As I said in an older post, success is not a straight, upward arrow, it has its detours, peaks and valleys, different speeds and times of stagnation. While this goes on, the beauty of it all is that you’re still going “up” and improving, even though when in the process, it seems imperceptible.

I recently have felt lacking motivation/enthusiasm on some professional and personal fronts, after a quite happy, carefree and quiet summer. I’m not surprised, I was running a long streak of high days, I have expanded my business noticeably this year, hosted two retreats, spent many days at the beach living my best life, nurtured even more my morning practices, gone a lot slower and been overall more intentional with my time and energy, applying boundaries and learning the art of non doing, especially in love, allowing people in and out of my life without forcing connections to stay.

I do feel there are times of expansion, where we push forward, we grow, we experience change, we apply what we learn … and then, nothing. Lol.

Then there is what I call the “contraction”. We feel the pull to go back to old ways. Rekindle old flames. Repeat the patterns. Or simply, nothing happens. We’re bored. We drag through the week. We spend way too many hours online. We contract, we revert to what we don’t technically wish to do. We get lazy, we get confused and tired. Nothing exciting on the horizon.

I feel the issue here is partly that, we only think expansion to be the “positive/noticeable/tangible” aspect of growth and improvement. But the contraction time is equally important. To me it’s a moment of assessment. Of digestion. Of absorption. We gotta stop, slow down, do nothing. We gotta let ourself be.

This is the time we need grace, lightness and not impose anything on ourselves, without guilt (very hard living in a society where “being busy” is equal for “I’m doing great”). This is not an excuse to drawn in negative emotions… more like, REST. As me and my friend Candis call it, thanks to Osho: “Sitting in the shade”.

You could say “well, I still gotta do shit and work Sofia!” And I’m not saying literally quit working or taking care of what you need to take care of. This is more about your attitude, being ok with not having plans for once, sitting a whole afternoon at home on your couch, not knowing what you’ll do next. Being, resting the body and the mind. Giving yourself permission to do whatever without the “I should be doing that instead…”. It’s not as easy as you think ahah.

The same way the ocean wave extents to the shore, covering as much sand as it can, it then needs to retract. It needs to rest, return, recoil. It needs to come back home to push itself out again, and keep on going.

The same way the heart pumps blood, there is no pushing blood out into the body without the contraction of its ventricles. There is a perfect need and place for both.

The same way a hug is powerful, there are arms extending forward, there is contraction of two bodies together, then there is a release to follow.

Breathing isn’t any different. The contraction and expansion of your diaphragm allows the air to flow in and out of you.

Life teaches us there is expansion and there is contraction, and we suffer most when we fight either one.

I don’t battle with these moments of rest now. As long as I’m aware of them, I’m not banging my head on the wall about it… the momentum will pick back up again.

I’ve been here before, just the past times I didn’t have this “bird’s eye view” about it. It’s the flow of life: I’m assimilating recent information, thoughts and ideas, preparing for new expansion. This is done in rest. It is extremely true for creative people as I like to call myself.

I’ve done way too much tripping in my life and not the fun kind lol.

So I’m gonna accept the moment as it is, aware of the perfection of being in “contraction mode”. It means there will be more expansion next. I sit here and I am in awe because even if I’m not feeling motivated I’m still happy and grateful in this moment of peace and silence.

A new wave is always coming.