BY SHEENA BLAKE
Are you a patient person? Or, are you constantly rushing around? Today’s article is about how to recognize when your mind is too full and what steps can be taken to slow down. Many of us have a large amount of things that need to be done on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, so it is important to know ourselves enough to realize when we are getting out of control.
In my post secondary years and after having children…and…and…and…ok for pretty much the majority of my life, I was a ‘spin out of control’ type person. I would have road rage, yell at pretty much anyone, take out my frustrations on those closest to me; I blamed everyone else for things going wrong or not going according to schedule. I would spin so fast that the things would get done, but after some bridges were burnt and some feelings were hurt.
I needed something to slow me down enough to see how unuseful and counter- productive my behaviour was. I didn’t have one giant, momentous event that took place to show me to change. I was made aware through several observations of my elders. They would tell me that I was spinning out of control and not making situations better. In fact, the most dreaded, but most helpful statement ever made about my behaviour was “if you are not part of the solution than you are part of the problem”. The first time I took this statement to heart, I felt ashamed of myself. All of these years, I was part of the problem? Was I the reason that deal didn’t go through or that relationship ended? Not necessarily, but it was time for me to really consciously look at my behaviour and the things I was thinking about how I would complete an assignment.
These days, when I feel myself spinning, talking fast and doing everything half heartedly to ensure that I complete the next task, I have to slow myself right down. Aina-Nia Ayo-Dele teaches that we must slow down to speed up. This teaching is a tenet of self control and mindfulness that I find so very useful to healing the “spinning out of control” illness.
Of course, there are a great number of tools that we read and hear about all the time; like writing lists, staying organized, delegating work and prioritizing. These are all completely helpful tips to ceasing the rush. We need to take a deeper look at ourselves. We must first determine if we are spinners. Then, we must decide that we want to stop spinning. After that, we have to dig a little deeper to find out if we are willing to be part of the solution and part of the slowing down process. The spinning is nauseating; why don’t you sit this one out?
