THE ROOT 9: 45.1 | On Pressure and Permission

On Jan 10th, I went to Red Mint in SF for my first acupuncture session. It was a (surprisingly) calming experience (for someone who typically fears needles) because of how customized it felt. Since I was feeling a bit nervous, my practitioner and I spent the first portion of the appointment (both while we were putting needles in & after) just chatting. When she asked what brought me in, I explained that I wanted to release some physical tension I fet I was carrying - but I had a hypothesis that a lot of that tightness was driven by internal pressures I tend to put on myself.

Our conversation turned toward increasing standards for productivity in our world and how these expectations tend to let us lose sight of what we can control: our agency over pressure. She said the sentence I paraphrased above and the principle stuck with me: while we often face or even create pressure, we also hold the power to give ourselves permission.

Pressure can take many forms, but it can frequently be linked to a fear of failure, but permission can create a psychological safety net. When we give ourselves the grace to fail, we may become more keen to taking risks. We start to view our personal growth with more compassion rather than through a lens of strict achievement. We have the authority to grant ourselves the right to rest, the space to pivot, grace to fail, or the power to say no.

Intention for the Week: Remind yourself that when you feel pressure you can also grant yourself permission to approach it with more flexibility, grace or self-compassion.