Procrastination in the name of perfection has immobilized me yet again. I wish the same phenomena would cut in regarding my movement towards snack food. Nonetheless.....that is another matter.
I could have launched this site and blog months ago. Instead I have been reclined in a comfy chair studying other people's blogs under the delusion that the perfect opening segue would reveal itself. Nope.
I have sunk to the depths of resorting to self-entreaties like " just do it!" or "just be yourself!" I've even tried arguing with myself such as "but you love writing" (which I do). Then of course there is a host of vacuuming, exercise, overtime work work, dog grooming including the unpleasant nail clipping, walking the dogs in -25, and even reconciling the bank book list of urgent priorities.
Today was absolutely the best though. I have been absorbed totally in Nat Geo Wild, telling myself that one does not usually get to see shows on these unusual animals and it is critical to learn the facts. I mean you can see the whole wild cat, alligator, shark thing on a regular basis. But Mother Warthog, Wolverines: Animal Ghost, and an update on the Bandit clan of Meerkat Manor? Seriously? One clearly could not take this availability for granted. Ask me about wolverines anytime! I’ve got the facts now……
But eventually I can't even bear my own thinking anymore and so today I finally launch into action on the blog.
The pattern reminds me of how I get when trying to begin my art making. It takes but a few moments once over the barrier of resistance to be immersed totally in whatever I have chosen to do. It's getting across that invisible line though that is difficult.
I read something years ago in a textbook on Buddhism about this exact phenomena while taking World Religions (ask me about retributive justice and the 7 Hindu hells anytime). The Buddhist monks were putting forward that it is not the thing itself that is forbidding but the threshold. Thus, mental effort should be focused on the threshold in order to overcome it. OK.
I think I made some good headway on this with my art making awhile ago. I was reading an article in the Saturday Globe and Mail about a new book called ‘The Power of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg, Michael Phelps long-time swimming coach. He trained Michael to adopt a simple starting the race procedure - the same thing every time, every time, every time. There is also a mental imaging practice done at other key times throughout the day. It is a mental recitation of this practice followed by imaging success at your task. Imagine it again, and again, and one more time again and yet again. So it's race time and as you approach the block your entering in routine kicks in. You just do it, no resistance, no threshold to cross, no anxiety. It's automatic. FOLLOWED BY SUCCESS. (I think it's worked out well for Mike)
So I made my own ‘entering in’ practice. Of course I could not stop there and made an exit practice also rationalizing that the ending hooks right back up to the beginning. It has worked marvellously!
This morning, as I began Day 88 of self-torture in the guise of deep reflection and research, I came upon the idea of creating an entering in practice for blog writing. YEAH! THAT'LL DO IT!
Which brings me right back to one final round of thinking before launch which goes like this: just do it, be yourself, gosh I do love writing, who really wants to watch a host of cheetahs kill baby warthogs, there is no ideal opening segue, shouldn’t you actually be making art, is blog writing actually a form of procrastination for art making……and so it begins.......or is that and so it continues…. (actually gotta go right away because Rhino Rescue is just starting) (seriously - it's important)
I could have launched this site and blog months ago. Instead I have been reclined in a comfy chair studying other people's blogs under the delusion that the perfect opening segue would reveal itself. Nope.
I have sunk to the depths of resorting to self-entreaties like " just do it!" or "just be yourself!" I've even tried arguing with myself such as "but you love writing" (which I do). Then of course there is a host of vacuuming, exercise, overtime work work, dog grooming including the unpleasant nail clipping, walking the dogs in -25, and even reconciling the bank book list of urgent priorities.
Today was absolutely the best though. I have been absorbed totally in Nat Geo Wild, telling myself that one does not usually get to see shows on these unusual animals and it is critical to learn the facts. I mean you can see the whole wild cat, alligator, shark thing on a regular basis. But Mother Warthog, Wolverines: Animal Ghost, and an update on the Bandit clan of Meerkat Manor? Seriously? One clearly could not take this availability for granted. Ask me about wolverines anytime! I’ve got the facts now……
But eventually I can't even bear my own thinking anymore and so today I finally launch into action on the blog.
The pattern reminds me of how I get when trying to begin my art making. It takes but a few moments once over the barrier of resistance to be immersed totally in whatever I have chosen to do. It's getting across that invisible line though that is difficult.
I read something years ago in a textbook on Buddhism about this exact phenomena while taking World Religions (ask me about retributive justice and the 7 Hindu hells anytime). The Buddhist monks were putting forward that it is not the thing itself that is forbidding but the threshold. Thus, mental effort should be focused on the threshold in order to overcome it. OK.
I think I made some good headway on this with my art making awhile ago. I was reading an article in the Saturday Globe and Mail about a new book called ‘The Power of Habit’ by Charles Duhigg, Michael Phelps long-time swimming coach. He trained Michael to adopt a simple starting the race procedure - the same thing every time, every time, every time. There is also a mental imaging practice done at other key times throughout the day. It is a mental recitation of this practice followed by imaging success at your task. Imagine it again, and again, and one more time again and yet again. So it's race time and as you approach the block your entering in routine kicks in. You just do it, no resistance, no threshold to cross, no anxiety. It's automatic. FOLLOWED BY SUCCESS. (I think it's worked out well for Mike)
So I made my own ‘entering in’ practice. Of course I could not stop there and made an exit practice also rationalizing that the ending hooks right back up to the beginning. It has worked marvellously!
This morning, as I began Day 88 of self-torture in the guise of deep reflection and research, I came upon the idea of creating an entering in practice for blog writing. YEAH! THAT'LL DO IT!
Which brings me right back to one final round of thinking before launch which goes like this: just do it, be yourself, gosh I do love writing, who really wants to watch a host of cheetahs kill baby warthogs, there is no ideal opening segue, shouldn’t you actually be making art, is blog writing actually a form of procrastination for art making……and so it begins.......or is that and so it continues…. (actually gotta go right away because Rhino Rescue is just starting) (seriously - it's important)
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