‘It’s good we don’t get stressed isn’t it?’ I mentioned to Anadi ,as we sat having our breakfast in Mettricks in Southampton for the second day running…
We had enjoyed a mini break in Southampton where I ran the Southampton Parkrun on the Saturday morning, and then on Sunday, led the warm up for the ‘RunThrough’ Southampton 10k to both the senior race and the children’s race…
I loved every minute of each occasion; and although I like to do my best, in all that I do – I learnt a long time ago that ‘getting stressed’ does not help with this!
In fact, tension not only spoils the occasion but generally makes me perform worse rather than better! Tension blocks the flow of energy…
I am grateful to Miss Mumford!
She was the headmistress of our junior school, and she encouraged us all – from a very young age – to speak in public; we took it in turns to read in Assembly, to say Grace before and after lunch – and numerous plays and events were rehearsed and rehearsed for proud parents to attend…
She also pushed us to take initiative in our lives (there was even an ‘initiative badge’!) with projects and ideas…
I remember a project that my best friend Wendy and I undertook – We decided we would design our own fashion clothes… We drew them all out, and even suggested all the fabrics they were to be made in….
We then sent our ideas to Simpsons of Piccadilly
We were about nine, or perhaps ten years old and we were delighted when we received a response from Simpsons…. They didn’t use our designs!
But they did invite us up to Simpsons to see how everything was made…!
Miss Mumford also had a belief that having nerves before speaking in public was selfish!
She said it showed that we were thinking about ourselves rather than the audience who we were giving to…
We should be only thinking about them!
As the years have gone by I have heard her words at a deeper and deeper level.
Attachment to the self we identify with – who has to perform and achieve – can ironically mean we lose our true self; whereas the more we clear the tension and attachment to outcome, the more we can enjoy all we do…
We can truly connect with and think of others, rather than being absorbed by the self we identify with who needs affirmation at the ego level.
When we know who we truly are, then our energy flows, and everything is a joyous expression of our soul in motion through this body.
The temple of our soul….
