Know How to Stop...

Not many people know how to stop.

Geared as we are to succeed, to achieve, to become accomplished, our minds have been conditioned to think that unless we are attempting, doing, being, actively engaged in our pursuits, that we are not doing ourselves justice.

Diligent practice is vital. 

However, no matter what we do, how much we love it, or even how good we are at it, we need a mental physical and emotional break from the involvement. Otherwise we burn out.

We all know the value of persistence. But that can be a double-edged sword, and can undo the benefits of what we’re trying to achieve.

How is this?

In the last hundred years, the advent of electricity, artificial light, technology, rapid communications, while being hailed as timesavers, have encroached on our time and our personal lives in a way we never could have imagined.

We have forgotten how to stop.

We have allowed ourselves to stumble headlong into lives of speed, urgency, and frenzy. The urgency and the speed take a mighty toll on our nervous systems. They distract and disjoint our minds and our thought patterns. Our nervous systems have become confused and agitated. We have become subject to the imperative to do, do, do, to get, get, get, to achieve, achieve, achieve! The pace is relentless.

Like the car that runs down without servicing, the athlete who stumbles and staggers from overtraining, or the artist who comes to a halt because there’s no more left in the well, we become tired, fatigued, drained.

We end up running on empty.

We need to learn how to stop
We need to learn how to still the mind.
We need to learn how to calm and quiet our emotions.
We need, we really do need, to learn how to stop.

Learning how to stop, rest and recuperate, is what prevents us from quitting.

Read that again. And then start thinking about this simple but neglected fact of life that can transform you, and your life, for the better. Just do that for now...

More on this later...

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