A hard stop, mentally and physically, can be good for you

If someone told you you need to slow down, you may agree and even say, “yeah, you’re probably right.” But what if they told you to stop? That may be a different story. There is a natural inclination to keep moving and doing, isn’t there? Perhaps somehow, we’ve come to associate the idea of stopping with laziness, sloth and being unmotivated. But what if intentional stopping breeds more health, wealth and better relationships?

But beware: you still need to take responsibility and certain actions in this world. However, doing, doing, doing for the sake of doing yields little real gain. What happens, for example, when you’re overly driven about a project? You run out of ideas. You make mistakes. You deplete your energy. Let’s look at health, too. Most medical experts would agree that moderate exercise and a reasonable diet are good strategies to better health. But what if you overdo exercise to an extreme and restrict your body of needed nutrients? You exhaust your body. What do you get then? You end up with the unintended consequence of ill health. In that case, you may be forced to stop. Sometimes, you need a hard stop. You need time to be truly still, to rest and refresh. When you physically stop your body, you allow the body’s innate wisdom to come into play. You, nor your body, are a machine.

If you are in a negative relationship pattern, you are required to stop and assess. Instead of driving forward in unconscious, unskillful ways, stop and consider how you can alter your approach. The same can be true of patterns with money and finances. Stopping involves stepping back and doing an inventory in terms of what is working and what is not. Then take action steps toward needed change.

How do you know if you need to exethat cute a stop? Look at the symptoms are being presented to you in various areas. Then experiment with stopping today for a period of time for improved results.

For The AJC Angela and Dennis Buttimer