What do you listen to more: your inner voice, or your voicemail?
When sitting with another human being, what do you listen to more: the other person’s words and body language, or the laundry list of things you want to say in response?
When actively moving your body (jogging, cycling, hiking, rowing, etc), where does your attention go? To your breath and heart beat? To your surroundings? To your thoughts? To the music coming through your ear buds? Other?
Tune in. Notice. Observe.
Why? Wherever you direct your attention, energy follows.* In other words: you’ll get more of what you are focusing on. So, ask yourself: are you focusing on what you want more of?
Bring your mind into alignment with your vision in each moment. It’s not easy, but it’s straight forward.
Build your alignment muscle by practicing again and again and again and again and again and again… you get the idea.
*Erin’s 2nd foundational principle — learned from the practice of yoga asana — with infinite applications in life off the mat.
Seated in the chin — or so I was taught in my yoga training — we hold our heads high and let the ego march us ahead, fists pumping at our sides… so sure we are right and justified.
Right and wrong.
Black and white.
But how does this limit us?
Where is the middle ground? And where is there room for a more expansive gray area?
With expectations and judgments and comparisons (EJC), we separate ourselves from what simply is: this single moment seated in infinite possibility.
When our outlook is blurred by EJC, we feel separated from ourselves and others.
When the ego is holding on so tight tight tight to one single viewpoint, that limits us from experiencing and benefiting from other options.
And by “all the other options”, I mean an infinite sea of possibilities.
So, ask yourself:to what idea or belief or judgment is your ego holding so tightly? Does it really serve your greater good?
And…here’s the BIG question:what can you let go of? And if you let that go, what space does that create? What does that allow to be invited in?
Take a moment now to take a deep breath in. And as you exhale, lower your chin to your chest. In other words: bow your chin to the wisdom of your heart.
And smile, knowing that as you let go, you step more ease-fully into your power–because you are opening to possibility.
Stressful effort is no fun. It’s full of resistance and tension and drama.
But what about Effortless Effort? Is that possible?
Yes, it is.
How?3 steps: Align, Let Go, Focus.
1. When you know WHY you are doing something, and you can see HOW it connects to your BIG “why”, then you are in ALIGNMENT. What is your BIG “why”? You know, the vision that you have for your life and your work.
2. When you reduce (or LET GO of) your unrealistic expectations, you have less to worry about and you feel more steady and confident about what you DO complete. You do know what your unrealistic expectations are, don’t you?
3. When you FOCUS on the task at hand, and create healthy boundaries to keep out unnecessary distractions, you are WAY MORE productive…and you experience greater satisfaction.
Need support to clarify your big “why”, to identify and let go of unrealistic expectations, or to create healthy boundaries to reduce distractions? Call me 215-771-8968 or email me! I’d love to partner with you to create the kind of positively transformational results my other clients have experienced.
Next time you catch yourself rushing, stressing, worrying, and driving your blood pressure through the roof, remember that…
Urgency is a choice.
And urgency is a symptom.
You can get to the root cause of urgency via your mindset.
Next time this happens, PAUSE.
Ask yourself: why am I rushing? Why am I stressing? Why am I worrying?
TAKE a DEEP BREATH.
By breathing, you create space to think.
With pausing and taking a breath, you invoke the parasympathetic aspect of your nervous system to slow down your heart rate and lower your blood pressure. As a result, you can make a different choice.
Choose to slow down.
Anchor yourself in THIS moment.
Remember that Urgency is a choice that does not always serve you well.
Years ago, it was all the rage to Lean In. In hindsight, after her husband tragically died at a too-young age, the author Sheryl Sandberg took a different approach with co-author Adam Grant in their book Option B: Building Resilience. The idea of Leaning Yin is more akin to Option B: to tap into your inner power and find greater meaning and balance in your life. How? By reducing overwhelm and stress, centering and grounding so you can connect to what is most important, and taking small steps to transform your life in a positive way. The results? Fewer regrets, better results, and a positive ripple effect in your company, your family, your community. That benefits us all!
This step is all about activating the Sage part of your brain. Clients who have taken the six-week mental fitness course with me have learned how to utilize even more tools like those shared in this series. Learn more here.
When sitting with another human being, what do you listen to more: the other person’s words and body language, or the laundry list of things you want to say in response?
Right and wrong.
Urgency is a choice.
