Today for the first time in a long time I experienced that numbing, debilitating, weakening feeling… You know - that feeling that stops you cold. so cold You cant think straight. Everything you look at and think about is negative. You feel like a wave of negativity has swept over you and there’s nothing you can do about it. Ever have that experience? I can tell you its no fun…. For me the experience is very physical I feel it in the shoulders, knees and stomach all at the same time.
Life itself seems to hold nothing positive in store when that happens to me. Odd thing is just the other day I was feeling like life is finally going well for me. What triggered this round of emotions relates directly to work. 11 people I’ve worked very closely with for the last 3 1/2 years got laid off last week.
Yesterday I discover that some of the contracts I have with the company these folks worked for will end at the end of March. So naturally I’ve got to start thinking about my staff, future work and then it all comes rushing in “the economy stinks right now”. Oh I run a small software company as well as coaching other’s using the Release Technique in case you were wondering.
Anyway so during all of this I stop for just a brief moment and it dawns on me that I’m buying into the feelings. I’m agreeing with it, I’m feeling like a victim and being a victim to the situation. So I start to use this simple method called letting go.
So simple that most people will write it off without a second thought, but I digress. I start to just ask myself “Could I just for the moment let this feeling go?” , would I? “Yes or no either works just fine, honesty is best when asking this question or even the first question” and When? I do this over and over on whatever I could feel and believe me when I tell you I was feeling alot. After about 5 minutes I start to feel lighter, more open to finding a solution. I started to feel like less of a victim and more like someone who could deal with whatever comes up.
I went from feeling like a helpless victim to I can’t change what happened to them but I can do something about what will happen later for me and my staff. Much better… I repeat MUCH better. Just another example of how letting go works. Now I do feel empathy for these people who lost their jobs and as I said I can’t change that. If I could I would hire em all but that’s not possible at the moment.
I also feel a deep sense of confidence that they will all make it in the future. I somehow just know they will. I talked to one of them after I was feeling better and he said “Thank You so much for your positive energy”. At least I was able to be a positive influence for him. That often goes a long way.
Hope you find this post helpful.
PS
If you would like to try some coaching sometime I’m running a special discounted rate. See the coaching link at the top of this page, how to contact me is at the bottom of that page.
Much Love,
Brendan
