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Change, Expertise

11 September 2020

Expertise

How to refocus on what’s important?

The Covid-19 crisis has swept you up in a frenetic, exhausting whirlwind. But here you are. You didn’t flinch; you remained grounded. Be sure to continue to nurture this sense of balance, however, because it won’t withstand these turbulent times without help.

The Covid-19 crisis has given you the time and/or desire to gain some perspective and to listen to that little voice that tells you what you really want, deep down. In many people, lockdown has triggered a new, internal dynamic, the gap between hope and reality being a source of imbalance – suffering, even – that they wish to address. But to develop your full potential, you need to delve deeper into your new internal dynamic. How can you create new goals, new ways of doing things that are more in line with who you are, so as to more calmly navigate the period of uncertainty that lies ahead? You need to become grounded

Hold firm in troubled times

Being grounded cannot be defined; you experience it through your physical feelings, your emotional reactions, and your thoughts. Just as a ship stabilizes itself using an anchor, however bad the weather, you are grounded when you are steady, calm, and open to whatever comes your way, even when cast into troubled waters.

Synonymous with alignment and presence, grounding enables you to fully assume your place in the present moment, aware of your beliefs, emotions, and behavior, and to ensure that whatever you do is a conscious choice – and not an automatic reaction to past events. You display flexibility and strength; there is coherence in your words and deeds. Grounding also makes you more welcoming and better at listening to others, with whom you interact and establish a constructive dialog without becoming overly emotional and whose differences you respect.

When you are grounded you are also more likely to react appropriately to a situation. You are able to define your priorities and are not at the mercy of your inner turmoil or external events. By connecting with who you really are, you will become freer from your conditioning and emotions; you will be able to take full responsibility for your own life.

Switching off your ego

There are pitfalls along the road to becoming grounded. Among them are traps set by your own ego. Paule Boury-Giroud, founder and manager of Corporate Coaching & Conseil, uses a metaphor inspired by Taoism about the path of life. “We are like a carriage, drawn by two horses with a coachman at the reins, going down a road full of potholes, bumps, and stones. Inside is a passenger who remains hidden. The carriage represents our body – which we need to look after – and the two horses are our emotions. The coachman represents our mind, our consciousness – let’s say, our ego. It is under the illusion it is driving the horses. The mystery passenger is our inner guide, pushed out of the way, although it was the passenger who assigned the destination.

Excerpt from Business Digest N°308, July – August 2020

Tagged with: satisfaction, serenity, habit, performance, creativity, anchoring, motivation, productivity, priority, émotion, listening, stability, routine, confidence, freedom, break, time, rhythms, Covid, crisis

Published by Françoise Tollet

She spent 12 years in industry, working for Bolloré Technologies, among others. She co-founded Business Digest in 1992 and has been running the company since 1998. And she took the Internet plunge in 1996, even before coming on board as part of the BD team. 