Procrastination can really get in the way of you enjoying yourself. It’s easy to go in a downward spiral when you’re in procrastination mode, partly because avoiding a topic takes up lots of energy (have you noticed that?). You may slide into the pattern of berating yourself which again is really tiring on the body (it will effect your general well-being). Or perhaps you’ve been mislabelling what’s going on? In this blog I’ll be showing you 4 key points to consider which will give to clear insight on how to deal with it in a practical way.
Loving Observer
Let’s be kind and look at this in a lightful way, why? Because exploring anything you'd like to change in a loving way, is always the best way to unravel any situation, it keeps it light and playful, when we’re light and playful we’re in the flow of creativity.
Remember a time when you had something quite important to sort out/create/organise/do, but instead you totally prioritised clearing out the cupboards, distracting yourself by going on a hunt to ‘find something’ that wasn’t really that important at the time, or doing something that you found really soothing or comforting. Yeah, you know what I mean don’t you. We’ve all done it! It’s ok to notice and acknowledge it. Just by observing it in a light-hearted way and staying curious helps.
Let’s Explore!
The putting the ‘thing off until another time’ I feel can be mistakingly labelled as procrastination, in general I feel this topic is not explored thoroughly enough to really understand what’s going on, so let’s explore!
4 Key Points
1.Not The Right Time
There will be times when 'No action is required...yet' as you are processing something at an unconscious level, perhaps how you feel about a situation/person/project. There is movement and flow but it’s in the background processing, it’s not a stuck state. So this is where the situation is completely mislabelled, this isn’t procrastination at all.
Or your gut feeling/intuition/instincts are telling you to not take any action on that topic right now/this moment/today, this is not avoidance. This situation/inner guidance could be completely different hours later, or the next day or week. Your intuition has great value, it’s a vital tool guiding you in every moment.
How will you know if it’s this?
The body will feel neutral, literally on the fence, like a pause, no emotion attached to it at all.This means there won’t be tension or tightness experienced in the body when you think about the topic. It feels open, loose.
Suggestion
Revisit the topic when you’re guided. It’s likely that you’ll know what the next step is when it’s the right time (and you’ll action it easily). If it feels like too much time has passed, the feelings may have been processed by now, and you may be ready to check in with the points below to feel if there is something else going on.
2.Information & Education
Sometimes what seems like procrastination is just simply the right time for external input, by that I mean some you need some more information to get the job done. This is usually quite straight forward and easy to sort out.
How will you know if it’s this?
Take notice of what you’re telling yourself and how you are behaving. Hear the language in your mind “I have no idea how to do this.” Perhaps followed by a feeling of being directionless, like a big void of nothing or a variation of this.
Suggestion
Playful consider the ‘information’ is waiting for you to discover it!
You may need to:
Attend a course
Watch a You Tube tutorial
Read a book to assist you
Have a mentoring session
See, hear or feel an example so you have a reference point
Either way remind yourself life is a process of joyfully learning, exploring and experiencing amazing ‘stuff’. Stay away from berating yourself, the body doesn’t like this as it creates contraction, it literally hurts the body, it stops blood/oxygen/energy flowing properly (just to name a few) and is truly a waste of your time.
3.Stories – Past & future
You tell yourself creative stories about the ‘thing’ you’ve been putting off. You can hear the stories in your mind “Oh it’ll take too long like it did last time.” “It went wrong last time.” “ The project is too big, I can’t do it.” All of your sweeping statements (you know the ones), these limiting beliefs are projected into the future, then you react to the story and create a negative outcome in your mind.
How will you know if you’re doing this?
You’ll hear yourself saying these types of statements in your mind.
Suggestion
Carefully LISTEN to the words you are hearing in your mind or write them down so you can see them on the page (sometimes seeing them makes a difference).
Say them out loud, when you literally hear your own voice saying the words, it can create an ‘AHA’ moment of awareness.
Feel your body, feel the sensations. This type of internal dialogue will be felt as tension or tightness in the body. The breath may become shallow, something might start to ache or pinch. This is your body giving you the most beautiful clues that something needs to change because there is disharmony.
Gratefully receive this body information, once you’ve fully acknowledged it, is often passes, it’s just a tool, like a flashing neon light pointing you in the right direction.
4.Digging Deeper
At a deeper level there is likely to be hidden emotions fuelling the situation. These deep seated emotions literally animate and give the situation life, it makes everything very real. It’s being experience in your reality because the emotion is there. When the emotion is transformed the situation changes straight away. Meaning the way you respond to everything changes because your whole perception has changed. There is no emotional charge (sensation in the body).
The main ‘Big Six’ emotions are:
Anger
Sadness
Fear
Guilt
Hurt
Shame
Because we’ve been conditioned to avoid feeling emotions fully, we’re given the impression that distracting ourselves or ignoring them is the best way to deal with them. I mentioned earlier in the blog that we may distract ourselves with doing something soothing or comforting when we’re putting something off for another time, the reason being it’s starting to get too uncomfortable!
How will you know you’re doing this?
Again as mentioned earlier, you will feel a physical sensation in the body usually experienced as tension, tightness, old injuries start to ache or hurt for no reason, headaches, comfort eating, poor sleep, strange dreams (as the body will be processing the situation while you sleep) and other unusual patterns may show up for you. It’s quite tiring containing these emotions and sort of maintaining them, like they are boxes tucked away that need dusting and keep in order.These emotions are often hidden away in at the unconscious level.
Suggestion
It’s quite easy to sustainably transform unhelpful emotions when guided through in a 1:1 session with me, it’s not quite to so easy to explain here. But the first step towards any change is awareness, and I can show you that here.
While you've been reading the information, at some level there will be something that stands out or resonates with you. Again, the body is the most amazing tool for guiding us.
Have a play around by thinking about the topic you feel you are procrastinating about.
Start a dialogue with your body, for example “Body show me clearly if there are some deep emotions relating to fear around this topic.” Just be quiet and patient as your body responds to your request. It may be within a few seconds that you feel tension somewhere in the body (very commonly the Solar Plexus near the stomach) or some sort of sensation of tightness.
Note that down.
Continue to go through each emotion that I’ve listed above (there are more emotions but these are a good start).
From this you’ll gradually be able to understand what’s going on for you. It may take 20 minutes and be a quick download of information and awareness, or it may take a few days to process. Either way just go with it.
Simply by doing this easy process you’ll start to unravel what’s going on for you and become closer to the solution. Your awareness will shift in some way.
If procrastination is experienced on a regular basis you may want to consider having a Deep Dive Session with me, or perhaps a One Month Programme to help you transform the origin easily.
And finally a loving reminder......stop berating yourself, decide to notice when you’re doing it and instead treat yourself as you would a dear friend. Positive self encouragement is much more loving and you’ll get better results!
Summary
This blog helps you identify what's really going on. You can easily see the difference between what IS procrastination and what isn't and directly know how to deal with it. This saves you so much time and energy!!
For more resources click https://www.ninaheaton/resources for free Clarity Meditations.
https://ninaheaton.co.uk - Empowerment Intuitive - If you experience lack of confidence, clarity and would like to feel deep connection and wholeness within yourself, feel free to book your Discovery Session. This session helps you to discover where you are now, where you want to be and how I can help you get there.
Disclaimer - All information in my videos, blogs, website, Conscious Art or anything I create is for information only. I do not diagnose, treat or cure any illness or disease. Please refer to your healthcare practitioner for advice.
Copyright Nina Heaton 2023
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