CONTROL: to order, limit, or rule something or someone’s actions or behaviour.
We spend much of our time and energy controlling things at work: our tasks, our schedule, other people, etc… Controlling gives us a measure of peace and comfort. But what do we do when we cannot control things?
What is the cost of not having control?
Do you feel ‘out of control’ when: the expected shipment does not arrive; the internet goes down; weather impacts your timelines; or your political candidate does not get elected? Feeling ‘out of control’ is uncomfortable, quite scary, usually threatening and always…frustrating.
A current event in my life has drawn me to reflect on ‘control’ or more poignantly, its opposite. But rather than feeling ‘out of control’, I am choosing to ‘let go of control’. A much more positive feeling. My daughter’s second pregnancy is now 4 days overdue. She is weary, frustrated, worried, and of course, uncomfortable. She has tried every bit of advice on how to stimulate the onset of labour. Nothing has worked. And there is nothing that she can ‘do’ to make it happen.
So, we have been talking a lot about the act of ‘letting go’. When you ‘let go’, immediately your muscles relax, your organs work more efficiently, your mind chatter slows down, and your breathing is deeper and longer. Regenerative hormones replace stress hormones and you return to feeling well.
When you allow these things to happen you:
- see what else is happening around you,
- stop causing yourself emotional harm costing loss of energy, and
- see opportunities, benefits, and gifts of the situation.
I know that this example of pregnancy may seem obvious; it is in the realm of nature. But are there not similarities with all those circumstances at work that you cannot control?
What might happen if you let go of control rather than succumb to feeling of out of control?
What gifts and opportunities might be available to you?
Gifts and opportunities are always accessible…if you get out of your own way!
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