Thursday, May 27, 2010

fake it till you make it

At the end of each practice, my yoga instructor will read an excerpt from various books on mindful living. Two lessons stand out to me in the last few weeks:

1) take your list and cut it in two. I went straight home and took out my to-do list and deleted as much as I could from this summer's to-do list and put it on a new one for next summer or beyond. Fantastic.

2) fake it till you make it. If you're in turmoil, pretend calm.

Both these little meditations help me in my parenting to stay focused on the present and not feel so overwhelmed by all the little things that "should" be done. And when I breath deeply, performing calm, I find that I indeed become calmer. It's like learning to ride the bike. It's wobbly at first, but I focus on the path ahead and eventually, as I paddle along, the ride becomes smoother.

1 comment:

  1. You know, weirdly, lesson number two is also a great way for dealing with grief. After my aunt died suddenly, my uncle (who is a psychiatrist) said that the main way you go on with your life after a tragic loss like that is that you fake it. You go through the motions of a life. You get out of bed. You get dressed. You leave the house. You don't care about any of it. You don't want to do any of it. You simply go through the motions. Until eventually, one day, you finally are able to care about something again. It always seemed like profoundly wise advice to me. Hope I never have to use it.
    -Tara

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