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Tampilkan postingan dengan label meditation. Tampilkan semua postingan
Tampilkan postingan dengan label meditation. Tampilkan semua postingan

Jumat, 24 Agustus 2012

Finding the Rhythm in Your Breath


Copyright 2006 Marshall House

Focusing on your breath can be a truly empowering experience. You may have a tendency to discount the power of noticing and using the rhythm of your breath because your breath is so much a part of you. It might just seem too simple.

Ordinarily, of course, your breath works in the automatic mode. Thank goodness for that! If your breathing needed your constant attention, you would not have time for other adventures.

As an intentional practice, for short periods of time, giving your full attention to your breathing can be a very powerful, brief meditation. A "short period of time" might be measured:

* By numbers of breaths, for example, three in-breaths and three out-breaths;

* In minutes, for example, one minute or two or three; or

* By the time viewed through or measured by an event, for example, sitting at a traffic stop light.

Choose whatever measurement you want, and then practice focused, intentional breathing many times throughout the day. This practice will keep you balanced, filled with extra oxygen to help you to maintain greater stamina.

One interesting dynamic to notice is the actual shift between automatic and intentional breathing, in other words, notice the movement or transition from automatic (unconscious) breathing to intentional (conscious) breathing and vice versa.

In addition, notice that your breath becomes different when you are giving your full attention to it. I have read that humans use different muscles when breathing in these two different ways. Perhaps that is true. My own personal opinion is that you use the same muscles, but you use them differently in these two modes. I consider that this is similar to the difference between using your gluteus maximus muscles to walk down a hill as compared to walking up a hill.

Another dynamic to pay attention to is the pace or rhythm of your breath. There are many aspects of the breath that you can give your attention to. The rhythm of the breath is only one. It is one I particularly like because it has a discernible resonance. Examples of other dynamics are texture, sound, depth, length, evenness. I like to help people to find the rhythm of their breath because it helps them to attune to other rhythms and movement in their lives. For example, they might notice a particular breathing pattern that is replicated in other situations. After making the association, they change the rhythm in the breath, usually rather easily, and then they notice that changes in the other situations follow naturally.

I notice this correlation frequently with my clients. Of course, discerning such connections does require the ability to read subtle energies. Usually, after I have identified and articulated the correlation to my clients, they relate to the idea. The key is to make changes in the least invasive, most natural ways. Here are two specific examples:

Deidra was having trouble communicating with her boss, characterized by interrupting each other and half-stated ideas. I noticed in her breathing the same pattern of hesitation and shortness, as if she rarely completed either the in-breath or the out-breath. I suggested some exercises that helped her to be more aware of the rhythm of her breathing, which helped significantly, along with some other strategies, to manage herself more effectively with respect to her boss.

Tom had great difficulty when we had to stand in front of a group to speak. He felt unbalanced and had less acute thinking. This, by the way, is a very common dynamic as many people find stand-up presentations stressful. I decided to start with the easiest strategy: some simple breathing exercises to neutralize the old pattern and establish a new rhythm. He practiced daily, and especially before each presentation. The difficulty ceased immediately.

Sometimes the simplest strategies are the most powerful. So, remember to breathe! And, even more specifically, remember to find the rhythm in your breath.


Rabu, 09 November 2011

Finding The Time To Meditate Regularly

We always seem to be in a rush nowadays. So how can you find the time to spare to meditate? There are so many other things competing for our time that we always seem to be in a rush. Food and coffee on the go, speaking on the cell phone while doing other things, typing away at the computer whilst on the phone to a work colleague.

So how on earth can we devote even 15 or 20 minutes a day to simply meditating?

Initially it may seem an uphill struggle. But you find a few minutes every day to brush your teeth and a meditation session is just as essential for your overall health.

Maybe getting up a few minutes earlier would work for you? Or, if you're an evening person, the last few minutes before you go to sleep. A lot of people find this to be one of the best times to meditate as it puts them into a calm, relaxed state. Perfect for a good night's sleep.

If you can't devote the time every day to meditation, then consider becoming a weekend meditator. Oftentimes, Saturdays and Sundays are not quite as hectic as the rest of the week. So you may be able to regularly spend time on a meditation session. You'll still get a benefit from these sessions.

There are also times during the day that you can re-work to make the time to meditate.

If you watch the news, skip it! The news will still happen and if something important crops up, someone will tell you about it. This works well for me - I catch up on the news weekly and have yet to suffer withdrawal symptoms from my previous daily dose of news.

If you have a television recorder, use it to skip the adverts. That will free up 15 minutes or more per hour of television you watch.

Senin, 04 Juli 2011

Learn How To Meditate From Animals

You can learn how to meditate from a book, but meditation is as much an art as a science, and arts especially are better taught by live teachers than by books. That is why meditation is often learned quicker and brought to a deeper level when the beginner has someone to model their practice on. Can that someone be a dog, cat or other animal?

Learn How To Meditate From Your Cat

Have you ever watched a cat clean itself? It is usually fully involved in the process, and if you watch, you can intuitively sense that the cat is living right in the moment. It isn't thinking about what it will do later, or something that happened this morning. Watch how a cat stretches out in the sun and relaxes.

This is the natural state of "being in the now" that meditators work towards. Of course animals are afraid, but they aren't afraid and thinking "I shouldn't be afraid." They feel pain without the added suffering of contemplating the future of it. This "being here now" is what you see in the eyes of a deer. How can we more easily achieve this?

By using an animal as a model. This takes imagination, one of the strengths of the human brain, fortunately. Watch a cat, then sit and imagine you are a cat. You'll notice that your mind doesn't wander into thoughts of yesterday or tomorrow. It is more at rest, yet open to whatever the moment brings.

When you take a walk in the woods, pretend you are a deer. See the woods around you without thinking about them. Stop short of chewing on the plants, but be a deer for a while. You may notice that your senses are heightened. Can thinking too much lessen your ability to hear and see? It certainly can lessen your listening and looking.

Animal Meditations

The point isn't to think like an animal, though that can be entertaining and instructive too. The idea is to model the state of mind of an animal at peace. Combining that with your human awareness can be a powerful meditative practice. Why does this work?

Our minds are more powerful than our conscious thoughts alone. Try an experiment with someone willing to play along: Tell them to act tough. Maybe they'll flex their muscles and scowl. Then tell them to be Conan The Barbarian. The change will be more dramatic. Without needing to think about it much, their posture, expression and attitude will change.

This is the power of modeling. Our subconscious minds know more than our conscious minds. When you decide to be an animal for a moment, it influences you at a deep level. Pant like a dog and run around, and you'll feel quite different than you do now. Be a bear, sitting after he has eaten, and you'll feel more relaxed and content.

Watch a squirrel run around collecting nuts. He isn't worried. Of course he has fear at times, but he drops it when the cause is gone. He's just doing what needs to be done, right now, in this moment. He is at peace, even in all his busyness. Why not bring that state of mind into your practice, and learn how to meditate from the animals?

Rabu, 09 Maret 2011

How to Concentrate in 4 Magic Steps

One of the main problems that deter a person's success is their lack of concentration. Lapses encourage disturbances to get in the way and stall progress. If ones wishes to proceed on their road to success, it is imperative they learn how to concentrate. Here, we show you some easy to learn exercises that are easy to implement.

1) Silence or Noise:
Most people cannot concentrate when it is too noisy, but others work better with music or others in the midst of a crowded room. If you are not aware as yet what best suits you, then try out the different environments. How? Take a notepad and a pencil or pen with you and try and write down a letter in all the three circumstances in a set amount of time. Ten minutes. That is all you will need to determine where your source of concentration lies. How? Check not only for length but also for development as that is more important.

2) Focal Point:
Every morning, before you leave for work or on the way, stare at any object for ten minutes. You can do this while in the toilet, car or bus. You will find this difficult, but whatever happens, do not move your gaze away. Hold it. Wait. And then, as the minutes pass you will find yourself deeply meditating about things that happened to you yesterday or challenges you have to face in a few minutes. Congratulations. You have just conquered the art of meditation.

3) Deep Breathing:
In the beginning, you can do this while staring at the object from tip number two, but if you wish to move towards real concentration, do this separetly. Sit down on the floor. If its hard, place a cushion. Close your eyes. Breathe. Count the number of inhales. When you have reached 100, start counting backwards but this time count the exhales. Mastering this will take you a while, but once you do move on to other kinds of mathemathical calculations such as naming the months of the year from December backwards or alphabetically. After that, make up exercises as you like.

4) Movement:
Focus on an animal: cat, dog or even ant or bird. Follow their every movement as if they exist in a vaccumm. Study every tiny spot on their body. The point of this is to learn how to diversify your concentration in such a way that movement does not deter you from your goal.

Conclusion:
Practice the above four tips and like magic, you will start enjoying life to its fullest because you will be able to focus on the things you want to focus on and disregard those that disrupt. Practive the above tips daily and you will be that much more closer to achieving your dreams and goals. Best of Luck!

Kamis, 27 Januari 2011

Lucid Dreaming 101

The first step to using hypnosis in lucid dreaming or "dream control" begins with remembering your dreams. A key point to consider is that everybody dreams. You may not remember your dreams when you wake but in an 8 hour night of sleeping you usually have five or more dreams.

Before retiring at night take several deep breaths. Close your eyes and relax each muscle group in turn. Begine with your feet. Tense them and hold for a few seconds then release the tension and relax. Move up your body to your head until you have relaxed your entire body. Imagine that you are descending a long flight of stairs with ten steps. Breath with each step you take and repeat the word "relax". Once at the bottom imagine that you are in a tranquil setting and rest there awhile.

Now mentally tell yourself that when you awaken you will be fresh, rested, full of energy and will remember your last dream in vivid detail.

Have a pen and small book beside your bed and upon awakening immediately ask yourself, what did I dream last night? Focus on taking deep breaths. Then write down in your dream in as much detail as you can recall. This is an important step so don't overlook it!

After several days of this pratise look over your written dream accounts and look for recurring themes. I always have something to drink or some sort of drinking liquid in mine. Your "dream sign" may be different.

Now when retiring the next night go through your relaxation exercise and tell yourself that you will become aware that you are dreaming when you encounter your dream sign. Tell yourself that it is a sign that you should awaken in your dream.

Do this for several nights and you will experience a lucid dream. Remember to record your dream just after waking. Studies have shown that many people have lucid dreams then forget that they had them a short time after waking. Keeping a journal of your dream experiences keeps them fresh in your mind and trains your brain to remember them.

Don't be discouraged if you don't lucid dream at the start. This is a new skill that must be learned. If you persevere you will achieve results. Should you wish to accelerate your results you may wish to read the review of the lucid dreaming kit on the site below.

Selasa, 11 Januari 2011

Simple positive self talk

Doing positive self talk is not as hard as others would think. Positive self talk can be done by anybody who wants to apply the principle, it will only take just a few minutes in a day then achieve remarkable results after some time.

Positive self talk will not require you to do all those complicated stuffs including uber-science chanting of a mantra, it doesn't even require you to be cheerful or enthusiastic all day. Experts have demonstrated that positive self talk only require a few minutes to seconds of your daily time.

Positive self talk in its exact and simple meaning is the act of affirming positive thoughts and emotions from one's mind which results to inner peace. Some people even claimed that this inner peace manifests in the real world via getting rich or having healthy relationships.

Positive self talk when a person just happens to be at a deep inner peace with himself. It is a natural phenomena transferred to a person's deep subconscious mind and for some reason the subconscious mind on its own intellectual power takes this feeling up and transfer the message to the universal creator and then manifests itself into the material world

A powerful and effective step in positive self talk is meditative relaxation. This simple and often neglected technique can done by simple sitting in a chair or floor and then listening to cool and relaxing music, or by performing any relaxation exercise. The main task of positive self talk is clearing up all negative thoughts in one's mind so by putting someone in a relaxed state of mind all negative thoughts are eliminated from one's mind and such state will put someone in a positive mood. After some time those positive feelings will find their way to manifest in reality

Another technique for positive self talk is what we call Affirmations. This widely accepted technique is done by affirming positive statements to your self. These affirmations when made, are capable of achieving outstanding results especially if they are repeated often as the situation demands and if the affirmation is supported with positive thoughts.

Some examples of affirmations are:
-Everyday is getting better.
-I am a winner
-I am slowly becoming successful

Just as meditative relaxation the positive messages/affirmations in your mind will somehow manifest themselves into reality

Sabtu, 01 Januari 2011

Personal Development Is Where Success Starts - Ask Anyone Who Has It!

Are you living the life you envisioned for yourself when you were a kid? When did you give up on your dreams and decide that you would settle for an average lifestyle? There is a better way out there.

If you ask around, many people will tell you that they're willing to pay the price, that they will do whatever it takes to live a lifestyle of absolute freedom and abundance. Well then why is less than 3% of the poplulation wealthy? It is because there's a huge gap between knowing what to do and actually doing it. That's where many people drop off. For whatever reason, whether they don't believe they could really achieve wealth, or whether they were told that money doesn't grow on trees, or whether they just don't think they deserve a ridiculous lifestyle, people hold onto beliefs that are detrimental to their growth and that hold them back an entire lifetime.

What if i told you about a personal development program that is truly worth it's weight in gold. This course will allow you to shed whatever limiting beliefs you may or may not know you have that have been keeping you back from your full potential. If you're not completely satisfied with the life you've created for yourself, why are you going to live the rest of your life just settling and going through the day-to-day motions?

If you desire different results, you require to start thinking and doing things differently. Why do you believe it is that some people get whatever their heart desires while others choose to struggle? The secrets are in this personal development course and these secrets can truly set you free.

www.millionairemindsets.com

Sabtu, 25 Desember 2010

Self Identity: Who Are You?

Self-identity? Who are you really? We identify with many things, but this is just a process in our minds. In fact, this identification causes us to suffer.

Your favorite basketball team loses, and you suffer as though YOU lost. Your car is damaged and it feels like YOU are hurt. Somebody attacks who they think you are, and it is as though they could actually reach inside and poke at your true self. Is there a way to escape this unecessary drama and pain?

Perhaps, if you can see what you are not. Seeing this clearly can free you from much of the suffering that comes from identification. Try this simple meditation.

A Meditation On Self Identity

Get comfortable in a quiet place. Close your eyes, relax and take several deep breaths, breathing through your nose. Let your breathing fall into a natural pattern. Allow tension to drain from your body.

Now begin by asking: Where am I? What am I? Who am I? Let these questions sit for a moment in your mind.

Be aware of your body. Think of your leg. If you lost it, would you cease to exist? Are you your leg? Go through the parts of your body, asking "Am I here?" "Is this my self?"

Open your eyes and look around you. Are you those things? Maybe it you feel pain when your favorite chair breaks, as though it were you. But you're not that chair. Ask yourself which of these things you own are you. "Am I this?"

Close your eyes and say your name. Do you feel a sense of identity? What if you had no name? Ask "Am I really..." and say your name again. What's the honest answer? If this one is tough, say "I am..." and insert any other name. Notice how when you call yourself by another name, you feel differently. Your name-identity is a collection of ideas, something seen differently by you and others.

As feelings arise, ask "Am I this fear?... this pain, desire, sadness, pleasure, anger? Your feelings are not you - they just pass through you. Your clothes, your body, your reputation - none of it is your true self-identity.

Do this meditation for twenty minutes, then take a deep breath and get up. Notice if you feel different - less worried or less attached to things, feelings and thoughts. Do the meditation as often as necessary, to remind you of what you are not.

Selasa, 18 Mei 2010

Become Comfortable with the Uncomfortable

The physical pain I experienced during the writing of my first newsletter, or when I first designed and wrote copy for my website, and anything else that was and is a ‘first time event’ for me, is very real and very uncomfortable.

The upside of this is once the new is mastered, the physical pain miraculously disappeared.

For me it’s a comfort zone thing.

I really know I’m alive when I’m outside my comfort zone.

The comfort zone is an amazing place of security, comfort, safety, and protection. Stepping out this zone can be scary and lonely, and involves stretching and growing; this is the bit where physical pain comes into it.

When I was little I remember my mother telling me I was suffering from growing pains because my legs ached, or my knees ached, as a matter of fact anything that ached was due to growing pains. Expanding the comfort zone for me is much the same.

The best thing of course is the end result! This will be when mastery has finally been reached and with it increased inner strength and confidence.

This doesn’t just apply to the ‘big stuff’. This applies across the board no matter how big or small.

Below I’ve listed 5 easy things to help with becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. Starting with the most important:

1. Start by noticing what you notice. Each time you do something different notice what your reaction to it is and where this reaction manifests within your body.

2. Keep a journal or diary of feelings and reactions as you continue to grow through stepping out of your comfort zone.
Write three pages in your journal or diary each morning about your ever expanding comfort zone. Write for at least one month then reflect on your pages, starting from page one, noticing any patterns, useful or not.

Use a different coloured pen for things that worked for you in becoming more masterful.

Again using a different coloured pen make note of what definitely did not work.

3. Ask yourself the following questions in regards to growing and stretching:

“What needs to happen now to make it less painful for me?”

“What are the benefits for me in mastering this new thing (relationship, job, task etc)?”

“What am I learning from this experience?”

“What am I not learning from this experience?”

4. Turn negative self-talk into positive speak. The more often positive self talk is practised the more comfortable it will become, until it’s fully integrated and natural.

5. Know that it takes time to become comfortable with something new and different. Unfortunately there is no instant fix or ‘cure’ (I would’ve found it by now!). The quicker the mastery levels raise the quicker the return of a comfort zone.

Some suggestions to help deal with the uncomfortable may be to take up a meditation program, Breath Work, some transformational coaching for inner peace, or investigate a flower essence practitioner near you.

The outcome of this effort will be living how you want to live, and knowing that you’ve achieved this through your own efforts.

A great friend of mine once said to me “Become comfortable with the uncomfortable”. During my uncomfortable moments, I remember that phrase. I know that once mastered, I’ll become comfortable once again…well until the next time I decide to learn something new.

Michaela Scherr Transformational Coach

Minggu, 02 Mei 2010

Being the Mountain

As I hiked up the path to the Peaceful Valley Chapel, I relished the quiet of my early morning solitude. After many years as a participant and assistant instructor at Thomas Crum's Journey To Center Program, this beautiful and energizing ten-minute hike had become a personal ritual. Each morning of each Journey to Center week, before our breathing and meditation session at 7, I always hike to the top of this small mountain to be inspired by the view of a much higher mountain range in the distance.

I stare at the 14,000-foot peaks, open my arms and breathe, inviting their energy, power, beauty and peace into my being. I contrast their stability and their "just there-ness" with my own approval-seeking energy, their effortless poise with my striving to do the right thing, and their natural and graceful essence with my desire to appear knowledgeable and beautiful and centered.

Could I possibly just BE? Like the mountain? There.

That turned out to be my practice this year - and I let the mountain be my teacher. Each time (well, most times) that I found myself in striving or approval-seeking mode, I stopped, breathed, and thought about the mountain. Thought about just BEING - like the mountain.

Each time I practiced, I felt my body come back to a relaxed stance, mind clear, my being at rest. It was as if I had been leaning forward - out of myself - looking for something, someone, to be okay. As I thought of the mountain, I came back to center.

Is there a place that helps you return to your own powerful presence? Your needs are met, you are okay just the way you are. Find it now - in your office, your home, your cubicle. Bring your mountain back into view. And have a great journey to center.

Jumat, 26 Maret 2010

An Age Old Secret For Accessing Knowledge

Over the centuries, human beings have developed many techniques to gain access to their inner wisdom and improve learning.

One technique that many people have found very beneficial is to have an imaginary guide  that they can call on for advice and insight.

A modern variation of this technique has been developed by intelligence researcher Dr. Win Wenger and it is detailed in his book “The Einstein Factor”

This exercise is sometimes called “Putting on the Expert’s Head”  

This technique enables you to access some of the enormous untapped potential that resides in the mind of every individual.  This technique can even accelerate your ability to develop a new skill.  It gives you access to parts of yourself that you are normally not aware of.

The first step is to decide what knowledge or skill you would like to develop in yourself.  What are you interested in that you would like to do better?  You might wish to improve your skill at archery, portrait painting, doing mathematics, or playing a musical instrument.   

Once you have decided what skill or knowledge you would like to develop, take some time to think about those people you consider an expert in this chosen field.  Whose skills do you admire?  Who do you think of as a great role model and expert in the field?

The person need not be currently living.  Before you move ahead with this exercise, you may wish to research the life of the person you have chosen.

You might even decide you want to see the world from the perspective of your favorite animal or bird, such as a wolf or an eagle.

When you are ready to do the Expert’s Head exercise, prepare yourself by deeply relaxing your body and your mind.  Take some time to get comfortable in a place where you will not be disturbed.  Internally scan your body for tension, and allow your muscles to relax.  Breathe calmly and smoothly in a relaxed way. 

Now think:  is there a particular place where you would like to meet your imaginary expert?  You might want to meet this guide in your own home, but feel free to imagine another site.  For example, you could visualize meeting in a beautiful garden, in a forest, on top of a mountain, or some other location. 

You can improve your ability to visualize imaginatively by speaking out loud your inner impressions to a tape recorder, or to another person.  Eventually, even the slightest glimmer of imagination will be reinforced and amplified by consistent practice of this exercise.

If you are not yet able to easily imagine a location in which to meet your chosen expert, don’t worry.  Simply move forward to the imagined encounter with this person, whenever you are ready.

Your imaginary encounter may go exactly as planned, or there may be surprises in store for you.  Perhaps someone you weren’t expecting shows up.  Perhaps your chosen expert does not want to participate.  If no one appears in your mind’s imagination, ask for someone to come forward, and then wait.

When your imaginary guide appears, handle the encounter with as much politeness and respect as you would a real life encounter with a real person.  Do you feel comfortable in the presence of this expert?  Do you have the sense that the expert feels comfortable with you? 

Even if these guides are figments of your inner mind, you still need to be sure you are accessing a part of yourself that wants to promote only the best for you.

If you get any sense of discomfort between you, thank the expert for coming, and politely dismiss him or her.  Think of another expert you admire in your chosen field and create an imaginary encounter with that person.  You may even have to create a totally fictitious character to be your imaginary expert.

Once you have established a meeting with your chosen expert, mentally picture yourself and your visiting expert standing facing each other in an attitude of great respect.  Gently put your arms out and slowly remove the expert’s head from his or her body.  Since this is only an imaginary person or animal, the head should come off quite easily. 

Place the expert’s head above your own, facing the right way, and lower it over your own head.  Now believe that you are looking out at the world through the eyes of your chosen expert, hearing through the expert’s ears, smelling through the expert’s nose.

Take the time to allow the expert’s mind to slowly merge with your own mind.  Now gently pull the expert’s body towards you, and step into it.  Feel as if it fits you perfectly.  Feel that you have merged with the expert’s body and can feel and do the same things.

When you feel that you are actually in the expert’s body, notice what seems different to  you. Does the world look different in any way?  Do any of your attitudes feel different?  How does your body feel different?  Can you feel the confident attitude of the expert?  Memorize the sensation.

Focus on the differences you notice and start to talk about them out loud.  Spend at least five minutes doing this step.  When you have finished, gently step out of the borrowed imaginary body and carefully remove the expert’s head from you own.  Respectfully return the head and body to the expert.  Thank that person for allowing you to have this experience.

You can use the Expert’s Head technique to improve your skills at some desired activity, or to accelerate your ability to learn to do something you have never done before.

First spend a few weeks performing the Expert’s Head exercise daily to familiarize yourself with it.  Once you are accustomed to the process of donning the expert’s head, you are ready to use this technique to accelerate your skills development. 

First spend a few minutes performing the desired skill entirely in your mind.  Feel as if you are actually performing perfectly it and that you really know how to do it.  Then move to the Expert’s Head exercise, and spend about 10 –15  minutes, performing the activity in real life, but mentally be the character of the expert, wearing the expert’s head and body.

After about fifteen minutes, gently remove the expert’s head and step out of the expert’s body.  Thank the expert for the use of his or her body, mind and talent.  Ask the person to continue filling your mind with more of their expert knowledge and ability even when you are not practicing this exercise.

Before the experience starts to fade from your memory, spend a few minutes writing down or speaking out loud everything you can remember.  Write down or speak everything you can remember that was really different when you were in the expert’s mind and body, rather than as yourself.

When you wish to improve a particular skill, first spend about 15 minutes mentally doing it as yourself.  Then slip into the expert’s head and body to continue the exercise in real life for another fifteen to thirty minutes.  If you repeat this process about three times a day, you will experience a greatly accelerated ability to master the skills you desire.

Please realize that advice and knowledge received in this manner is not infallible.  Do not feel obligated to act on any advice received from your inner dialogue with your imagined guides unless you are absolutely convinced it is appropriate for you at this time. 

This technique can greatly increase access to your inner creativity and wisdom, but you will still need to make informed and reasoned decisions about what you do.