Oh, how we live in a frenetic culture with it’s constant demands to wind and grind, burn and churn, and hustle for the muscle.
We live on this perpetual hamster wheel, where we get up, slog through our mornings, go to work (even if just to our home offices), do a lot of busiwork (often that which has very little meaning), eat dinner, maybe have a drink or several to take the edge off, then drift off (or pass out) to the lull of the TV or our devices … and, then we do it all over again the next day.
There was a notorious cabaret singer when I was going in college, and living in Milwaukee, named Pat McCurdy who had a line in one of his most popular songs I feel summed this notion up extremely well:
“I get up, go work, get drunk, go sleep. I get up go to work, get drunk, go to sleep. I get up, go to work, get drunk, go to sleep …”
Over and over, he would repeat the chorus and the crowd (usually completely drunk and/or high) would scream and come alive.
Even back then, nearly 30 years ago, I found that phenomenon both interesting and appalling at the same time. I mean this was like an anthem for people. One, in which, they revered the song. It was the one where they couldn’t help but sing along and get amped up.
“I get up, go to work, get drunk, go to sleep.”
This is the epitome of the culture we live in. We, not only, think it’s ok and acceptable, we subscribe to it, hook, line and sinker.
We are baited. We anticipate it. We complain and commiserate together (thinking it’s connecting and bonding us in solidarity), and embrace this cycle every day, day in and day out.
There is little connection and almost no meaning for so many people these days. I think about Viktor Frankl’s work, in Man’s Search for Meaning, and reflect on how lost our culture truly seems.
We have no space to be. We have no space for real meaning.
In his acclaimed book, retelling his story and experience of being held captive as a prisoner in Nazi concentration camps, Frankl said:
“When we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves. Forces beyond your control can take away everything you possess except one thing, your freedom to choose how you will respond to the situation
We have agnecy to choose a different path. We can rewrite the narrative that keeps us busy and constantly grinding away at a perception of success.
For, we can choose to change ourselves.
Wayne Dyer also shared an account, in his book, I Can See Clearly Now, of advice he once received from Viktor Frankl himself, when they shared a stage together as part of an esteemed panel of experts for the Young Professionals Organization (YPO) back some years ago in Vienna.
This is what Viktor Frankl offered:
Suffering is a part of the human condition that no one escapes in their lifetime, and it may be more despairing for some than others.”
You must teach people to find meaning in their suffering, and in so doing they will be able to turn their personal tragedies into personal triumphs.
It they cannot find meaning, they will ultimately perish.”
We are perishing on some level as we continue to run this proverbial rat race and have ourselves running against time on a hamster wheel.
Our lack of meaning in life is slowly killing us.
Nietzsche said: “He who has a why to live for can bear with almost any how.”
We get stuck in the how. We’ve lost sight of our why. Thereby, losing sight of meaning, itself. We are wandering around numb, lost, and having forgotten our path in our human story on this planet.
We go round and round, going nowhere, really.
The culture of BUSY (the ultimate four-letter word, in my opinion), has us believing that our worth is a direct result of our output … in terms of, how much shit we can get done, and how much stuff can we produce.
But, we’ve lost sight of the quality of our work, as a result.
Imagine if … rather than being concerned with how much we do, we begin to focus on the what we do, and why. We focused on work that feels and is meaningful. The work that lights us up, that feels connected to our truth.
The work that lets us stand in the radical authenticity of who we are, and that of our Soul Purpose, as we share our gifts with the world.
For I see BUSY as meaning: buried under shoulding (all over) yourself.
That is what we are doing. We are shoulding (and shaming) ourselves into deeper mental illness, into exhaustion, and into new levels of burnout.
Meaning, there isn’t any time for real rest, or to recharge, replenish, and restore. Which, of course, then means, there is no time for creativity or innovation, either. It’s in the non-doing that our imaginations can play.
And, our culture strips that away from us.
We think we rest by scrolling endless memes or videos on social media. When, in fact, that is just sucking us in further, and wasting time that could be creative and meaningful … as we are continually being subconsciously programmed and the narrative of ‘not being enough’ is perpetuated.
What we need is space, and spaciousness.
Time to reconnect back to ourselves, to come back home to ourselves. To connect back into nature, and with our loved ones.
To slow down (or stop completely), in order to speed back up.
It’s why I practice what I call the Sunday Slowdown. This is dedicated space within my week for softness, stillness, and some sacred soul food.
This is my space to quiet down my mind and body. It’s space for intentional self-love and self-care. And, it’s space for me to disconnect and simply be.
For it’s in the being-ness that the real magic happens.
When we give ourselves real white space, play space, as well as contemplation and reflection space, we create alignment back to the Universe itself, and deepen our connection to Source.
We can then listen to the whisper calling to us from within that is designed to lead us towards a place of meaning, once again.
For me, my Sundays often look like getting up and spending quality time with my dog, and in nature. To connect to Mother Nature, herself.
I enjoy super slow Sunday mornings, with a cup of coffee and a book (my current read is Wayne Dyer’s, I Can See Clearly Now), and listening to soft instrumental pieces that uplift my soul.
Then, often times, I opt for long, leisurely hikes … either on a back trail somewhere, here in Austin, or a long walk through my neighborhood.
And, I allow myself to slow down and really take in my surroundings. To notice the little things, maybe even things I never noticed before. Such as the way a tree bends. Or, how the sunlight moves between the leaves.
It’s all about feeling grounded and present simultaneously.
In the fall and winter, I usually have a fire going as my heart loves to be enveloped in a warm, cozy ambience that feels soothing to my soul.
Even as I write this … another practice of my Slowdown Sundays is to just write for me. To let any words that want to flowto naturally come through. To simply serve as a channel for that which wants to be expressed.
Currently, as I am writing, I have a wonderful playlist I found on Spotify playing beautifully in the background. It’s my Sunday soul food.
Sunday Morning Instrumental · Playlist · 170 songs · 1.3K likesspotify.link
And, I suspend time. I just allow the morning to flow and unfold with ease. I even sometimes nap on the couch with Ernie (my sweet pup) beside me.
I listen to the sounds of life around me, I breathe in gently and fully, feeling into my own body and senses.
I provide space to connect and feel grounded, not rushing anything.
I also enjoy cooking for myself on Sundays … rich, nourishing, soul-filling meals that feel like home, and of comfort. Savoring the meal prepped, itself, as well as the enjoying the flavors of the meal.
And, I just dance with the day.
I just allow the day to unfold. Allowing it to guide me in its gentle rhythm and flow. There is no agenda, no pressure on what I need to do, just a soft space to be, to play, to rest, and to savor.
Creating this practice allows me dedicated space for me. Space to restore my energy, to rebalance my chakras, to regulate my nervous system from anything that may have felt dense or heavy throughout the previous week.
My Sunday Slowdown provides me the path to reset.
To find my way back to myself, and my own integrity. Life has a way of rattling us, of throwing curveballs. Add that to the collective energy around us, the planetary shifts, and things outside of our control, and it can be easy to absorb and amplify the fears and stress of others.
We need a way to discharge all that, for we all have areas within our design and wiring (just look at your Human Design chart) where we unconsciously take in the energy of others, and that of our environments.
It’s only when we pause long enough to recognize that can we remember who we are in the mix. Sunday Slowdown creates a space to do just that.
And, in taking that time to slow down, we are able to fill our cup again. Because our highest and best service to others comes from our overflow.