Have you ever found yourself saying, "I just need 5 minutes!!"and yet, you don't give it to yourself?
10 Minutes of Nothing Doing, Stillness, Vacating Your Life (as Martha Beck describes it in "The Joy Diet")
Can you allow this for yourself?
Do you give yourself this gift of 10 minutes?
If yes, awesome!!
If not, I'm here to help!
10 minutes of stillness or "vacating your life" is always a recommendation that I give my clients and it is the one thing that people struggle with and avoid doing for a wide variety of reasons.
Why don't they do it?
It doesn't cost anything. They don't have to go anywhere or gather any materials. Yet they don't do it because...
There is just too much to do! (Laundry, dishes, toys to be put away, beds to be made, dog poop to scoop, cupboards that suddenly need organizing, "Target needs me!", "Have you seen all of these split ends?", etc.)
There are the people in my lives who NEED me! How will my family possibly survive without me during those 10 minutes?
When I first suggest this, it sounds easy and then once they go and try it, those pesky "should" thoughts enter their mind...
"I should be cleaning the kitchen."
"I should be working out."
"I should be checking Facebook to see if anyone commented on my post."
and then they usually say to themselves, "Forget Margaret and her stupid 10 minutes of nothing!"
If this is new to you, it feels more comfortable to keep moving, especially since in my judgement, we've been raised to be hard working people. Keep moving, keep working or people will think we are lazy. If this works for you and you feel awesome, great!
However, I've learned that doing nothing is SO tremendously important!!
Just because you are used to doing something or that it is comfortable doesn't mean it's leading you to the life you were meant to live.
In fact, I've experienced that the more I push my edges and allow a little more discomfort into my life, with lots of deep breaths of course, the more I learn about who I really am. It's often the times when I think that I don't have time for nothing that are the times when I need nothing the most.
When I allow it, I am...
more focused and clear,
more productive and get more done,
find solutions for things that have be bothering me.
I have experienced this time and again and want those of you who crave stillness yet struggle with giving it to yourself an opportunity to try doing nothing in a different way.
People who've done these sessions with me have said...
"It felt SO good to give myself permission to do nothing."
"I got so much clarity around an issue that had been frustrating me for weeks...all by doing nothing!"
In order to support people who crave more clarity, awareness, effective and efficient focus, I've come up with... "Supported Stillness" Sessions!
"Supported Stillness" - a session includes setting up an appointment, connecting for a few minutes over the phone, hanging up and doing nothing, being still for 10 minutes and then we'll reconnect for a 30 minute coaching call so I can help you with anything that came up - resistance, monkey mind going crazy with things you "should" be doing rather than sitting still, emotions, help with next steps, etc.
Sound like something you want/need? What are you waiting for?