I’ve deleted this blog 4 times. That’s fairly unusual for me.
Usually, I can sit down in front of my computer and have a fairly effortless stream of thought come to me.
Instead though, this time, things weren’t going according to plan.
I started with this title “what to do when things aren’t going according to plan.”
And then as I was writing, things ironically weren’t going according to plan.
I was fumbling on my thoughts, criticizing the cadence of the words, and ultimately on the path to fulfilling exactly what the title said – I created a blog that wasn’t going according to plan. I was supposed to just sit down, and write, and it should just flow from mind to fingertips..but it wasn’t.
So what did I do?
I erased it all.
And started from scratch.
But I didn’t start over from the same place that got me there.
THIS TIME, I began to write down EXACTLY and PRECISELY what was going on IN THE PRESENT MOMENT.
And I DOCUMENTED the actual facts of what was happening in the moment, as you can read from above. Literally from my mind, to my fingertips, as to what I was experiencing.
So what was I doing that was screwing up this blog?
What WE ALL DO when things aren’t going according to plan..WE OVER-ANALYZE.
And as I was overanalyzing, I kept erasing and erasing and erasing, because I was TRYING to make better sense of what I was writing. And it got me more of what I was getting…which was frustration and not getting this blog done.
Then I thought, why don’t I just be brutally honest about what’s happening right now.
So then I started to write that. And, lo and behold, it started to flow again.
So Let me summarize this for you.
When things aren’t going according to plan, stop…
- And write out exactly what is happening in the best detail you can.
- Document how it precisely makes you feel.
- Spare nothing as you drain out the content of the circumstance.
As you connect with what is, you begin to take away the fear of things not going right, put right in front of you what is happening (so your brain can process it), and bring blood flow and oxygen from your stress and anxiety centres toward your frontal lobe where GRACE resides.
See how this blog turned out? Not bad, considering I just did a) through c) and my mind led me in the exact path it needed to go, as I dropped the analyzer, and opened up to connecting with ‘exactly what was going on’.
That’s how to get back into FLOW.
SUSPEND the expectations, should’s, and supposed to’s, and clearly see exactly what is in front of you, connect fully and allow.
In full bloom,
Dr. Steve
