Stillness: an upside-down New Year’s resolution

A favorite phrase of mine has always been Giddy up. 

As a boy, I grew up having the opportunity to ride horses. Because of my father’s polio, mobility mattered greatly to him, including riding horses. He loved riding a horse and they brought him much happiness throughout his life. I have many fond memories of riding and caring for horses with him. 

When riding a horse, there are moments between their gaits (walk, trot, canter, and gallop) where you feel their energy coming into your body through the saddle and reigns. The tensing of muscles and the release of energy into motion. This sensation is heightened as you hear the sound generated by their hooves connecting with the earth. You can hear and feel this connection. Part of the exhilaration in riding a horse comes when the beat of their hooves changes as they transition their gait from stillness to walk, walk to trot, trot to canter, and canter to gallop. Giddy up!

For me and perhaps for you, this felt energy is similar to the energy received when working with and helping others. As a social Enneagram 2 (my Enneagram type and subtype often called the Considerate Helper) and Process Consultant, I enjoy working with leaders on their individual as well as organizational leadership journeys. This journey creates energy that flows through our conversation and is directed towards them and their organization, creating a pathway to transformation.

This process is exhilarating and sometimes draining. I’m sure that you can name a part of your work where this is true for you as well. During the past several years, I’ve noticed in my work with leaders (and indeed within myself) the desire and need to slow down. To be still. Just as a horse reverses the order of their gait, we too can slow down and be still. 

Many leaders have become tired. The cause of their tiredness comes from a host of places and is varied among them. All of which can make addressing their tiredness difficult to name, understand, counteract.

In Pico Iyer’s book The Art of Stillness, he shares “In an age of speed, I began to think, nothing could be more invigorating than going slow. In an age of distraction, nothing could feel more luxurious than paying attention. And in an age of constant movement, nothing is more urgent than sitting still.”

As you are reading this blog, your own tiredness may come to mind...even at the start of  new year. What is the fatigue your body is holding in this very moment? What is it telling you? Do you know where your tiredness is coming from and why it is present?

How might you nurture restoration? It is essential to rest.

When we are still, we allow our mind, body, and spirit to recover its true form and become whole again. Just like a horse can’t sustain a gallop, our bodies cannot sustain the stress and strain of constant work day after day after day. 

Again from Iyer, "Researchers in the new field of interruption science have found that it takes and average of twenty-five minutes to recover from a phone call. Yet such interruptions come every eleven minutes—which means we're never caught up with our lives."

We experience this lack of recovery when we have back to back Zoom calls throughout our day. We never have the opportunity to rest. Yikes!

I readily admit that I am not good at being still or at resting, remember Giddy Up. I do continue to learn more about resting and practice stillness every day. It does make a huge difference.

As Tricia Hersey describes in Rest is Resistance taking time to rest helps liberate ourselves from capitalism and white supremacy culture. Embodying rest and stillness can be difficult to do and why we need guides like Hersey and Iyer. 

I’m learning that stillness is at the center of my leadership journey. Perhaps it is at the center of your journey as well.

Stillness is part of mastering oneself and impacts everything you do. When we are still, we can more easily access our core underlying purpose in life. When we are still and rested we are able to consider how to do our work more wisely, more justly, and with more compassion. Stillness creates space to listen, to think, to remember, and to wonder.

Let's take a time out to remember the imperative of stillness. Stillness has the power to restore our energy, to remind us of what is most important in life, and to recapture what has been lost.

To that I must ask, can I get an AMEN? AMEN.

Through this special edition of A Cause Greater, I announce an upcoming retreat for those (like me) who want to learn more about how to rest. I’ve partnered with Naomi Wenger, the former co-director of The Hermitage, who is an experienced guide and has led countless retreats on stillness and rest. 

We will be hosting this retreat at GilChrist, the Fetzer Institute’s retreat center located in Three Rivers Michigan, on 7 and 8 May 2024. If you are interested in learning more, please send me an e-mail through the Comment section below. 

Mind how you go,

Lon

Lon L. Swartzentruber

Design Group International
CEO & Managing Partner

PS: Later this month we will pick back up our leadership development series by taking a deeper dive into developing your enterprise skills.

PSS: If you would like to talk with me about your leadership journey, please give me a call me at 616.516.9870, or schedule a 30-minute discovery call , or simply email me at lons@designgroupintl.com.

If you wanted to go deeper, please read:

Rest is Resistance by Tricia Hersey

The Art of Stillness by Pico Iyer

An Ocean of Light by Martian Laird

Crisis Contemplation by Barbara A. Holmes