Stop Running in Place and Start Moving Forward.

A week away does a lot for the body and mind

I'm back from visiting my brother and spending time with family and feeling so refreshed and renewed in spirit. Being away gave me a fresh perspective and helped me see my life and what I've been doing more clearly. It was great to get grounded and centered.... and I'm happy to be back. Heading into this trip I hadn't been on vacation in... too long. I'd been working and working and working some more with no end in sight. There are seasons of that, for sure, and I was well beyond the season. I found I was working just to work. So, I took last week completely off and did no work. In doing this, I found myself with moments of boredom, not sure what to do next. When I'd normally check my email or add something to my to do list, instead, I read a book or just laid in the sun and listened to the sounds around me. I stopped filling the space just to fill it. I let myself be without any pressure to be or do anything else. From this space, a light opened within me. It's as if I saw, perhaps for the first time, just how much I'd really been allowing the not good enough voice to take over and run my life. How much I was doing just to do and fill a void within me. Stepping away from that helped me see my life in a new way, and helped me understand where that desire to work so often comes from. I asked myself the question: What would it look like if I didn't work just to work or to fill or a void or complete a (let's be honest) never ending to do list? What would it look like to stop running in place and actually start working in a way that moves me forward? Being in this inquiry, I discovered and saw what I really love doing and what feels more like a chore or something I "have" to. I saw what was actually working for me and what wasn't. If you too feel like you're spinning your wheels, in work or in life, get curious and ask yourself the same question:

What would it look like to stop running in place and instead, move forward?

Journal on it, sit with it, and listen for an answer. Would you be focused on one project at a time? Would you need to give something up? Would you need to have a clearing conversation with someone? Wait and listen until you feel the answer in your body, until you feel the lightness. From there, you'll be able to make changes that fit for you. It took going away for me to get fresh perspective... and I'm also seeing it doesn't have to be that way. I can take a step back and take a day, 5 hours, or even 5 minutes to sit and ask myself some simple questions to flip the script, to see things differently, and to get back to moving forward rather than standing in place. The same goes for you. Join me on the mat this week, where you'll have lots of opportunities to flip your script, get in inquiry, and move forward, together.