This feeling of constant urgency was in itself a source of stress and suffering.
Oh this is so true, let me share one of my experiences of this. A way that suffering was constantly showing up for me was in a feeling throughout my days that I always needed to rush to the next thing. Walking, I had to go quickly. At home or work, I would switch constantly between tasks. I could feel the pressure building to get more and more done. Everything starting to speed up, the multitasking kicking in, auto-pilot switching on and by the end of the day I was exhausted with a taste of dissatisfaction because I didn’t get ‘everything’ done.
This feeling of constant urgency, never getting enough done was in itself a source of stress and suffering. Then to top it all off my inner voice of fear or perfectionism or control would berate me and the worry would kick in…awful isn’t it?!
So now with my self-compassion practice, when I feel the urgency and speed and multitasking kicking in the first thing I do is look up and look around taking in all that I can see. This breaks the ‘trance of urgent doing’ as I call it and brings me into the present moment.
And then I practice Conscious Breath/Conscious Body. Take a deep breath and notice how I’m feeling in my body, notice the bit of racing in my chest, the tightness in my head and my shallow breath. I notice my thinking. I place a hand on my heart and say something like ‘oh sweetie here’s that feeling of urgency again, it’s hard feeling this way and I imagine there are others right now feeling the same, let’s slow down and take another breath”. And I take a few deeper breaths.
This simple act of self-compassion, these self-soothing words have significantly reduced the daily suffering of stress and anxiety for me. And allowed me to deal with all that my day demands more calmly, more confidently and with a more friendly connection with myself. Truly transformative. Can you relate?
With great warmth Heather
