Your Antidote to Exhaustion…
I recently came across this anecdote from David Whyte speaking to Brother David Steindl Rast. David Whyte asked brother Steindl Rast to talk to him about exhaustion:
"You know," he said, "the antidote to exhaustion is not necessarily rest."
"What is it then?"
"The antidote to exhaustion is wholeheartedness. You are so tired through and through because a good half of what you do here … has nothing to do with your true powers, or the place you have reached in your life. You are half here, and half here will kill you after a while. You need something to which you can give your full powers. You know what that is…
[He then goes into the metaphor of fruit ripening: There is a time to harvest it - to take action - to bring it in… However: ]
“…You have ripened already, and you are waiting to be brought in. Your exhaustion is a form of inner fermentation. You are beginning, ever so slowly"—he hesitated—"to rot on the vine."
Boy, do I know this feeling.
Exhaustion. Feeling burnt out… and I confused it for a long time for needing rest, to take care of my health more, etc.
But what if the exhaustion really is a psychic malaise. A knowing that what I am doing from day to day is only half of what I’m meant to do. And a pessimism from numerous thoughts that I believed to be true:
“What I’m doing won’t make a difference.”
“I’m not enough.”
“There’s not enough time, so why commit?”
Etc. etc…
The spirals of anxiety and mental work to try to figure it all out, would drain my energy and lead to this exhaustion.
The antidote is not to give up.
The antidote is not to rest, sleep more, take a break, go on vacation.
The antidote is to spark the curiosity that says “what if” and inspires me to try something new.
The antidote is to note where I am only half here. And ask: where is my other half? What is it dreaming of?
In order to make myself whole, which half do I need to commit to whole-heartedly?
I’m beginning to believe that choosing “the right thing” or “the right path” isn’t as important as choosing to be fully present and committed to whatever it is you do - at least in the moment… you can always choose to change paths, but do that with commitment as well.
Some steps that help me to find this whole-heartedness are:
Learning to calm your anxiety, to speak to your parts, to reignite your creativity, and to take committed action while acknowledging your whole experience…
If you’re struggling to take wholehearted action or to choose which way to proceed. If you’ve been trying to figure out the answers to anxiety, exhaustion, and stress as well as how to feel better in your body, I suggest you book a free consultation, where we can discuss if you’d be a good fit for my program The Roots of Moving Freely.
Just click here to get started.
All the best in finding wholeheartedness,
Patrick