The Secret To More Time and Energy :: February 2007
By Andrew Burnham - February 07, 2007
Use your Mind or it Uses You
Our minds are powerful and creative tools and as such require supervision. If we had nuclear energy in our back yard we would want to keep an eye on it. It could cause a lot of damage when no one is watching. When we watch we can see reactive patterns emerging and it’s easier to replace them with responses before things get out of hand. We ensure that we are using our time and energy wisely.
Stop Creating Stress
When we are not watching, we react out of conditioning or react in the present to futures we imagine taking place. We become stressed even though there is no physical danger. "But wait", you say. What about psychological stress? Well then you really have something to look forward to. Once you see that it has been you creating stress, it just disappears like evaporating water. And you reclaim lots of time.
Tune into Radio One
When we wish to study and learn about something or someone, what do we do first? We observe. We watch. We take note of what’s going on. To be in the moment we watch what we are saying to ourselves. We watch our ongoing chatter about others and about events. We are watching the broadcast that is already happening from our own Radio One. It’s not more thinking that matters, it is more
thinking observed that creates the awareness we need to take action or decide not to take action now.
The Change is Inside
We don’t need to cancel our appointments, delay the project or work another late night to be in the moment. We don’t need to change the content of our working lives, we just need to know what’s going on. When we become aware, we have made a
powerful internal shift. This internal shift affords constructive responses and solutions to emerge. There is no need to force anything.
Easier Said than Done
Wrestling back control over our own minds is easier said than done. Why let that stop us? Look around at our human accomplishments. Many of them were much easier said than done. And many were thought to be impossible. But somehow we did them. At first we need to apply a small amount of effort, but momentum grows and soon it’s easy to remain present even with difficult people and in challenging situations.
