Later

Greetings all,

May is flying by with so much activity it seems as soon as I get a blog post done it is time to write another.  Topics continue to come sometimes at the last minute sometimes they just occur to me in mid conversation, and this week's focus is certainly one of those.

I've been on the move the past few months between speaking engagements, teaching, writing and this weekend I am performing my first marriage ceremony.  I have been repeatedly saying,  "I'll be much more relaxed after _____ is done."  This is generally true however today when I was talking to a friend about all my upcoming projects it struck me in a slightly different way.  I was effectively telling myself I would be anxious or unable to relax until my next task was done.  Do you see the potential problem here?  There is always another task, in my case another dozen or so.  I like to have my hands in a lot of pots at once.  (That works as a metaphor or literally when I am doing ceramic work).

If you make the condition of relaxation dependent on the completion of all your tasks you will never relax.  There is a saying I've heard bandied about quite a bit by hard core type A personalities.  "I'll sleep when I'm dead."  It's this kind of toxic bullshit that makes life miserable.  Productivity is all fine and good, but if you can't take a moment and breathe or relax while you are getting things done you will be "sleeping" quite a bit sooner than you'd like.  There is a time for bustle and giving it all you got and more, but those times should be infrequent.  Whatever happened to whistling while you worked?  Where is the flow?

I often wonder if I get all hyped up in order to stave off procrastination.  It seems like the opposite of the bustle on the surface as if it would be relaxing.  It isn't.  My mind always knows what I should be doing.  For me personally it's not as if I procrastinate I simply have several tasks running parallel to each other.  Something has to go on the back burner (or several somethings).  Thus my predicament.  I have to learn to mellow out while projects are ongoing because there are always other ones taking a back seat and waiting their turn for my focus.  It's like I'm putting my relaxed state of mind through a game of musical chairs, and it never gets the seat.

So I'm not going to ask if this applies to you.  I know it does.  We all bustle nowadays.  We're all always rushing from one thing to another.  Social media is always grabbing our attention.  What if amidst all that you are doing and are about to do you took a breath and relaxed into your work?  What if you knew that everything would get done in its own time?  What if you just showed up?  Could you let yourself chill?  Could you take your motor mind off idle and just cruise with the windows down?  What if you could mentally relax before you finished everything?  I highly recommend you look into learning that skill, before everything finishes you.

Peace and Blessings,
Thomas Mooneagle