Do you ever feel like your life is spinning out of control? Or like you are suffering with sensory overload?
I sure do. Sometimes more often than I would care to admit, even…. Lately it seems to manifest as “social media fatigue”. Like when I scroll through Facebook or my Instagram feed, it is just that, scrolling, without really taking anything in. Kind of like my brain says “Enough, I can’t take any more in. I am full”. A bit like the same way our stomach says “I am full” after eating a certain amount. Or like the way our cells can become desensitised to insulin, because they’ve become overloaded.
In today’s society it seems like almost EVERYTHING is available ALL the time.
Many of us can get access to information, news, or foods in abundance, yet it seems like we are never satisfied… It’s like there’s a huge big gaping void. A hole that we need to fill in order to become whole.
Then of course we that inner voice (let’s call this particular one the Inner Critic) which is adding to this “not enough” chatter. It tends to go on and on about the fact that we are not doing enough, as in working hard enough to achieve our goals or further our careers, or that we are not smart enough / slim enough / fit enough / rich enough / outgoing enough. Just take your pick!
For me “not enough” often manifests as “I am not working hard enough”. And what make this thought even more ridiculous is that I discovered that the more I do, the less I sometime feel like I have achieved. Go figure!
I’ve even had to sit back, take stock and look back on my old to-do lists to see that this idea is simply a limiting belief that I’m holding and not true at all…
The other add on to “not doing enough” is a fear of missing out. (Or should that be FOMO???) Which means, I buy books, sign up to courses and email lists, beyond what is realistic to ever keep up with. I’m not even sure how it got to this. Perhaps this is why I am currently suffering with this brain fatigue.
More is not more and too much is way beyond enough.
A few months ago I interviewed, together with a dear friend, a whole bunch of exciting and interesting people from around the world for a project on Selfcare, that is soon to launch. A couple of our interviewees spoke into the topic of decluttering, both our physical environment as well as our minds. This really spoke to me.
In fact, I think if we start with our outer space it will soon reflect back on to our inner one.
So I have slowly started on this kind of detox. I’ve been through my wardrobe and my storage space, but I still have much left to sort through. However, whenever I do this kind of clearing out work, it almost always brings me back to abundance and the fact that I have enough. And if I do need something, I can be much more intentional about getting it.
And here’s the thing, by taking action and start doing some decluttering, I gained some awareness which lead me to the insight that I have enough stuff and don’t necessarily need to fill my life with more in order to fill any void inside.
Insights, revelations and an appreciation for the small things often come when we are present in the here and now. Which is one of the challenges in our 21st Century fast-paced lifestyle.
With this in mind, I wanted to share with you some really simple, yet powerful tools that I have come across in the past few years and months, which are helpful for taking “life pauses”.
Sometimes it’s not practical or even doable to do what I did some years ago when my life felt like a vortex, and took time out and went to a Vipassana retreat. (But that’s a story for another day)
So instead, there are some simple practical things we can do, in order to take a little time out to “be”. Which funnily enough can make us more productive… Because with some recharging we will be more efficient. Who would have thought?!
I basically see this “being” as plugging our batteries in for some recharging. With this kind of selfcare practice, finding that elusive state of balance, can just get a little bit easier. Just notice that I said practice though, which is verb, not a noun(!)
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