Michael from Michael Schmeja Consulting explores the need to have weekend plans in another guest post.

Any plans…?

When I finished a session with a client last week she asked me: “Any plans for the weekend?” I replied:”Er, no!”

She continued, there would be so much going on with carnival being in full swing in the area where I live and anyhow, there are a thousand things “on”, one would hardly have enough time to do them all. 

What about doing nothing, I ask? That would be boring, she countered. Being persistent I asked, “What would be wrong with boring?”

Silence.

“I just don’t like the idea of being at home without anything to do”, she finally said. 

I spare you the rest of the conversation but after I hung up I thought how impossible it seems for so many people to be with themselves. “Our fast-paced, electronically infused, media-obsessed world has led many of us to implicitly believe that we must always be busy, moving, accomplishing, and looking for the next rung on the ladder. We have become so narrowly focused on success, consumption, and industriousness that we have forgotten about the need to slow down, decompress, and enjoy life’s simple pleasures”, Jamie Gruman writes. 

I find that really sad. It’s almost like people are afraid of telling others on Monday they didn’t do anything over the weekend. So much competition and comparison. But most wouldn’t admit it. 

What if you did nothing, simply being with yourself? Most likely, you won’t like it at the beginning. Your mind will go ballistic. There will be a machine gunfire of thoughts and like a junkie, you will want to grab the remote or your mobile only to numb the thoughts that will fly by. You might even feel physical pain as your thoughts induce certain chemicals which when triggered will induce more of the same thoughts. It’s almost a vicious circle. A metaphor I use is a big stone you throw in a lake. It creates waves and ripples and the more stones you throw in the more ripples follow. However, as it’s your decision to throw, it’s your decision to follow all thoughts in all directions.

You can simply decide not to follow, you are at choice. It takes a bit of training but after a while, your mind will rest, like the thought-firing machine becomes exhausted and you enter a different brain state. You don’t even have to meditate to get there. You might simply look out of the window, and sit comfortably on the sofa but consciously decide to simply “be” and remove yourself from the circus. 

I cannot describe “What’s in for you” when you do that, instead of hanging out in the pub or boarding a plane to the next gig. I can only encourage you to try it over and over again. Magic is waiting.

With love and respect

Michael

Michael Schmeja Consulting
http://www.michaelschmeja.com
Stay present. Stay tuned. Be kind