Ever had a run of weeks where you barely feel able to breathe? When every moment you are just treading water. As you tick one task of the list, another 3 appear. A period when your fridge, septic system, washing machine and hot water system fail. We have just come out the other end of one of those hectically exhausting periods.

When stuck in times like these, life can feel unfair … you feel like a victim of circumstances beyond your control. The days seem to roll by like a huge ocean swell with no end in sight to the peaks and troughs and turbulance. We all know these times I am describing.

I have just allowed myself a moment to reflect … my first moments of reflection since returning home from the US 3 weeks ago. And so I revist my blog where life’s lessons are offered for all.

Here’s the irony of my learning …

I spent 2 weeks in the US and 4 days of that at the Applied Improvisation Network conference. One of the lessons from the conference is the important skill of ‘noticing more’. Rather than focusing on creating change, let go of control and just be present … notice. Don’t just take a glimpse at what’s going on around you, really notice. As you read this post, what can you hear in the background? Are you breathing? How’s your posture in the chair?

By the end of the AIN conference, I felt completely present and aware and like I said in a previous post, I felt nourished.

Upon returning home to essential services that had broken, 3 young boys and an exhausted wife, my attention to the present moment had been overrun by recent failures and future deadlines. The story we were telling ourselves read like a drama of disaster and despair. Add to this picture, a hideously infected root canal that spread to my sinus’ … this added another barrier to my perception of what was going on.

Question to self … ‘When life starts to feel chaotic, who do I need to be?’

Suggestion to self … “Notice more and care for those around you. Don’t try too hard to do it all today, let go, breathe and create spaces like this for reflection … and … don’t abandon writing and blogging!

Cheers, Geoff 🙂