Usually, in a time of crisis, we need to be active, in the doing mode, fighting for our existence. However, in the current situation, we need to pause, to stop and retreat from the busy life we know. The COVID 19 pandemic situation sent us on a retreat.
Retreat means consciously pulling back from any distracting external activity to focus inward, as we focus as much as possible inwardly. An invitation to turn our attention inwardly, and enable clarity. It is obvious that we didn’t choose this retreat. However, we can gain from this situation that was forced on us. We can use this time of slowing down to rethink our path and our actions to experience more flow in our working life. Meaning, investing minimum energy and gaining maximum results.
So, how can we move toward acting from a flow experience, and investing minimum energy and gaining maximum results? By simply deepening our listening inwards to bring the most out and bring our accurate and precise added value to the business world.
In these times, it’s important to listen to the various voices that exist within ourselves. The various emotions can be sadness, sorrow, doubt, confusion, feeling of ambiguity, and more. Our ability to enable all these kinds of emotions to exist within us, without suppressing them and at the same time, not letting them manage us.
Over the years, we learned to disconnect from our feelings and emotion because of the fear that these emotions will flood us and we won’t be able to control and manage them. However, the price of disconnecting from our inner world is relatively high. The ability to turn inward and connect with our hearts is crucial to be able to connect with our creative parts and qualities like courage, creativity, and compassion. If we disconnect from our emotions and feelings, we will lose touch with our human qualities which is what differentiates us from robots and machines.
Hence, what is required of us nowadays is to slow down and to increase our mindfulness. The Coronavirus came to stop us all; leaders, business owners, and individuals, to readjust our value proposition with respect to ourselves, our customers, community, and environment. Even if right now we all feel unsettled by the situations and for some of us, being forced to go to unpaid leave or even being retrenched, this is also a hidden opportunity.
