In our professional lives, we spend our days checking things off an endless to do list. Agendas, scheduling, communication, processes…check, check, check! Layer in the demands of parenting, partnering, caregiving and volunteering from your personal life and it’s easy to feel like a Human Doing, rather than a Human Being.
This doing focus is valuable to the businesses we work in everyday, but it can be a slippery slope, affecting how you determine your self-worth both inside and outside of the workplace. Perhaps you fall into the trap of finishing that check list, or the mentality of sending just one more email before you step off for the day, causing you to work later than you intended.
The calendar year is drawing to a close, a beautiful time to reflect and build intention. This is not a life-hack, or three easy steps to your best-self, rather a place to recognize where you are making space for authenticity and alignment in all aspects of your life. What I offer is the gift of presence in your life, creating more room for not only you as a human being, but the beingness of those around you.
1) How’s your heart? What happens if you replace your usual questions like ‘how are you?’ or ‘what’s the priority this week?’ with a different question? One of my favourite questions is ‘how is your heart?’ I’ve posed this to CEO’s, military members, clients, students, friends and even of myself. Changing our questions takes people off guard, gets them thinking deeply and often brings more clarity. This allows us all to dig into our humanity and our shared experiences. Checking in with our heart takes us out of the mind and into our feelings - less doing, more being.
2) Create a daily ritual. I know, I know - you’re busy! Prioritizing a dedicated and mindful practice each day offers more balance in your life, shifting our single-minded focus on the things outside of ourselves (helllooo to-do list). Make this a pleasurable and truly sacred time for you; a no-phone zone, same time each day, reflective practice that feels fun. Winter brings some long, dark nights - light a candle, make a hot beverage, put on some music, and then journal reflectively, read a few chapters of an enjoyable book, create something with your hands or spend time in nature. What matters is that you really enjoy this time, free from distractions. Keep it simple and under an hour, so that you can easily repeat it every day. Remember to give yourself grace if you miss a day - you’re human after all!
3) Reflect on your why. One of my favourite ways to reflect on my why is to check in with my values. Knowing our personal values can change behaviour and bring great awareness to where time and energy is being spent. There are several ways to unearth your values, a quick Google search will offer many options to assist you. Once you have clarity on your values (4-6 ideally), reflect on how you are living them in your day-to-day life. No judgment, no reaction, no 30-day challenge required, only awareness.
How are you showing up as a Human Being within your professional life each day? My wish for you is that you can embody both your human doing and your human being so you can become a magical and deeply fulfilled person, in all aspects of your life.