Hello, I hope you’ve had a great summer and a chance for some downtime. I’ve had a busy period with the end of my Psychology Masters – more from that to come. But I’ve also been grateful to have some time to do nothing, a chance to reflect on the last couple of years, and to feel into what comes next.
I’m working on some new offerings and a new direction for the blog which I’m really excited about sharing over the coming months.
But for now I just wanted to share a small but potent experiment with you, courtesy of internationally renowned transformative coach Michael Neill.
The idea of a vacation or holiday has been on my mind, and I can feel how important it is to take the time to stop after any busy period or project, and to intentionally pause, before moving on to any new chapters or adventures.
Which got me thinking about the opportunity we have to take a holiday from anything that doesn’t feel good to us as well. Michael Neill so helpfully points out that we can go on holiday from our thoughts, and I’ve specifically been thinking about worry.
Worrying is a habit that so many of us fall into, especially during a transition or times of uncertainty. It’s a really natural human tendency, but it also takes up a lot of time and energy that we could be putting into other things.
We tend to believe at some level that worrying will help us; that it will protect us in some way. So we need to keep working hard to prevent certain things or to stay vigilant for potential disappointments and ways we could suffer or get hurt.
But what if we could stop worrying? What would happen then?
There’s no doubt that the worry thoughts will always come. It’s just the way we’re wired. But we get the chance to decide whether we’re going to give life to those thoughts, and whether we’re going to put energy into them. Or whether we dismiss them and choose to focus on something that makes us feel good instead.
We often worry (there we go again!) that if we don’t pay attention to our worry thoughts that something could really catch us off guard. That we might be ill prepared for something sneaking up and harming us. We somehow think that thinking it all through in a forced way will bring us solutions. But usually it just brings a lot of stress, which leads us to a state where we can’t think creatively at all.
When we can allow our less helpful thinking to settle, without paying it too much attention, or worrying about what it all means, we make room for our inner wisdom to speak to us. This will still come through in the form of thought, but it will feel helpful, obvious and peaceful – more like a knowing.
If there is something we truly need to do to protect ourselves we will hear that information. But it will come from a place of calm, and not from a place of a busy and frazzled mind.
So I invite you to join me on a worry holiday for the next week, and to see what happens. I’d love to hear what you experience.
For sure you’ll still get caught up in worry thoughts – whether it takes the form of personal insecurities, worries about your relationship, fears about the future, health, money or career. But each time you notice this happen you can just gently guide yourself back to something that feels more nourishing, and remind yourself that you’re on holiday.
What lies beyond is often the kind of relaxation, peace and joy that we might normally only experience whilst on vacation. But who wouldn’t want more of that in the everyday?
So here’s to one more summer holiday, which has the potential to turn into a way of life… 🙂
With love,
Kelly x