Top reasons to not live your life at 100mph. Getting Still #1

Often, the best way to accomplish something is to slow down.

I wrote about my recent family beach holiday here.  About the lessons I learned about letting the water that is your life settle and get calm long enough for the sediment to sink to the bottom, so that you can much more clearly see what's going on, where you've been, what is above and below you, and where you're going.

To continue with the analogy, if you're calm and not stirring up the waters too much, you can see the shark before it gets within biting range (as long as you're not looking the opposite way, that is:)

So many of us (me - I am definitely guilty of this) rush around from task to task, always doing something - usually something that just HAS to be done, and simply couldn't wait.

We cannot sit still for two minutes... we cannot relax and listen to what our little boy is telling us about his friends at school, or the latest X-box game character because we're writing to-do's in our head, checking email, planning dinner and mentally sifting through ideas for our next blog post...(all while driving the car ;-)

When I wrote "I am able to sit and do nothing without getting twitchy.  It IS possible. When I am on holidays and have sufficiently wound down, that is..." as one of the top things I learned in January - little did I expect that other women would resonate so strongly with that. 

Rosa wrote "...I have a very, very hard time with that one!"

And Chris "...thanks for reminding me about holidays being ESSENTIAL, winding down from twitchy..."

And other women let me know how big a challenge sitting still without getting twitchy is for them...

There are a few parts to this challenge for most women (and men, too - I know G has a very hard time with this as well!):

• we get addicted to the high from being needed, being busy, pushing deadlines because that's the way we get things done best...
• we feel that insidious guilt if we sit still for a moment... like we've been caught with our hand in the cookie jar if anyone walks in and finds us just sitting
• we have crammed so much into our lives that we literally run from one thing to the next
• we do not know how to stop and sit; nor do we necessarily see the need to slow down and get calm

I'd like to expand on each of these areas over the next few weeks in a series of blog posts on Getting Still... I'd love you to join me.

The Clearing Space Challenge

Today, take a real good look at your habits. Can you sit and get calm, without doing anything at all? Let me know if this is challenging for you - or whether you really just do not have the time to think about it...

        then please tune in again soon for Getting Still, the series :-)

Comments

[Verna Wilder]

I'm happy to report that I have learned how to sit still, and the hardest part for me has been not feeling like I'm hiding a shameful secret. One day a friend called while I was sitting still, and when she asked, "What are you doing?" I truthfully answered, "Lying on the sofa looking at the ceiling." Ever since, I have been gaining a reputation for my need -- yes NEED -- to have quality time on the sofa -- alone -- not doing anything. What a wonderful thing to blog about. Thank you.

[Karen Wallace]

Verna, thanks so much for visiting. I love your idea of Quality Sofa Time - brilliant!

You're so right that it is a NEED - something I don't quite think I'd recognised until recently.