I am not sure who really thought it was a good idea to work as hard as we do and be as frustrated as we are. If this pandemic has pointed out to so many of us, the way in which we approach our professional lives is not a good long term strategy. We are feeling the continued effects of exhaustion which has now been compounded by Zoom exhaustion and fear for the future.
What went wrong? Well, we have been on the path of working with our masculine energy for a long time. This is the energy assertive, direct, and action-focused. It is the energy we associate with being successful. Yet, as things continue to come undone or we begin to awaken to the realities that so many of our structures are not meant to be taken into the future, we cannot use this same energy to create change.
We are exhausted because, rather than allowing the wisdom of our higher selves to guide us, we continue to live and believe that we can go back to the way things were.
Many of us are unfamiliar with our feminine energy. This is the nurturing, creative and receptive energy that gives birth to the new. Unfortunately, we do not value this energy in North America and are thus not trained to use it very well. Feminine energy incubates and waits for the right timing to give birth to something new. The key to her success is in relaxing the mind and the body.
When was the last time you truly relaxed without an electronic device? Psychological research has looked at some of the mental states that bring us happiness. Flow, or the process of getting lost in an activity, is a key ingredient to the happiness equation. Unfortunately, few of us have experienced such a state on a regular basis and equate relaxation with watching television or sitting on the couch resting. According to research, this will not lead to happiness.
In his book, Finding Flow, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi states, “The best moments (in our life) usually occur if a person’s body or mind is stretched to its limits in a voluntary effort to accomplish something difficult and worthwhile.”
When we are too mentally exhausted and our bodies have been bathed in fear for too long, we are unable to see the world through curiosity and engagement. It is in this moment we become the most inefficient — we often find ourselves having trouble concentrating, repeating things over and over again, and are most susceptible to our emotions taking over and distracting us from what it is that we truly want to accomplish. When we are in this state, we try to push through it with direct energy rather than surrendering to the need to find a deeper way to rest and restore. For when we are in this state, flow naturally occurs, problems can be solved and projects completed with ease.
“You must let life flow naturally, for life’s secret is patience; you must stop pushing for change and allow things to unfold.” — Leon Brown
So if you feel like things are just not moving forward, take a step back and find true rest and restoration. We are heading into another mercury retrograde cycle which calls for us to slow down and finish old projects. Perhaps this time, we can remind ourselves that we can work efficiently and with less effort to meet our goals if it is something we truly love.
That is the gift of this pandemic — it is reminding us that life is moving forward with or without us and we need to take inventory of what can go with us in the future. Working to exhaustion on goals that do not resonate with our personal values or our soul purpose must now go.
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Previously Published on Medium
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