Dearest readers, for most of us who live in the four seasons countries around the world, springtime is special. With the warmer weather, we tend to go outside more and enjoy the sunshine. We also get more active, more sociable, and everything we do or want to do seems somehow better than it ever could in winter time. This boost of energy and optimism, however, are not guaranteed to result in anything on their own. That is why I'd like to compare the easy way and the "hard" way when it comes to dealing with the gifts of spring- the easy way being the living out of a rich inner life, and the hard way being externalizing all that energy in channeled, meaningful ways that'll make a difference in your life.
When spring comes and you feel a surge of energy and optimism, the first thing you may feel like doing is riding the wave, reveling in all that energy and livening up your inner life while celebrating yourself like a god. Sure, that can feel really great and all of this powerful self-aggrandizement may also help you come up with some excellent life plans for the rest of the year and beyond. I would go as far as to say that spring time is round two of New Year's resolutions.
As wonderful as all this sounds, I know there are many people out there who suffer from cognitive dissonance- the stark contrast between seeing yourself as this energized springtime person who is almighty and will get things done, and the person who is seen on the outside as never really utilizing that energy. To illustrate, it is like seeing your body as a home, and all this energy as a phobia-ridden teenager who refuses to leave out the front door and get things done. To defend myself from it, I take stock of what I've done on a weekly basis and what the difference is between what I believe my high energy self is capable of doing, and what I have actually done. If the two diverge too much (a little is fine because going after perfection eventually brings diminishing returns), I prefer to increase the use of my energy to meet my goals, rather than scale my goals back. To me, this sort of mindfulness is more than worthwhile.
What is the result of all this self-monitoring and mindfulness? It is nothing short than getting serious and focusing all that energy into your individual goals and plans. The biggest trick here, however, is to understand that if you focus all that energy on one thing only, you won't spend it wisely. For most of us, we have more than one goal at any given time and have to work on all of them simultaneously. If you focus your energies just on one goal, you'll drop whatever you're doing to achieve all the other ones, and that is something you can do even without any extra energy- sacrifice some things for the sake of others. The point of having all this extra energy and motivation is to make everything happen as best as it can.
I hope this extended pep talk will get you to and keep you on the right track, dearest readers. Let me know how it goes :)
When spring comes and you feel a surge of energy and optimism, the first thing you may feel like doing is riding the wave, reveling in all that energy and livening up your inner life while celebrating yourself like a god. Sure, that can feel really great and all of this powerful self-aggrandizement may also help you come up with some excellent life plans for the rest of the year and beyond. I would go as far as to say that spring time is round two of New Year's resolutions.
As wonderful as all this sounds, I know there are many people out there who suffer from cognitive dissonance- the stark contrast between seeing yourself as this energized springtime person who is almighty and will get things done, and the person who is seen on the outside as never really utilizing that energy. To illustrate, it is like seeing your body as a home, and all this energy as a phobia-ridden teenager who refuses to leave out the front door and get things done. To defend myself from it, I take stock of what I've done on a weekly basis and what the difference is between what I believe my high energy self is capable of doing, and what I have actually done. If the two diverge too much (a little is fine because going after perfection eventually brings diminishing returns), I prefer to increase the use of my energy to meet my goals, rather than scale my goals back. To me, this sort of mindfulness is more than worthwhile.
What is the result of all this self-monitoring and mindfulness? It is nothing short than getting serious and focusing all that energy into your individual goals and plans. The biggest trick here, however, is to understand that if you focus all that energy on one thing only, you won't spend it wisely. For most of us, we have more than one goal at any given time and have to work on all of them simultaneously. If you focus your energies just on one goal, you'll drop whatever you're doing to achieve all the other ones, and that is something you can do even without any extra energy- sacrifice some things for the sake of others. The point of having all this extra energy and motivation is to make everything happen as best as it can.
I hope this extended pep talk will get you to and keep you on the right track, dearest readers. Let me know how it goes :)