For the past three months, I have experienced living at warp speed. For a variety of causes - family, work, gardening, and company, my treadmill has been on 4.0 mph, only occasionally slowing to 3.6. mph.
Now that I have a few minutes to take a deep breath, I am curious about the impact on leaders who are in constant motion, attending the urgent and setting aside the necessary.
Recently I have been educating managers and leaders, and I make a point to ask, “How much of your day are you able to dedicate to just being quiet and thinking?” After the blank stares fade, I assure them this is a serious question.
So I decided to take a shot at unpacking the consequences of constant motion and will start with my experiences of the past three months.
It all started innocently enough when my husband and I agreed to take care of a friend’s dog (in Alaska) while they jetted off to Scotland and Portugal for a family vacation. It was a grand idea as it allowed us to return to Alaska, where we once lived, and my husband was able to take a fishing trip with his son Chris, a longing of many years.
As it turned out, after our friend’s had asked us to care for their well-behaved canine, they adopted another canine, a little less well-behaved, and needy. Our friend Art decided to join the fishing expedition (let me just go on record to say that Art was the most well-behaved, be it canine or human).
As you are reading this, I can see some of you thinking I have nothing to complain about as I did this to myself. Fair enough!
Let me just add to the mix that our friend’s kitchen was under remodeling, and we all found creative ways to cook with a toaster oven and microwave. You might be impressed.
And oh, did I mention that Chris’s partner Morgan visited along with our beautiful granddaughter Usche (and new puppy with big paws).
It was chaotic, fun, crowded, noisy, and busy. Attending to animals, family, friends, and the remodel left little time to “just be.”
We left Alaska and jetted to San Jose for my mother-in-law’s memorial and then returned to LA a few weeks later to honor the passing of our sister-in-law. In between we entertained a visit from middle son Mike and family – eight and ten-year-old energy – energizing and exhausting.
And then just to make things a bit more hectic, my husband had double knee replacement surgery, thus contributing to my role as both master and mistress of our household.
Throughout all of this movement, the one anchor and the nonnegotiable gift I give to myself is a mindfulness practice. In Time magazine's special edition on Mindfulness, [t]hey define that mindfulness is about putting down our juggling balls for a little bit. It is about embracing the beauty of monotasking (p.10). Our bodies are designed to be energetic, active, and efficient AND then recover. During this tumultuous period, I intentionally carved out moments to recover, sometimes less time than I desired. It’s not time; it’s practice and consistency that will improve the ability to detach and accept.
Author Mary Elizabeth Williams in her article Why Every Mind Needs Mindfulness posits an interesting notion – Many of us, myself included {author}, persistently wear our overstimulation as a badge of honor.
I’ll leave you to sit, mindfully, with that thought. Namaste.
