Kitty Rhythms

We don't have kids, we have cats.  Our cats get as much attention as your kids.  As their moods go, so goes our household.  Sound familiar?

Our cats, Sammy and Sprocket, are siblings.  You would never know from looking at them individually.  You can tell when you see them grooming each other or playing together.  Lately, however, they have been agitated & moody, shifting from playful pals to fierce combatants.  Needless to say this does not promote harmony in the household.

Today I stumbled onto something helpful to them and useful to us two-legged types.  We have been keeping the cats indoors due to the wet and stormy weather.  This morning I let them out, despite the weather, thinking it would help them work out the excess energy they have been taking out on each other.  Then I left to run an errand.  When I returned an hour later I expected them to still be out exploring.  Surprisingly, they had both come back inside and were napping peacefully in their favorite spots.

This got me to thinking.  Perhaps what they needed had less to do with burning off excess energy and more to do with allowing them to express their natural rhythms. What if the real problem was not having the freedom to do/be what their bodies wanted in the moment?

When we were in Tanzania last year we were intrigued to watch the natural rhythms of each animal.  The lions, for example, are mostly active in the early evening or at night.  During the day they nap and play.  This is their natural rhythm.  We learned from our guide that when they hunt their physiological systems ramp up (think: intense focus, raised heart rate, adrenaline, etc).  This process takes them to peak performance for the hunt.  However, it is also stressful on their bodies.  They are designed to peak for the hunt, then to calm down, feast, rest & play.  

As humans, we are governed by similar processes.  No matter how different we are from other animals, we are animals nonetheless — our thinking brains don’t change our core physiology.  Like the lions, our bodies are designed for peaks of physiological performance and periods of rest and rejuvenation — in the same day.  We now know that It is physiologically stressful and unhealthy for us to be focused throughout a full day.  “Wait” you say, “I’m not chasing zebras or gazelles here!”  Interestingly, the mere act of mental focus and emotional stress have the same effect on our system.  The same response is triggered by hunching in front of your computer as you read an email or squint at your smart phone as you send that text.  And that is before we factor in the content of the messages (that flame mail or cover-my-butt text).  In other words, our bodies aren’t built for what our days demand of most of us.

No wonder we are often stressed, tired, drained or grouchy by the end of the day.  

As humans we can circumvent our natural rhythms — using technology, stimulating food/drink, and sheer will power, to help us push through.  But we can’t avoid the hidden costs to our health, creativity, and ultimately, to our productivity.

So what can you do?  There isn’t an easy answer to that question but here are few places to look:

1. Discover your natural rhythm — learn the times you are most creative, focused, curious or compassionate, and the times you aren’t.  Pay attention to how your body works by tracking when you have more energy and when you have less.  Schedule your most important meetings for your peak hours.
2. Take breaks whenever you can.  Take lunch.  With a friend.  Talk about something besides work.  Drink a lot of water so your body has what it needs AND then you will take frequent pee breaks (seriously — this works!).
3. Learn to center and relax.  Even a few seconds spent slowing and deepening your breath and softening your eyes can be a big relief and will reduce the impacts of hyper-focus.  Learn techniques for being relaxed, present and open, while in the heat of the action.
4. Walk and talk.  Invite your 1:1 meetings to take a walk with you.  Research shows that moving in nature while working will reduce your stress and increase creativity and connection.
5. Limit your screen time.  Squinting at a computer or smart phone triggers stress in your body.  Fight the trend of checking your phone every moment you can.  
6. Play like the lions.  Smile, laughter and playfulness are powerful antidotes to stress and taking yourself too seriously.

Those of you that are familiar with our offerings know that our approach to coaching and courses is designed to help you discover and leverage your natural rhythm, especially our Body of a Leader course (wait-listed for Oct), Coaching With Horses sessions, and Leadership Journeys.

Images: 1) Sammy and Sprocket in loving sibling mode.  2) Lions lounging in Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania.  3) Our clients seeking their natural rhythm on the Leadership Journey to Patagonia in March. 4) Mandy practices deep connection in a Coaching With Horses session.  All images (c) John McConnell.