It's Okay to Pause

(mouse clicking) (gentle music) Headspace Studios. (gentle music) Hello, there. It's Rosie. Welcome to Radio Headspace, and to Tuesday. So if you've been listening this week, you know I wear a lot of hats. In addition to being a mindfulness teacher here at Headspace, I'm an author, an independent podcast host, and a yoga teacher. The list goes on. As I sit here writing this episode in a themed week about progress, it got me thinking about all of the overachievers out there, myself included. So this episode is for anyone who can relate to the pressure to do it all. There's a major challenge that people who are highly motivated face, the constant drive to achieve and produce. You can call it being an overachiever, a type A personality, or having shark syndrome, which is probably my favorite description. Apparently, in order for sharks to breathe, they must constantly be in motion. For many people who have this, let's call it a trait, we've all felt the eventual spontaneous combustion of it. Finding stillness and stopping isn't quitting. It's a way for you to meet yourself where you are and learn what is working and what isn't. I went to a meetup during one of my first forays into the world of mindfulness. It was a group coaching circle that was created by one of my yogi friends in Venice Beach, California. The topic was learning how to quiet my so-called inner critic, you know that voice that tells you all the things you're supposedly doing wrong? I had recently quit my job, and I was enjoying my time being unemployed. Part of me wondered why I hadn't done it sooner. On the other hand, it had only been a few weeks, and I was already starting to feel the self-induced pressure of my mind telling me I needed to get to work. We sat on Mexican blankets near the shore, seagulls flying above as the sound of waves softly glazed the sand. Ocean air permeated our senses as we listened to the lead speaker. "Whatever words we utter should be chosen with care," she said, a quote from the Buddha. Then she went on to say that our inner critic judges our actions and our feelings, and we sometimes think we need to be tough on ourselves to get motivated, but rarely is that the case. She continued talking about how the better care we take of ourselves, the easier it will be to devote our attention to what matters most. When we create space and begin to practice self-care, we encourage ourselves to achieve with kindness, with endearment, and without judgment. I thought of this as I sat on this idyllic beach, judging myself on how and why I shouldn't be sitting at the beach, listening to this lady talk about self-compassion and kindness. The irony wasn't lost on me, but after the lecture, life soon took a turn, and self-compassion fell by the wayside. Years later,...