The Motions
Successfully Going Through
“It sounds like someone needs a nap.”
Growing up, this was a common refrain in my household.
Parents will recognize the logic — sometimes a The moody person is simply tired.
As an adult, this recognition in oneself can be harder to recognize, and even harder to act upon.
For starters, we don’t have the luxury. It’s not feasible to walk away from work, say, to take a half hour to rest.
But more than that, whatever stresses we’re facing will still be there even if we were to take a break.
This is where the clutch becomes infinitely valuable to me.
Whereas before I was pushing, pushing, working combatively toward what I believed needed to be done immediately, I can take a moment to remove a bunch of unnecessary pressure.
Whatever five things were pressing on me, I can free up cognitive and physical space by realizing “now is not the time for all of these things.”
“Now is the time that I can focus on just this one thing.”
And focus doesn’t need to be forced.
One can simply set the intention to go through the motion, realigning the body to perform only the requisite task.
Now the energy required is much less, and the task can be performed more gracefully, and with less strain.
Because sometimes the motions are all that’s required — and when I can break everything down to this one essential thing, I find I have energy stores of which I was previously unaware.
A lot of the actual energy I was spending was being wasted on fretting — the fallacious belief that I was going to suddenly be freed of all of my stress if I just did the one correct thing.
But life isn’t like that. Many of the “things” need to be put on back-burners awaiting the appropriate moment.
Let the unconscious deal with all of that. Right now, I am confronted with this one simple task.
How easy! And yet how difficult to arrive at this moment.
This is what has been conventionally called Mindfulness, a useful skill that has been homogenized by corporate fads, but which still packs a punch.
If you’ve been around Buddhist circles, as I have, you may have heard a common refrain which breaks this down in another way.
“Not too tight, not too loose.”
If the string on a violin is strung too tight, the pitch will be sharp — and you could break a string that way.
If it’s too loose, no music.
That’s why the Buddha practiced the Middle Way. Translations of the eight-fold path often begin with the word “Right,” as in “correct” or “proper.”
We must have “appropriate” concentration, “appropriate” effort, “appropriate” action.
In sobriety circles, this is talked about in terms of being “right-sized” — sacrificing an element of the ego in order to establish a more peaceful composure and “giving it [the worry and the fearful assumptions] up to God.”
Easier said than done, I know, I know. Which is why the visualization of pressing my foot down onto the clutch has been so helpful for me.
This imaginal power works on the psyche much more quickly and efficiently than rational thought.
Too many thoughts, too much confusion.
I hope that this message finds you well, and that you are successful in confronting stress today.
If not, maybe you just need a nap. Tomorrow’s another day.
With fond wishes and a true desire for your peace and happiness, I am Yours, Appropriately, Aaron