On Slowing Down

It’s been difficult to sit in stillness while the world around me is spinning in chaos. I do my best to avoid watching the news and still it seems like everywhere I look there is tension and conflict.

And it’s so easy to get swept up in it. How can we go with the flow when the flow is dysregulated? When everyone you’re interacting with seems like they have a hairline trigger, reacting in defensiveness because their nervous system is in fight or flight?

I keep looking around trying to sense if anyone recognizes how absolutely unsustainable this is. And wondering if others just don’t see it, are too afraid to buck against the majority and do things differently, or just don’t know how?

I’ve recently found myself drawn back to studying the Gene Keys. To really studying them this time instead of skimming my “prosperity” keys to see if I could hack my way into instant wealth and success like I did when I started my business a few years ago.

And the gift of one of my keys has everything to do with slowing down and moving with the slow, steady rhythm of the Earth’s heartbeat. And then it hit me. Could the cause of our current reality boil down to moving too fast, and all we need to do is slow down?

We are biological beings. Our bodies are designed to have natural rhythms, and those natural rhythms are designed to work in harmony with the natural rhythms of our planet. But we’ve been conditioned to ignore what’s natural and prioritize speed.

I see this happening everywhere. Projects are kicking off at work where no one can seem to articulate the goal, but have a hard deadline they’re tracking to. If I had a dollar for every time I’ve had to start a sentence with “help me understand” I could retire early.

I’m doing my best to be compliant on the outside, but in reality I recognize the projects that will fail because the rhythm is wrong. The timing is wrong. And yet we’re being told that we have to move even faster. As if speed is the only KPI that’s been defined.

Even though I’m aware of it, I’m still guilty of getting stuck in a state of defensiveness and reactivity. And it’s ugly. And while I haven’t learned how to avoid it entirely, I have at least figured out how to manage it.

As often as I can, I retreat to a quiet room to listen to the Earth’s heartbeat, also known as the Schumann Resonance, to bring my nervous system back into harmony

And often the question I contemplate while I’m listening to it is “why am I here?” or perhaps more accurately, “why has my path led me here?”. I’ve been talking for a while now about my quest to find purpose in corporate, but I realized maybe I’m already in it.

We often look at purpose as something to be achieved. Something far out in the future that we have to work towards. That is somehow tangible or definable or can be witnessed by the people around us. Something we’ll be remembered for.

But I don’t want to be remembered for a what. I want to be remembered for the how. I’ve accepted that my work has little to do with what I achieve, as long as I’m achieving enough to stay employed so that I can continue to bring my presence to the space.

My real work is to use my presence to influence the flow. To give others permission to listen to their bodies, to take a breath, to slow down, to have the courage to ask questions or try new things. To experiment. To, dare I say, play.

Yes, it’s aspirational and most days seems out of reach. And I know it’s not something that could ever be measured on a performance review. But being told I’m a “unicorn of a boss” after explaining that I don’t measure work hours, I measure impact, or hearing, “I would have not been able to do this if it was anyone else leading this project.” are the moments I’m using to measuring my success.

You don’t have to wait for your circumstances change to live your purpose. Your purpose is you. People will remember you for how you move through the world.