Slow Is Smooth And Smooth Is Fast
ADVANCE CONFIDENTLY!
“Breathe. Let go. And remind yourself that this very moment is the only one you know you have for sure.” ~Oprah Winfrey
Inspiration is all around us. To experience it though, we must be willing to give ourselves permission to slow down, to focus, to breathe. With so many shiny objects vying for our attention, it’s quite easy to become distracted.
Check out pausebreathereflect.com
One of the best ways to come back to our center is to breathe. We have this underlying belief that somehow, probably because we are human and capable of amazing things, that we can multitask our way to success.
After all, if doing one thing is good, then doing several things must be better, right?
WRONG!
An old memory of a book title came knocking and it got me thinking about multitasking or focusing on multiple projects at the same time and in breaking down the title of the book, I realized it would be impossible to do the two tasks of the title at the same time.
The book title is Chop Wood, Carry Water.
As I tried to picture myself chopping wood and carrying water, it was immediately apparent that it would be impossible to do both at the same time. Can you imagine the chaotic scene of a character attempting to both chop wood and carry water at the same time?
It made me laugh!
Well, for a moment anyway… Then I paused long enough to take a breath as I reflected on how as human beings, we are continuously trying to chop wood and carry water at the same time. My mind quickly shifted to an image of an entertainer on stage spinning plates. As we watch the show, we are mesmerized as the entertainer adds more and more plates until the inevitable crash brings that segment of the show to a conclusion.
How many plates are you spinning? How many tasks are you managing? How many jobs are you doing? How many hats are you wearing?
If you are like me in any way, shape, or form, you probably believe you are a better multitasker than you actually are.
It wasn’t until I recently slowed down long enough to enjoy a vacation to Maine that I realized I was trying to do too many things at a time. I have been writing a weekly article for over a year now while I have simultaneously been working on my second book and trying to create a small business and create an online course to help people turn their dreams and aspirations into a tangible outcome by designing a course that would systematically and logically take them on a journey of discovery, opportunity, and action, a QUEST. And, I have been trying to do all of this while also working a full-time job…
When I finally came back to my breath, opened up my shirt and found there indeed was no large “S” emblazoned on my chest, I realized it was time for a change. Perhaps it was the changing of the seasons that prompted this idea of a need for a change. The trip to Maine was all about taking time to “enjoy” the changing of the season from Summer to Fall.
To enjoy the trip, I had written my weekly article ahead of time and had it prepared and ready to send out on time which is normally Wednesday. Today is Friday and I am only just now writing my weekly article as it finally came to me in my sleep. Yes, I awoke with the idea of this article in my mind and arose from bed before the alarm went off because I knew there was something profound that needed to be captured and that something is the words now methodically materializing on the page.
The profundity remains to be seen…
The reality is far more striking than anything remotely close to profound. I have simply been trying too hard to do too much and watering down and fragmenting my results in the process.
My mind has been silently working on a way to present this idea to my ego for some time now and it took me slowing down long enough for a vacation to begin to listen.
In the silence of the woods, surrounded by beauty, I found my mind wandering away from where I was and onto each of the various projects I have ongoing in different states of completion and I remember thinking to myself, this is crazy, look around you, this is where you need to be right now, all of your projects will be waiting for you when you get back, FOCUS and enjoy the moment…
As I processed that thought, I came back to my breath and I came back to the moment and as I became fully present, I was in awe of my surroundings. If I hadn’t given myself permission to be present, to be in the moment, I would have missed it!
What would I have missed? I would have missed the mushrooms growing in places we wouldn’t expect to see them.
I would have missed the fallen leaves laying on the ground in all their majesty, a tapestry that became natures carpet…
I would have missed the trees that held the leaves until they were reluctantly released…
I would have missed the stunning reflection of two hills majestically resolute and unmoving…
I would have missed all the different colors of green, a monochrome rainbow of tone and texture, from the moss, to the lichens, to the ferns, to the trees…
I would have missed the sound of the babbling brook and the raging waterfall, one subtle, one not…
I would have missed seeing natures finest example of resilience, determination, and persistence…
I would have missed all these things and so much more and thinking about this got me thinking about how many other things I have been missing… It inspires me now to ask the question about how many things you might be missing too?
What have you been missing?
I know I have been missing golf and it wasn’t until I gave myself permission to watch some of the Ryder Cup matches that I realized just how much I miss playing and isn’t it interesting how the world will make us even more aware of what we are missing once we finally realize we are missing it. Like this article from my friend and fellow writer Billie for example who wrote an article about golf (it’s more than just another article on golf).
It’s not necessarily the game itself that I miss, its what happens to me as I play. When I play golf, I slow down and as mentioned at the beginning of this article, as my friend and mentor Michael constantly reminds me, slow is smooth and smooth is fast. When I combine the intentionality of the awareness of my breath with the understanding that golf is a game that can only be played and never won, I give myself the permission to enjoy being outside and at one with my surroundings.
Breathing is a huge part of golf because there is no way to make a smooth swing if you are not relaxed. We tend to hold on to our breath and the club too tight, and it is actually the relaxed grip that better serves the swing. Loose muscles flow, and golf, although a sport of speed when it comes to striking the ball, is also a sport of opposites. A great example is for the ball to go up, you must hit down on the ball. It is the descending blow in combination with the loft of the club that gets the ball into the air. It’s counterintuitive. You might think that swinging harder might give you a better result and I can assure you the exact opposite is true.
Ok, enough about golf and back to the article at hand.
Before I left to go on vacation, I discovered an article by Darius Foroux that got me thinking about this idea of trying to do too much. There were many other elements equally as influential as the article, but for some reason, the words of the article really resonated with me and I believe before I ever got on the plane, I knew that Fall would have a special significance for me this year, one well beyond the splendid colors and the experience of being away would afford me…
I will continue to Advance Confidently, but the advance will be in the direction of my highest calling NOW which is to fulfill my desire of completing my Create Your QUEST™ course, designed for anyone who has struggled with making a commitment to their ideal highest expression of themselves.
With so many demands, and so many distractions, it’s easy to get off course and find ourselves deeply involved in great work that’s unfortunately not moving us in the direction of where we most choose to go right NOW!
Create Your QUEST™ has been formulated to help YOU focus on what’s most important to you not only now, but also in the future. It’s a framework that was designed to take you from where you are to exactly where you choose to be, not overnight, but one step at a time, one moment at a time, one day at a time, one breath at a time!
It’s called Create Your QUEST™ because I believe each of us has the potential to be the hero of our own story and I knew I could create a compelling framework to guide individuals through the arduous process of making a commitment to their dream and the future they desire to create for themselves and their families.
Therefore, I decided to put my next book on the back burner and will instead focus all my efforts on the completion of the project I am most excited about which is Create Your QUEST™!
It’s my intention to have the course ready for release by the end of October with a soft launch and a beta group to make sure it’s ready for prime time in the coming new year when most people are struggling with what to do next and how to make sure next year is different than last year.
If you are interested in potentially being part of my beta group, send an email to bkountz15@gmail.com with BETA in the subject line.
I know the course I’m creating and the book I will still eventually release, will be worth the wait because that’s my commitment to you, my readers. Thanks in advance for your trust and patience!
In the meantime, enjoy this special audio short story I originally released on Twitter to commemorate my Independence Day and my 31st year of sobriety. You can watch/listen here ( https://youtu.be/9zP4kk5OTlo ). You can find me on Twitter @bobby_kountz
Keep Pedaling, Keep Going, Keep Growing!
Advance Confidently!
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In Gratitude,
Bobby Kountz, Author, Speaker, Sobriety Scholar, Inspirationalist!
PS. You can find out more about me here. You can find my book on Amazon.
