My valiant attempt to stay sane during this crunch time has meant calling on every teeny particle of discipline in me. I'm also learning how to shortcut my way through life a little, usually without omitting the really important stuff. Every bit of whittling my mind can manage earns this verbose girl bonus points.
So there's Just One Thing.
First, here's the thing I do (I'm grateful that I’ve already worked this into my daily to-do psyche) each time my heart starts to race (I'm grateful the muscle still beats) when the things-to-do list (I'm grateful to have so much paying work) appears insurmountable. (holy cow!)
I think and then feel gratitude.
Every time. First thing.
I started the whole Gratitude Thing eons ago when I was a kid. Long before Oprah was Oprah. Well, okay, she was born, but I think she was a reporter then or something. Since I was determined to make the world a better place as a teenager, even if I had to do it all by myself, damn it, it dawned on me that a good starting place would be to recognize what was already good. So I started uttering thoughts of gratitude to myself, muttering inside my head or out, around the time that Swamp City was filling up with carloads of families from the Rust Belt camping under freeway overpasses and "Greed is good" was a popular motto.
The juxtaposition made gratitude easy.
Flash forward to now, when my life is rich beyond belief with family, friends, food, and fun. Like everyone else, I've learned firsthand that none of those things can touch my inner state of being -- unless I invite them in to do so, consciously.
So there's Just One Thing.
When things are a little quieter on the work end of things, I respond to the never-ending deluge of product sample requests. Lo and behold, two books at once came my way just before my mountainous work pile. One is called "Shortcuts to Inner Peace." (who wouldn't love that title?) It's on my list to be reviewed soon. The other is called "Just One Thing" and you really gotta love its subtitle: "Developing a buddha brain one simple practice at a time". The author, Rick Hanson, Ph.D., is a neuropsychologist who's already written another popular book about Buddha's Brain.
Hanson's being a neuropsychologist is what got me interested. Did I ever tell you I wanted to be a brain researcher? While dutifully soothing my own guilt by being a social worker for years (I'm grateful to have somewhat tamed the beast that was a self-righteous, outrageously moralistic teen), I found the connections between "mind" and body fascinating. For a very long time, my mantra was that if I could do anything, be anything, and had all the time and money to make the education possible, I'd be a neuroscientist. (So here I am, cookin Survival Food...)
Now, I'm grateful just to have time to read their books. Sometimes.
Hanson's proposition has to do with neuroplasticity (you know what that is, right?) and promises that each time you do one of his book's 52 simple practices, you strengthen your brain's circuitry. Just like muscle building in a gym.
In spite of my friend Darbi's pronouncement that Just One Thing is cheesy, I like it. And I may have the discipline of a nun (sometimes, for which I am grateful), but I've never been a fan of rigidity, especially in scheduling. When my body says "whoa!" I like to heed it, sometimes no matter the social consequences. And when my calendar is sliced and diced and multicolored for weeks or months on end, no way am I going to add a rigorous exercise plan, whether it's for building biceps or bringin' peace to my brain.
But Just One Thing, I can do.
Hanson first makes me happy with his brief, understandable explanations of why each practice works. I skim over most of it because he's preachin' to the choir here, but even so, he spends maybe 200 words on the Why before heading straight for the How. His language is simple. He's not overly impressed with himself. And the practices really are basic. Actually, you'll likely think (like Darbi) that they're pretty cheeseball. But the thing is they work.
Example:
Chapter 5: Slow Down
The author describes how nowadays when someone asks "How are ya?" in casual talk, the response is more often "Busy!" than "Fine." He explains the potential destruction of our sympathetic nervous system and then makes his recommendations, like "Find what's good about this moment, as it is..." with examples of everyday situations where you might practice. Here's a sample of Hanson's writing on a related topic, titled "Step Into the Cloud" -- see if it doesn't make total sense to you and also, maybe, help your shoulders relax a smidge farther from your ears.
Common sense often comes across as cheesy. Much is stuff that we "know" so we dismiss it. But knowing and practicing are quite different.
Besides, each chapter in the book is, like, four pages. Works for me.
Most interesting is how the book's title itself has become a mantra that plays in my head without my consciously conjuring it. I wake up lately with a racing mind, a to-do list that clamors for immediate attention when in wafts "just one thing" (the words, not the book)... and the cacophony dissipates.
Once that happens, my brain has room for creative flow. Sometimes. This morning was one. Turning on the Laptop That Is My World, rummaging through my head for a starting place, wondering which boss to make happy first, I saw the headline "What To Do When Your 'To Do' List Looks Like A Mountain". And my review of "Just One Thing" was sparked.
Must be that time of year. The time when most of us have far more than just one thing to do. But in the end we all do it all just one thing at a time.
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