Pressure & Procrastination: A Deep Session For Real Progress

In this part's work session to examine the multi-faceted nature of self-pressure and procrastination, we'll connect to the child part of ourselves who originally experienced pressure from external sources, the teenager who rebelled, the pressure protector who came in to exert that pressure again on our internal rebel, and the adult who can lead the charge to creating internal balance and conscious choice.

Repeat regularly until internalized if the initial session is useful.

Transcript

Hey,

It's Cyrus.

If you put a lot of pressure on yourself to get things done,

But you find yourself procrastinating a lot,

This meditation is for you.

You're going to discover things you didn't know about yourself and make progress in your ability to get things done from a place of joy and choice instead of pressure.

If that sounds like something that'll take your life to another level and you're excited to dive in,

Go ahead and find a comfortable position and close your eyes.

Take a deep,

Slow breath in through the nose and imagine the breath moving like a silky potion all the way down to your toes and as it rolls out,

Feel your muscles relaxing.

Take another slower,

Deeper breath now into all the crevices of your body,

Into your fingers and your hands and as you exhale like you're breathing out through a straw,

Feel everything decompress and soften.

And then notice your feet and your legs.

Move your mental spotlight to your pelvis and your lower belly.

Into your upper belly,

Not thinking,

Slowly moving into the chest and finding a rhythm into the upper arms,

The lower arms,

The palms of your hands and the fingers and then migrate up into the neck and shoulders.

The jaw,

The head and now feel the head,

Neck,

Shoulders,

Arms,

Hands,

Torso,

Legs and feet all at the same time with a gentle,

Relaxed concentration.

Allow your whole body to be alive,

Your whole system to be fully online as you feel the quiet vibration of life energy dancing head to toe with the breath in this moment.

And now if it feels safe,

At your pace,

We're going to visit a younger part of you,

A part of you that had some pressure put on them.

Maybe it was from a teacher or a role model or a parent,

But just notice what comes up when you think about a younger part of you that had pressure put on them to perform or to do a good job or to get things done or to show up in a certain way or all of the above and more.

Just notice the youngest version of you that shows up when you think about pressure being put on you and approach that younger version of you from the perspective of your current adult self.

Notice them,

Notice where they are and what they're experiencing.

And if they feel safe to experience your presence,

Let them notice you too.

You might choose to interact with them however you want or ask them what you don't yet understand about the pressure that was put on them and simply listen to what they want to share with you and empathize with them as they do.

Notice how perhaps instead of being given the space to figure things out or learn or make mistakes at their own pace,

They had others putting their own fears and pressure onto them which they couldn't help but internalize.

Just notice to whatever extent that feels true and give that younger version of you some connection and compassion.

And now gently let them go and start to allow your mind to float and gravitate towards a somewhat older version of you.

Maybe it's a teenage version of you,

A part of you who no longer had to do what others told them to do.

Maybe they were a bit of a rebel,

Maybe they were a procrastinator,

Maybe they intentionally avoided any pressure being put on them in subtle or obvious ways.

But just notice which version of you floats to mind as you reflect upon the birth of your inner procrastinator or rebel against the pressure.

And again as you approach them from your current perspective,

Notice what they're doing,

What they're experiencing.

Notice if they react to your presence.

And once more seek to understand them.

Ask them if there's anything that you don't get about what they went through or what their headspace is.

And simply listen and empathize non-judgmentally as they share.

See if from this place of understanding and really starting to feel and get where they're coming from you can start to have compassion for them and their feelings in this moment.

And now gently let them go and allow your mind to float again pleasantly through open space.

And let's connect to one final part of you,

The pressure protector,

The part of you that arose as an adult to try to tame that inner teenager,

To discipline the procrastinator,

That inner critic who says,

I'm just doing my job,

I have to put pressure on myself,

It is what it is.

Even if it feels like looking in a metaphorical mirror,

Just connect to that part of you now.

And I invite you to ask that pressure protector part of you what it's afraid will happen if it stops putting pressure on you to get things done.

And sometimes we'll find that part of us is concerned that will backslide into laziness,

Into that inner teenager that wants to procrastinate or rebel or be lazy.

And that putting that pressure on us is its only option,

Otherwise everything that needs to get done wouldn't get done.

And see if you can empathize with its concern or any other concerns it has about the reasons why it puts pressure on you.

And now I invite you to notice that that pressure protector may have unintentionally internalized all the fears and pressures that were put on that young version of you by others.

The fears,

Limitations,

Assumptions,

And mindsets that led others to put pressure on you to get things done as a very young person might have gotten unwittingly absorbed into your system to where you don't even question it and you might have the evidence that you have been lazy or a procrastinator in that teenage rebellious phase of your life or even beyond that.

But notice how that teenage part of you just evolved as a reaction to the pressure that was put on the young part of you.

And now there might be a different way to approach things entirely.

So I invite you to take a moment to explore in your awareness what it would be like to lead from an adult version of yourself.

To explore and imagine what things would be like to do the things that you want to do from a place of choice,

Exploration,

Joy,

And genuine desire from a place with no pressure.

Notice how perhaps there are many things in your life currently that you actually enjoy and want to do and no longer require any discipline or pressure in the traditional sense.

And begin to visualize and feel what it would be like to do those things with no pressure,

Simply taking action from a genuine wellspring of enthusiasm,

Interest,

And choice.

Like an effortlessly propulsive energy,

Just imagining.

And of course maybe there are things in your life that you need to get done or feel like you must get done but simply don't want to do.

And instead of pressuring yourself or disciplining yourself to do them,

Just imagine what it would be like to connect them to the things that you do want to do,

Or the person that you want to be,

Or the life that you want to live.

Simply feel yourself emotionally connecting those things that you normally procrastinate and don't want to do to something that you do want to create as an experiment right now.

And just imagine again how it would feel to lead yourself consciously from the adult version of yourself to do even those things from a place of voluntary choice with no additional pressure necessary,

Just connecting it to the bigger picture of what you want to create.

Feel and sense how that's different in your system as you see it.

And if it feels good,

Take a moment now to commit to that new approach and mindset of simply doing things from a place of conscious choice and self-leadership because you either want to or you can connect it to something that you want to create without putting that sensation or voice of additional pressure on yourself anymore.

Just go ahead and commit to that new approach at least for now as an experiment if it feels good to you.

And I invite you to continue to reflect on this in the coming days and weeks to really stay connected to the parts of you that you became aware of in today's session on a moment-to-moment basis as you interact with your day so you can see which part of you is in play in any given moment and then lead from that conscious adult awareness when you choose,

Reconditioning yourself for relaxation and flow just by embracing this way of being a little bit at a time.

You can repeat this session if you feel like it would be useful to get it deeper and deeper into your subconscious and feel free to share this with anyone you know who might put pressure on themselves but might also be open to a different approach.

Thank you for taking this time for yourself today.

I would love to hear your experience and I hope you have an incredible day.

Reviews

I’m at a turning point in my life at 47 after leaving a 19 year career that destroyed my health and yet while I know a better job and better life await me, I do nothing. I procrastinate and rewrite my never-changing to do list almost every day. This was a tough meditation but very much needed. I’m fortunate that the pressure started at 17 when I joined the military and went to a military college and not sooner. But from that point the pressure never relented particularly during my career as a high school teacher. So while this meditation was tough because it requires challenging self-reflection, I’m so grateful to you (and for all of your meditations) and will come back to this one again.

This was amazing! Thank you for bringing me clarity on my self-imposed pressure. Your gentle guidance & shared wisdom during this meditation was very helpful for me. 💙