Comments on: How to Overcome Overwhelm

By: Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven

Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven — Sat, 26 Dec 2009 03:25:08 +0000

BRAVO, Lowell! I’m eager to hear your observations, insights, and a-ha moments as you explore this new practice! And welcome to the community. It’s a delight to have you on board!

By: Lowell Nerenberg

Lowell Nerenberg — Thu, 24 Dec 2009 16:02:55 +0000

Suzi, thank you for helping me formulate a new model for powerfully addressing my personal challenge of getting things done. Combining Being Present and Focus speaks loudly to me. Being Present with a client – or any other human being for that matter – is clearly special and powerful. However, Being Present to a task at hand, especially when I have some resistance to it, never entered my mind until now. Simply holding being present to a task as a way of being is a whole new possibility for me. It’s an “inactive act,” as you say. It does not require what we commonly call “effort.” I tend to dislike effort so much, I sometimes procrastinate or even quit instead.
Focus, an “active act,” has therefore been a challenge, especially in the realm of getting things done. Yet, with this new ground of being called Being Present, the way is pre-paved. Suddenly, “doing” Focus seems less challenging for me to bring forth from within.
In other words, and in less words, I am taking on this one-two punch of Being Present and Focus, and will practice that practice!

By: Andrea Moretti-Adimari

Andrea Moretti-Adimari — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:12:04 +0000

Thank you Suzi. Yes – a simple choice between “Fight Life to try to carve out what you want, or Surf what it presents you with to the best of your abilities, trusting that everyone will end up better off without you formally commanding the rudder”. Can be pretty scary, particularly at the beginning, hence why it’s sometimes called the Leap of Faith. Dr. Robin Skynner presents the hard data about how those who take it outperform those who don’t, in any field of human interaction, and as reason alone cannot get our clients over the chasm, only our sustained magnetic example can create that “When Harry met Sally – I would like some of that” curiosity to begin the process.

By: Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven

Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:48:01 +0000

So are you saying that if we can decrease our own emotional responses and biases we can access flow?

By: Andrea Moretti-Adimari

Andrea Moretti-Adimari — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 15:42:31 +0000

Please allow me to be a little controversial here by going even more retro than Renita . If I have a strong vision of what I want, but I’m not getting it, I may feel overwhelmed by my lack of control in attempting to secure my (metaphoric) Holy Grail. If I flip my construct from “how can this moment best serve me?” to “how can I best serve the opportunities offered to me by this unique moment based on the talents and resources within my control?”, then possibly the emotional pressures and biases will diminish, and our focus (”in da Zone”) will improve? ; 0 )

By: Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven

Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 00:57:11 +0000

What a great perspective, Renita! It IS a relief, because ultimately, we and our clients have control over where we place our attention. The trick is to remember that!

By: Renita T. Kalhorn

Renita T. Kalhorn — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 03:36:04 +0000

Overwhelm is such a modern concept. Back in the agricultural age when we were all farmers, life was linear — you couldn’t churn the butter until you had milked the cow.

Now, at any given moment, we could be working on any number of things of equally high priority. So I think the shift from overwhelm to flow (which I agree, is the antidote) begins, as Miles said, with a deliberate intention of where to focus one’s attention. And externally, nothing else needs to change — what a relief!

By: Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven

Suzi Pomerantz, Community Instigator & Resident Networking Maven — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 02:26:25 +0000

So true, Miles! I love the concept of being “cured” in an instant!

Indeed, Andrea! Congruent to your Aikido training, I often talk with my clients about “right action plus right timing = right results”.

Great distinction, Renee! I do believe you’re onto something…”flow” is the antidote to overwhelm!

By: Miles Kierson

Miles Kierson — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:36:06 +0000

My guess is you are on the right track, connecting the cause of overwhelm to not being present (I laughed when you mentioned the different meaning of the phrase “to be present” – a laughter of recognition of the differences). It seems to me, you are “in overwhelm” when you are not present to the moment and your mindspace is filled with a bunch of to-do’s in the so-called “future”. If you can just relax and be here (here!), then it is clear you can only do one thing at a time, you can pick the most important thing and do that, and then do the next thing, and then the next thing. Paradoxically, then, one can be “cured” of overwhelm in a second, but it may take some time to get a client prepared for that second. For those who have no concept of “being in the present”, it could take weeks, years, lifetimes:).

By: Andrea Moretti-Adimari

Andrea Moretti-Adimari — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 09:44:32 +0000

Thank you Suzi – I love this piece. As (ironically) per our email exchange last night, I was introduced to Aikido as part of my research on “dismantling the barriers to the right person, in the right place, at the right time, with the right feeling”. Aikido is about harnessing and guiding a positive connection – and the feed-back loop is ever so efficient – allow the slightest distraction/negativity to enter your mind mid-move, and “feedback” is provided quasi-instantaneously courtesy of the mat. So to concur with you, the paradox may be that sometimes, when most busy, the best next step may be “no step at all”, in order to allow that feeling/intuition of being present to resurface. But however much I may believe this “10/10″ in theory, boy is it proving hard to reprogramme even just my own behavioural patterns to manifest 10 out of 10 effortless connected soft landings!