Pattern interrupt

Pattern interrupt.

There’s something delightful about stepping outside of routine and doing things differently. Interrupting our regular patterns with something interesting or beautiful or curious or nurturing.

It’s also sometimes quite hard to do, given that it’s easy to get into ruts and routines, and the point of a rut or a routine is that you don’t have to think about it. And if you’re not thinking about what you’re doing, it’s hard to make a choice to do things a different way.

Which is why it’s useful sometimes to enlist support to interrupt our patterns.

I remember an afternoon a good friend gently reminded me that I’d asked her, if she saw me getting stuck in my habit of enduring my way through my to do list and through my day, to suggest that I go for a walk around the block.

So I walked around the block and noticed things.

I noticed how the sun was directly overhead and my shadow was a tiny puddle around my feet. I noticed the mango trees dripping with fruit that will be ripe soon. I noticed the houses that haven’t been painted in a while, colours faded in the sun. I noticed the lines of the blades of long grass going brown. I noticed the vibrant magenta red of new frangipani flowers; the shining green of fresh leaves.

I came home and felt better.

I’ve been tired lately, which compounds the challenge in doing something outside of the regular routine I’ve fallen into, of putting off leaving the house until tomorrow (the kind of tomorrow that’s always tomorrow and never actually arrives).

So again I enlisted support and made a commitment to meet a friend for a walk on the beach.

We walked and talked and noticed things.

The sea washing our feet like a warm bath. A rainbow in the distance, just for us. A few drops of rain. A sand dollar. A tangle of shells and stones and driftwood along the tide line. The wind on our skin. How calming it is, to walk barefoot on the sand in good company.

We walked back to our cars and felt better.

More and more lately I’m interrupting my ingrained patterns of just getting on with things in a checked out kind of way. Taking breaks to move my body, taking breaks to notice things, taking breaks to do things that feel nourishing like a quick dip in next door’s pool or standing under the outdoor shower for a minute or three.

It’s making a world of difference to how I feel in the quiet moments of my day. I’m replacing a braced feeling of endurance, of ‘gotta get through this’ with a relaxed feeling of calm and ease. I feel looked after, and looked after is a nice way to feel. And it’s nice to be doing it with the support of good friends.

Need a pattern interrupt for your soul? For some or all of the routine of your life? Message me and let’s talk. I have space for a few new clients this month - no pressure to commit to anything, just a conversation to explore where you’re at, where you’d like to be, and what you might need to do next to make it happen.