This morning I worked on how I was going to launch my new book ‘What Helps‘ into the world.
I’ve had a busy week, and today in my diary I’d written ‘take it easy’. As I started brainstorming about my book, I decided I’d like to run an online course called ‘This Helps’, and started to create an online forum. I thought I could do some interviews with people I admired and started writing the invitation. I decided to start a series of blogs (this one is the first). Oh, and I had those two other jobs on my to do list, and I needed to finish that thing…
My head fizzed and threatened to explode. I thought, ‘now is the time to take your own advice, Satya’ and I looked at the first slogan in the book.
I began here. I noticed the spinning in my head, and the blood pumping through my body. I acknowledged the feelings swishing through me – a mixture of excitement, anxiety, and panic. I discovered I was cold. I looked outside at the sunny garden, and watched a blackbird hopping across the empty vegetable patch.
Wheeeeeeeew. Right. First, the urgent job. Then, a cup of tea. Then, write a list of all the ideas I’ve had so far and decide what first and what for another today. My head settled down, and my morning proceeded in an orderly manner.
When we take time to tune in – what’s happening in our minds and bodies? what’s happening around us? – we are given our next step. We just need to remember to begin here.
If you begin here, what do you discover? What answers are you given?
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This is the first in a series of blogs to celebrate my new book What Helps: Sixty Slogans to Live By, each featuring one of the slogans in the book. This is the first, which you can read in full here. Watch out for the interviews, coming soon!
Sparkler by David Zawila via Unsplash, with gratitude