(originally published 10/05/00)
Two of my clients gave me a wonderful lesson this week.
One, an Alexander student, is expecting her first child, and with that, she is planning to move apartments, oversee renovations on her new home and deal with the change in her energy level as her pregnancy progresses.
The other, a coaching client, is developing her private practice in hands-on work, and balancing all the elements of her life (relationship, home environment, etc.)
As I gave each of them the same tool to use - inhibition, I saw how much it could help me in my life as well. To my pregnant student, I suggested she observe her thoughts, see the impact they had on her energy level, and learn to choose other thoughts so she could begin to inhibit some of the exhausting thoughts. To my coaching client, I suggested she take her life one hour at a time, and if need be, crawl one step at a time to help her to keep from anticipating the future and feeling overwhelmed or second-guessing her choices.
For myself, I observed how I look toward the weekend as a time to refresh, renew, put down the responsibilities of my business, and change gears. What I actually do on the weekends is: go unconscious so I am not aware of how I drive myself. This is a far cry from truly leaving the workweek and all that still is to be accomplished to wait for Monday morning. I will start using the tool I reminded my clients about on my own behalf, too. It may take a while to learn to really shift gears, and I'm highly motivated to master it.
Thanks again to all of you, who teach me lessons all the time.