When You’re Still Enough to Hear the Dough Rise
Are you connected with your feelings?
Here’s a cautionary tale about what happens when we become disconnected to our feelings, and hold emotional stress within the body without realising it. It isn’t until we stop, until we pause, until we are still, that the strain on our body comes back into our awareness.
In my case, it came from left field in a whisper… from the dough…
Profound and Bizarre
It took me totally off guard.
It felt so profound, that after it happened, I flipped the lid of my laptop and started typing, hoping to capture the essence of the moment.
I actually heard the dough rise.
I definitely know that a number of you will relate to this and suspect there may be a few of you who might also hear something of yourself in my sharing of this experience. Let me know if you do!
Let me explain
Allow me a few moments to set the scene. I decided that I would have a “flexi”-admin day: I absolutely MUST get some business and life-admin done, but I’m also feeling stretched pretty thin, so as something I’ve been really working on, self-care might be a good idea.
My plan for the day was thus: get one child ready and off to school, prepare home-schooling for the other, set 1 hour aside to go to the gym, do all the washing, while washing is in make some bread with home-schooling child, when dough is proving, hang up and sort/put away washing plus run the hoover round the house and clean the dishes, then… then… then… And all before 2pm.
Firstly, you can see the glaringly obvious procrastination to avoid the ESSENTIAL admin. Secondly, it sounds a smidge on the busy side. Thirdly, there is hardly ANY time to pause, recharge, HYDRATE (I know, I know, hypocrite or what?!), or nourish myself.
After bread-making with my super tall sous chef, I was about to race on to the next “activity” on my list while the dough proved. Feeling slightly weary, I realised that I hadn’t eaten yet (now 1pm…). I leant against the worktop, head hanging down, and took a deep breath, paused, girding my loins to begin what now felt like the mammoth task of making myself breakfast… or brunch… or was it lunch now?
And THAT is when I heard it.
In that tiny pause, the breath, the stillness, I heard it. The gentle popping and crackling of the air bubbles in the dough as it rose.
I stopped and listened. The most soothing symphony of delicate pops and crackles, felt like my nerves had been wrapped in a soft fluffy blanket, soothing my core.
In that moment, I chose to just sit and listen.
For those 30 seconds, I felt calm, peaceful, and allowed myself to be. Allowed myself to feel soothed, and give permission to pause, just for a little while. Consciously choosing to cherish this mindful moment, my striving for maximum productivity for the day (still not having done any of the admin…) could wait.
Giving emotion the freedom to flow
As most of us will have experienced at some point, while there is such beauty and grace in these nourishing pockets of peaceful inactivity, occasionally, when one pauses, that is when the emotions come out…
This. Is. OKAY.
Without going too deep into the science of emotional dysregulation, burnout, effects of stress on the body, repressing feelings and emotions, and so on, to put it simply, this is the body’s way of letting out what has been so tightly knotted up, pushed down, or held in.
For many, the instinct is to brush away the emotion, package oneself back together toot sweet, and get on with the rest of the day is the more familiar option. But we can forget that this is an option. Sometimes this is appropriate, but when you find yourself in a place or space where you are able to give yourself permission to feel, letting the emotions flow, letting go of the additional burden you have been carrying around for so long can feel super relieving. You do not have to carry everything with you all of the time. If there is something emotionally that you are unable to let go of and let it pass or flow, putting it down for a short while will always help.
Being still long enough to hear the dough rising, I can honestly say that I genuinely feel better and have built up a bit of resilience to continue with the rest of the day; albeit, reframed slightly to slow the pace, have something to eat and drink, and yes, conquer the admin!
The sheepish revelation
Amusingly, the reason I chose the name Hummingbird for the business is because these tiny birds work so hard and fast, but HAVE to have strength in the stillness, in the pause, in order to drink nectar from a plant, recharge, and nourish themselves.
I think we can agree, how easy it is to forget to gather strength from the stillness, and power in the pause, amidst the hustle and bustle of living.
Your Gentle Reminder:
So, here is your reminder for today:
- Give yourself permission to rest.
- Remember to breathe.
- Take a pause to be in the stillness when possible (even if it is just for 30 seconds).
