This argument is difficult for me, because I could be the Presidents of the Self-Improvement fan club. I love books, courses, podcasts on making the body thinner, making more money, having more self-confidence. I seek answers at the local library.
But in one of my books, I came across this line:
“There is more to life than self-improvement”
What? Stubbornly resistant to this thought, yet it continued to haunt me, until I had to acknowledge-yes, there is so much more to life.
Of course when in crisis of health and such we will seek remedies, but in general, we will always have the same variations of the same problems (money, health, relationships, work). We will always seek solutions.
And we can learn to trust we have the tools to solve our problems.
The Bother this week, is just to be. And we should BE able to do that.
It’s a noisy world- not really outside, but in our heads, this online thing - you see how it is. Shall we pause?
What might be behind it all, this constant striving to “get better”? Do we feel inadequate? Or are we afraid of NOT having a project?
The Bother this week is to drop, in part, the constant need to make things better.
Mantras: Use a single Mantra to say silently as needed. Use for a week the same Mantra, until it feels very calming. Here are some for inspiration: “I am worthy” “I am enough” “no resistance”
Double your outdoor time, whatever that means to you. If possible, somewhere that is pretty- to you.
Calm your mind by sitting quietly for 10 minutes a day. Try choosing the same time each day, for a week, so that you remember to do it. Relax, breathe, and let go of thoughts and listen to the silence or sounds from the outside world. You can rest your eyes here as well.
Drop the cause and effect obsession by letting things happen with less judgement. How? By being more of an observer. Every time something “happens” big or small, silently acknowledge with this sentence “Hey, that happened.” And that’s it. Then proceed with any action, or non-action.
We are just living beings, perfect as we are right now. It’s okay to solve problems, but remember that we are fine as we are. We don’t need to be fixed. We are perfect.