“Thinking has, many a time, made me sad, darling; but doing never did in all my life... My precept is, "Do something, my sister, do good if you can; but, at any rate, do something".
Elizabeth Gaskell, North And South
In my pursuit this year of nurturing I choose May to nurture moderation. I could use some moderation in my thinking. I observe my mind gathering evidence that a situation will be a certain way. Sometimes my perception is that the situation will be hard. My mind is taking a hard line, so to say. But is it really?
I am experimenting with the practice of thinking less about the outcome. My idea is that I will in the moment look for the "ease". As I check my calendar and see the long day of teaching piano students ahead I choose to notice the quiet of the morning hour and the stillness in just breathing. I don't stop preparing, just mentally stop the obsessing about needing my day to go a certain way. My husband teases me about my inclination to worry about my grown children and their children.
"You can't stop bad things from happening by worrying over them."
"But if I'm thinking about them then the worst can't happen. Right?"
"I'm not sure I see the logic there."
The practice is "look for the ease".
See the beauty of the dandelion and stop worrying about the hundreds more popping up behind it.
Such a timely message. Thank you. I've found myself overcome with worry of late and am looking for ways to take it down a notch. I will ponder nurturing moderation in said worry.
ReplyDeleteThanks for reading, Friend.
DeleteRelevant to me too. I notice how I'm more of a worrier now than I used to be. And how when (sadly, it is no longer a question of if but when) I wake up in the middle of the night if I start thinking it takes me so much longer to go back to sleep. A friend of mine just today told me--after I complemented her on the fact that they are always going and doing every day--that she has to keep going to stay ahead of her thoughts. Otherwise they take her down. I want to learn to make my head be still in the same way I can make my body be still. (Also, even still, Shavasana is my most challenging pose, simply for the fact I cannot seem to quiet the monkeys in my brain.)
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