It’s important that we remind ourselves to slow down. In the mornings we try to get out of the house as fast as possible to get to our jobs. During our workday, we often rush from one task to the next. In the afternoons, we try to get home by the quickest route.
I understand you are a working professional with a family. Work and family responsibilities can make it difficult to understand the concept of simplicity. I work a full-time job, manage a business, and partner with my wife to raise three children. Like you, many of my days are busy.
Despite our full schedules, we must discover how to create more simple and fulfilling lives. Simplicity holds weight. A recent trip helped me to revisit these ideas that I lost in the transition from full-time entrepreneur to employee.
Two weeks ago, I traveled from Antigua to the United States for a Capoeira Batizado.
A literal translation of the word batizado is baptism. In the Capoeira community, a batizado is a multiple day conference full of training workshops and a closing ceremony. The United Capoeira Association (UCA) – Hayward branch hosted their annual batizado March 6 – 9, 2019.
Throughout the weekend, I enjoyed having the opportunity to train Capoeira and learn new concepts. It had been some time since I took a formal class. The workshops challenged my physical endurance and mental stamina.
Capoeira classes offered during a batizado weekend can serve as the perfect training to develop the skill of being more mindful. In a typical class, students are required to move in alignment with the model presented by a senior instructor. You may also learn a song or play a musical instrument. This process of teaching your body and mind to submit forces you to slow down and think.
If you want to learn the movement or song presented in a batizado workshop, you must be willing to do something different.
You cannot rush through the concept and expect to recall it later in an application setting. Complying with the teacher's instructions is essential.
Participating in Capoeira or making simplicity one of your life values doesn’t mean that you stop using your critical thinking skills. In this blog post, I am calling you to embrace a more mindful approach of how you live your life.
Don't confuse productivity with being busy. Make time to appreciate the everyday miracles of life. If the sun is shining or it's cloudy outside, value the blessing to breathe in air and live on this planet.
The feelings I express in this piece, did not come overnight. On multiple occasions, I have adopted the wrong types of priorities. From my failures, I developed a set of critical skills for growth in my personal and professional life. In my online self-paced course, I expand on lessons similar to this post.
It’s urgent that you enroll today and explore the possibilities for your life one day at a time.