The Illusion of Burn Out

It has been an insightful few weeks for me. For three months now, I have been feeling like I am working on burn-out. But when I looked at my schedule, it didn't make sense. I work between 120-160 hours a month on the average and I am very responsible about giving myself plenty of rest between appointments.

I finally got why I feel a little burned out! It was during an appointment with my endodontist, this is the same superhero I have mentioned in another column. He is a world class dentist and highly respected by other dentists in my area. I was sitting in the dentist chair as he was finishing up with a patient in the next chair. I just sat quietly and watched as he took off his gloves and gave the patient the summary of the procedure.

Then he walked over to me, put on a new pair of gloves and was ready to work on me. I was little stunned. I said, "Aren't you going to take a little break? Catch your breath?" He said, "No, I'm fine..." I asked, don't you get burned out going from one patient to the next. He said, "No, he's use it. He loves what he does..." It was like a diamond bullet piercing through me. I got in that moment that the only difference between him and me is that he has a different set of thoughts than I do!

I saw in a deeper way that when I get tired or emotionally exhausted, I have a thought that I must be burning out and then guess what? I feel like I'm burned out and that thought gets anchored in me and I continue to feel that way. Instead of not making any assessment of judgment and just taking it as signal to rest.

I spoke to of one my mentors a few days ago about this. Every time I speak to him, he's on the road working. I asked him how he did it. Isn't he getting burned out? He says, "Greg, I don't think about it! If I did I would go insane!" I got it again! He's not having thought or judgments about how he's on the road all the time. I know he takes breaks and vacations, so he is taking care of himself.

Since I had this realization, I've had more energy and no emotional stress and the work with clients has gone to a deeper level. There have been some amazing vortex experiences lately-truly awesome!

As the great philosopher, Syd Banks says, "It's all thought..." Thank you, Syd. One of the luckiest days on this earth walk was being introduced to Syd's work-truly. A Ho, Brother.

Gregory Drambour is the author of The Woodstock Bridge. The well-acclaimed book about Native American Spirituality. He is the owner of Sedona Sacred Journeys, a spiritual retreat center in Sedona, Az. He writes two columns: Sedona Vortex Stories and Sedona Retreat Stories.