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De-clutter your mind and speak
with ease, flow and joy
with ease, flow and joy
by
Carla Kimball
©2006, Carla Kimball
All rights reserved.
I have lived in my home for longer than I’ve lived anywhere in my life! During these years, which happened to have been quite chaotic for a number of reasons, I have frequently held on to things, storing them randomly around the house and basement, with the idea that I would someday have the time to go through things and decide what to keep and what to throw out. After 16 years, my house has become very cluttered! As I walk through my rooms, I find myself feeling unorganized, distracted, confused.
In an effort to bring more ease, flow and joy into my life, I recently hired a personal organizer to help me sort through everything and de-clutter my space. And, she has taken me back to the very basics, looking at what is most essential in my life. As we examine each object we decide whether it serves me in my current life or simply takes up space. Surprisingly, I have found it pretty easy to let go of all the “stuff” that no longer serves me. As we finish each room, I get such a feeling of clarity, calm and peace when I walk through the space.
The fears and anxieties of public speaking can cause us to be overwhelmed by the clutter in our minds. Our racing thoughts cause us to feel unorganized, distracted and confused. We are unable to focus on the task at hand and end up feeling very self-absorbed, unable to connect or engage with our audience or speak effectively on our topic.
When we take the approach of focusing on the very basics of presence and connection we do the essential work of de-cluttering our minds. As we learn to sort through the thoughts and feelings that come up when we speak, deciding which ones support us and which ones don’t serve our purpose, we find ourselves becoming calmer and relaxed and able to attend to our audience and our material. As we repeatedly practice coming back to the simplicity of the present moment, we begin to internalize this process of de-cluttering our minds whenever we enter into a speaking situation.
What are some of the tools you use to help you let go of unnecessary, distracting thoughts that clutter your mind and keep you from staying focused on your audience and the message and purpose of your presentation?
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Carla Kimball, M.A., M.B.A. is a speaking presence coach, workshop facilitator and president of RiverWays Enterprises. Over the past 18 years she has presented and coached on a diverse set of business, stress management and communication topics to thousands of business and service professionals. Client companies include leading financial management, health care, and accounting firms.
Carla offers a selection of regular public speaking presence and presentation skills programs and coaching services for individuals as well as for corporate groups. Carla works from inside-out and helps people become more confident speakers while establishing a strong relationship with their audience.
Carla is a prolific writer on public speaking topics and currently offers a 26 week subscription to The ABCs of Presence in Speaking, Leading, and Life!, a newsletter which presents one article and exercise a week organized alphabetically with a unique perspective on public speaking issues. She has also distilled her approach to public speaking presence into a workbook/audio set entitled the SpeakingPresencesm Toolkit.
Carla is based in the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire at the intersection of Interstates 91 and 89 and centrally located to all of New England, including Boston, Western Massachusetts, Connecticut and Maine.
(You may freely copy and distribute this article as long as you keep the content intact and unchanged including title, author, copyright notice, text, contact information (www.riverways.com), and this entire notice. )
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We are centrally located in the Upper Valley region of Vermont and New Hampshire close to the intersection of Interstates 89 and 91. As such we are in in the heart of New England and close to Boston and all of Massachusetts, Vermont, Connecticut, New York and Maine.
Travel time from:
Albany, NY — 2.75 hours
Boston, MA — 2.25 hours
Brattleboro, VT— 1.25 hours
Burlington, VT — 1.5 hours
Concord, NH — 1 hour
Hartford, CT — 2.5 hours
Portland, ME — 3 hours
Portsmouth, NH — 2 hours
