There is no need to run outside
For better seeing,
Nor to peer from a window. Rather abide
At the center of your being;
For the more you leave it, the less you learn.
Search your heart and see
If he is wise who takes each turn:
The way to do is to be.
— Witter Bynner, after Lao Tzu’s chapter 47
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I don’t know about you, but it’s early February and my calendar for 2023 is full, packed, complete.
Amazing how life can fill up the future before it even arrives.
The only thing I know that works with any kind of busy schedule or big project or even (and especially) momentous life shaking event is to simply take one step at a time.
Like all good things, it’s harder said than done. But when I rush and try to skip a few stairs, all that happens is I trip and fall on my face.
“Less haste and more speed” as my Nan used to say.
I’ve realised I can’t do the future.
My to-do list weighs too heavy on my soul; it creates panic and overwhelm. My dreams are similar when left unchecked; they hook in a different kind of expectation and attachment. A need which drives me to try and pull tomorrow to be here now, like yesterday – so I miss out on what is in front of me.
John Lennon’s classic quip about “life is what happens when we’re busy making other plans” is so applicable. I already return after 5 days away and my kids are transformed. I don’t want to miss a moment.
The 200% life attitude: to seize the day and smell the roses, to chase more and find enough – it can seem like a contradiction, can’t it?
I feel like I spend my days planting the idea seed wherever I can of slowing down and stepping back –
But not so much to do less as to do the right thing … the good thing, the whole thing, the important thing.
One moment at a time feels slower, but it’s more considered.
I’m less harassed and frantic and snappy … and I can actually look, prioritise, see where I’m wasting time, where I’m not doing these important things.
Dan John, a strength coach, often says something I love about exercising and life, “If it’s important, do it every day. If it’s not important, don’t do it at all”. An uncompromising message for sure, but when I truly look and see my life, the important is what I want to take priority.
But what’s most important begins not in what I do, but how I do it … my attitude to life, in other words. Serenity, acceptance, courage, wisdom; these are the building blocks of a good and quality filled life.
As Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, author of The Little Prince, wrote:
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“What is essential is invisible to the eye.”
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I’ve quoted that before here to you, but I think it’s something we so easily forget in the pursuit of clearing our to-do lists.
The end of the week, month, the project … that point in time then we tell ourselves life will settle down, be easier, smoother, more steady … it never seems to arrive, though there’s no shortage of energy spent on telling ourselves it will; or attempting to race to the end.
“I’ll be happy when …” means we’re always chasing fulfilment and yet never finding it. Life, the way we want to live it, is always on the horizon.
Instead – why not bring it here?
Creating the right attitude to a never-ending journey is key. Not when life lines up nicely, but right now – in the middle of the busy, the messy and the uncertain.
Again, that’s easy to say and harder to do, isn’t it?
But slowing down and stepping back means you can calm, centre and have a chance to remember that, and many other things that are important to you.
It’s why I practice Ascension meditation. I recommend you learn and practice that very thing too because it is so good at giving you what you need to find a foundation for the best of lives, but I’d say just do whatever you can to step back, find your centre – your power source – and go again from there.
Whether that’s time in nature, breathing, cold water swimming (see below for an event I’m helping run) or saunas/hot baths, journalling, making sure you sleep well, drinking tea slowly, creating something, anything …
Prioritise your being before you launch into your doing. Abide in your centre; don’t rush off and lose your life force in the process.
Go well,
Arjuna
PS.
A Wim Hof style ice bathing and breathing afternoon workshop … powerful and transformative breathing, cold water, and community.
Next week – Saturday 11 February, here in Richmond, North Yorkshire
Full details here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ice-bath-experience-tickets-491471182537
PPS.
Unplugged 5 day creative retreat –
Meditation, nature, recovery, undistracted focus time to create something of true value to you. Something you can be proud of, something you created – with the guidance and support from me, super coach Alex Myers, and a team of comrades.
Here in Richmond, N Yorks, on 6-10 March.
For details hit reply and I’ll get back to you as soon as.
PPPS.
Ascension meditation … next course is 31 March - 2 April (starts 7pm Friday).
More details here – https://www.arjunaishaya.com/ishayasascension, or just ask.
No matter how good that app is, there’s nothing in the world like face to face instruction; nor are the best inner tools and technologies taught without individual guidance.
It’s a grand weekend, and it would be lovely to have you.
PPPPS. (Apologies. Far too many PPPP’s – haha!)
And of course, if you’re not ready for that yet, my free mini-course in meditation and mindfulness and coaching group, The 200% Dojo, is here:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/708920116904793