This month in my group program Slowing Down to the Speed of Grace, we have been exploring the hypothesis that who we THINK we are may not be who we really are.
I have been taking a close look at when I rely on inner wisdom and when I take the reins back and do it my own way!
I always seem to know this after the fact because
taking time to listen to inner wisdom = flow
doing it Susan’s way = stuck!!
I even notice it in conversations with clients. If I am thinking about coaching techniques and which clever question to ask next, the session can feel heavy and stilted.
But if I drop everything Susan THINKS she knows and just be present with my clients, with no agenda, no sense of trying to direct the session, then words arise and a dance seems to happen between us that is so far beyond anything I could have orchestrated. (If you are a client reading this, do you notice this?)
It has been starting to dawn on me that perhaps the thinking mind is not actually needed, or at least not as the primary tool.
Eckhart Tolle said
Your mind is an instrument, a tool. It is there to be used for a specific task, and when the task is completed, you lay it down. As it is, I would say about 80 to 90 percent of most people’s thinking is not only repetitive and useless, but because of its dysfunctional and often negative nature, much of it is also harmful. Observe your mind and you will find this to be true. It causes a serious leakage of vital energy.
Could this be so? Can we use the thinking mind to remember how to make spaghetti Bolognese for example, but lay it aside to feel into, to intuit what to do or say next?
In my morning pages today this little poem appeared
Surrender the steel-trap mind
Become empty
Spacious
The witness
Life is living you
Love is breathing you
Mystery is moving you
Notice
No need to steer the ship
Lie back on the deck
And watch the sky!
What do you think? Ha!! 😄
Do you notice a flow state when you switch off the thinking mind and rely on inner wisdom?
When is the thinking mind useful and when is it best laid aside?
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Absolutely wonderful. I am loving the choosing to be a certain way and I also love your poem and the Tolle quote, especially the last sentence is brilliant.
I like the idea of seeing where I am most in flow state and that is the essential and true me.
I love the silent prayer because then I am empty and then my pitcher is ready to be filled with Gods essence - it’s almost like the more empty I am the more true me I am. Not sure if this makes sense.
Love your work Susan 💖💖
“The more empty I am the more true me I am”
Yes - that is it exactly!!
I love the last sentence of the Tolle quote too because that is how I recovered from my burnout!!
Ah, yes thinking is overrated. I am starting to think less and less and I am becoming happier.
For me thinking is judgment, expectation, and outcome driven.
I like the idea of sitting back and watching the sky. This new way of seeing life seems to make room for the freedom to play. I am no longer trying to escape anything- not even my body. Radical acceptance to what is - is actually salvation. So blessed to receive your beautiful insights Susan.
Much love,