Get Interested

by | Aug 4, 2014

Where in your life are you authentically interested? Where in your life is interest a facsimile?  Get interested in interest. See where you are pretending to be interested and where you are authentically interested. Pretending requires effort. Authenticity is easy.

My recent interest with interest came from a yoga teacher’s instructions to “get interested.” If you are familiar with yoga, or perhaps any body-mind practice, in movement and stillness, awareness is joined with the sensations and energy in the body. In the flow of movement and the pause of stillness, we feel sensations in our body – sometimes painful sometimes blissful. Her pointing out changed my practice both on and off the mat.

If something isn’t interesting just as it is,
what are you adding to, or avoiding in this moment?
Do you add to bliss?
Do you avoid pain?
Be interested in what is right now, without any distractions.

Today I spoke to a woman interested in her financial situation. She left her “stable” job at an academic institution last year in pursuit of her heart’s calling to generate music and expand joy on her own.  In her new solo situation, her money constancy shifted. Now she is just making ends meet. In our conversation she used the word stability and stable several times.  She said her friends were in a stable position with funded retirement plans.  She said, I just don’t feel that stability. The summer months my students go on vacation. And before she could continue with more story to solidify her belief, we did something different.

I invited her to get interested in stability.  Taking to heart the instructions of a wise teacher, I practiced the way of deep interest and offered this way to her.  Interest is another word for attention, yet, interest sweetly pulls awareness to discovery. For me, attention possesses subtle concentration – perhaps a focus that comes “after” getting interested.

Through the lens of Somatic FinanceTM, interest leads the head to open, the belly to ground the experience with integrity, and the heart to allow impact to move self and express for others.
For my client, here’s how this situation flowed from head to belly to heart.

From the head, we met her left brain needs, with specific next actions.  [What do I do about my taxes and organization when I have my own business? I have two 403(b)s and three other investment accounts; are they invested properly?]

Then, in the conversation related to what concerns her, the word stability came to life.  Intuition led us there and I encouraged her interest.  I interrupted her stability story construction by finding her belly.

With simple direction to find her center of gravity in her belly and her feet grounded on the floor, she accessed stability. She experienced in real time her unwavering unchanging stability. Now, when the lack of stability arises, she has access to stability in her body immediately.   Having activated her core grounding in the belly, she was able to move through, toward her heart with gratitude, appreciation and joy, recognizing stability in the flow of life.

In the heart, awareness expands to other possibilities for creating more financial flow that is integrated with her practical desires to increase revenues, organize her taxes with business savvy, and invest wisely for her journey. Her interest accessed more space to face practical financial actions and to recognize a fear based concept of stability.

With interest, authentic interest, one has a chance of being deeply moved and changed – connected to and expanded in the heart.  Interest allows something to happen in the direction of life, growth and possibilities.

Before you use the word interest or interesting in language, as in “that was interesting”, try activating interest in your mind. Get interested in a genuine way of being interested. Allow this interest to access your body wisdom – in the belly and in the heart. Notice the difference in the quality of your interactions, conversations, insights; notice the ease with which authentic interest unfolds.