When you’re under pressure, your ears close, making it almost impossible to hear the very things which could help you most. This is natural. Your body is preparing to run or fight. But what will serve you best is to stay calm in the face of adversity, and to plan for your well-being. In this brief post, we will examine how to slow down and listen, even when you feel the panic rising.

You want to run.

Whether it’s a deep frustration with your romantic partner, pressure at work, or angst about the overall wellness of the world and your place in it, you can get into a pretty deep rut rather fast. 

And when you’re in that rut, it’s hard to listen and make a plan to stay well. 

How can you overcome the panic?

Which brings us to today’s topic.

How can you slow down and listen when you want to run away?

You’re a man of action. You want to see results to your pressing problems now. You don’t want to wait for the active listening required to understand the problems you face at a deep level. Even the thought of slowing to listen may make your eyes roll.

What you want is quick relief. Of course you do. Who enjoys being in pain? For pain it is. Deep emotional pain, making your chest tight and your head ache, as you harken to a well of pain from your past which dogs you, especially when things aren’t going well in your present. 

So you are listening, aren’t you? You are listening to those negative voices of judgment and regret which dog you daily. 

What would help you most at this moment, though, is to open your ears to the positive voices of possibility which at the moment seem so distant and far away.

Tune your ear to a better channel.

Yet even now, there are channels within you and outside of you which can help you, if you will tune in to those frequencies. 

For example: If you are having a hard time with your romantic partner at the moment, harken to better times with them. Again, this may sound naïve, but stay with me for a moment. 

Being far from naïve, this kind of listening can guide you right now. I am not saying you will be able to find peace and joy with your partner at this moment. What I am saying is that there is within you something with that person which was once new and wonderful. And the person you were then, the person who had that experience, is still there inside of you, albeit buried at the moment. 

And when you harken to this positive voice, what you realize is that you are still that wonderful person who was once deeply in love. Which means that what you want is still alive within you.

So:

Rather than focusing on the current pain, you could choose instead to focus on the desire to rekindle that flame again. And once you strike that match, your desire has the potential to begin the thaw you so desperately want, starting deep within you.

You see the difference, don’t you?

Instead of chipping away at the ice from the outside, you’ve rekindled the fire inside. And this is just one example of how to slow down and listen, when you feel the panic rising.

Start small.

As always, start small. What you need right now is a win, however small, to encourage you to keep moving forward, even when the day feels dark and you wonder if this ice will ever melt.

The takeaway:

When you feel the panic rising, slow down and listen to the voices which even now want to help you.

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I’m here to help you focus, overcome resistance, and make progress in this area.

If you’d like some help, take the small step today of booking a free thirty minute session either in person or over the phone.

You will have my undivided attention, with expert support and a clear path forward, with no obligation beyond the thirty minute session.