Tag Archives: effortless

Begin Fearlessly

Can one have commitment and freedom at the same time?
This is what I am going to explore during the next six weeks.

On one hand, I am committing to complete two specific challenges. On the other, I want to investigate the more subtle relationship between doing and being. In other words, I am going to focus on the quality of the journey with a playful, fearless, carefree approach while keeping an eye on the final destination.

The first challenge I have set myself is to finish developing – an 8-week course in Yoga, breath work & health awareness that I am planning to run in the New Year. The second,  is to write a short blog post everyday  to document the learning that comes from consciously exploring fearlessness while moving out of my comfort zone.

Now that I have set this intention, the aim is to enjoy the process form moment to moment regardless of what comes my way. Today is a little special in that it is the very beginning and things have the quality of an exciting engagement – everything seems new and there is clarity. Showing up everyday without judgement is possibly the surest way to make progress, but above all it is essential: to begin.

Let me finish with a quote which is widely misattributed to Johann Wolfgang von Goethe but is in fact extracted from W. H. Murray’s book, The Scottish Himalayan Expedition (1951) [4]

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision, raising in one’s favour all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamt would have come his way. I learned a deep respect for one of Goethe’s couplets:
Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it!”

(The “couplet” referred to here is from an extremely loose translation of Goethe’s Faust lines 214-30 made by John Anster in 1835)[5]

Learning about fearlessness, commitment and freedom is what seems to matter most to me now. Therefore, I am beginning the process of facing it head-on with a playful and effortless attitude.

L.

Photo: Matt Duncan

PS: I invite you to do the same, find out what currently matters most to you and begin playfully and fearlessly to do something about it.

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The Habit of Thought

habit-of-thoughtMost people believe that there are good and bad habits. In the last few years, I have been focusing on getting rid of bad habits and establishing ‘healthy’ ones. I have also been interested in awareness, mindfulness, and presence. Habits tend to make us mechanical, and one wonders if there is such a thing as a good habit?

At times, I wish that I had a distinct habit such as smoking or biting my nails – clearly noticeable by others and obvious – so that I could work at understanding the mechanism and attempt dropping it. Unfortunately, it would seem that I am not addicted to any substances such as coffee, tea, alcohol or even sugar. I am not claiming to be free of habits, but I would like to identify a conspicuous habit that I could focus on and tackle.

Some years back, my eldest son observed that I always seemed to start talking as soon as there was a silence. I have to admit that I am very talkative – even verging on being a compulsive talker and I wonder if that would be the right candidate?

Interestingly, I am about to embark on an experiment that is the perfect opportunity to tackle it head-on. I am on my way to Nashik in Western India where I will go on a 10-Day Vipassana Meditation retreat. It is the first time that I will be quiet for longer than a few hours! It will undoubtedly challenge my talking habit.

The real intention of the retreat, though is to go into a more deep-seated habit still: the habit of thought. Could it be the habit that ends them all?

Breather*
Photo credit: Vincentiu Solomon

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Doing our best

Our best

Expectations are a plague; not only other people’s but also our very own. My impression is that we all tend to have higher expectations than what we can actually manage and very often it stops us from doing our best.

This sounds perhaps contrary to the dominant contemporary mindset. In the world of business, education, politics, sports, and entertainment, there is a general belief that competition is good and that always aiming higher will raise us above our best. In a limited way, it probably does (that is for the winners ) – but for the large majority, it leads to a feeling of never being satisfied, failure and frustration.

With this mindset, there is constantly a gap between ‘what is’ and ‘what should be’ and this creates conflict. We often believe that this gap will motivate us to change and better ourselves, but as long as our actions are based on conflict or fear, they are bound to be fragmented and lacking. I am not suggesting that we should aim for mediocrity or accept stagnation, on the contrary, I am calling for doing our best. I don’t mean striving to do our best – I mean, actually doing our best.

There is an entirely different attitude which is based simply on ‘what is’ and on who we truly are. The moment we stop striving to be different, and move our attention away from the idea of being better, we can meet reality with a new awareness that guides us to do our best – intelligently and with care. Doing our best stops being an expectation, and becomes a way of being. That is the real Plan B(e)!

Breather*

Photo: Bill Williams

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Struggling mindfully

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In some ways, mindfulness is the most powerful tool we have, yet, it is not easy to be mindful when we struggle. Most often when we are not in a right place, we want to escape. Instead, can we watch what is happening with our full attention? As it has become the lens of my exploration, I would like to explore the struggle I face when I write.

For some reasons, writing has always been a battleground for me. At times, I totally shy away from it, at others, I pursue it like a one-way love affair. Four years ago, I embarked on the project to write a novel and what a struggle it has been! Now, I am committed to this blog for at least the next three weeks. The idea here is to create a new opportunity to change my relation to writing. Yesterday was a struggle and today I feel a bitter taste in my mouth. Instead of finding new tricks to entice me to fill the page, I want to meet the struggle in the eye – to come face to face with it.

Mindfulness is our full potential. We may experience it at times but on the whole, we are too preoccupied with a multitude of concerns and thoughts that we forget to be aware of the present moment. It is relatively easy to be mindful when one is Sitting quietly or walking in nature; it is much harder when one is involved in a complex activity that relies on the mind, and that may bring out emotions.

I am sitting at the desk, and the thoughts come to me: I have already taken too much time mulling over this. There are a lot of distractions outside. I would rather relate to people in the real world. I am not sure who I am writing to. Too many ideas come to my head, and I cannot seem to be able to reconcile them. How do I know the truth of what I am writing?  I wish I could find a formula that would make the process of writing this blog more effortless. How authentic am I?Perception looks so fragmented when one stops to observe it. It feels uncomfortable to meet the circular movement of the mind. The sun is shining outside, and the lushness of the vegetation outside my window is inviting me to go out.

Back at the desk. A feeling of gratefulness is descending on me. I breathe. The air is clear. I scan the body; my posture is straighter. Watching the thoughts has created calm, or was it the shades of the copper beaches that did it? Am I starting to enjoy the activity? I understand that there will be urges for me to want to run away, to escape as soon as it becomes unpleasant. I can choose to let go of them. When the struggle comes, the challenge is not to chase it, not to feed it, but to let it be. Look at it with kindness. Is it a genuine fear? Is it a ghost of the past?

Mindfulness is effortless. It dissolves the false and lets us meet reality. The truth may be uncomfortable and even unpleasant. One day we may have little to share, the next too much. Our writing may feel pompous or contrived. The critic will often come uninvited. We can tell him to come back during the rewriting stage or while proof-reading. The struggle is worse when we let it take over. The struggle may never disappear, but if we meet it, mindfully, it may bring some insightful learning. We cannot mindfully struggle, but can we struggle mindfully?

Breather*

Photo: Loic Lopez

This blog is part of a renewed 42-day writing challenge inspired by Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits Book.

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Reminiscence of a Marathon

Snowdonia

My (would-be) brother-in-law just ran the London Marathon. Touching his medal, was like eating one of Proust’s Madeleine. Nine years ago, I ran one of the toughest marathons in Europe. Before training for it, I had no experience running. In fact, I disliked jogging. What made me take the leap and why was the whole process effortless?

My partner came back from a fundraising workshop and told me about an eighty-year-old man she’d met who had ran dozens of marathons and raised unbelievable amounts of money for charity. He claimed that it was one of the most effective ways to raise funds. We needed money for an eco-classroom building project for our school, so I thought I would give it a go. I searched the internet for “the toughest marathon in Europe” and found the Snowdonia Marathon in the Welsh mountains. Without hesitation, I booked a place, made a poster and publicly announced that I would take on the challenge to run it from beginning to end.

Next, I went to the library and got a beginiers guide to marathon running  book. I copied the training regime onto a spreadsheet and followed it religiously for the next five months. I had two imperatives: not let everybody down and be kind to my body. A heart-rate monitor set my pace and ensured that I did not push myself too hard, and the long list of supporters kept me motivated. After a month and half of training, and despite the tremendous amount of progress I still needed to make, I felt confident that I would make it. The training regime was excellent; it started small and slow and gradually increased in such a way that I was never tired out after running.

marathon-1

My partner and two sons traveled with me to Snowdonia, and I will always remember waving them goodbye at the start line of the marathon. I had never run more than twenty miles during my training, and if I wanted to raise the money that I had been promised, I would have to run the full twenty-six miles to the finish line.

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Strangely and almost miraculously, the whole training and the marathon itself was one the most effortless endeavours that I ever accomplished. If I look back, what made all the difference was that I had made a strong commitment to others and that I was listening to my heart the whole time.

It could have been a hint of an odor made by the sweat on the medal, I am not sure, but for a moment I was thrown back down the memory lanes of my Snowdonia experience.

Breather*

This blog is part of a renewed 42-day writing challenge inspired by Leo Babauta’s Zen Habits Book.
Photo credit: Leo Samarco

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Ridiculously Easy

Spoonfulofsugar

The issues we are considering here are very complex: change, transition, self-knowledge, and transformation. However, if we put it like this, it becomes rather daunting. So, we are going to take the ridiculously easy route. Is it possible, I wonder, to simplify without losing the depth? For the next six weeks, we will be exploring the learning that comes from the challenges of gradual change.

If you are following this blog, I would strongly recommend that you choose a meaningful change that you want to make. To start with it would be better if it was not something too ambitious or that you want to quit. Rather, choose something positive you would like to introduce into your life. Regardless of what you take on, the approach that we are going take comprises of taking tiny steps.

Take a few minutes right now to think about the change you chose and make it ridiculously easy. What is the smallest step you can take to get started? If you want to lower your sugar intake – just reduce the sugar you put in your first drink by just a few grains. It should be so easy that you feel like you’re making it too easy on yourself. Write down the easy step; it will be your practice for the first week.

My challenge is to feel more at ease with sharing my writing. I have been working on this for more than a year now, and it has not been a smooth ride. I am making some impressive progress, and I feel that I am learning about the nature of change in the process. In the beginning, I took tiny steps – I started with just writing one sentence a day. Remember that each incremental change has to be ridiculously easy. My challenge currently is to simply to show up daily and write or rewrite a paragraph or two for about twenty-five minutes and to stop before there is a hint of effort. Compared to how it used to be, it has become ridiculously effortless!

Until tomorrow,

Breather*

This blog is part of a renewed 42-day writing challenge inspired by Leo Babauta’s  Zen Habits Book.

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