Curing Restlessness

I've been feeling a little bit restless lately.

All summer long I've been kept very busy with constant weddings, anniversaries, birthdays and the like, and about two weeks ago all of that suddenly stopped. Not that I have nothing to do, far from it, it's just that the pace of everything changed dramatically and changing gears hasn't gone as smoothly as I had hoped. Last week I cleaned pretty much my entire appartment, and my car, and then met with my cousin to watch movies over the long weekend... actually, that was only on one day!

And the worse was that the entire time I was feeling very restless... like there's something that needs to be done and I'm not doing it right now.

I'd go over my list of things I wrote down that I wanted to do, and seeing everyting on there, I didn't know where to start. I'll tell ya, going back and forth and not getting anything done for two hours is not very productive!

I did finally start cleaning though. And today, I woke up and again felt restless because there was so much I wanted to get done and didn't know where to start. So here's what I did.

First, I took the time to breathe. I started by breathing very quickly through my nose for about 30 seconds, to raise my energy and wake me up (I do that every morning) and then I inhaled deeply and blew all the air out of my lungs. I took another three or four deep inhales and exhales until I felt myself filled with oxygen. Then I just felt my body and concentrated on breathing deeply and letting go of as much tension and stress as I could. I relaxed my body and mind as much as possible.

Aaaahhh, yes. Much better.

And from that state of relaxation, from that calm and clear mind, inspiration comes. This morning, it told me to go for a walk. That may sound like a waste of time when there is so much to do, but trying to get things done when you are out of sorts-flustered-restless is a perfect recipe for screwing things up. Or hurting yourself. Or getting into debt.

So I went for a walk.

I went to a second-hand bookstore, looking for some books I wanted to buy for a while (so I guess it was kind-of on my list). I didn't find them. Once again, that feeling of restlessness surfaced, along with thoughts about being in a hurry and to stop wasting my time. I was even about to buy one of the books I had picked up. I wasn't really going to read it, it would have been just an impulse buy because I had the cash in my wallet and I could have told myself that my walk wasn't a waste of time because I brought back a book. I caught myself, and started to breathe deeply once again. I asked myself, "do I really need this book right now, or can it wait?". Something inside of me told to just take another deep, relaxing breath. I did. Then I knew that I didn't need the book just now.

The voice of impatience started talking again. If you're not going to buy anything, then let's go. This is a waste of time. That's what it said. So I took another deep breath and relaxed into my body even more.

Everything is fine, I am here for a reason. Even if it is only to learn to be more present and relaxed, and comfortable just taking everything in... without needing to take anything home.

However, as I continued to browse and breathe, feeling better and better, I found a rare two volume set of hardcover health and fitness books from the 1920's. Called MacFadden's Encyclopedia of Physical Culture, and originally written by physical culture pioneer Bernarr MacFadden in 1911, these beautiful hardcover editions are something that I would never have ever imagined finding in that store. I love collecting these types of old and rare mind and body power gems, so this was a fantastic find.

You see, you never know what you will find, or what experiences you will have, so always follow you gut (intuition). And that is my only advice for you on this topic. Actually, it could be my only advice on any topic. You are feeling restless for a reason. Listen to your intuition and you will find yourself exactly where you need to be. And to listen to that inner prompting, you must learn to relax, to release or dissolve all tension in your body and mind, so that the inspiration can flow freely into your awareness.

That's it. Practice that for the rest of your life and you will be happy.

That's my plan.

I know some of you might want a few more "practical" suggestions to help you be on your way when you feel restlessness, so here's the first "trick" you can use (I do):

Make a list. That helps because you don't have to try to remember everything now. Just look at your list.

You might then reply, "yeah, but you said that you were looking at your list and not knowing where to start, so how does that help?". Very true. So here is the second tip:

Prioritize. What do you want to get done right now, and what can wait? What will make you feel better once it's done? All of it you say? C'mon now, be honest with yourself.

OK. So now you have a list and you've prioritized what's on there. Now what? Here's technique number three:

Do it. I know may sound too simple, but if you just go with your number 1 on the list and start doing it, it will get done. Duh!

There is however, another very important step here, and it is this:

Think of nothing but what you are doing until it is done. That's what what making me feel restless even when I was doing something. I kept letting my mind think about all the other things on the list and then I'd jump from doing one thing for a bit, then another, then another, then back to the first... and meanwhile not getting anything done. Once you've picked your task or activity, do it until it's done. Then, cross it off your list (or put a checkmark beside it) and go on to the next task.

Yes, there are ways to "multi-task" and get more than one thing done at a time, like the laundry and working out, but that's only when one thing can be set to run on automatic. Anything that needs you to be there, needs you to be there fully. Yes, once we know a route like the back of our hands we can drive and listen to a self-help CD or MP3, or talk with someone, but only because the unconscious part of our mind puts our driving on auto-pilot. We still need to be aware enough to handle anything unexpected that comes up. And when that happens, all of your attention returns to the driving, or you could die. That's an extreme example, but the point here is that whatever you are doing, do it with your full attention, always. Be fully awake and aware at all times (yes, it's even possible to be fully awake and aware while your body is sleeping at night...but that's for another time...hehe).

There you have it, how to cure resltessness. And the answer is:

Relax completely and follow your intuition.

Try that and see what happens.

CHB

Copyright © Charles Begin