Slow down to speed up

Over the past few weeks I have had this feeling I needed to slow down even more than I had already slowed down. There were moments when I asked myself: how much more do I need to slow down? I was reminded of a class from my Tamalpa Life Arts Training several years ago where we practiced to slow down our movements, more and more and even more. When we keep slowing down we suddenly shift awareness. Maybe time stands even still for a moment. We breath. We become aware of the stillness. It is magic. 

Throughout those weeks I had this feeling that something new wants to emerge and in order for me to become aware of what wants to surface I have to slow down even more. I keep repeating "even more" because I had already slowed down so much and had wanted to speed up. Everyone else seems to start speeding up again or never slowed down in the first place despite recent lockdowns.

I experienced a few moments of restlessness and that was the sign that I needed to listen. I was getting uncomfortable with my slowing down. Everybody else is doing this or that and maybe creating this or that or continuing to do this or that. Yet I am slowing down even more. Shouldn't I be doing this or that as well? Shouldn't I be creating this or that as well? Shouldn't I... and whenever the word "should" comes up I know it's an old program or belief system running the show and not my inner compass. 

Then comes a moment of absolute clarity. Suddenly it all makes sense. I hear my inner voice. I do not want to create simply another busi-ness. I want to create a beingness which does not focus on being busy all the time. So busy that I miss being myself, that I miss hearing my inner voice, that I miss being of service to my clients, that I miss being present for my kids, that I miss living my purpose and creating a business with a purpose and that I miss creating something different altogether. I have to slow down to hear what wants to emerge and how a new beingness business unfolds. 

As a visionary and downloader I often had insights about changes that were coming years before others did. My biggest challenge was that people never knew what I was talking about. I never slowed down enough to realise that it did not matter whether others would understand it or not in that particular moment. What matters is that I follow that inner knowing that unfolds in those moments of slowing down.  I remove myself from distraction and sit still although everything inside me wants to run and follow old patterns. 

I did not realise that I had started to truly master this practice. The practice of sitting my body down and not allowing the body to be the mind. 

So ask yourself: what would happen if you slowed down to speed up? The reason why people fear slowing down is because they might have to face their shadow or unwanted thoughts and feelings might show up. Yet when we face those they no longer hold us hostage and we start creating space to truly allow our creative genius to unleash. We start becoming aware that the beautiful free flying butterfly has gone through a metamorphosis of being a caterpillar who rests in a cocoon, slows down, before it spreads its wings and speeds up. The cocoon stage is crucial! There is no butterfly without the transformational cocoon stage! From being a slow caterpillar it turns into a fast butterfly. When the butterfly is tired it rests, it nourishes itself and it slows down before it speeds up again and flies across the sky, the meadow, our garden etc. Yet how many people follow that example of slowing down, resting, getting nourishment and then flying off again. The majority of people are continuously doing things and keeping themselves non-stop busy and distracted. They are missing the opportunity  for magical insights, expansive creative potential and experiencing the present moment instead of living in the past or in the future. 

Do you feel you are at the beginning of something new? Do you feel you need to find the courage, time and space to go into a cocoon stage and transform from a caterpillar into a butterfly?

Slow down to speed up and empower your creative process.