Time Out - Take a Walk
Perpetual devotion to what a man calls his business is only to be sustained by perpetual
neglect of many other things.
-- Robert Louis Stevenson
I don't like work -- no man does -- but I like what is in work; the chance to find yourself.
-- Joseph Conrad
Organizations learn only through individuals who learn.
-- Peter Senge
In order to burn out, a person needs to have been on fire at one time.
-- Ayala Pines
Dear Friend,
Thanks to all who responded to the questions posed in my last newsletter (see Pain
vs Possibility). Your answers, and the dialogue some of your comments inspired, were both interesting
and challenging.
Figurin' Things Out
Do you ever feel like you're trying to figure things out? Perhaps you're trying to figure out what to do
next... or how to do it. Or maybe you're trying to develop an idea, promotion, or work of art. Or it
could be a clever way to finance your business or an investment. And so on.
There is a theory that if you have to "figure something out," there is something within you that's in
the way. Otherwise, you'd simply know it. Call it learned confusion, or "the fog,"
if you want a name for it. If you need more explicit imagery, you might imagine it as the stuff on your boot...
that stuff you stepped in over your life that is glommed onto you. And, you've had it so long, you don't
even notice the telltale odor until somebody or some event takes off your boot and sticks it in your face. Yes,
that stuff!
As I mentioned above, in the last Letter, I posed a scenario and asked some questions that were representative
of a struggle I've been trying to figure out (There are those words again!). I posed those questions
in the hope that input from my readers would be the hammer that would break me free of my struggle, that your answers
would shift something in me, I'd blurt out, "Ah Ha!" and I would suddenly be free of the struggle.
But that's not what happened. My learned confusion did not relinquish its hold on me. I couldn't even
get my boot off!
Which Way Out?
So if I couldn't figure this out using my (considerable) intellect, and my emotions were wreaking havoc with my
serenity, what's the answer?
Stepping Out
Perhaps, just perhaps, I needed to untie my boot first. I needed to release the binds that were holding my
misery close to me. (Okay, Okay, I'm sure we've all had quite enough metaphor for today!)
So, what I did was put my boots on, tie them up (literally, this time), and go for a walk. Several walks, in fact.
The walks were explicitly not for exercise or for fresh air to clear my mind. I was walking to explore...
to see what was there, to be present in the moment, and to absorb what else has been created in the world. I
wasn't trying to get anywhere (other than back home in a half hour or so).
Time-Out
I didn't make this up on my own. In the extraordinary book, The Artist's Way At Work: Riding the Dragon
(see Resources, below), Mark Bryan presents what he calls "Twelve Weeks to Creative
Freedom." In Week Two, he strongly recommends the reader take daily walks and also do a weekly one-hour
"Time-Out." To quote:
Once a week for at least one hour, take yourself -- the part of yourself you think of as your Inner Explorer
-- on some small festive adventure. Surely there's some place or activity you've always wondered about. Your
time-out is your chance to go there or to try your hand at something new, to explore your wonder. As Linus
Pauling remarked, "There are few things in life more enjoyable than satisfying one's curiosity."
Think mystery, not mastery. Time-outs are about awakening our sense of wonder. They are not
about self-improvement.
Far Out
Filling the well. Rejuvenation. These powerful words evoke a sense of huge potential. And yet,
"filling the well" is not all that hard to do. And rejuvenation is not impossible to experience.
But unless you're willing to wait for random events to fall into place, I believe there is a compelling reason
for you to choose to do those things that will "fill you up" on a frequent basis. And that compelling
reason is: We're talking about your creativity, your fulfillment, and your life. Why wait?
Your Turn
Yes. Do it. Do it soon. Do it often.
May we wave to each other on the road -
Steve
Resources
The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon, by Mark Bryan, with Julia Cameron and Catherine Allen, "Brings
the million-copy bestseller The Artist's Way (by Julia Cameron) into the workplace," and I highly
recommend it.
If you're interested in purchasing The Artist's Way at Work: Riding the Dragon, it is available in
paperback. I encourage you to support your local independent bookseller. However, should you not have one
available to you, you can support me a smidgen by purchasing it at Amazon.com using this link: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0688166350/reitercoaching.
I appreciate it.
|
