This was my hardest week so far, simply because I wasn't committed to making the time for my "Nothing" practice and missed several days of that practice. Because I know that I can be deluded by surface desires if I don't get the meditative time in, I chose not to focus on deep desires on the days that I didn't meditate. Instead, I chose to act on a small desire: drinking a particular flavor of tea, dancing in the kitchen, playing with the kids when I "should" have been cleaning. I know from experience that honouring those small desires makes it easier to sit with the bigger ones, so I trusted that I was getting something out of the process, while realizing that I wasn't quite doing the assignment.
On the days that I did make time for doing Nothing, I did write down ideas about things I could do to obtain the most important desire of the day. Doing this, I realized a few things.
- I know the sensible things to do to pursue most of my desires. My block is in actually taking action, not knowing what I should be doing.
- I tend to think very sensibly about tasks. Beck has some ideas of ways to get beyond the obvious and rational actions - and I should probably experiment with those more.
- I have made a lot of to do lists of things I could do to pursue my desires in the past, but I haven't always been sure they were my true heart desires.
- Don't rush to an action plan until you know where you want to go.
- Keep to the path. Next week is Risk, and I bet we'll be looking at some of the things that have stopped me taking action in the past. I certainly hope so. It would be good to move past this place of coming up with actions I could take and to push into taking them.
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16 comments:
It is great that you are taking this Joy Diet in stride. Although I wrecked my copy I do see some good ideas in each chapter and will press on.
Have fun exploring your desires and making your to do lists.
I think we all need to go more slowly. (Maybe we should talk this over with Jamie?)
It's too much stuff. Too much time.
And I am very unhappy with the enemy topic, funny thing, nobody is mentioning that!
Yeah, I'm feeling very much like reading this with The Next Chapter will be my first pass thru the book, but I need more time to sit with everything! :)
I enjoyed your view on this. I found I read each chapter a number of times. And have gone forward to find this is not for me. I do not like where it took me.
Time. Exactly. Trying to fit everything in this book into one week at a time is almost too much -- you need to be at peace with one part before you can move on to the next. I had issues with this chapter, as I had some issues with the one before it. Perhaps this just isn't the book for me...we shall see.
I agree that taking time for Nothing helps us get our minds prepped for exploring our heart's desires. I try to do it every day - I don't always succeed. Life seems to get in the way.
I have also been a person in the past who wrote down a lot of desires, but did'n't take action.
I'm hoping Risk will challenge me to take the turtle steps I need to get where I want to go.
Good luck!!!
Hi Kate, liked our post on the Joy Diet and I share a lot of your thoughts. There is nothing like dancing in the kitchen, or the living room or anywhere for that matter. I too have been spending lots of time just trying to focus on the "now". When my son talks to me and now stop everything I am doing and listen - I realize in a few years (he's 11 now) he may not want to talk to me so much. I too danced last weekend in my living room at 11:00 am after downloading some new tunes on my ipod.
Nice talking to u - let's talk again soon.
Thanks for sharing your week of creativity. I like what you said about moving at your own pace, and moving forward when you are ready.
Wow - your way of interacting with this chapter was the most similar to mine I've encountered!
I was more in the moment with what I wanted to do - THEN - & less following the formula of exploration!
Thanks for sharing
"I know from experience that honouring those small desires makes it easier to sit with the bigger one." What a beautiful and powerful statement. Yes, I agree... take this book, absorb what resonates with you, and let go of the rest. This is your journey, and by all means, if you feel the need to slow down, honor it. We'll all still be here supporting one another WHEREVER we are on the journey...
Nothing is an important first step.
I concur that we need more time to digest this stuff. I haven't really been able to fully engage with each chapter since NOTHING. I'm trying to stick with it, but I know that if I get anything out of it, I will have to go back and really try to build the blocks so that all the pieces are really in place. Right now, I'm just on the surface of it all.
Thanks for this post. It gave me some new perspective.
You really sound like you've got this book working for you and I appreciate the care and time you've taken to deepen your own practices - inspiring!
Thanks for popping into my "Desire" post too!
Kathy C.
http://SoulReaderBlog.blogspot.com
It wonderful that you know that pace that you need. I like the "nothing" moments as well. Take care.
I think your post offers an excellent idea in how to take what you need and leave the rest. Thank you so much for sharing your journey with the book so far.
I recognize that I'm not able to move at the pace that being in a group encourages - and yet I get so much out of the group, that I try to move along with it. I could say that I will come back to this book and try things in more depth on my own later, but that may not be realistic. I would love to continue interacting with others on some of these issues, though.
How wonderful that you are cherishing the time with your child now, that you have such a sense of self that you are able to choose your practice and experience some trust in your own process.
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