Efficient wind turbines constantly adjust themselves so they always face the wind.
A fantasy that I can set things up once and then forget about them. The old “set and forget” mentality.
It shows up in lots of areas. I want to set up my website and then forget about it. I even sometimes want to set up a friendship and then forget about it. It’s a combination of laziness, and intelligence.
Lazy because I want to do less and accomplish more. And intelligent for the same reason.
The wind always shifts direction. And so do the needs of a website, and of friends. And if I don’t shift with the needs of the time, I stall.
The Work is a powerful way of helping the mind to shift to a new direction. It helps to loosen attachment to the outdated direction. But even when doing The Work, there are no absolutes.
A turnaround today may need to left behind tomorrow as the winds continue to shift.
I remember once getting a cool job offer. I was resistant at first, and it took a little adjusting to even consider it. Then the job didn’t come through and it took some more adjustment to think about why that was even better.
Another time, I was planning to go on a retreat but I got called for jury duty instead. That took a little adjusting as I had to let go of my plans. As it turned out, I wasn’t picked for the jury, so again I had to keep adjusting. If I held onto the retreat idea, or even the jury duty idea, I would not be able to enjoy gift of a week with nothing else to do.
Whenever I feel resistance in changing to the next version of reality, I write my resistance thoughts on paper and question them.
I am often surprised at how much the habit of adjusting is becoming second nature. It makes dealing with uncertainty and change more more pleasant than my old “set and forget” mentality.
I invite you to scan through your life and look for anything that you still wish was the way it used to be.
And write your stressful thoughts, maybe even a Judge-Your-Neighbor Worksheet on the situation. And then question those stressful thoughts with the four questions and turnarounds of The Work.
If you have any resistance to change, The Work can accelerate your adjustment to reality.
“To respect the way of it is to follow the simple directions. If you have the thought that the dishes need washing, wash them. That’s heaven. Hell is asking why. Hell is ‘I’ll do it later,’ ‘I don’t have to do it,’ ‘It’s not my turn,’ ‘It’s not fair,’ ‘Someone else should do it,’ and on and on, ten thousand thoughts a minute. If it comes to you to do something, just do it. All the unquestioned thoughts about that are how you hurt yourself. Doing what’s next, without a mental argument, is devotion to God.” Byron Katie, A Thousand Names for Joy
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