Leadership Notes -- Thoughts on Leading People and Making a Difference in Organizations
Word count this issue: 510
Estimated reading time: 3.0 minutes
Good morning from a grey Vancouver. The snowdrops are coming out of the ground, so spring is coming, rest assured.
Last week i was moving a small piece of furniture to make room for my morning yoga practice and heard a small pop in my back. Thus began 4 days of forced quiet. I couldn’t write because I couldn’t sit up, I couldn’t find a comfortable way to lie down to read. The stabbing pain in my lower back precluded concentration. Netflix movies were about all I could handle.
I have learned over the years that our bodies will tell us what we need. We may not listen to them, but they eventually will tell us. I liken it to a parent saying no repeatedly to a child, increasing their volume a little bit as the child continues to behave inappropriately, until the parent uses the voice that the child knows is ‘the voice’, and they stop their behaviour. The ‘pop’ in my back was ‘the voice’ telling me now, it is time to stop, I need to rest.
We fall into these non-stop behaviours largely unconsciously I think, but they are dangerous. There is an old rabbinic adage that says ‘a person who does not have a single hour to themselves each day is a slave.’ I find myself working, working, working, and telling myself that it is good. It is good in moderation; I need to house, feed and clothe myself. I might even be able to put away a little for a rainy day, make a contribution to my community and have some fun with friends and family. But if all my waking hours are about work, if all I do is work, then I become a ‘slave.’
Our bodies seem not only to know, but to be able to tell us, slow down, rest, stop. And if we don’t they will stop us.
Three small ways of slowing down:
- Go for a walk at lunch time, and if you go with others, don’t talk about work
- Take a weekly art/dance/drama/yoga class; something that gets you out of your comfort zone
- Have a weekly games/family/story/book evening with friends or family. Notice I did not say movie night, this evening should be about connecting with family/friends, and not sitting passively in front of a screen.
Finally, I have always loved the late Stephen Covey’s word play with the word recreation. Say it aloud by making the first syllable a longer ‘e’, rhyming with ‘see’, and then do the same with the second syllable, again rhyming with ‘see’. The word becomes re-creation. By taking time to rest, to be with ourselves and with family and friends we move from being human doings, to human beings and thus the amazing creative beings we all are.
May this week be one where we start to find some time for ourselves.