(And yet reaping so much during that time)
June 2021 was the last time I wrote and published a blog on mindfulness for Manfulness Living. For the previous two and a half years, I had written a steady stream of articles and produced guided meditations.
I was surprised that so much time had gone by and I hadn’t written anything. I had thought about it from time to time over those months, but it wasn’t until I went to the website that reality kicked in.
It was officially one year ago this month! One year! 12 months! NOTHING!
I was immediately overcome with thoughts of failure and incompetence because I had let so much time go by without producing any content.
How could I have completely dropped the ball on this, especially knowing and teaching the importance of consistency and commitment to content creation and publishing to my business coaching and marketing clients?
What happened in those twelve months? Where was I? Did I not care about the subject anymore? What if I went into my website editor and changed the publication dates of all the produced articles and spread them out, and no one would ever know?
So after allowing the whirlwind of thoughts and emotions to come through and riding that rollercoaster for a considerable amount of time, I began to do my best to disconnect from them and release judgment and self-criticism; I started the process of mindful reflection.
Mindful reflection allows one to reflect without judgment but with curiosity and openness to our experiences, thoughts, feelings, and actions.
Reflection is a process of exploring and examining ourselves, our perspectives, thoughts, and experiences. Mindful reflection allows one to reflect without judgment but with curiosity and openness to our experiences, thoughts, feelings, and actions. It helps us gain insight and see how to move forward with intention.
It wasn’t an instant result. Several weeks of visiting and revisiting allowed the sting of self-judgment to dissipate and replace with self-compassion.
I asked myself a few key questions:
- What happened over those months that occupied my time and energy?
- Where was my focus?
- What was I doing?
- To whom am I comparing myself?
- How do I feel about the experiences I had over that year?
- What did I learn?
- How do I feel now?
I am an adamant journaler. I have journals that go back to 1995. I went back and browsed through the journal entries of the past year and skimmed over my online calendar, and I was inspired by what I discovered.
To put it simply, I was living my life completely and fully following my intuition and redefining a process of living that worked for me both personally and professionally. I was living, first-hand, a mindfully reflective life. I was practicing what I had been preaching.
The specifics and details of my personal and professional experiences over that year are irrelevant to the ultimate point of my writing this article.
I was doing exactly what I needed to be doing when I needed to be doing it, to come to the place I am now with a newly inspired direction forward.
Here are a few key points that I have learned during this period of time:
- Work On My Own Timeline
- Allow My Own Process To Be Revealed
- Allow Space To Do The Internal Work
- Allow The Inspiration To Appear And Be My Driver
- Take As Much Time As I Need For Me
- Have Fun On The Journey
The positive results that mindfulness practice can create for one’s life is amazing. I know because I am a working product in progress and am continuously discovering new ways of improving my experiences, that work for me.
I am now inspired to continue on the journey and share the experiences and perspectives I have with those around me so that we can all experience our life path that will lead to self-acceptance and fulfillment.
So here is celebrating my one-year anniversary of producing nothing and having cultivated so many insights that work for me on my continued journey of self-discovery, love, and fulfillment.
What have you done recently that has produced nothing?