Being myself

I have a thing about odd numbers (in a good way). I took it as a positive sign that three things were the catalyst for me to write this post:
A conversation with Kate from Powerhouse Coaching about resilience
Reading Don’s post on mindfulness
Reading Your Brain at Work by David Rock

In his post on Candid Impressions, Don points out that passivity isn’t mindfulness. I hadn’t considered this before.

David uses the analogy of the effort required to control actors on a stage so that readers can visualise the limitations of the prefrontal cortex of your brain. There is a limited resource that is quickly used up.

I reflected on how easy I used to find practising mindfulness. In a blink of an eye I could be in the zone no matter where I was. This was at a time when I was trying to prove to myself that I could be all things to all people. I spent every waking moment being someone I thought other people wanted me to be, it was exhausting. In hindsight I realise that I was so tired that the actors had collapsed in a heap on my stage.

Kate perceptively noted that when I thought I was being mindful it was in fact mindlessness because I was so tired.