Rush and Stress to Make Something Happen?

These last two days I have been caught up in a RUSH.

In the morning, trying to work on something and my head is filled with stress, spinning fast, being tangled up with "not-knowing-what-to-do-ness", feeling stuck and at the same time agitated, wanting to finally move forward.

"I want to get to the end of this" was my experience every time I sat to work on something. Also with a spice of "I am wasting time" and "I won´t have time for anything else".

Rushed, with an unclear-heated head, no good work came out of that, no good quality time with those I love came out of that, no presence, no leisure, no good sleep. It was just a busy mind and frustration of not moving forward. Relate?

But, I realized something. All I was perceiving was that what I was doing at that moment was not enough, was too slow or not productive enough. I thought my feeling of rush made sense, that I needed to be in a fast pace, pushing myself to move forward, otherwise I would be left with nothing done for the day; or worse, feeling guilty for not doing anything, which would dump on the quality of my presence with others.

Then...and insight came to me.

It´s Inside → Out

" What if this rushed feeling is not telling me that I need to go fast, that otherwise something bad will happen? What if it is not coming from the outside, from how much work I have done or how productive I was?

What if this feeling is coming from the inside, it is just a byproduct of my rushed state of mind: rushed thoughts that create rushed feelings? "

Of course. Of course it is. Our experience is created 100% from the inside out. We are 100% of the time feeling our states of mind, with all the different kinds of perception and thoughts we have at each moment.

My rushed feeling is not telling me to work harder or faster, it just look like that. It´s not Truth. My rushed feelings and urges are just telling me my mind is sped up. That´s all, a simple and innocent misunderstanding.

I know you felt like this at some point in your life, heck, probably even at many points today! I know that when we feel that rush, that stress, that urge to get to the end of something quickly, it looks really real to us that our feelings are telling us a message:

GO.GO.GO! GET TO THE END OF IT! DO IT, otherwise...

I know that the first instinct is to get out of our current experience and get out there to do something else. It´s as if the more we stay where we are, the more rushed, frustrated and guilty we will get:

So, of course we try to do something to make us feel better, we try to get it more done or turn that will power UP, or simply try to end that thing we are experiencing as soon as possible so we can finally relax in peace:

However, luckily that´s not how it actually works. No matter where we are or what we are doing, we can feel rushed and stressed. Likewise, no matter where we are or what we do, we can feel relaxed and in peace. Because your current place has nothing to do with how you feel, only your perception and state of mind can influence your feelings at any moment.

Wherever you go, you take your mind with you:

This simply means that very often we look at the wrong place in an attempt to feel better. Changing your world won´t make you feel any better, no matter how much it looks that way.

No matter what we do, we will have different experiences, not because of the circumstances being different, but based on our different states of mind. And whenever we are rushed, urged and stressed, that means absolutely nothing about the future or how productive we are.

When we start seeing that our entire experience of reality is being created inside of us, we can let go of control and allow our perceptions, feelings and thoughts to do what they have always naturally done since the beginning of time → Change organically by itself.

More Space for Better Ideas

Tried to think yourself through a problem just to see your head from the verge of exploding? Yep, me too.

The thing is that, it just…doesn’t work. When stressed, our performance plummets, we can´t think clearly or be in that flow where we do something well and in a good pace without “getting in front of ourselves”. That’s just good to know.

What we need is not more intense same-old-thinking, but fresh, new, insightful thinking. But here’s the thing, insights are only available when there’s space in our minds for them to shine through. A busy mind is not insightful, not intelligent.

So, as best as you can, next time you find yourself rushed and hitting your keyboard (to not say another person) out of frustration, step back, slow down, maybe go for a walk. After some moment, take another fresh look at that problem and ask yourself:

What is another way of doing this that I haven’t thought yet?

There´s a great quote from the legendary basketball player John Wooden:

“Be fast, but don´t hurry”

If all hurry is our innocent hyped up, sped up, caught up state of mind. When we really see it for what it is we naturally slow down, breathe and have a better perspective on what we are doing.

Slow down and get more done. Let go of all those expectations of how much “better” your circumstances “should” be. Be here, now. And continue with the good work.

Much love, Felipe.

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For a more in-depth, personal understanding and transformation of what I wrote in this article, contact me for a Coaching Conversation. No strings attached, just me and you exploring this together.

If you like this, you may like this book: Slowing Down to the Speed of Life: How to Create a More Peaceful, Simpler Life from the Inside Out