Thinking That We Have To Do It All

Sometimes it looks like we have to do it all now and that creates an overwhelmed feeling. But here's how thought is the true source of that overwhelmed feeling. Because there is actually not one big task to do. There are actually lots of little steps infolding one by one. When we how thought is making things look bigger than they are, there is a lot of relief and space available.

Transcript

Hello and welcome to the Calmcast,

A time to feel calm and think clearly.

I'm Claire Downham,

The Queen of Calm,

A Transformational Life Coach.

I was a burnt out headteacher who finally made the journey to calm after years of trying and I want to prevent you from having to do the same.

The Calmcast is a series of short explorations gently guiding you back to your natural state which is calm and clarity.

Just listen like you would listen to music with an open mind and curiosity.

There's nothing else to do.

Now let's relax into today's episode.

So today's exploration is hopefully going to help you to see where thought can play a really big part in how we see the things that we would like to be doing in the world.

And the example I'm going to speak about is creating something.

So I'm currently creating something online,

An online course and it's finished now.

I have been,

It is finished now and but I haven't created an online course which sounds a really counterintuitive thing to say,

Doesn't it?

I've been creating it,

It's finished but I never created an online course.

If we break down what I actually did,

I had an idea in the moment,

I had an idea of what this thing would look like.

That was one thing that happened.

I created some videos,

I uploaded them,

I created a landing page,

I did so many different tasks and even in the making of a video,

There is,

That can even be broken down into,

You know,

For me it's the initial idea and then word by word coming out of my mouth much in the same way that I'm recording this now.

There's just the next word,

There's just the next thought.

It doesn't necessarily feel like it's me having to do it because in the presence there is just me turning up and words spilling out of me,

Hopefully into something that is recognisable by other humans.

Fingers crossed.

So no one ever creates anything in its entirety because it doesn't work like that.

I heard Michael Neil say a couple of nights ago,

I think that nobody ever builds a house,

Which sounds ridiculous because I'm stood in one and you no doubt are and you're probably surrounded by them wherever you are unless you're not but you know most of us have,

We see houses all the time so they're definitely getting built but there's just one brick being placed down and then another brick and then another brick.

Everything that we create in life is created moment by moment but of course if we look at a house for example or an amazing course somebody's created or a website that somebody's made or whatever it is or piece of art even whatever or a final a dance performance that we see,

If we look at the things we would like to do in the world and we see that as being our goal I suppose where we would like to get to,

It's really easy to feel overwhelmed because of course that overwhelmed feeling is coming from thought in the moment,

It's coming to us because we've got a head full of stuff,

A head full of noise because in reality there is only ever the next word,

Stroke of a paintbrush,

Brick being laid down,

Element being added to a web page.

There really only is the next thing that we're doing or the thing we're doing where there isn't really the next thing there's the thing we're doing right now,

There's only ever the thing we're doing right now.

If we look at the big thing that can feel really overwhelming and so what I'm pointing to today is that not that there's one kind of thinking of another kind,

It's just seeing that at the end of the day there will be a thing,

A big thing that's being created but how we think about that,

How we see that,

Our perspective on that is what is going to create our experience and that experience could either be one of feeling overwhelmed and for me that feels like a pressing on the chest,

A hindering,

Something almost stopping me moving forward and quite often you may have noticed it does actually stop you moving forward,

It stops you doing something because that thing looks just impossible because it looks so enormous but the alternative is that there is moment by moment activity,

There's moment by moment creativity,

There's the next step and the next step and the next step,

That's all there ever is and as long as we've got the general direction which may come in the form of a plan,

For example when we're creating something we may have some kind of a plan,

People building a house they have plans from an architect and they kind of know where they're heading but really there is just the next brick being laid down and it really is the same in every aspect of our lives,

Our perception of something creates the level of problems we see in it because really there is just the next step but it's really easy to get caught up in the idea of the big thing being the thing.

I remember hearing a story about someone interviewing a person who was a troubleshooter,

Used to go into businesses and help them when they were stuck and he was asked,

We know how do you solve the really big problems and he said I don't solve big problems and the interview was quite surprised by that and they said but you do that's what you're known for and the guy said well no because if I saw the problems as big I probably wouldn't be able to solve them.

So there is something all the time about how we perceive every single aspect of what we're doing in life,

Our experience of what we have to do is created via thought in the moment.

So if you've got a really big task to do,

If you've got something that looks big and even in the saying of the language I'm hearing myself,

If you've got a really big task to do,

If you want to create something,

There's something about knowing that creation happens in the moment.

Creation doesn't happen in the future,

Creation happens now and so if there's something to come out of you,

I think it'll come out more readily if it doesn't look like you've got to birth a house straight away.

That sounds really painful having given birth to two large babies,

The thought of giving birth to a house is pretty huge.

You can't birth a house,

It just doesn't work that way.

You know,

But brick by brick you can build one.

Moment by moment you can be creating something.

And the fun thing with that is you don't know where it's going to end up.

You can start out with an idea in mind but you don't know where it's going to end up and that's the joy of how I create these sessions is I kind of have a sense of a direction but who knows what's going to come out of my mouth moment by moment.

That's always a mystery until it actually happens.

So I hope you found that helpful in terms of looking at the things you need to do even today.

Just moment by moment that's really all there really is.

Thank you so much for listening.

There's nothing to do now but bring some awareness to how this is working out in your life.

Listen regularly to experience longer and longer periods of calm.

This has been the Calmcast with Claire Downer,

Queen of Calm.

Take care and keep listening.