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Today I am excited to share my secret to avoiding burnout. After reaching rock bottom multiple times in my life I have come to an integral understanding about the creative process that has helped me to restore balance and harmony in my life... and it is time to pass this wisdom on!
Although I am not planning on getting into the nature of our feminine cycles today. It is important that I start with the pretense that we have a cyclic nature as women that ebbs and a flows.
A time when our energy is more outward and expressive.
A time when we are more inwardly drawn.
Sadly, our societal conditioning has undermined our ability to live in tune with this rhythm.
Instead we turn the lights on when the day comes to an end so that we don't have to stop when it gets dark.
Our responsibilities as mothers, carers, workers, business owners expect us to show up every day, 100%, despite the changing energy of the seasons, and our own waxing and waning menstrual cycles.
We are celebrated for our ability to multi-task and therefore aim to be juggling as much as we can, so much so that we feel guilty when we are not busy!
This neglect of our inner cycles and ability to yield in the times where our energy is waning has been a cause of complex patterns of burn out for us all.
Although the cause of burnout may be different, the effects have similar impact on our lives.
Physical Signs of Burnout
Feeling tired and drained most of the time.
Lowered immunity, frequent illnesses.
Frequent headaches or muscle pain.
Change in appetite or sleep habits.
Emotional Signs of Burnout
Sense of failure and self-doubt.
Feeling helpless, trapped, and defeated.
Detachment, feeling alone in the world.
Loss of motivation.
Increasingly cynical and negative outlook.
Decreased satisfaction and sense of accomplishment.
Behavioural Signs of Burnout
Withdrawing from responsibilities.
Isolating yourself from others.
Procrastinating, taking longer to get things done.
Using food, drugs, or alcohol to cope.
Taking out your frustrations on others.
Skipping work or coming in late and leaving early.
Burnout is a sign that our being is in resistance to the way we are living. The key to restoring balance is attuning and aligning with our cyclic nature.
Our cyclic energy is constantly fluctuating and the journey of restoring harmony is not about avoiding the highs and lows, it is about harnessing them to our advantage.
Now it may sound counter intuitive to slow down when we are trying to get things done. However, when we understand the creative cycle and how to harness it, we discover that there are particular times when it is best to 'get things done' and times to let go and rest.
When we fight this rhythm we find that despite our best efforts, it doesn't matter how much energy we give to what we are doing, we simply not in our flow. Things takes longer, we meet more hurdles, obstacles and frustrations both within ourselves and our environment.
FINDING WHOLNESS THROUGH The Creative Process
The creative process that I have come to embody has been inspired by the concept of Dragon Dreaming which was first introduced to me by a permaculture specialist called 'Sven from Sweden'. Say that 10 times... haha
Conceptually it is very simple and I have adapted it to include feminine embodiment principals.
There are four phases to everything we do.
Dreaming
Planning
Doing / Actioning
Letting Go / Celebrating
As simple as it sounds, it is helpful to understand how we are affected by any one of the phases being out of balance. When a phase activates a state of hyper or hypo arousal it can be the direct cause of burnout. Inevitably, when we embody each phase with awareness, it contributes to a sense of wholeness and fulfilment.
Understanding how we move between these phases can help us to recognise patterns of burnout and imbalance and in turn give us direction for where to focus our energy in order to restore harmony.
In this video I discuss each of the different phases offering;
examples of how each phase looks and feels when in harmony.
examples of how each phase affects us in hyper arousal.
examples of how each phase affects us in hypo arousal.
what actions we can take to avoid burnout all together.
The conversation was recorded LIVE during one of our Sacred Sunday sessions in my private Facebook group. It is about an hour long. So plug your headphones in and get comfortable.
You don't have to watch, you may prefer to put your device to the side and simply listen.
And as always, I welcome your thoughts and insights. We all have a different relationship with burnout and your wisdom will be a source of inspiration for us all, so go ahead and leave a comment. If you haven't already, subscribe to my Youtube channel so you can be the first to join me for soulful conversations and embodiment explorations.
For now, enjoy this heart felt exploration...
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