Stuckness | Progress | Life Shift
Hello there! Welcome to my weekly LEAPS.
You’re receiving this email because you subscribed to my weekly Wednesday feature or our mailing list. Every Wednesday, I share 5 things using our LEAPS approach:
Learn: something new or an idea
Energy: an energy (good or bad) word and it’s meaning
Action: something to do
Processing: a question to consider
Shout out: something or someone that I want to celebrate or acknowledge
LEARN
Something Worth Sharing
Stuckness
Our world is built on ‘doing’. When we meet someone, the very first question is usually “…and what do you do?”. Think about all the times ‘doing’ shows up in your life: what you do, how you’re doing, when you do, your ‘to-do’ lists, if you’re doing as well as others, what you haven’t done…you get the idea.
When we get caught in all this ‘doing’ we tend to feel lost and in a state of ‘stuckness’. It’s often the sense of being on a treadmill, working hard but failing to make progress or feel that we’re moving forwards in a way we’d like to. No matter what we do the waves of ‘doing’ keep coming - along with what we believe is expected of us. Certainly in my life, my old answer to this would be to work harder and longer to try and out-run ‘stuckness’. This simply resulted in being ‘manic’ - which, if we’re honest, is just a chaotic and exhausted form of ‘stuckness’.
Being able to manage our energy isn’t easy. Being able to stay focused on our priorities (the REAL priorities and not screens) is equally challenging. Resisting social-comparison is tough. To get out of ‘stuckness’ and into a zone that shifts towards a balanced, genuine and fulfilling existence is something that takes commitment and effort. The reason for this, our research and experience shows, is that ‘doing’ is a natural state. When we were in caves, we each had roles to ‘do’. Life was lived through a desire to simply survive the day. That was success.
In our lives as they are in this changing and complex world, we surely don’t want to simply survive - that is ‘stuckness’. To feel fulfilled we want, and need, to develop:
ourselves, our mind, identity, who we are and well-being
our relationships and how we connect with others
our careers, creativity and achievements
our engagement with the world and the opportunities it can offer
our greater purpose
ENERGY
An emotion or energy; a stand-out word / s
Shift
This week’s theme is probably linked to being able to shift ourselves from ‘autopilot’ to being ‘deliberate’.
The word SHIFT is from Old English SCIFTAN which meant: "arrange, place, put in order", also "divide, separate, partition; distribute, allot, share". Perhaps we all need to ‘shift’ to better arrange and live our lives deliberately!
ACTION
Something small that you can do that might make a big difference
Colour Your Week
The GLAS Method consists of 5 principle elements and 2 supporting elements - each element being vital to us. The 7 elements are each represented by a colour. Your action for this week is to think about the 5 principle elements and see if you have all of them all in a positive and balanced state throughout the week - or if you’re just ‘doing’ ORANGE things. You can colour code your week to see what shows up:
YOU: Your wellbeing and health - colour PINK
RELATIONSHIPS: Time with others - colour GREEN
DOING: How you spend your time and tasks - colour ORANGE
EXTERNAL: Learning, opportunities, and community - colour BLUE
PURPOSE: Big picture, vision, spiritual and future - colour PURPLE
PROCESSING
A question to think about and consider (you can discuss this with someone or write your thoughts down)
“Where do I feel stuck and why?”
Continuing with our ‘stuckness’ theme, think about where you really feel stuck - and what may sit behind this.
I’d love for you to send me your own stories / thoughts about this. Drop me a line with your answer / thoughts on this question
SHOUT OUT
Who / what I think deserves recognition - my gratitude or to be celebrated.
See It On Paper
My shout out this week is one of the things I do when I feel stuck or manic; I draw or write what’s going on. I find getting the overwhelm out of my head and onto a piece of paper is hugely helpful. I’m not talking about ‘journalling’ - although that can help - I mean to write lists, draw mindmaps and diagrams. The shout out is in two parts:
the process of getting it out and feeling it’s not all in my head
seeing what I’ve created and how that helps me to clarify my thoughts
BONUS GIFT FOR YOU
The gift is only available to those that subscribe to the weekly LEAPS email
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LEAPS is a process used by our team and clients all the time - and even my own family on a daily basis.
I’ll be sharing a set of LEAPS each week with you and encourage you to do your own version:
L: what have you learned?
E: what’s your energy / feeling word
A: what’s one thing you need to do?
P: what are you thinking / processing?
S: who or what can you shout out?
