COMPOSURE

I absolutely LOVE this picture!!!!! I could literally gaze into it for hours and ‘get lost’. Throughout my life, since a little girl, I’ve had this uncanny habit of taking ‘Mental pictures’. What is a mental picture? Whenever I saw something that was just so beautiful, and I didn’t have a camera with me, I’d form my hands around my eyes, blocking everything else out, but what I desired to see, and I would ‘click’, my camera, and announce out loud to everyone, “Mental Picture!” Hahaha!

My family and friends would always stop to look at what I was taking a picture of. “Jill, its a sunrise, it’s a sunset, it’s a mountain, a flower, clear blue sky, a bird, a stone…….”, and go on with what they were doing. Meanwhile, I was mesmerized. I would sit and have a conversation with that sunset, bird, and flower, and didn’t leave until I felt there was a fair exchange. I do it to this day. Hahaha!!!

I’m not Webster. I’m Jill, and today I’m going to share my definition of Composure.

Composure: Is mindfully handling one’s emotions in the face of any stress, event, person, or circumstance. It is to be at peace within, and radiating that peace with-out. It is the peace that passeth all understanding. It is to be at One with All that Is.

Whether you desire to be a Warrior or not, composure is the name of the game. I’ve been covering various topics over the past few weeks that all have to do with the making of a Warrior. For a Warrior, these areas cannot go unnoticed, they beckon at each moment of decision, however, the value of each is priceless in every person’s life. Embrace.

There are many scenario’s where composure is tested:

At home
In the workplace
In long lines
At stop lights
In sporting events: This one is especially interesting. Grown men, considered ‘Professionals’, acting like ill-mannered children on a playing field, and now, even at their homes, and in public. Professional? Please.
Children’s sporting events. (And it’s not the children losing composure).

The list could go on. Wherever there is one who lacks composure, there is…. drama.

As I’ve mentioned in previous newsletters, we are all examples to those around us, and many times, those we may not even be aware of.

Composure has many benefits. I’d like to share the following list, because Robert put it very nicely:

29 Benefits of Composure for Leaders by Robert Ferguson (fergusonvalues.com)

Be more decisive.

Stay clear headed.

Cope better with stress.

Possess increased resolve.

Project a more positive attitude.

Less likely to lie (to ourselves and others).

Enjoy more rewards (for doing the right thing).

Become more focused and goal-oriented.

Enjoy a greater sense of accomplishment.

Produce better results in negotiations.

Remain visible for followers to see.

Builds confidence in others.

Maintain self-control.

Helps preserve personal honor.

Creates healthier interpersonal relationships.

Less susceptibility to abusive behaviors (e.g. drugs, alcohol).

Ability to diffuse tension (often through humor).

Helps avoid procrastination.

Stimulates momentum.

Promotes success.

Preserves integrity.

Fewer excuses.

Reduces aggression.

Helps avoid procrastination.

Promotes better mental health.

More readily accept responsibilities.

Encourages superior performance.

More effective coping skills.

Leads to greater wealth.

Use this list to motivate you, empower you. So many character building benefits.

Now, the question is, “How do I do it?”

JILL’S 5 STEP PROCESS TO COMPOSURE:

Be Still: Quiet, Calm, Centered, Immovable, Silent (As the water pictured above)
Eliminate noise by allowing the Stillness to ‘absorb’ it.
Go to your Higher Power and ‘see’ things, not as they appear to be, but rather as they ‘are’.
Empower self - from the Stillness
Respond intelligently

As Greg Swanson, so wonderfully put it:

“When you look deeper you’ll find that the person that has the mental strength skill of concentration also has mental composure…poise if you will.

So keep thinking peace, acting peace, until you are at peace with your entire inner world.

When you have peace of mind you are not timid or anxious, or fearful, or rigid and you will not allow any disturbing thought to influence you. You discard all fears and think of yourself as a spark of the Divine Being, as a manifestation of the “One Universal Principle” that fills all space and time. Think of yourself thus as a child of the Infinite, possessing infinite possibilities right where you are.

Make yourself a concentrated dynamo from which your thoughts vibrate to others. Then you are a power in the world.”

One of my favorite poems by MIRO:

The Code of Bushidō

Many different warriors

Have walked the face of Earth

From many different areas

But all shared the same worth

One of these was Bushidō:

“Way of the Warrior-Knight”

Although these ancient Japanese

Nobles are gone from sight

The seven virtues that they all