With so much of life feeling in the balance–whether it’s the uncertainty of work, school, and basically life or even the awakening to desiring deep shift and change in life–right now feels like a time where it’s really easy to feel UNGROUNDED.
In the last two months, I’ve shifted my journaling practice to a daily writing of three affirmations and three gratitudes (sometimes I add more, I know #overachievers can’t help themselves). It’s been a simple practice that has allowed me to get grounded, feel in control, and sink deeply into presence.
Here’s an excerpt of a recent journal entry about how I am slowing down this summer, I hope it resonates with you:
I’m grateful for the slow down that comes through the beauty of nature–to stop and watch the dragonflies dance or the bees buzz, to hear the birds sing their songs and fly through life, it is the ever-present reminder that life goes on. Life will continue on with or without us–to stay in a place of presence is to honor this one precious life we have.
While the medicine is to get still and listen, watch, breathe, and learn…the medicine is also not to stay stuck, it is to embrace the ever-present pull of change as it draws you to what is most true for you.
I’ve been working on this next book, it comes in fits and starts, it drops in at 4am when I’m dead asleep but somehow stringing together a new, deeper understanding of a concept I’m trying to share or expound upon–it comes readily in the moments I’m talking to clients, literally pages dripping from my mouth but when I try to remember what I said, I’m inevitability at a loss (but knowing, trusting, and crossing my fingers that it will come back to me)… and it inevitably does, and this is just the same as life itself.
For a very long time (probably in the neighborhood of 37 years), I’ve always pushed myself, lived in the future–10 steps ahead of myself at any given moment and while that can be a superpower that I’m unwilling to relinquish, it’s also kept me from presence in the very moment too many times to count. It’s kept me from the slow down unless I remember to slow down and even when I do, it can initially feel more like an admonishment than an invitation.
So this season, I’m doing it differently. The gift of my superpower is being able to layout plans, set goals, crush strategy in making things happen but the shadow side of living so many steps ahead is that I almost always feel the panic of being “behind,” in a rush to accomplish my goals, get to my next destination, lesson, or learning just because I can see it on the horizon. THIS is why we need nature–this is why we need the throttle and the brake.
This is why I’m doing it differently this season, this is why getting connected to yourself so you know when you are feeling detached, out of balance, or ungrounded is key.
It’s a bit art and a bit science but what it definitely is not is perfection–there’s no “getting it right” this season, there’s only the presence of allowing yourself to dive deeply into the surrender of just being.
Just who will you be?
In writing this journal entry, now turned blog, I want to pose that same question to you–In this season of summer, in this season or uncertainty, in this season where it’s so easy to give away your attention and your power, just WHO will you be?
How will you choose to live deeply with intention, allowing this intention to guide a deeper knowing and acceptance of yourself rather than the inevitable panic and anxiety that can reside in focusing on our worries, fears, and what-ifs.
What if you are already ok and everything is exactly as it should be?
Here’s to you, to me, and to the patience, knowing, and presence that comes with the slow down.
Love,
B.
P.S. I began coaching at the start of 2014. Helping others and the freedom of having my own business has been one of the most fulfilling and rewarding experiences of my life. We are opening the doors for enrollment for our FALL SESSION of our Life + Leadership Coach Training program. We start November 1st and would love to have you join us.
If you are feeling called to learn more about becoming a coach, I invite you to our upcoming webinar on becoming a Coach. This webinar is the perfect time for you to bring your curiosity, ask questions, and imagine your life as a coach. Any questions? Simply hit reply to this email. As always, sending you love and encouragement to do the thing in life that’s calling to your heart (remember, you didn’t come here to play small)
