I felt recently like someone had sucked every bit of knowledge and wisdom out of me… It was as if I was numb and in a different body and had lost my memory….
Are you tired and on the go constantly? Your to do list is never ending. And the thought of taking a full day off just for you is so exciting to your heart and soul but your head quickly chimes in to tell you that you’re not allowed…?
Today, I want to talk about the art of doing absolutely nothing and why I have resisted this kicking and screaming… Then, at the end of this message… I have a shameless plug about my new course, Naked Nutrition: Love Your Body, Love Your Food, that will be opening up for registration really soon and I couldn’t be more excited about that!!
Before I get to that through, I want to share with you why I have resisted doing nothing and felt like a numb shell of myself who had lost her wisdom.
Working with clients is one of my favorite parts of my career… I get to say wisdom to them that no one else would ever say while being a huge catalyst for change in their life. It gives me this unique opportunity to listen to them and relax into my body and be really present for them, for myself and for the sake of growth. It comes easy to me when I’m in flow… It’s almost like I’m doing nothing.
However, I have noticed that one of my deep rooted fears of worth comes up in other areas of my life which makes me resist slowing down to “do nothing”.
As a young child, a received messages that it is Not okay to simply do nothing.
I was a very busy little girl growing up, always working on a project, building something or moving. Then, I became an entrepreneur at 21 and worked like a dog while in college, I would collapse into the couch like a dead weight at the end of the day and wake up to do it all over again the next. If I had a day off, I didn’t know what to do with myself and I felt guilty for doing nothing.
For the past 5-6 years, there has been tremendous growth in this area of my life… I slowed down and learned to embrace that voice in my head that told me I had to be “doing” all the time… but I didn’t need to listen to it all the time.
Well, I’m having another evolution with it now… In the past 5 years, I’ve done a lot of things (birthed a baby, started another business, divorced, moved a bunch, traveled a bunch, fell in love and decided to move in together recently)… And I have seen myself find this deeper understanding and relationship with “doing nothing”.
It sure has pushed my edges and it’s made me realize a bad habit of leaving things around me as reminders to do them… I’m visual, but having all of these “little piles of reminders” was causing me stress!
What I find, is when I don’t feel wise, free, in flow and focused… It’s my body’s intuition telling me to do nothing or to declutter.
Most of my life I had been ignoring this inherent wisdom.
I have noticed that old fear coming up with resistance and loudness: “Renee, you won’t be successful if you just sit here, you are not worthy, you don’t have time to just take a walk”, etc.
Oh and by doing nothing, I don’t mean being a couch potato all day long…
Although that is sometimes fun, what I mean is that I am learning a whole other level about embracing my:
*Procrastination and listening to my intuition
*Meditation practice in newer ways
*Lounging around and reading a book time
*Random nap times
*Bubble bath time
*Healing time with herbs and oils
*Mindful eating and cooking adventures
*Tasting and senses when I’m eating and drinking
*Moments with those I love
*Listening skills and awareness practice
*Ideas around letting go and waiting
*Breathing and movements
This may seem simple for some, but if you are someone out there with a deep rooted fear around slowing down, worthiness and you feel guilty a lot and do more for others than you do for yourself, then it can be quite the task to convince yourself to just do nothing.
I had to (and I’m still evolving daily) get to the deep rooted fears of worthiness around loving myself. As my first coach told me when I hired her 15 years ago, growth is much like an onion… We are always peeling back another layer to get to the heart.
To me, it’s divine, that I am leading a movement for both men and women to love themselves naked and I’m evolving on the journey myself along with you.
I created an experience that is a group coaching course for both men and women and I’m about to launch the Beta of it. It will run this fall for select participants and then I will open it next year permanently.
Do you know why I’m most excited about this? Because I created it for me… It was exactly what I needed to do to grow. Anytime in my past, that I created something for me and shared it with others, it’s been a huge success. This happened with my 18 Day Love Yourself Naked Challenge cleanse and Winning The Sugar Game too.
So today, I want you to practice doing absolutely nothing for a bit, maybe you start with an hour or maybe for you, it’s 5 minutes or maybe it’s a whole day.
I had a call scheduled with my girlfriend, Sacha late last year and I showed up tired, emotional and stressed. She was feeling similar. We decided to hang up and not do the call 3-4 minutes in… It was in the middle of the afternoon. Instead, we decided to individually curl up with a blanket at our own homes and watch a movie my ourselves with that hour.
It was the best medicine and we needed it… sometimes you need community and sometimes you need to be alone so you can show up fully within community.
We couldn’t be on that call with enough energy for one another if we weren’t taking time to be with ourselves. It was also a powerful example of respecting each other.
It was an important love lesson.
Love,
Renee
Xo
