I’ve been thinking lately about stillness and just being. We are living in a world of instant gratification. A world where everything is much faster than it was 100 years ago. The amount of stimuli around us is continual. Without being aware, we can become addicted to movement and afraid of stillness.
When you have a moment to sit down from fixing your child’s scraped knee, sweeping the cheerios off the kitchen floor, or folding the pile of laundry that’s been sitting all week on the couch, what do you do?
---γ Do you pull out your phone? or Do you welcome the moment of rest that has come? Lean back in your chair, close your eyes and just be for a moment.
When you get to your appointment and need to sit and wait in the waiting room, what do you do?
---γ Do you pull out your phone? or Do you look around, notice the bouquet of fake flowers that’s been sitting in the corner for years, smile at the other person waiting with you?
When you are waiting for your next client to show up at your shop, what do you do?
---γ Do you pull out your phone? or Do you stop and look out the window, take some deep cleansing breathes, pause and just be while you wait?
When there is a moment of silence in a conversation or the other person leaves for a minute, what do you do?
---γ Do you pull out your phone? or Do you turn your focus outward, gazing out the window, taking note of the décor in the room, or just sit and be?
When you are standing in line at the grocery store, what do you do?
---γ Do you pull out your phone? or Do you simply wait, slowly observing what is around you.
In a world of stimuli, our nervous systems are on overdrive. Numbing and running, distracting and pushing, rushing and complaining. A dysregulated nervous system becomes addicted to movement and afraid of stillness. It seems unsafe to just be. When healing, oftentimes we need to slowly show our nervous systems its ok to just be. Its ok to sit quietly. Our worth isn’t measured by our amount of going and doing.
It is safe to rest. It is safe to just be. It is safe to move slow. It is safe to be bored.
What do you do in the gaps?
β‘,
Hp
