Sunday Journal Prompt

“An integral being knows without going, sees without looking, and accomplishes without doing.”

 

– Lao Tzu, ancient Chinese poet and philosopher who founded Taoism

One of Deepak Chopra’s spiritual laws of success is the Law of the Least Effort. Embedded in it is the notion of going with the flow without resistance. The daffodil bulbs in my garden automatically rise each spring, and the leaves on my maple trees effortlessly fall in autumn. They don’t strain. So often we try to force something into being—a relationship, a promotion—instead of letting it happen naturally.

 

When we go against our instincts and try to be someone else or live the life that someone else wants us to live, we feel drained. Rather than exerting so much energy to conform or chase power or control, relax your effort to discover harmony, joy and a new level of accomplishment.

On what or from whom can you release your urge for control?

Where in your life can you let things happen naturally rather than forcing something into being?

Sunday Journal Prompt

 “I feel so unburdened.” 

– Swap meet participant

A friend hosts a swap meet at her home each spring. People clear out their closets and bring items to give away—clothes, purses, shoes, perfume, sunglasses. It feels good to part with items we don’t use but haven’t discarded. According to the principles of Feng Shui, every object has energy, and negative energy can be associated with items we have been keeping that make us feel guilty (for instance, a gift we received but never liked or clothes that are too small because we’ve gained weight). Returning home to an edited closet boosted my energy level.

Choose to unburden yourself from something material or emotional. What are you holding onto that you can discard?

Sunday Journal Post

“Decision fatigue helps explain why ordinarily sensible people get angry at colleagues and families, splurge on clothes, buy junk food at the supermarket and can’t resist the dealer’s offer to rustproof their new car.”

– John Tierney in New York Times article “Do You Suffer From Decision Fatigue?”

We have a finite store of mental energy for exerting self-control, according to social psychologist Roy F. Baumeister, who studied mental discipline in a series of experiments at Case Western and Florida State University. When people fended off the temptation to wolf down M&Ms or freshly baked chocolate-chip cookies, they were then less able to resist other temptations. Willpower, Dr. Baumeister asserts, is a form of mental energy that can be exhausted.

His studies show that people with the best self-control arrange their lives to conserve willpower. “They don’t schedule endless back-to-back meetings. They avoid temptations like all-you-can-eat buffets, and they establish habits that eliminate the mental effort of making choices. Instead of deciding every morning whether or not to force themselves to exercise, they set up regular appointments to work out with a friend,” Tierney reports.

Abraham Lincoln ate the same meal for breakfast every day: a hard-boiled egg and a cup of coffee. Steve Jobs is known for his signature black turtleneck. Kurt Vonnegut awoke at 5:30 a.m. and wrote until 8 a.m. each morning. What decisions can you put on autopilot?

How can you adjust your routine to reduce the number of daily decisions you make to conserve your mental energy? 

Sunday Journal Prompt

“You feel as if your whole world is crumbling … 

that’s cause for celebration.” 

– Buddhist nun Pema Chodron 

In her book Living Beautifully with Uncertainty and Change, Buddhist nun Pema Chodron describes a time in her life when she felt her world was falling apart. She was failing in her role as director of Gampo Abbey and received negative feedback from residents who felt “disempowered” by her. But she was not hearing what they were saying due to her fixed identity, called “ego clinging” in Buddhism—the cause of much suffering.

Her teacher Chogyam Trungpa taught her that a crumbling fixed identity is a reason to celebrate. By dropping the notion of who we are, what we approve of and how we do things, we remove our armor (our egos) and are more open to what challenges our fixed sense of self, more open to growth.

Who or what are you resisting?

How can you invite him, her or it in—an act likely to challenge your self-definition?