Tic Toc

Is your life a slow casual saunter, a fast-paced walk or a full out run as fast as you can until you can't go any faster or further and then you hit the wall and fall down? 

Probably a mix of all although "manic" seems to be the pace of choice for most, mixed in with a little "warp speed" and forced shutdown here and there to prove you are in control - right? :) 

Do you own a "Keep calm and ....insert your favourite line here" but you already know who is kidding who and who is/not calm? I had a colleague years ago who used to say to me that I was like a duck, looking very calm and gliding along smoothly on the surface but under the water, those little legs were paddling like crazy. Sound familiar? 

This past year I've been on a journey of discovery to "find myself" lol...sounds a little crazy but it is absolutely true. I'm learning so much, about life, the world, myself and how closed in and sheltered I had been living. My worldview is changing and I am discovering so many amazing things and honestly, I don't know what took me so long. But I do know what took me so long. I didn't have time, not even time to think about it never mind do anything about it. There is an old saying - Time is a created thing. To say "I don't have time" is lie saying "I don't want to. Lao Tzu.

There is a little bit of truth to the above statement, the challenge is that when you are in the "rat race" you don't even know that you need to think about whatever it is that you haven't thought about! Doesn't that sound a little bit like what Winney the Pooh or Piglet might say? 

It does sound a little crazy, but I know you "get" it. 

When you are so far down the rabbit hole that you don't even know you are down there, you tend to go into "auto-pilot" and at that point, you are no longer thriving, you are surviving. 

My Mother who was a creative, intelligent and wise woman once said - "just remember Catherine, when you are in the rat race, at the end of the day, whether you win or whether you lose, you are still a rat". Sage words from someone who never once was in the rat race. Survival mode sometimes, rat race, never. 

Another wise woman I know was talking to a colleague who had recently changed jobs. He said in his new job he actually had time to think! What a novel idea! 

So how often do you do that? Think that is....lol, not decision make, not problem solve, just set aside time to actually sit down and think? After changing careers last year, I would say it took me at least six months before I realized my brain was "thawing out" or "coming back to life". I'm serious, there was absolutely no room in my brain for anything else.  Or so I thought. In actual fact, the myth that we use only 10% of our brainpower is just that, urban legend, or myth and there are several theories about where that started. 

I think we use our brains fairly well most of the time, what we don't realize is that the stress we have in our schedules and lives derails us. 

I had someone on one of my teams years ago say "Mrs. Perry, (why she called me that was another story) I wish you didn't have such a long commute so you would stop thinking and coming up with ideas"! She wasn't wrong, my commute was my thinking time way back then before I started doing coaching calls and business meetings on the phone during my drive time. Technology has 2 faces. 

If you could carve out an hour for yourself to empty your brain would you? Is it thinking time you need or meditation time?

I'm not going to give you a 101 on how to do this. Most of us are so exhausted that if we sat down for an hour to think, we would promptly fall asleep. Maybe that is exactly what the Dr. ordered. 

It is the middle of summer. Summer goes by so quickly. In a fleeting moment, it is gone. What you need to be thinking about is a surprise, a little serendipity. 

It could change your life. 

Is there a hammock calling your name?  

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