But what if we acknowledge that is the human experience, life happens and we ultimately do not have control. Acknowledging this universal human experience softens us and allows us to bring a kind attention to the present, really noticing what is going on around and inside of us. The simple act of noticing gives us space, opportunity to see we may not have control, but we do have choices.
To think of it in terms of rowing, when we are out on the water, conditions inside or outside of us change and we feel unbalanced, unsteady. We can flail about trying to find our “peace” or we can choose to get curious and notice. Each stroke is an opportunity to notice what you sense outside and inside of you. The more you notice, the more choice. Maybe you make an adjustment, maybe you continue to notice what evolves, either way we have a choice. The more we notice, the more we learn, the deeper our understanding of how we work, what we need to feel balanced, even and steady. Understanding grows confidence. The next time a condition changes we have a felt sense experience that if we simply stay present and notice we can trust we have within us what we need to respond.
It is a simple concept keeping your attention in the present. Simple, but far from easy. That is why we practice. Practicing paying attention to the present moment, using all our senses to notice the world outside and inside of us, doing so with a quality of kindness. That is what mindfulness skills are, and ones Power With Presence offers. Rowing and life present plenty of opportunities to practice them. Challenges, disturbances and imbalances inevitably arise. Power With Presence hopes to offer skills that help every rower have moments like the rower in the globe. Moments where life is swirling about, yet feeling calm in your heart. Moments of peace.