No one likes to be pushed around, but people often put up with it for too long. So, I get them to see their resentment, first, as anger, and then as an indication that something needs to be said, if not done (not least because honesty demands it). Then I get them to see such action as part of the force that holds tyranny at bay - at the social level, as much as the individual.
– Jordan B. Peterson
We can all empathise with this behaviour. We do it so often. And we might not be okay with an action that someone else does to us but we put up with it. We feel it is just not worth it, that it is a waste of our time and maybe we just don't have to deal with it. But I love how he puts it - because honesty demands it. If honesty is a core value of ours, then it is our responsibility to stand up and call things out. Not just in places where it is convenient to take the moral high horse but in rather inconvenient and scary places as well. Oof!
Those unmindful when they hear,
for all they make of their intelligence,
may be regarded as the walking dead.
– Heraclitus
I don't know how often I am unmindful. I don't know how often I am not listening properly. There are so many instances, when I replay an older conversation, it was rather clear what I was being told or hinted at. It was clear what I should've done. But arrogance or stupidity or whatever prevented me.
Walking into a conversation with an open mind and maybe even an expectation to learn something is something I keep repeating to myself. But sometimes I lose track because there are just so many things I am supposed to repeat to myself.
One rep at a time.
When you put a piece of bread into your mouth, chew only your bread and not your projects, worries, fears, or anger.
– Thich Nhat Hanh
I am certainly guilty of multi-tasking, or attempting to. Even during my walk to class where I am due to coach, I am planning the day ahead or the training session (even though I am already prepared), or just churning some thought in my head. Instead of just walking.
This permeates into eating, of course. And into pretty much everything.
Focusing only on walking in my morning walk is a new thing I am trying. I still catch myself zoned out and thinking about something but again, one rep at a time. Maybe, eventually, it will leech over into the rest of the things as well. What I realise is that it flow state or being in the moment is not something that happens magically. Not thinking, not planning, not worrying about the next activity or wondering when the current activity will be done - that's a good place to start.
Thanks for reading!