Okay, we’ve all been to this particular place. I was working out this morning, and I like to wrap up afterward by “running my chakras”, doing a little energy work to redistribute the extra juice I didn’t use up during my workout. It really helps restore a certain amount of “normal” to me so I’m not so physically exhausted and mentally overactive at the same time.

So There I Was, kneeling in the middle of my living room and getting settled in. I figured I’d give my chakras a clean sweep and then see which one felt like getting some attention today, and it turned out to be my throat chakra ( in case you’re lost here, I’m doing this post as a lead-in to a series on the chakras without all the new-age bullshit, coming at you over the next few weeks ).

And the neighbor’s dog starts barking.

And I forgot to turn the music off.

And sweat was trickling down my neck.

Nine hundred and fifty distractions.

Now, I’ve been doing chakra work for probably twenty years, and this is a pretty common thing. America seems to have adopted a culture of “deficit attention”, where we bounce from one thing to the next all day long. I figured out a trick for this ages ago, and I figured it was time to pass it on to other people. I make the distractions work *for* me instead of against me.

So now I’m breathing into my throat chakra, and in my mind the neighbor’s dog is barking at it (strangely enough, it started glowing this weird ultraviolet purple when I added the dog). Then I added the music, and my throat chakra started thumping like a subwoofer (and after a few seconds this became a physical sensation). Then I added the sweat, which in my mind started trickling out of the chakra itself. Every time something in my environment caught my attention, I found a way to add it to my meditation.

Now everything in my environment that had previously been distracting me was now reinforcing my energy work, producing energy for me instead of drawing it away. Where before I had been an island, I was now in an ocean of power and every wave was taking me where I needed to go. It was a complete reversal of everything traditional chakra work focuses on – instead of isolation I was now fully in the embrace of the world, and it was doing my work for me.

So there’s Uncle Ironbutt’s Tips and Tricks for today – make the world support your meditation instead of distracting you from it, and the world is yours.