Is Busyness Sexy?
As we transition into summer, things are beginning to unlock in the world and I sense a hesitant curiosity. Do we rush in or shall we remain cautiously slow in our re-integration into life?
Personally, in a few short weeks, I will be transitioning to a big move across Canada. With it comes resurgence of loss and grief as I say goodbye to so much of my life here, and excitement and curiosity as I get to create a new season in my life. Through it, I have made the conscious decision to slow down, to feel it all, to welcome my breath, my pause, my slow steps and remember that I have no time to rush.
This hasn't always been easy for me and I still have to catch myself because, like many of you, I grew up in conditioned environments where I was told to get busy, do more, stop twiddling my thumbs (remember that one?). I stepped into the matrix of hustle and hurry. And this state of being is often revered with a sense of success and sexiness. Often, we rush through life so that we don't have to feel and we don't even realize we are playing this game. What if it's all just a game and we have been taught that the winner is the first one to get to the end.... what is the end? Death?
Unfortunately, busyness is the antithesis of presence. When we move through life with speed and urgency, we lose our capacity to listen to our knowing wisdom. We fail to pay attention to our intuitive pop ups and to acknowledge our body sensations that hold a rich array of information to help us on our journey. In time, we risk losing our ability to become fully engaged with all of life as the mind fills up with “stuff” and we become identified with our thoughts, our appearances, our acquisitions. Soon, we forget how to enjoy each moment, we live missed opportunities, we fail to notice the beauty that surrounds us and we begin our search for something “missing” when the exact thing we seek is already inside us longing to be revealed.
What if, instead, we were taught to slow down, pause, listen to our bodies, become curious about our thoughts and delight in the intrinsic wisdom in it all. To become fully present. Then, we can begin to harvest the gold in each moment that is rich with meaning, clarity, and possibility.
Building your presence muscle means undoing much of the busyness conditioning and begins with the practice of slowing down, paying attention to the subtleties of life, your environment, your breath, your body, your thoughts. Trusting there is wisdom in it all and choosing each day to say “YES” to this wondrous gift.
Here are 4 tips that I share with my clients:
Purchase a Mindwatch… it is an amazing wrist band that you program to vibrate at regular intervals (mine vibrates every 10 minutes). When it vibrates, pause, take 3 deep breaths, feel the sensations of your body and notice your thoughts. Mine was a gift but they are available on Amazon here
Keep a journal to write down your sensations and your thoughts, your dreams and all your intuitive pop ups. Go back and reflect on this. When you write freely from a calmer and relaxed state, you might find patterns emerge from your creative side that is life giving you messages and opening a path of possibilities for you
Slow down... put LESS on your "to do" list and, maybe some days, don't even have a "to do" list. At the end of each day, reflect on what you did well that day (not what you didn't do.)
Trust in your body sensations. The body holds a plethora of wisdom that can help you make decisions in your life and your work. How does your body communicate YES and how does it communicate a clear NO? How does your body feel when it is busy? How does it feel when it slows down? When you begin to attend to your body, you will become intimate with these sensations and you can learn to trust in your knowingness that the decisions you make each day are for the evolution your soul as you are moved in the direction of delivering your life’s work.
Where are you rushing through life?
What are you avoiding feeling in your busyness?
What would it be like if you slowed down just a little or a lot?
I wish you long, slow, juicy summer days and nights and am sending you lots of hugs, gratitude and deep wishes that you get to enjoy each slow breath
Love
Diana