Extraordinary Escapes
Apologies for borrowing your programme title, Channel 4!
I happened to catch an episode of Sandi Toksvig’s wonderful TV Series ‘Extraordinary Escapes with Sandi Toksvig’.
She took Eddie Izzard (now known as Susie Izzard) to Ireland, and they stayed in three amazing out-of-the-way, unique, quirky, places.
The one in West Cork was a treehouse.
I focused on their reactions to nature. Particularly Susie’s. She is very driven. Despite now being hugely successful, with lots of work lined up, she keeps driving herself on. A fear of having no work, perhaps a fear of being ‘idle’. Nothing to do.
Sandi Toksvig challenged her, in the most gentlest of ways: ‘Surely you can relax more now; you’re so successful. People love you.’ But no….that felt impossible.
There’s something about being in the depths of nature, where we experience awe, and we’re able to be still. And experience peace. I could see it in Susie’s face.
And Sandi DID achieve her mini-mission of enabling Susie to truly relax and switch off, and be content doing absolutely nothing (with her feet soaking in a basin of water packed with herbs picked out of the organic garden).
Susie said several times during the programme: ‘I need to do this more. Just stop.’
We can have micro moments in our days, of stopping, noticing something, feeling awe or happiness or gratitude. Or we can plan for more sustained periods of this, by going on holiday, or a weekend away, or a retreat, or a long hike.
And switching off is not easy. Even if we really want to, if we know intellectually that it is a good thing to do, our Mind is very effective at helping us to NOT do it!
‘Sure you can switch off in a minute, when you’ve done this….’
‘You’ll forget if you don’t do this now.’
‘Doing nothing is BORING!!’
‘Wonder if you’ve got any messages?’
‘Wonder if x replied to that email?’
‘Ah, I’ll just make a cup of tea…’
And so it goes…
(I know, because this is me.)
We all know we are so distracted by our phones and social media these days. On a ‘bad’ day I find myself constantly checking WhatsApp, emails and LinkedIn. It feeds the dopamine hit! It’s easier than doing something in the moment that feels ….what? Less satisfying, takes more effort, more thought, more courage perhaps.
And we live in a culture which just LOVES productivity!
Gotta ‘do, do, do’. And the satisfaction of that!
And productivity is needed, it’s necessary, it’s just it shouldn’t define every waking moment. That’s not good for us.
Our culture doesn’t support us to ‘be’. To rest.
‘Rest is radical.’
I love this podcast: Hurry Slowly by Jocelyn K. Glei. The latest episode ‘Dawning Awareness’ is an interesting listen. She reflects on how our obsession with the intellect cuts us off from deeper consciousness & insight. It’s a lovely, gentle challenge.
‘Intellect’ and ‘Productivity’ only get us so far. For years, if not decades, organisations have been decrying the lack of creativity, left-field thinking, big picture thinking and long term thinking in their leaders. And leadership models, and competencies, talk about being able to hold and work with complexity, see the interconnections, think and act systemically, even….use intuition.
These capacities are not encouraged by a frazzled mind.
In a coaching conversation yesterday I found myself saying ‘We should mandate that leaders spend 20 minutes every morning watching the bees circling the tree.’ (The coachee had found himself doing that, with a cup of coffee, in his garden, before going to work…saying he could have stayed there all day. Just watching the bees. Would that have been such a bad thing? What if we lived in a world where that was encouraged for senior, smart, caring leaders??)
I mentioned before that I’m running an Executive Retreat in West Cork 1st-4th September. An opportunity for senior folk, leaders in all walks of life, to take time out and be in nature. Be in a quiet space. Be looked after. Have time to think, to talk, to pause, to wonder, to imagine. To be fascinated ….by nature, by others, by one’s own mind. To come away replenished, challenged, with a new resolve to do something different, or live differently.
Anyone interested will have a conversation with me in the first instance, to ensure the Retreat is a good fit. Do get in touch, or pass this to a coaching client, colleague, friend, who you think would find value in such a retreat. It will be a very precious experience.
Get in touch: wendy@wendyrobinson.org
‘Til next time….Go Well
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