Inner wisdom - 'pre-meditate'

Pre-meditate is a useful approach whenever you are about to engage in an exchange with another person. For example you might have an important business meeting, a performance review or other engagement.  The aim is to show up confidently and authentically.

To pre-meditate is to take a moment to relax, reflect and focus before you meet.  The key is focusing on your inner experience before you jump into the outer experience.

Now in a conventional way you might say 'oh I do this when I put an agenda together or strategise with my business partner on the outcome we want to achieve.'  This is fine. This is the mental head space I expect most business people will come from.  It covers logistics and boundaries.

What I am talking about is how you ensure that the rest of you shows up, the part that cares, is non judgmental and wise.  It's about also being creative, innovative and contributing what you need to say in the moment.   This is about suspending judgment, comparison, expectation and any other approach that might place you either above or below the other person.
 

How?

Set aside 5 to 15 minutes.

Find a quiet place where you won't be disturbed.

Sit comfortably.

Now you can choose to close your eyes or not. It depends on how distracted you are. In my experience the skill to develop is to be able to get into the desired state irrespective of whether your eyes are open or not.

So whilst sitting comfortably focus on your breath.  Find your rhythm. Relax into your breathing.  For those of you who meditate this will be easy. For those of you who don't just try to stay focused on this internal activity and let it draw your attention inwards. 

As you do, you may have distracting thoughts, feelings etc. Acknowledge these and then consciously let them go. No analysis, assessment. Just observation. Imagine these concerns are like passing scenery on a journey. You can go back if you want later but you probably won't need to or want to.

Find a sense of your centre. This can be imaginary or real. For example if you feel your heart is your centre then focus there. Take your breath to this place within you and imagine breathing in and out from your centre.

As you breathe have the intention of connecting to the place within that is the source of all your knowing. Again imagine this or think of a real place.  Whatever works. The key is to have an anchor that you can go back to again and again. I will call this place your intuitive self.

As you connect into your intuitive self smile as you would when greeting a friend. For in your reflection this is the relationship that matters. Surround the experience with positivity. One way to do this is to see your intuitive self surrounded by light.  See the light expand and fill all of your self. As you are filled with light see yourself as confident and knowing.

Lastly see yourself engaging in the meeting through the connection of your intuitive self. Notice how you feel. Notice the level of acceptance. Notice the level of willingness. Notice the level of respect.

Breathe into this feeling. As you do then return to a sense of your present location. Return to a sense of your physical body. Feel and move your body in the chair and your feet on the ground.  Stand and stretch.  At the same time hold onto the feeling and the intention from your reflection. 

Again all of this is done fairly quickly. We are not lingering or over doing the reflection. Simply connecting and anchoring a knowing.  You can take longer in other reflections, meditations etc.

Now when you are in your meeting you can always pause for a moment and reconnect to this place within you. It is fresh, real for you, always with you and supportive. 

Whilst this may seem serious please have fun and enjoy!