What’s with the Overwhelm?

Is it a busy time for you? Deadlines? Projects due? Meals to prepare? Family responsibilities? Kids heading back to school? Family reunions? Grain harvest to be brought in? OK. Maybe that last one is not on your list, but it is on mine. The list can go on and on and it’s so easy to feel overwhelmed!

Feeling overwhelmed is sometimes a normal reaction to very difficult circumstances, but our beliefs can often make our challenging circumstances more difficult and more painful than they need to be!

What? You mean that what I am thinking about my experience can actually make it harder? Yes, but it can also make it easier and much more enjoyable. (I like that side of the thought a lot better, don’t you?)

Depending on our thoughts, our ability to perform is either enhanced or diminished.

Overwhelm begins when we are thinking about the future and all the potential hazards and what might go wrong, things that we have very little, if any control over. Our solution is then to begin to frantically rush to get more done.  But because of the state of mind we are in, we lose effectiveness, make more mistakes, forget things, have accidents, etc.

It may seem counter-intuitive, but it is exactly in those moments that we need to take a break.

When Einstein came upon a problem he could not solve, he was known to leave what he was doing and play his violin or do something entertaining and not even think about the problem. He would then come back rejuvenated and in a frame of mind that allowed the solutions to come.

I suggest to you, when you are at the peak of overwhelm, take a break, not to mindlessly waste those minutes but to mindfully rejuvenate, whether that be to nap, to meditate, read something uplifting. Ask yourself what will get you into a more relaxed state of mind and then go do it!

Those moments of replenishment will lower your heart rate and re-invigorate you to be more effective and open to the insights and solutions you need.

I was about to wish you luck, but you don’t need luck. You need the recognition and taking action of taking those much-needed breaks.

I’m off to practice what I preach. A deadline is approaching, but I’m feeling the need to get out and move my body and let my mind be rejuvenated.

Here’s to knowing I’ll come back with renewed energy and a more expansive mind. And here’s to knowing that you will too!

Love,