Do this now!
a practice of support when you’re pulled into stories of “urgency”
Given our current world, it’s easy to get pulled into energies of urgency, with endless people and algorithms tugging for your attention or your own inner-reeling telling you to do more now.
Yet, there’s a difference between addressing needs and spinning in urgency.
When we’re grounded in our own energy, we can respond to the needs around us without losing ourselves. We can care for others while also taking care of ourselves.
Here’s a simple practice for moments when you feel yourself drifting into other people’s stories of urgency:
Recognize the moment and its story (e.g., someone’s insistent, you hear enticements, or feel tugs of momentum). See it and name it.
Pause (perhaps say: “hmm, hello”) and be with what’s happening. Don’t try to change it. Feel what’s present.
Sense the space between you and the “urgency.” If this feels hard, try locating a thread of yourself and slowly unwind out of the aspects of energy that are not your own.
Locate yourself in your own energy and root here. Feel this stabilize you and connect you below the soils (you might visualize vast networks of trees).
Find the rhythm of your breath and respond to whatever needs your attention from this grounded, connected-as-you place.
*
Love, Melissa
Related (story re-frame) post: How was your day?
Note: One of the primary ways humans are pulled into stories of urgency is through television, radio, news, social media, etc. It’s important to take great care in these spaces.
Additional Resources:
Stolen Focus by Johann Hari
Here and Now by Julia Denos, illustrated by E.B. Goodale
The Slowdown with Maggie Smith
Button Snail Hum is a pollination project of Noticing Matters.
Learn more and connect with me: melissaabutler.com | melissa@melissaabutler.com
