Curious about Being Centered or Aligned: How Important Is It? How Do You Center and/or Align Yourself?

“Just as your car runs more smoothly and requires less energy to go faster and farther when the wheels are in perfect alignment, you perform better when your thoughts, feelings, emotions, goals, and values are in balance.” - Brian Tracy, American author

I don’t know about you, but I feel that if you reread and think about Brian Tracy’s quotation above, you will find how true it is for all of us. When I am centered, I feel great, accomplish more and produce better work and ideas.

Many years ago, I returned to college for a Master of Fine Arts degree in Studio Art. I worked in two media – clay and fiber. If you have ever worked (“thrown”) clay into pot forms on a potters’ wheel, you have discovered how centered you and that clay must be. The book, Centering: In Pottery, Poetry and the Person by M.C. Richards, saved me and still is impacting my life.

When I searched for meaningful quotations using “Center” and “Alignment” I found a few that were interesting, but didn’t address the topic as thoroughly as I wished. Here is a sampling:

• “To really be centered and to really work well and to think about the kinds of things that I need to think about, I need to spend large amounts of time alone.” - Donna Tartt, American novelist
• “I always say centered food equals centered behavior.” - Marilu Henner, American actress
• “Getting married and then having children just centered me and grounded my values. It was like a whole new world. It started happening in New York with a little play called Cruise Control, where I relaxed, and then I kept getting work in Hollywood till this series happened.” - Patricia Richardson, American actress
• “A mind at peace, a mind centered and not focused on harming others, is stronger than any physical force in the universe.” - Wayne Dyer, American psychologist
• “You believe happiness to be derived from the place in which once you have been happy, but in truth it is centered in ourselves.” - Franz Schubert, Austrian composer
• “True freedom is where an individual's thoughts and actions are in alignment with that which is true, correct, and of honor - no matter the personal price.” - Bryant H. McGill, American poet
• “To attain inner peace you must actually give your life, not just your possessions. When you at last give your life - bringing into alignment your beliefs and the way you live then, and only then, can you begin to find inner peace.” - Peace Pilgrim, American activist

Are you centered and in alignment – physically and emotionally? I would love to hear how this is or isn’t working for you.